In this study, we conducted a qualitative research on the definition of “Kawaii （cute in English）” among individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder （ASD）, focusing on subject attributes, cognition, emotion, and behavior and function. The participants were 15 individuals with ASD aged 13-23 years （final analysis: 13, mean age 16.6, SD=3.62） and 30 individuals with typical development （TD） aged 14-23 years （mean age 18.1, SD=3.21）. The participants were interviewed about “Kawaii”. All 727 responses （264 ASD, 463 TD） were classified using the KJ method （Kawakita, 1967）. As a result, we obtained the following definition of “Kawaii” for individuals with ASD: It is caused by seeing, touching, hearing, and wearing. It is accompanied by motivations for approach, such as wanting to be close to it, wanting to keep it close, and wanting to look at it closely, as well as emotions such as feeling at ease and liking it. It has the functions of emotion regulation, motivation, improvement of mental health, and communication facilitation. As unique to ASD, “functions to improve mental health and promote communication” was obtained.

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This study evaluated psychological treatment focusing on social motivation for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder through examining a case study. The client was a male adolescent with secondary problems such as depression and was avoidant of social interaction and participation. In the early stages of therapy, the therapist built rapport with the client by actively engaging in self-disclosure and worked to increase the client’s motivation to engage in treatment. Furthermore, as the client was anxious about social participation, the therapist suggested that they work on social matters in their sessions. Through therapy, the client increased his social motivation at the micro-level （one-on-one social interaction） and the macro-level （social participation）. He also developed a fundamental perspective on the future. We discuss the client’s evolving relationship with the therapist and the changes in his social motivation.

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We conducted a questionnaire survey of beginner therapists and explored their growth process based on the results. The First and second year therapists found qualitative differences in their parents’ psychological understanding and technical maturity. The first year therapists focused on the psychological state of individuals involved in parenting. They also tried to stay true to the goals of the Parent’s Association program. The second year therapists felt the psychological transformation of the parents due to the interaction between participants. They were also flexible according to the group dynamics. These differences were because the therapist’s wider observation range allowed them to pay attention to multiple parents. Therapists need to be educated to integrate clinical practice with the theory of group therapy.

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In recent years, the practice of inclusive childcare has been promoted in many places, but it has been difficult to generalize the expertise of nursery teachers to encourage children to interact with each other. The purpose of this study was to clarify the expertise of nursery teachers necessary for establishing interaction among children in inclusive child-care by analyzing actual child-care situations. We selected important words and phrases from episodes in which children with severe mental and physical disabilities interacted with other children at the target facilities. From these key terms, we derived concepts related to the expertise of nursery teachers. As a result of the analysis, eight explanatory items were extracted as the expertise of nursery teachers for inclusive childcare, and these were structured into four types of creativity. From this, we considered that there are four types of creative ability in the expertise of nursery teachers that promote interaction among children in inclusive childcare.

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In this study, through group play therapy of subject A, who was depressed due to negative experiences in interpersonal relationships, we examined the significance of play therapy for adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder （ASD）, focusing on how to experience. A showed unidirectional communication and had difficulty focusing on his positive aspects. However, mutual communication gradually increased through a program that encourages mutual interaction with others and a therapist’s involvement. Furthermore, through the experience of sharing emotions, A began to focus on the positive aspects of himself. Thus, the program and the therapist’s involvement, in this case, brought about a change in how A experienced interpersonal relationships and enhanced his self-esteem. This was possible when A allowed himself to experience successful communication through spontaneous responses in activities that he could enjoy without difficulties.

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Dohsa-hou, a Japanese psycho-rehabilitative technique, was initially developed to improve posture and movement in children with cerebral palsy, but is now being used in a wide range of situations—not only for the improvement of movement in children with physical disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, but also for the improvement of behavior in children with developmental disabilities. Despite this, people with physical disabilities have difficulty participating in Dohsa-hou programs （also referred to as Dohsa-hou camps） after graduated age and there are still only a few instances of regular, ongoing use of Dohsa-hou at day service centers and other welfare facilities for people with physical disabilities. Consequently, it is not uncommon for the number of opportunities to provide Dohsa-hou to decrease after graduated age. Here, to show that Dohsa-hou can be effective for individuals even after graduated age, we discuss an initiative in which Dohsa-hou was carried out for approximately two years on a daily basis at a day facility for people with disabilities and report on three participants （33, 18, and 20 years old） who benefited from the experience. Generally, Dohsa-hou involves （1） assigning a designated trainer for each trainee （i.e., a person-to-person system）, （2） providing regular and ongoing 60-minute sessions, and （3） having a system of assigning supervisors to create support programs for trainees and provide instruction to trainers using the actual techniques used in practice. Unfortunately, welfare facilities are often unable to meet these requirements. In this paper, we propose concrete measures for implementing ongoing Dohsa-hou programs at day facilities for people with disabilities without diverging greatly from the three requirements that are emphasized in Dohsa-hou program.

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In autism spectrum disorder （ASD）, motor aspects, in addition to social communication disorders, circumscribed interests, and stereotypic and repetitive behaviors, are also considered problematic. In this study, balance ability was compared between children with ASD and children with typical development （TD） to clarify the balance characteristics of children with ASD. The study included 10 children with ASD （ASD group, including 9 boys and 1 girl; mean age, 74.6±4.0 months） and 10 children with TD （TD group, including 4 boys and 6 girls; mean age, 77.2±3.7 months）. Comparison of each balance task （mean values） between groups showed that balance ability in “single-leg balance” and “toe walking,” both involving being on one leg, was significantly lower in the ASD group. However, a significant difference in “jumping on mat,” which is performed with both legs, was not observed. Furthermore, the study showed that “single-leg balance” in children with ASD had a large bilateral difference, and we consider this to be one of the balance characteristics in children with ASD.
In the future, it is necessary to investigate how exercise therapy to improve balance ability affects skilled movements and social interactions.

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