This study aimed to examine the effects of intervention through a cognitive educational program based on previous research and conducted it on a class of nursery preschoolers. To examine the effects of the intervention, two measures of cognitive abilities (Flanker task / PASS Rating Scale) were administered pre- and post-intervention. We analyzed the activity review sheets filled by children after each session. As a result, the size of interference effects on the response time of the Flanker task in post-intervention decreased compared with that in pre-intervention and the scores of the PASS Rating Scale in post-intervention were higher than that in pre-intervention. Additionally, analyses of the activity review sheets indicated that the descriptions of “content of activity” and “strategy” tended to increase as the sessions progressed. Changes in measures of cognitive abilities suggest that the intervention played an important part in enhancing preschoolers’ cognitive abilities. The result of reflection suggests the fact that we actively provided opportunities to interact with instructors and classmates while verbalizing the contents and strategies of activities during sessions. These results suggest the positive impact of class-wide intervention of cognitive enhancement programs among preschoolers.

The present study examined facial expression cognition features of students at a reformatory school, using a facial expression recognition task that was created on the basis of previous research. In order to evaluate the judgments of facial expressions in photos made by the group from a reformatory school (66 males; average age 19.2 years), their results were compared with the results from a group of 60 male university students (average age 20.15 years) without any delinquency history or developmental disorders. The comparison, which included all genders and photos presented in the task, revealed that the percentage of correct answers was relatively lower in the reformatory student group than in the university student group, especially in the recognition of expressions of sadness, fear, and disgust. In addition, the analysis of the error rate showed that the reformatory student group tended to confuse sadness and disgust, and to misinterpret disgust as anger and fear as sadness in the photos of males. The results of the present study may have limitations because of restrictions in the selection of participants. However, the study suggests that the reformatory school students failed to interpret the correct intentions of others from their facial expressions. This may be a factor in their problems with interpersonal relationships. In particular, the reformatory school students tended to consider others to be aggressive.

This report examined the effects and issues of online on-demand lectures and on-the-job training with online case studies for teachers of resource room instruction. For the lecture, we analyzed the contents of the questionnaires answered by the participants after the course. In the case study, we examined the "individualized teaching plan" of one case selected by each participant from the students in charge, using the records of online discussions among the participants, university teachers, and supervisors for school education at local educational authorities who participated as advisers, the "individualized teaching plan" before and after the revision, and the participants' reflective records. As a result, through the lecture, the participants were able to understand the philosophy and laws related to special needs education, basic knowledge about developmental disabilities in general, and the importance of understanding and raising awareness of disabilities. However, there were some difficulties in understanding the actual conditions of different children as well as how to provide guidance and support according to individual needs, such as how to conduct specific assessments and tests and how to utilize the results. In addition, through the case studies, the participants provided specific examples of support to the students, and it is thought that they can utilize the knowledge gained in the training and provide support to the students.

本研究では、日本の大学生を対象にCAS2:Rating Scaleを試行的に実施し、日本人大学生の基礎的なデータの収集とPASS尺度の信頼性の確認を行うこと、ならびにASD特性、ADHD特性との関連について明らかとすることを目的とした。本研究では、大学生148名に対してCAS2:Rating Scale、AQ-J-10、ASRSパートAについて自記式での回答を求めた。その結果、CAS2:Rating ScaleにおけるPASS尺度の内的整合性が確認され、4つのPASSプロセスを評価できることが確認された。ASD特性との関連について、AQ-J-10の得点高群では、特徴的なPASSプロセスは見られなかったものの、ADHD特性との関連については、ASRSパートAの得点高群においてCAS2:Rating Scaleの「注意」尺度の得点が低いことが示され、注意機能との関連が示唆された。

ASDはその主症状の他に、アレキシサイミア傾向の高さ、感情調節の困難さ、および不安傾向の高さなどの感情面に関する問題が指摘されている。本研究では、アレキシサイミア傾向の評価に用いられている各種の質問紙について整理したあと、ASDにおけるアレキシサイミア傾向と不安、感情調整との関連について扱った研究に関する検討を行なった。種々の研究から、ASDの持つアレキシサイミア傾向は認知面における困難さであることや、アレキシサイミアのサブタイプを踏まえた分析の有用性、これらの要素がそれぞれ関連していることが示唆された。一方で、それらが互いに及ぼす影響や因果性については未だ明らかではなく、今後の検討が必要であろうと考えられた。また、臨床上はASDのアレキシサイミア傾向の特性に関する研究知見と介入との結びつきが今後より重要になると思われる。

<p>The relationship between circumscribed interests (CI) in ASD, related emotional experiences and ASD tendency has not been fully studied. In this study, 22 junior and senior high school students (10 children with ASD, 12 TD children) participated in the experiment. Three image conditions, [1] Social condition including facial expressions of various people, [2] Non-social condition related to CI such as vehicles and machinery, [3] Non-social condition not related to CI such as furniture and tableware were set , and participants subjectively provided valence ratings, arousal ratings. Also, reaction time at the time of judgment were measured. As a result, there were no differences between groups in any of the indicators. However, there were significant correlation between the SCQ total score and valence ratings in one image condition, the SCQ total score and arousal ratings in all image conditions, Restricted, Repetitive, and Stereotyped Patterns of Behavior and RT in some image conditions. The above suggests that the ASD tendency may be related to the evocation of pleasant emotions, the amount of emotions, and the ability to quickly judge their emotions.</p>

