This paper reviews a series of studies describing differences in narratives and finger-pointing in mother-child interactions,when drawing pictures are shown to autistic spectrum disorder（ASD） children and typically developing（TD）children from different cultures.Eye gaze movements of children（obtained by a Tobii eye tracker） using the same drawings are also compared.The results showed that mothers were responsible for the initiatives and children were responsive for the interactions, regardless of what kinds of factors the children had.ASD children were intermittent in gaze movement and spent less time gazing at the target persons and/or objects,suggesting that their visual information processing is different from TD children.Cultural and regional differences were also observed between Japan,China and the United States,as well as within Japan（Tokyo,Yamagata and Okinawa）.Individual differences in narratives and non-verbal behaviors were thought to reflect the differences in information processing strategies and countermeasures in social situations.These observed differences are formed both by neurological and cultural-environmental factors.This review suggests that we should look at how individual differences（whether they are based on cultural or neurological factors） are formed,tounderstand each individual.In a diverse society,we need to focus on background factors and look at their characteristics and development from a universal perspective.

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This paper tries to examine emotional barriers of mothers who raise children with or without disabilities through reviewing the interviews conducted with mothers who have a child with autism. Five mothers’ narratives were analyzed by the Modified Grounded Theory Approach, and 13“concepts” were found and 6 categories were extracted. 　The six categories are:1.Situations Facing Mothers, such as“mother cannot understand her child,” “have no remedy,”and“ child seems incapable;”2. Denial, such as“child is regarded negatively,”“mother is regarded negatively,” and“cannot communicate with others.”These two categorized problems are mixed with the feeling of 3.Mother Cannot Love Her Child,expanding into 4.Emotional Barriers,such as“loneliness and anxiety.” 　In contrast, a positive story was found when mothers find Category 5.Possibility of Handling Problems, such as“mother can understand her child,” “has a concrete solution,” and“child becomes mentally stable.”This will then lead to Category 6.Affirmation Provided Through Connections, such as“mother accepts her child,” “mother is accepted’ and“mother can communicate with others.”These elements decrease the level of mothers’ oneliness and anxiety, and as a result reduce their emotional barriers. The analysis shows that third persons’attitudes greatly influence mothers’ emotional barriers when they raise children. 　From the above, the following six suggestions have been devised in order to raise children free from emotional barriers. 1. Help mothers to“understand”their children. 2. Consider concrete measures with other people. 3. Take direct approach to children’s development 4. Accept of children 5. Accept of mothers 6. Have someone to talk to

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The purpose of this paper is to clarify the methods and meanings of “philosophical time with children at a nursery school” through a case study of Child A in a 5-year-old class. Field-notes were taken based on on-site observations, transcriptions of recorded video of the child’s communication with the teacher,interviews with the classroom teacher, Teacher B, and the head of the nursery school, Head C. From these data, two observations were made. The first, which was gained by the analytical processes, is that Child A, who had previously been just a talkative child, changed to become a reliable personality trusted by his classmates through philosophical inquiries and dialogues in the class. The other observation is that, through the “philosophical time,” changes were seen not only in Child A but also in other classmates, which consequently influenced the mindsets of the nursery school teachers, including Teacher B and Head C, about the potential of children and nursing through projects like “philosophical time.” The project gave children opportunities to enjoy dialogues that piqued their curiosity to seek out wonder in their daily lives. It also gave the teachers opportunities to gain insights into children, childcare, and education. The children trusted Teacher B, and they felt safe and relaxed sitting in a circle with classmates by conversing freely on an equal footing with each other.

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The enforcement of the Act on Support for Persons with Developmental Disabilities in 2005 called for the establishment of a total support system including families and emphasized the importance of early detection and intervention for children with disabilities. Despite such progress, issues concerning the difficulties in early detection as well as the lack of understanding in how sex differences affect the timing of diagnosis have been pointed out. In this study, a survey targeting voluntary participants of a parent training program was conducted to elucidate the child’s sex and age distribution when the participants sought help. The differences in the level of child-rearing anxiety and depressive tendencies between participants with sons and daughters were also analyzed. The result indicated that there was no correlation between the child’s sex and the parent’s depressive tendencies. No statistical relationship was found between the child’s sex and the child’s average age when the parents started the program, although an outstanding number of parents with sons started the program when their child was four years old. While participants with daughters showed no such pattern, these parents tend to react more negatively toward their child and have an overwhelming sense of being too busy with child-rearing compared to parents with sons. Such findings suggested that aside from early detection and intervention, introducing a support system for parents with developmental disabled children that are older in age is a necessary next step.

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