Recently, many published reports have indicated that persons with autism lack a theory of mind, that is, an understanding of the beliefs, hopes and intentions of others. It has been suggested that the lack of a theory of mind causes the communication handicap observed in people with autism (Frith, 1989). The present study examined the independent variable of appreciating others' intentions, putting this mentalistic concept into testable form from the viewpoint of applied behavior analysis (Sidman, 1971). An 8-year-old boy with autism was trained to appreciate other people's intentions when they were indicated ambiguously, by using cues from the surrounding environment. In the experimental situation, a person was confronted with some difficulty, such as carrying heavy luggage, completing difficult problems on a personal computer (playing a jigsaw puzzle and answering questions in English), or lacking a partner to play games with. When this person instructed the boy to observe a room, the boy, seeing a second adult in the room, should fetch that person so that the second adult could help the first and play the games with him. On the other hand, when a person not confronted with difficulties instructed the boy to look at the room, the boy should tact the interior of the room. In baseline, the boy with autism was only able to tact the interior of the room, but after video discrimination training, he was able to fetch the person from the room and to tact the room. The results indicated that the functional analysis of the abstract concept, theory of mind, was effective in enabling training in the appreciation of others' intentions.

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The aims of the present study were: (1) to report on the effects of doing rope-jumping exercises over an extended period of time on 3 students with severe mental retardation; (2) to clarify the factors involved in promoting the production and maintenance of this behavior daily; and (3) to consider the social validity of this support and whether rope-jumping exercises are appropriate as a community sport. Participants were 2 junior high school students and 1 high school student. Of the 3, 2 (a youth with autism and a youth with Down syndrome) had recently acquired rope-jumping skills at the time of the present study. The third participant was a youth with severe mental retardation who had already rope-jumping skills. A Hoop Jumping Rope and a Try To Do Your Best File were used as the Living Skill Support Tools (Musashi & Takahata, 1997), in order to assist the students in acquiring rope-jumping skills and to prompt the production and maintenance of the behavior on a daily basis. The results showed that the students with autism and with Down syndrome acquired the rope-jumping skill; all 3 students have been observed doing these exercises both at home and at school for 2 to 6 years. Because they were observed helping around their home of their own free will, it appears that the social validity of the rope-jumping exercises and the Living Skill Support Tools have been given a positive valuation.

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The present study aimed to form an expectancy response to the sound of their name in 6 persons with profound retardation. Beforehand, I examined the developmental stage of their heart rate response to the sound of their name. Three of the participants showed noticeable deceleration of heart rate, reflecting the orienting response (type A response). The other 3 participants showed a change in heart rate with 2 configurations of phases (type B response). Transmutation of these series reflects an active response to the sound of their name. Based on the above-mentioned effect, I performed the following experiment. The participant's name was presented through a loudspeaker. After a 3-second interstimulus interval, the person's name was called again, and the experimenter rubbed the participant's cheek softly. This sequence of stimuli was presented 30 times a day for 3 days. The results were as follows: Type A participants' recorded heart rate came to accelerate during the interstimulus interval. Type B participants showed an anticipatory deceleration before the second time their name was called. These results indicated that the acquisition of expectancy is influenced by the developmental stage of the heart rate response to the sound of one's name. Concrete action was urged in order to shift the reactivity of people with profound mental retardation to a higher formative stage.

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The first purpose of the present study was to develop a questionnaire to research self-regulation in adolescents with intellectual disabilities who are enrolled in special schools. The results showed that the instrument was highly reliable and valid. Then, by extracting factors from the behavior items that make up the questionnaire, it was possible to define the structure of self-regulation as having 2 main factors, self-assertion and self-control. From self-assertion, 3 factors were extracted, and from self-control, 4. The second purpose of the present study was to analyze the features of self-regulation in youth with Down syndrome. The results suggested that the distinctive features of self-assertion in adolescents with Down syndrome are that, although they show strong rejection and strong self-assertion, they also show passive attitudes towards their relationships with others, and passive independent behavior. The results on self-control suggested that although they show positive attitudes toward observing school regulations, they also have difficulty in controlling their emotions when their demands are not met.

