Several authors have hypothesized that hand differences on specific motor tasks are related to the different types of processing, that is, serial, sequential processing is in the left hemisphere, and spatial, simultaneous processing in the right. The present study employed two different types of manual skill tasks requiring sequential and spatial processing to examine hemispheric functioning in children with moderate and severe mental retardation. The present study also aimed to determine whether early injury to the left hemisphere causes an increased incidence of non-right handers among children with mental retardation. Subjects were 60 children with mental retardation, with IQs below 60 and chronological age ranging from 7 to 15. The subjects were classified into two subgroups according to their IQ: moderate retardation (IQs 30 to 60) and severe retardation (IQs below 30). Each subject was assessed for hand preference and manual skill. The results were as follows: 1. The incidence of the non-right-hand preference subjects was higher in the group with severe retardation (37%) than in the group with moderate retardation (17%). 2. On the peg-moving and hand-position tasks, the group with moderate retardation showed significantly better performance than the group with severe retardation. 3. Most of the right-hand preference subjects in the group with moderate retardation showed a right-hand advantage on the peg-moving task, a left-hand advantage on the hand-position task. 4. Performance on the peg-moving task was not different between the right-hand preference subjects and the left-hand preference subjects in the group with severe retardation, and between right-hand preference subjects and ambidextrous subjects in the group with moderate retardation. The implications of the results were discussed from the viewpoint of the functional asymmetry of the brain and the effects of brain damage on manual skill. It was suggested that children with moderate retardation did not differ from children without developmental disabilities with respect to functional asymmetry of the brain, and that an increased incidence of non-right handers could not be accounted for in terms of early injury to the left hemisphere.

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This study is part of the present authors' attempt to clarify the developmental characteristics of self-consciousness in children with various chronic diseases. In the present research, a continuation of an earlier study, a questionnaire was given to 86 children with asthma, their parents (N=109), and 75 staff members, including doctors and nurses in the hospital and teachers in the school for children with physical disabilities. The questionnaire had 50 items relating to emotionality, sympathy, human relations, self-reliance, intention toward a goal, and the children's life in the hospital. The main results were as follows: 1. On the emotionality items, the children with asthma rated themselves as anxious, discontented, irritable, and nervous. They reported slight interest in human relations, although they were rather sympathetic to their friends; they reported little self-reliance and had rather low scores on intention toward a goal. 2. On many questions, the children's scores were different from those of their parents. The parents tended to give responses that were favorable for their children on almost all questions. The parents' results suggest that the parents feel that their children are emotionally stable and enjoying their life in the hospital. 3. On the other hand, the scores from the staff tended to be similar to the children's, who considered themselves beyond the control of unstable emotions. The staff also pointed out that the children with asthma were not able to externalize their irritability. In the staff's judgment, the children should recover their ability to adjust to their difficult situation. 4. The staff also were worried that children's rather low scores on the items about human relations, self-reliance, and intention toward a goal would cause them serious problems in their development. 5. The scores on questions about hospital life showed that the children with asthma felt sorry for their parents; the parents and the staff were not aware of this.

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In der vorliegenden Arbeit beabsichtige ich, die Entstehung und die Eigenschaft der "Idee der Entwicklungshemmung", die eine zentrale Idee in der Heilpadagogik Hanselmanns ist, zu erlautern. Dazu habe ich die Hauptwerke uber die "Anfangs-" und die "Entwicklungsstufe" der Idee der Entwicklungshemmung betrachtet. Dabei habe ich Hanselmanns Werdegang und seine Ideen in den Kontext des damaligen sozialkulturellen Umfelds gesetzt. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit sind die folgenden: (1) Hanselmann entwickelte die Basis fur die Idee der Entwicklungshemmung im Rahmen seiner Erziehungspraxis an der "Arbeitslehrkolonie und Beobachtungsanstalt Steinmuhle" bei Frankfurt am Main (1912-1916). (2) Hanselmann forderte, die Idee der Entwicklungshemmung als einen wichtigen Aspekt in der "Sondererzie-hung", zu berucksichtigen, um die damalige heilpadagogische Situation zu uberwinden, die auf eine materiale Bildungssicherung verzichtet hatte. (3) Hanselmann stand dem Klassifikationsmittel normal-anormal und den Diskussionen uber Sterilisation, Euthanasie u. a. ablehnend gegenuber. Dadurch erwarb er den Gesichtspunkt von der Gleichheit des menschlichen Wert zwischen Behinderten und Nichtbehinderten. Hieraus entwickelte er die Idee der Entwicklungshemmung. (4) Hanselmann integrierte verschiedene Wissenschaften, die der damaligen zeitgeistigen Krisensituation kritisch gegenuberstanden und die Ganzheit des Menschen vor sich hatten, und damit erweiterte er die Idee der Entwicklungshemmung. Aber er konnte die Behindertenpadagogik als die Sozialdimension nicht genug erforschen. Hierin lag eine ethische Schwache seiner Padagogik. Er blieb deshalb bei der pessimistishen These von der "Entwicklungshemmung" stehen.

