“Circumscribed interest” (CI) of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may not a negative characteristic. The purpose of this study was to measure and understand the interest style of ASD people. On the basis of preliminary research, an “Interest Style Inventory” was developed, and a questionnaire survey was implemented. Finally, analysis was conducted on 34 participants in the ASD group (26 male, 8 female, MA=29.0, SD=9.08) and 774 participants in the typically developed (TD) group (209 male, 565 Female, MA=20.2, SD=3.78) . The t-test showed that the TD group scored higher than the ASD group in “exploratory interest” whereas the ASD group scored higher than the TD group in “inquisitive interest.” Multi-sample analysis clarified that “exploratory interest” contributed to mental health. The results indicated that it is important to utilize and expand ASD people’s interests.

This study concerns a case of cerebral palsy where sleeping difficulty, primarily nocturnal awakening, was resolved through an intervention with Dohsa-hou training. The trainee was experiencing difficulty in maintaining sleep, which was attributed to difficulty in turning over during sleep due to impaired movement of the hip joints as well as involuntary muscle tightening in the neck, shoulders, and extremities. Clinical Dohsa-hou training included the release of chronic muscle tightness mainly in the neck, shoulders, back, and around the hip, as well as improvement of movement control to resolve these problems in addition to the additional task of improving daily postures. This intervention enabled the trainee to move the body with appropriate strength after learning to relax the chronic muscle tightness and to control involuntary muscle tightening. Additionally, the trainee also adopted a stable cross-legged position to sit independently with relaxed muscles in the neck, shoulders, and upper extremities, which had been tightened to support an unstable posture. With course progression, the trainee and the guardian reported no sleeping difficulty. The outcome also showed improvement with decreased duration of nocturnal awakening during the intervention period. However, the sleeping difficulty recurred during a subsequent week of measurement, suggesting a challenge of maintaining the therapeutic effect.

On March 11, 2011, Japan experienced a triple disaster consisting of a megaquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear meltdown. The purpose of this study was to examine psychosocial effects and type of vulnerabilities of persons with disabilities during the Great East Japan Earthquake. Ninety-seven people with disabilities were interviewed regarding the disaster’s psychosocial impact on them. Data collected from the interviews consisted of 669 episodes that were categorized into four types of vulnerabilities. The results indicated that persons with intellectual disabilities were more vulnerable in terms of the physical, educational, and social aspects. On the other hand, persons with high functioning developmental disorders were found to be more psychologically vulnerable. This study suggests that to develop a better educational system for reducing vulnerabilities in future disasters, physical and psychological barriers should be removed. This study also points out the need to provide more public education about the special-needs community.

In recent years, attention has been paid to supporting disaster victims through the use of Dohsa-hou. In counseling, talking is an important aspect, and the focus is on the psychological growth and recovery of the client in student counseling. In this study we examined the significance and issues of Dohsa-hou and the priority of psychological support in student counseling, based on the case of a university student affected by an earthquake disaster. Client A who had stuttering experienced an earthquake when he was a sophomore. About five months later, he visited the student counseling room and has since attended 24 sessions. During the first session, it was determined that he was showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, but he refused to see a doctor. However, he could begin talking about his father’s conflict after performing relaxation based on Dohsa-hou. After that, he began to acknowledge his own efforts and self-determination, but he still experienced insomnia. Therefore, the counselor again recommended that he see a doctor, and he accepted. Eventually, his self-understanding improved, he got a job offer and graduated from university. Based on his recovery and growth, we discussed the support of earthquake victims in student counseling and the understanding of the client by the use of Dohsa-hou.

In dohsa-hou therapy, some children with autistic spectrum disorder move their body in a stereotyped pattern, so-called “patterned motor action,” as if ignoring the directions of their therapist. In this paper, the mechanism of patterned motor actions is theoretically examined from the developmental viewpoint of the understanding of others. It is postulated that there are two types of patterned motor actions. One is considered to occur when children with autistic spectrum disorder contingently respond to the verbal or/and nonverbal bids of the therapist because they might understand others as animate agents, or they are inclined to respond with consideration of the therapist’s goal, but not their plan because they might understand others as goal-directed agents. The other concerns the possibility that these children focus their attention on their therapist, not their motor action tasks, resulting in passive responses because they might understand others as intentional agents. Therapists must non-intrusively engage with children with ASD according to their developmental level of understanding of others.

This study investigated the relation between recipients’ coping style of anxiety and opinion towards different types of helpers’ verbal response. The university students answered the questionnaire after reading stories two kinds of conversation between a recipient and helper. The topics were on about the recipient’s lifestyle and on about friendship. In each topic, three kinds of helper’s verbal responsive style were presented: a) supportive, b) solution-focused and c) organizing recipient’s thought.
The result found three types of recipient’s anxiety coping styles: 1) flexible-various coping style, 2) problem-focused coping style and 3) conflictive coping style. In the topic of friendship, flexible-various coping style subjects affirmatively responded to the helper’s responses, which was positive to the recipient’s past behavior and attitude, but they negatively responded to the helper’s solution focused responses. Conflictive coping style subjects negatively responded to the helper’s response on the topic of life-style. This type is considered to be avoidant facing difficulties in coping. These results suggest that helpers need to adjust their verbal response by recognizing the recipients’ anxiety coping style.