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In 1989, a speech test CD (TY-89) was released for use in hearing aid fitting. Competing noises, including speech babble, were recorded on the CD, making it easy to test speech intelligibility with competing speech noise. We prepared 3 speech noises with a calibration signal; one of them was on the CD. We carried out 2 experiments to calibrate the noises and study the frequency characteristics involved in testing with these noises. Study 1 measured the spectrum level at 7 noise frequencies when each calibration signal was set at the same level as the CD calibration signal. Study 2 tested word intelligibility with 3 frequency ranges of the noise: 250-2000Hz, 250-1000Hz (TY-89), and 250-500Hz. 24 adults without hearing disabilities were tested at a S/N ratio of -15dB for the overall noise level of TY-89. The results showed high intelligibility with the 250-500Hz noise but virtually zero intelligibility with the 250-2000Hz noise. The conclusion from the present research was that high intelligibility cannot be obtained under wide-band speech noise that contains the higher frequencies of speech. It appears that the TY-89 test with 3 speech noises may be the key to effective selection of hearing aids according to their performance.

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The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of Sign Language on the reading comprehension of high school students who are deaf. Japanese Sign Language has a different grammatical system from spoken Japanese. It is used for daily communication by Japanese who are deaf. In contrast, Signed Japanese has the same grammatical system as spoken and Written Japanese; in Signed Japanese, the words are expressed by the hands and fingers. In the present study, each participant was given 3 types of learning tasks: Japanese Sign Language, Signed Japanese, and Written Japanese. The materials were stories written in Japanese. In the Japanese Sign Language and Signed Japanese conditions, the same stories were presented by means of videotape in Japanese Sign Language or Signed Japanese respectively. The order of presentation was counterbalanced across subjects. Immediately after the subjects learned the written stories, they were given 2 types of comprehension tasks, consisting of 5 wh- questions, and 4 inferential questions. The main findings were as follows: (1) On both wh- questions and inferential questions about the written stories, Japanese Sign Language had facilitative effects for the students who were deaf, including both those in lower and those in higher ranks of Japanese proficiency. (2) On the wh- questions, Signed Japanese had facilitative effects on the students who were deaf and were in the lower rank of Japanese proficiency.

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Some people with severe intellectual and physical disabilities are considered to have the ability to communicate with care staff. But because of their physical disabilities, they have difficulty in maintaining communication. They also often show a noticeable increase in muscle tone after a change in the caring environment. It is well known that a decrease in muscle tone occurs in the condition in which activity of the parasympathetic nervous system is dominant. The present study aimed to investigate the relation between occurrences of muscle tone hypertension and the tonic level of the parasympathetic nervous system, in 14 persons with severe intellectual and physical disabilities, between 28 and 71 years of age, who were evaluated by care staff as having an interest in communicating. The caregivers responded to a written questionnaire about occurrences of muscle tone hypertension and the verbal behavior of these persons. The level of parasympathetic activity was evaluated by measuring the coherence values between heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia, and records of their respiration. Heart rate and respiration were recorded when participants were in the day activity room with staff ("day room condition"), and when they were alone in a private room ("private room condition"). The results were as follows; (1) Of the 14 persons with severe intellectual and physical disabilities, the evaluations indicated that 7 (Group A) had 2 or more situations in which muscle tone hypertension tended to occur. Many of them showed spontaneous verbal behavior, and they had a tendency to continue emotional responses. The other 7 persons (Group B) were evaluated as having fewer than 2 situations in which muscle tone hypertension occurred. (2) In the day room condition, persons in Group A showed significantly decreased coherence values, compared with those of the Group B participants. (3) In the private room condition, 2 of those in Group A showed significant increases in coherence values, compared with those in the day room condition. 3 of the Group B persons showed a significant decrease in coherence values in the private room condition. (4) Dominant activity of parasympathetic nervous system related to the occurrence of respiratory sinus arrhythmia and high coherence values. The results of the present study indicate that muscle tone hypertension relates to a decreased tonic level of parasympathetic activity in persons with severe intellectual and physical disabilities, and that hypertension might be likely to occur in those persons who show spontaneous verbal behavior and a tendency to continue emotional responses.

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The present review details research focusing on social integration of supported employees in the United States. Specifically, the following 3 aspects were described: (a) emerging issues of social integration, (b) measurement of social integration, and (c) factors promoting social integration. Research regarding job separation, social integration in school settings, and work culture led to the emergence of social integration as a critical issue in supported employment. Social participation, workplace acceptance, and individual perceptions were used as indicators of social integration. Several factors that might affect some of the social integration indicators were identified by studies using statistical analyses and individual subject designs. Future research should consider social culture in measuring social participation, and explore the possibility of including coworkers' and supported employees' behaviors as indicators of workplace and individual acceptance. Additionally, how the identified factors might affect all 3 indicators of social integration in supported employment settings should be clarified.

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