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Recently, theoretical studies on the structure and concept of impairments, disabilities, and handicaps have been advanced. Nevertheless, study of these concept is insufficient, especially with respect to mental deficiency. This paper reports a historical study of the development and formation of the concept of mental deficiency in psychiatry in Japan before World War II. Materials examined were "Psychiatria et Neurologia Japonica" (Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology) and "The Japan Mental Hygiene Bulletin" (Japanese Society of Mental Hygiene). The results were as follows: 1. In psychiatry, large differences were found in the definition of the concept of mental deficiency. Namely, in psychopathology and psychiatric clinics, mental deficiency was described as a disease or defect, whereas in mental hygiene, it was described from the point of view of social countermeasures in relation to eugenics or prevention. 2. Emil Kraepelin's classifications (idiot, imbecile, and moron) were used as the basis. However, there was a dispute about the concept of mental deficiency between psychiatrists and psychologists, and the former adopted psychological concepts such as intelligence quotient. Practically, that was necessary for the diagnosis and determination of mental deficiency. 3. Attainments and tasks relating to the concept of mental deficiency in psychiatry before World War II were followed by the "Standard for Classification of Special Children" (1953) which was the first official post-war definition of the concept of mental deficiency.

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This paper describes the special Classes for emotionally disturbed children in 1985 in Hokkaido (the northern island of the Japanese archipelago). The students in these classes are mainly autistic children, but include children who refuse to go to school, children with mental retardation, children with mutism, and so on. Questionairs were mailed to all special classes in Hokkaido … 110 elementary schools and 46 junior high schools and 247 special class teachers; replies were received from 101 elementary schools, 39 junior high schools, and 195 teachers. The results were analyzed in terms of the population of the locality to which the special classes belonged: 1.5 million in the city of Sapporo, 100,000-400,000 in middle-sized cities, 40,000-100,000 in small cities, and less than 40,000 in small localities. The results were as follows: 1. In Sapporo, special classes began earlier than in other areas of Hokkaido. The average number of children per class was 8.2 in elementary schools and 9.2 in junior high schools; these classes were larger than those in areas with fewer than 100,000 population. Sixty-nine per cent of the children registered in the special classes in elementary schools were children with autism, and of these, 52% were children with severe disabilities who were mute. There were more children with severe disabilities in Sapporo than in the other areas studied. The teachers of special classes in elementary and junior high schools in Sapporo are young, that is, 73% of them are in their twenties or thirties. 2. In the middle-sized cities, special classes were begun as early as in Sapporo. The average number of children per class was 9.2 in elementary schools and 5.1 in junior high schools. The percentage of children with autism was 78%, which was the highest of all localities studied. Fifteen per cent of the children had severe disabilities, which is the lowest proportion of all localties in the study. 3. In the small localities, special classes were begun only relatively recently, that is, 10 years after the first special classes had begun in Hokkaido. Many classes have a small number of children (1-3). The percentage of children with autism was comparatively low, 50%. The percentage of children with severe disabilities, 30%, is higher than in the middle-sized cities, but lower than in Sapporo. The teachers were the oldest in the small localities. 4. The results for small cities fell between those for middle-sized cities and small localities.

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