The purpose of the present study was to explore factors related to the self-esteem of children who stutter, specifically academic competence, athletic competence, peer relations, and discussing their stuttering with their parents. All 124 third- through sixth-grade children participating in the study stuttered and were enrolled in special speech classes in public elementary schools. The children completed a self-esteem scale consisting of the following 4 factors: confidence, motivation, self-acceptance, and acceptance by their family. Their parents completed a questionnaire that asked whether they talked about stuttering with their children; the children's teachers in the special speech classes were asked about the children's academic competence, athletic competence and peer relations. Interviews were also conducted with 8 parents who had talked with their children about their stuttering. The main findings were as follows: (1) The children who were rated as higher or highest in academic competence or at the highest level of athletic competence had more confidence in themselves than did the children who had the lowest academic or athletic competence. (2) Among the children who had talked about their stuttering with their parents, those in the fifth and sixth grade accepted themselves as well as those in the third and fourth grade. But among the children who did not talk about their stuttering with their parents, those in the fifth and sixth grade accepted themselves less well than did the third- and fourth-grade children. (3) The parents who talked about their children's stuttering with them did not report a negative perception of stuttering.

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The purpose of the present study was to clarify the burnout tendency and related factors in care workers at residential facilities for persons with mental retardation. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was mailed to workers at 85 residential institutions. Of 1,221 replies received (63.4% response rate), responses were useable from 997 care workers (530 men, 467 women). The results revealed that scores of care workers on the Maslach Burnout Inventory were as high as scores of other human service workers. Factors that increased the care workers' scores included the following: the care workers being female, in their thirties, and unmarried; years of experience as a care worker, and working hours. Other factors included job stress, management of the facility, relations among care workers, and how busy the care workers were. Problem-focused coping functioned as a burnout bumper factor. Educational supervision decreased personal accomplishment, whereas emotional supervision increased it. These results suggest that possible ways to avoid burnout include an increase in the number of care workers and establishment of a supervision system.

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The purpose of the present study was to explore the need for psychological rehabilitation of persons with hearing loss or acquired deafness. Participants were 181 adults with hearing impairments (60 males, 121 females; average age, 54.9 years). The average age of onset of hearing impairment was 25.4 years. Participants' mental health was assessed with the Japanese version of the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), on which higher scores indicate lower levels of mental health. The average score in the present study was 8.86; 53% of participants had the possibility of neurosis. Both these results are significantly higher than the scores of populations without disabilities, that is, in other words, the participants were less mentally healthy than average. Neither age at onset of impairment nor length of time since then was found to correlate with the General Health Questionnaire scores, and no significant correlation was found between the degree of hearing impairment and the Questionnaire scores. The results suggest that psychological support is necessary for people with hearing impairments, regardless of the degree of disability. Participants reported that, in addition to hearing impairments, they had symptoms such as tinnitus (81.6% of participants), aural pressure (52.8%), distortion of sound (62.6%), dizziness (44.8%), and verbal disability (37.4%). The occurrence of dizziness, tinnitus, or verbal disability was correlated with significantly increased General Health Questionnaire scores.

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Several studies (e.g., Perrier & Lang, 1999) have suggested a developmental link between executive functions and theory of mind. However, other recent studies (e.g., Lough, Gregory, & Hodges, 2001) have demonstrated dissociations between executive functions and theory of mind in individuals with brain damage. We report a case study of a patient who, after living in a persistent vegetative state for 6 years subsequent to contracting encephalitis at the age of 10, showed a dramatic recovery, and was of nearly normal intelligence at 20 years of age. However, he showed maladaptive social behavior. We conducted a series of experimental investigations to determine his cognitive functioning. He performed poorly on theory of mind tasks, although his scores on executive functions were in the normal range. These results suggest that executive functions can develop independently of theory of mind. Several hypotheses about relations between executive functions and theory of mind are discussed.

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The present article reviews the literature on the phonological awareness of children with hearing impairments, focusing especially on the development of phonological awareness and on methods of teaching phonological awareness. Published studies suggest that the development of phonological awareness in children with hearing impairments is delayed, but that the process of development is otherwise like that of children with no hearing impairments. Research on methods for teaching phonological awareness has clarified the most effective communication method for promoting phonological awareness.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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