The Japanese Journal of Special Education
Online ISSN : 2186-5132
Print ISSN : 0387-3374
ISSN-L : 0387-3374
Volume 51, Issue 2
Displaying 1-8 of 8 articles from this issue
Original Article
  • Yoshiko INABA, Hideyo GOMA, Michio USHIYAMA
    2013 Volume 51 Issue 2 Pages 81-92
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: February 18, 2015
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The present study investigated the composition of classes at special schools for children with intellectual disabilities and the connection between class composition and teachers' awareness in relation to their teaching methods and educational practices used with students with autism. Participants in the study, 605 teachers working in the elementary sections of 18 special schools for children with intellectual disabilities, completed questionnaires. Factor analysis and 2-way ANOVA (class composition x age) were performed to compare the teachers' awareness. The results were as follows: (a) the special schools were categorized into 3 types: type A, schools offering autism-specific classes; type B, schools in which classes were composed by developmental level, but which did not have autism-specific classes; and type C, schools that composed classes by chronological grade. (b) Teachers at type A schools stressed "structuring the environment" as a teaching method more than teachers did at the other two types of schools. Teachers at schools that were types B and C stressed "relationships" more than teachers at type A schools did. Teachers at types A and C schools regarded improvement in pupils' skills as a valuable practice more than did those at type B schools. The main effect of age was significant only in "inconsistency of dealing with children among colleagues". These results suggest that class composition affects teachers' awareness in relation to their educational methodology when teaching children with autism.
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Brief Notes
  • Ai SENGA
    2013 Volume 51 Issue 2 Pages 93-103
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: February 18, 2015
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The present article aimed to clarify the guidance about "subnormal children" at the Children's Institute of Clark University, and the role of G. S. Hall there between 1909 and 1914. The analysis was based on the following: (a) the role of G. S. Hall in the organization and administration of the Institute, (b) in-service training for local teachers, and (c) guidance and consultation regarding "subnormal children". The data for this analysis were obtained mainly from the special collection of the Clark University Library, including reports and proceedings on child study from around 1910; the G. S. Hall papers, including correspondence; and the Clark University Papers, including annual registers. The Children's Institute was established in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1909-1910, as a result of Hall's efforts. Its specialty was "subnormal and backward children" and their teachers. At the time, only limited state and national funds were available for physical and mental examinations of such children from regular and special classes of public schools and for the provision of advice to their parents. In the first 3 months of the Institute's "Department of Subnormal Children," the examiners saw 21 cases, about equally divided between the genders, and ranging in age from 5 to 17, with most of them being between 8 and 12 years old. Local teachers attended lectures on "subnormal and backward children". The lectures, held after school hours and on Saturday mornings, were offered by specialists in psychology, pedagogy, and child psychiatry.
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  • Toru SUZUKI, Mikio HIRANO, Yosuke KITA, Ayumu GOUKON, Kazuhito NOGUCHI ...
    2013 Volume 51 Issue 2 Pages 105-113
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: February 18, 2015
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Many published articles have supported the assumption of "mindblindness", according to which difficulties in understanding others' mind states produce serious social-communication impairments in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. However, some studies have shown that performance on "theory of mind" tasks, which are thought to reflect one's abilities to represent others' mental states, does not predict social communication impairments in daily life. The present article proposes a hypothesis to replace the mindblindness assumption, based on study of a boy (11 years 5 months old) with high-functioning autism. "Theory of mind" tasks were examined, together with an attempt to analyze the boy's understanding of causal relations between his own and others' behavior and his own and others' states. The participant in the study could attribute the current states, including the mental states, of his own and others to others' past behavior, but he could not attribute them to his own past behavior. In other words, he could understand the causal relation between the current states of others and their past behavior, but could not do this in the case of his own past behavior. Although he passed "theory of mind" tasks, he showed many serious problems in his interactions with others. These findings suggest that if the self involved in social communication produces problems, difficulty in self-recognition may be another important factor in social-communication impairments. The discussion suggests that it would be important to focus on the effects of difficulties in self-recognition on social communication.
