The present exploratory study aimed to investigate the career thoughts and work motivation of inmates who had low recidivism risk and who had received vocational training at two Private Finance Initiative prisons in Japan. In these prisons, some of the operations are handled by private companies, financed in part by the government’s Private Finance Initiative program. After the inmates (N＝535) completed a questionnaire, the data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analyses in order to examine the subcategories of career thoughts hindering working, career thoughts improving continuous working, and job motivation. These categories were drawn from previous studies in career psychology. Although the results confirmed several subcategories as defined in previous studies, some challenges were encountered, including ceiling effects on several items and an inadequate model fit, particularly for job motivation. Gender differences in career thoughts hindering working and career thoughts improving continuous working were also examined. The results indicated that, compared to the male inmates, the female inmates had greater expectations for a job after their release and recognized important values, but also had a feeling of exclusion and anxiety about working due to their imprisonment. Furthermore, the women demonstrated lower coping skills when dealing with stress and undesirable situations than the men. Overall, the present findings suggest the need for further research on psychological and situational factors related to inmates’ work careers in order to provide better support to them in overcoming the challenges that they face during their reentry into society. The results of the present study highlight the importance of addressing gender differences when developing interventions and support programs for inmates. The study’s limitations and implications for future studies were also discussed.

Children who are congenitally deaf-blind have difficulty in communication and need special guidance that is suitable for their developmental stage. However, in Japan, it has been difficult to share and pass on expertise in the education of deaf-blind children, and improving the level of expertise has also been an issue. Furthermore, few studies have been done on teachers involved in the education of deaf-blind children. In the present study, teachers who had had experience teaching deaf-blind children were interviewed in order to obtain information about how their teaching methods changed according to the children’s developmental stages. The results of the interviews revealed that the nature of communication with deafblind children begins with the formation of connections with others and gradually increases in generality. As the communicative needs of deaf-blind children gradually changed, the teachers changed their instructional methods so as to meet the children’s needs. On the other hand, what a deaf-blind child can understand and express depends on the type of behavior, the situation, and the context of the situation, suggesting that each deaf-blind child has multiple developmental stages, and that it is necessary to understand the development of deaf-blind children from multiple perspectives. In the future, specific case studies should be done in order to compensate for difficulties in generalizing the present research.

The purpose of the present study was to identify characteristics associated with preschool teachers’ use of fingerspelling (Japanese manual syllabary) with preschool children who are deaf or hard of hearing. The participants included 4 teachers, with 2 teachers assigned to the younger children (3-4 years old) and 2 teachers assigned to the older children (5-6 years old). The teachers used sign language and fingerspelling, along with spoken language, for communication. Conversations between the teachers and the children were recorded to investigate how the teachers employed fingerspelling. Also, during the recorded conversations, each teacher was asked about their method of using fingerspelling and their intention behind using that method. The results revealed that the teachers of the older children used fingerspelling slightly more frequently, and for more types of vocabulary, than the teachers of the younger children did. When the teachers presented a Japanese word using fingerspelling, it was observed that they used techniques that combined other visual stimuli, such as presenting a word in sign language that has the same meaning (all of the teachers), showing the actual object or a picture card related to that word (the teachers of the younger children), or writing the word or a sentence containing the word (the teachers of the older children). This suggests that these preschool teachers intended to lay the groundwork for the younger children’s use of fingerspelling and expand the older children’s Japanese vocabulary through the use of fingerspelling.

Teachers should identify the preferred stimuli of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities in order to support them by utilizing their preferred stimuli as reinforcers. Teachers in charge of Japanese elementary and junior high level special-needs schools for children with intellectual disabilities and teachers of special-needs classes for children with intellectual disabilities, autism, and emotional disabilities (N=173) completed a questionnaire that asked how the teachers identified the students’ preferences and their frequency of doing so, how the teachers used the identified preferences, and what type of stimuli they used. The results indicated that many teachers identified children’s preferences through behavioral observations and interviews, and approximately half of them identified their students’ preferences at least once a day. These results suggest that although the teachers included preferences in their teaching materials and assignments, only a few of them used the students’ preferences as reinforcers. Moreover, the teachers who used stimuli as reinforcers most often used praise and attention; fewer teachers used physical contact or toys. One of the reasons that the teachers gave for not identifying the children’s preferences was that they lacked the competence to do that. The discussion examined why only a few teachers used their students’ preferred stimuli as reinforcers and pointed out the need for systematic teacher training in preference assessment.

The difficulties in coordinated movements shown by individuals with intellectual disabilities have been widely discussed. Some previous studies have addressed motor guidance for pre- and post-schooling children with intellectual disabilities; but few published studies have focused on interventions aimed at improving the gross and fine motor skills of individuals who are beyond school age. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate effects on gross and fine motor skills of an intervention that consisted of 5 whole-body exercises that had been shown to stabilize the trunk of the body, cultivate a sense of balance, and improve posture and dynamic balance ability. The participants were 2 third-year junior high school students with intellectual disabilities who had problems with coordinated movements. The intervention was carried out twice a week; 15 sessions were conducted over a period of 3 months. Effects of the intervention were evaluated before, during, and after the training period using tasks that measured gross and fine motor skills. The gross motor skills tasks included activities such as tray carrying and one-legged hopping; the fine motor skills tasks, sticker placement and scissor manipulation. A comparison of the participants’ pre- and post-intervention assessments indicated that they improved in both gross and fine motor skills. These findings suggest that this exercise program may have the potential to contribute to improvements in both gross and fine motor skills, indicating the possibility of enhancing coordination functions even beyond the school-age period.

Although speech and language disorder resource rooms appear to provide essential support for elementary school students who stutter, clinical reports that support its efficacy are scant. Therefore, the present article reports the results of an instruction method that combined fluency shaping and a Demands and Capacities Model-based approach (DCM). The study was conducted in a speech and language disorder resource room. The participant was a first-grade elementary school girl who stuttered. She was taught fluency shaping techniques (slow rate, easy onset, and light contact). Attempts were also made to decrease speakers’ motor, language, cognitive, and emotional demands on her. The results indicated that, in 10-minute free conversations, the percentage of phrases stuttered decreased from 73% to 10%, and the duration of her stuttering decreased from 2,078 ms to 788 ms. Her parents’ ratings on the Stuttering Severity Rating Scale of the severity of her stuttering at home decreased from 5 to 3. In addition, her scores on the Communication Attitude Test decreased from 18 to 8. These results suggest that the combination of fluency shaping and the Demands and Capacities Model-based approach may have been effective in improving her speech fluency and her attitude about communication. This procedure may be a viable option for future instruction in speech and language disorder resource rooms.