After many teachers retired, the remaining teachers' workload increased, with the result that they have less time for continuing education and face difficulties in learning through collegiality. The purpose of the present study was to examine various aspects of professional development and the actual state of learning of teachers at special schools who were involved in the education of children with intellectual disabilities. Special school teachers (N＝1830) completed a questionnaire. The factors “understanding children and forming relationships,” “cooperation with parents,” and “relationships with colleagues” were extracted as particularly important factors associated with professional development. Many teachers tended to emphasize the difficulties that they had experienced as teachers. The importance of specializing in the education of children with intellectual disabilities, such as instruction that combines subjects and areas, was considered relatively less important. Many teachers reported having had positive experiences with learning from and being supported by their colleagues. Those teachers with more extensive experience in educating children with intellectual disabilities were more likely to report that they felt rewarded, confident, and able to solve problems and improve their competence while cooperating with parents and using various resources. Even with many years of teaching experience, those who had had fewer years working at special schools for students with intellectual disabilities were more likely to have the same diffıiulties as novice teachers, including “understanding children and forming relationships.” Vigorous improvement is needed in (a) learning through collegiality about how to educate children with intellectual disabilities, and（b）supporting less experienced colleagues.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether a regular classroom teacher's support could assist a second-grade boy with selective mutism who was enrolled in a regular class at a public elementary school to speak in more places and with more people. At the start of the school year in April, the teacher first created a safe environment at the school that might make the boy feel more positive about speaking. Then, at the school, at the boy's home, and at a medical institution, the teacher provided speech support 22 times from June to February of the following year, intending to help the boy become able to speak at school. During the speech support at school, the boy practiced speech in small steps using multiplication table challenge cards, speech challenge cards, and question cards that had been prepared by the teacher. In April, the boy did not speak at all at school, but by February of the following year, he spoke in class in situations in which speech was required, such as exchanging opinions or making a presentation, when the teacher was nearby. These results suggest that it is possible for a regular classroom teacher to assist a child with selective mutism to speak in more situations and with more people.

Recent studies of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have focused on their humor. Humor is a transient pleasant emotional experience of feeling that something is funny. It arises from the cognitive processing of stimuli. The present study examined research trends and issues regarding humor in individuals with autism spectrum disorder, assuming that individuals with autism spectrum disorder have their own sense of humor. The results suggested that individuals with autism spectrum disorder have specifıcity in their comprehension, appreciation, and production of humor. It has been suggested that individuals with autism spectrum disorder may have difficulty understanding the intention of others' humor and may tend to experience humor by focusing on parts rather than on the whole more than typically developed (TD) individuals do. It has been hypothesized that their weak central coherence theory and failure of theory of mind may also be influential. The present review identified the following issues for future study of individuals with autism spectrum disorder: examining the influence of developmental stage and IQ, developing indices to enable a better understanding of their humor, identifying factors that promote their appreciation of humor, studying the relationship between humor appreciation and comprehension, and studying the humor that they produce. It is expected that further information on these issues and consideration of the availability of humor will assist in the support of individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Working memory is a set of processes that holds a limited amount of information temporarily for use in ongoing cognitive processing. Recent research has indicated that working memory is not only related to difficulties of individuals with intellectual disabilities; it might also play a causal role in intellectual disabilities. The present paper discusses the current state and future directions of research on the working memory of individuals with intellectual disabilities. The results of the present review of the working memory literature in intellectual disabilities indicate that the characteristics of the verbal and visuospatial working memory of individuals with intellectual disabilities differ depending on the etiology of their intellectual disability. Attentional control in working memory is also suggested as a common deficit in individuals with intellectual disabilities. Issues raised in earlier research and directions for future research that are discussed include underlying mechanisms of the characteristics of the working memory of individuals with intellectual disabilities, training working memory, and the relationship between working memory and long-term memory.