The purpose of the present study was to analyze the movement elements that children with cerebral palsy learn as they acquire a sitting position, and to examine the difficulties that they encounter in such movements. Subjects were 135 children and youth with cerebral palsy, aged 4-16 years. Factor analysis was performed via the quantification method of the second type, taking as an external criterion the quality of acquisition of 4 movements regarded as milestones in the process by which children without disabilities learn the sitting posture, and taking, as a variable, the degree of acquisition of model pattern movements in the DOHSA method. Furthermore, problems in learning the movements were categorized by examining follow-up data based on categories of children with cerebral palsy, classified via cluster analysis. The results indicated that (1) a cervix-retaining movement was involved in all processes of acquiring the sitting position, (2) anti-gravity movements were involved in a position of standing on the knees, in the process of moving to a sitting position from a stable face-down position, and (3) subjects who had difficulty in learning such anti-gravity movements included a group of children having a problem with cervix control, and a group having a problem with a typical posture-indicating systematic flexion pattern.

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The purpose of the present study was to investigate the development of Braille reading rate with two hands and with one hand in 21 children, aged 7 to 12 years old, who were congenitally blind. The main results were as follows: (1) Reading rates with two hands, and with the faster and the slower hand, significantly increased with age. (2) There was a significant difference in reading rate between the faster hand and the slower hand in 7-year-old children, and the difference increased with increasing age. This shows that laterality in Braille reading strategy may be established at an early stage. (3) Braille reading strategies may be classified into three categories: (a) two-hands type, in which each hand is equally able to read; (b) right-handed type, in which the right hand is much superior to the left; and (c) left-handed type, in which the left hand is superior to the right. (4) The gain from reading with both hands, relative to using only the faster hand, was 19% in two-hands type 12-year-old children, whereas the gain for right-handed type children was 7%, and for left-handed type children, 2%.

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The purpose of the present study was to teach two 8-year-old boys with autism some of the skills for using a telephone. Because the telephone-using skill and other communication skills have the same functionality of information media, it was expected that the training would enhance their communication skills. Two telephone tasks corresponding to the skills of receiving and sending were taught in turn. The first task consisted of receiving a call for his mother at home, and informing her of it. The second one was making a call from a pay phone, using a prepaid telephone card, to inform his father at home that he was coming home. In teaching these skills, we applied the script concept to their telephone manual. The manual described stereotyped verbal and non-verbal behaviors involved in telephone communication. After we observed the two boys' baseline level of behavior, they were exposed to the training with these manuals, including rehearsal opportunities at real settings, both in their homes and in a public telephone booth. Each boy effectively maintained his telephone skills across settings, times, and persons without the manual for over 1 year. About 5 years after the training, their mother was interviewed by the first author about the improvement of their communication skills in their daily lives.

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The present study was designed to estimate the number of children who would be able to use voice output communication aids (VOCA) in two special schools. 163 children (98 males and 65 females) with intellectual disabilities and/or autistic tendencies in two special schools in Japan participated in this research. First, a screening test was conducted, and 107 children (65 males and 42 females) who had speech problems were selected. They were tested on 3 tasks: Picture Vocabulary Test, verbal expression ability test, and command play using VOCA. The results were as follows: (1) 21 children had poor speech ability but good comprehension, and would be able to use VOCA in practical communication; (2) 4 children could not use VOCA appropriately, but enjoyed using it as a toy; (3) children who could use VOCA appropriately had high scores on a Picture Vocabulary Test.

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In this study, characteristics of physical aging in persons with Down syndrome were examined, using indices of symptoms of senility in their external appearance and diseases they had. The subjects were 71 persons with Down syndrome, aged from 13 to 55 years old, and 68 persons with mental retardation without Down syndrome, aged from 22 to 59 years. Questionnaires were filled out by the nursing stuff. The results were as follows: (1) The mean scores on senile physical appearance increased with age in both the persons with Down syndrome and those with mental retardation but without Down syndrome. For persons with Down syndrome, these increments could be seen when they were in their thirties, whereas for presons with mental retardation but without Down syndrome, they appeared when they were in their forties. The difference between the two groups in mean scores increased with age until they were in their forties (see Fig. 1). (2) The number of diseases increased significantly in those persons with Down syndrome who were in their forties or older. Those without Down syndrome did not show a tendency for the number of diseases to increase with age (see Fig. 2). These results indicate that signs of physical aging are seen in persons with Down syndrome earlier than in persons with mental retardation but without Down syndrome.

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