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  • Yoshikazu NOZAKI, Ryuichi KAWASUMI
    2013 Volume 51 Issue 2 Pages 115-124
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: February 18, 2015
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The present study investigated the current status of education for children with profound and multiple disabilities who need intensive medical care through a nationwide survey of special education schools for students with physical and/or health disabilities. The results revealed that approaches used to confirm external or internal changes in the children, and the frequency of use of assistive technology devices, were related to the children's degree of brain dysfunction. Moreover, teachers of children with profound brain dysfunction were reported to focus largely on providing sensory input, whereas those whose students had a relatively mild degree of brain dysfunction were said to tend to emphasize tasks with motor output, although all teachers were said to aim at improving the children's health and cementing or extending the children's interpersonal relations. Overall, the actual status of education in Japan for children with profound and multiple disabilities who need intensive medical care was rich in variety, suggesting a need for more practice reports that could provide teachers with useful information.
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  • Masahito FUJIKAWA, Yoshitaka KASAHARA
    2013 Volume 51 Issue 2 Pages 125-134
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: February 18, 2015
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The present study examined the practice of teachers who utilized physical therapists (PT) at special schools for children with physical disabilities. In order to clarify factors that influenced the practice of the teachers who utilized physical therapists, 435 teachers who utilized physical therapists completed a questionnaire covering the form utilized, frequency of use, and communication of information. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in 4 factors in the practice of teachers who utilize physical therapists: teaching of plan-do-check-action, common understanding of advice with other teachers and clarification of problems and point to be checked, instruction based on analysis of aspects of the children's bodies and health, and review of teaching programs. The form utilized was related to all 4 factors; frequency of use and communication of information were related to 3 of the 4 factors.
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Practical Research
  • Shoichi AKATSUKA, Kouji OISHI
    2013 Volume 51 Issue 2 Pages 135-145
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: February 18, 2015
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    In the present study, a coordinator at a school for children with special needs intervened in the local community by providing consultation about producing a support system for children who were in transition to the school. This practice created necessary conditions for the children's successful transfer, taking optimization of existing resources into consideration by arranging tools, holding meetings for supporting the transition, facilitating shared understanding of plans for educational support, and providing training to develop the skills of relevant people. People in contact with the children shared the view that the children's behavior changed over time. The coordinator at the special school had discussions with key persons about setting specific goals, and bonded with local organizations and relevant people. This practice influenced the local arrangement of support systems for the children's transition to the school. Future studies should specify knowledge and skills that coordinators need in order to be involved locally.
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  • Kei OGASAHARA, Subaru SUENAGA
    2013 Volume 51 Issue 2 Pages 147-156
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: February 18, 2015
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The present research reports use of an intervention package centering on self-recording with a boy with pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) who had aggressive and disruptive behavior and used violent language. The intervention had the following components: (a) the participant recorded occurrences of his own challenging behavior, (b) others reinforced occurrences of his adaptive behavior, and the child himself recorded the number of reinforcers received, and (c) a token economy system with response cost was used, in which the child's scores were computed from the contents of the records he had kept and the resulting scores could be exchanged for backup reinforcers. The inappropriate target behavior disappeared after the start of the intervention, showing repeated increases and decreases. The child recorded fewer target behaviors than his mother did. The number of recorded reinforcers for adaptive behavior received from others was maintained. The recording method and backup reinforcers appeared to influence maintenance of the behavior of self-recording. Moreover, there is a possibility that the child's recording the number of reinforcers received from others for occurrence of adaptive behavior may have affected the occurrence of the target behavior.
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  • Hiroyuki MATSUSHITA, Shigeki SONOYAMA
    2013 Volume 51 Issue 2 Pages 157-167
    Published: 2013
    Released on J-STAGE: February 18, 2015
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    The present study examined the possibility of promoting social interactions of a child with an autistic spectrum disorder by teaching him spontaneous answering behavior for riddles that the boy did not know the answer to. The intervention was introduced gradually, progressing from a setting where the boy answered by pushing a button to a setting where he answered by filling out an answer sheet. The results suggested that neither the use of antecedent control in which the behavior was easily elicited, nor a reinforcement procedure alone was an efficient means of shaping his spontaneous answering behavior. The use of visual prompt procedures to approach answering behavior directly was found to be efficient. Observations of his behavior in his daily living setting indicated that he spontaneously played riddle games there. His mother also reported that playing riddle games had become his favorite activity. Finally, the validity of the present procedures, which prompted a "possible" answer rather than a "correct" answer, was discussed.
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