In order to obtain detailed information on the current practice of grammar intervention for children with language disorders in Tokyo, an online questionnaire survey was conducted of 78 elementary schools with language resource rooms. Valid responses were obtained from 51 schools (65.4％) from one teacher representing each school’s resource room. The questions related to the grade level and medical diagnosis of the children, frequency and duration of interventions, intervention contexts, grammatical items taught, intervention procedures, activities and materials, recipients of advice and instruction other than the children, and method of measurement of outcomes. The results indicated that children with language disorders across all grade levels were less likely to receive grammar interventions. For intervention procedures, the teachers preferred implicit approaches such as recasting and modeling in a natural and communicative context, and explicit approaches that focused on target grammar were used less often. The results also suggested that the teachers recognized the need for greater frequency and longer duration of interventions. Furthermore, the findings indicated that in addition to understanding the importance of one-on-one intervention, the teachers also recognized the need for grammar instruction based on the contexts of the children’s school life.

The Australian Curriculum (AC) was designed to accommodate the diversity of students; a revised version was released in 2022. In the 2022 revision, the following points were addressed in order to facilitate the inclusion of students with disabilities: (a) the learning areas were revised in a way that is more respectful of diverse learning; (b) “Learning Progressions” that were focused on the skills of literacy and numeracy were introduced; and (c) the levels of general capabilities related to the learning areas were broadened. By doing so, it was expected that teachers would be able to create inclusive practices flexibly and with appropriate adjustments, based on a concrete understanding of students’ actual condition. Each state with authority over elementary and secondary education is allowed to devise its Australian Curriculum. The state curricula have structures that are more clearly aware of intellectual disabilities. The curriculum in the state of Victoria has “Towards Foundation” levels in most learning areas. These levels are linked with a tool for understanding the actual situation of students with disabilities, called “Abilities Based Learning and Education Support”. The curriculum in the state of New South Wales has “access content points” in the subjects of English and mathematics in early stage 1, and “Life skills outcomes and content” in learning areas in stages 4-5. These structures are a response to the difficulty of creating practices for students with intellectual disabilities. Teachers can decide how to utilize these structures, based on individual students’ needs. The structures will also be helpful in discussions of curriculum development that respond to the diversity within the disability category. In the future, the revised Australian Curriculum should be evaluated with input from all concerned. It is also important to understand the outcomes and challenges of the two states’ curricula.

The present study examined the actual situation and relationship between job satisfaction and subjective well-being of special education teachers of students with intellectual disabilities. The proposed scale was administered to 364 special education teachers of students with intellectual disabilities. Exploratory factor analysis yielded five factors: satisfaction in terms of the meaning of the job, relationships with colleagues, teaching, relationships with the parents of the students, and the work environment. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis revealed that subjective well-being was positively related to satisfaction in terms of the meaning of the job, teaching, and the work environment, which are sub-factors of job satisfaction. These results suggest that increasing satisfaction in terms of the meaning of the job, teaching, and the work environment may improve the subjective well-being of special education teachers of students with intellectual disabilities.

Difficulties in caring for children with developmental disabilities and abused children have been identified as a major cause of difficulties in the foster care of such children. In order to develop an improved support system for these foster children and their foster parents, it is important to understand developmental disabilities and experiences of abuse on a regional basis. Foster parents were asked to respond to the same multiple choice questionnaire as that administered by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), including 18 questions on inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, and 27 questions on interpersonal relationships and restricted repetitive behaviors. Valid data were obtained regarding 603 foster children, of whom 271 were considered to have experienced abuse. Regardless of whether they had experienced abuse, the scores of the foster children were higher on all those domains than those reported by the Ministry. It was found that 33.8％ of foster children who had experienced abuse had significant difficulties because of inattention, 15.4％ had significant difficulties because of hyperactivity-impulsivity, and 25.4％ had significant difficulties in interpersonal relationships and restricted repetitive behaviors. In addition to providing educational support for foster children, extensive support for foster parents is urgent in order to prevent “foster care disorder”, in which placements are terminated due to deterioration of the relationship between the foster parents and their foster children. Furthermore, given that many of those in need of social care may have developmental disabilities, it is desirable to have a social system that continues to provide them with special support even after they reach adulthood.