<p>This study examined the relationship between reading speed, accuracy and the cognitive processes defined by PASS theory of 21 children (8-12 age) with ADHD. Standard scores of DN CAS were compared on the basis of the speed and accuracy of Kana reading . The result indicated that standard score of Attention was significantly lower than standard scores of Planning and Simultaneous processing in children with ADHD. Standard score of Simultaneous processing in the group of extra reading time was significantly lower than that in the group of standard reading time. Standard score of Attention in the group of extra reading time was marginally significantly lower than that in the group of standard reading time. In addition, Standard score of Planning in the group of extra reading error was marginally significantly lower than that in the group of standard reading error. Furthermore, standard score of Simultaneous processing in the group of extra reading time and error was significantly lower than that in the group of standard reading time and error. The overall results suggested the possibility of valuable assessment for not only individual cognitive processing characteristics, but also the state of ADHD children with reading difficulty based on PASS theory of intelligence.</p>

<p>We adapted theory of cognitive process to the intervention for a student with ADHD. The purpose of the present study was to suggest how to know emotional state and control by himself under looking back on the past. We talked about events which was in school and asked him how felt then. Moreover, we asked him to express your emotion for each event, through utilizing a worksheet. To visualize the degree of emotion, it seemed that he found significance in "visualization of emotions" and began to notice the relationship between his actions and emotions. Moreover, it seems that he was doing self-monitoring of emotions at home and school voluntarily. Therefore, we suggested that it is effective that intervention based on the evaluation of cognitive characteristic, and we could adjust the situation for each student by utilizing the worksheet, and get an opportunity to explain how he feels. Furthermore, his parents or his teachers also could understand how he feels, and his emotion would change by the order of events or physical condition, even if the same situation.</p>

<p>The present study investigated the effect of stimulus type of the visual stop-signal task on the behavioral performance and event-related potentials (ERPs) in two groups of the typical adult population grouped by their ADHD tendency. For this purpose, twenty-three participants were divided into two groups according to the scores of CAARS (hADHD: high ADHD tendency group, lADHD: low ADHD tendency group). Two conditions, the car condition and the shape condition, were set for the stop-signal task according to its type of stimulus. The behavioral results demonstrated a marked increase in the commission error rate to Go stimulus in the car condition and in the hADHD group. In terms of ERP results, for the hADHD group, there was a significant decrease in the Go-N2 and the SST-N2 amplitude, in addition to the significant shortening of SST-P3. No marked differences were demonstrated according to the stimulus type. The results of behavioral performance and Go-N2 suggested the marked difficulty in making distinction between left and right in the hADHD group as compared to the lADHD regardless of the conditions. Further, the results of the SST-N2 suggested the difficulty in response control in the hADHD group. The results also suggested that the possible effectiveness of the priming effect between Go and Stop stimuli might be effective to ADHD population. The results also suggested the possible improvement in response control process in hADHD group by the semantic relativity between Go and Stop stimuli.</p>

<p>The inherent requirements for completing a university course are the abilities, knowledge, and skills that students need in order to complete the course. It is important that reasonable accommodations be made for students with disabilities, without compromising the inherent and necessary objectives, content, and functions of education for all. For the present study, after multiple Internet searches, quantitative content analyses were conducted on the descriptions of inherent requirements for course completion in the websites of Australian universities. More than 80% of the universities included in the searches had policies that described the inherent requirements for courses and the process for providing reasonable adjustments. Additionally, at some universities, details regarding the inherent requirements had been developed for courses in human health services, such as nursing. Quantitative content analysis revealed that the inherent requirements did not include auditory or motor skills in several courses of study. These results suggest that when Japanese institutions of higher education are considering reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities, it may be useful to clarify the objectives, content, and functions of education with reference to the inherent requirements for course completion that have been specifıed at some universities in Australia.</p>

<p>Inattention is strongly associated with poor planning and low working memory capacity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between inattention score, behavioral performance during problem solving tasks, and prefrontal cortex activity in typical developing adults. The mastermind game was used as the problem solving task. For the investigation of brain activities, cerebral blood flow in the prefrontal cortex area was measured using near-infrared spectroscopy during the mastermind game. In terms of behavioral performance, longer completion times and lower accuracy were observed in the high-inattention score group compared with the low-inattention score group on 4 pin conditions where the difficulty level was highest. The hemodynamic changes in oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) in the low-inattention score group were similar regardless of difficulty level in all analyzed areas. This indicated that the entire fronto-parietal network may be related to problem solving processes. In the high-inattention group, the hemodynamic changes in oxy-Hb decreased on 4 pin conditions where high-working memory was utilized. These results suggest that the tendency for high inattention

<p>This study examined the semantic processing of simple sentences in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children with ASD, typically developing (TD) children, and TD adults completed a word recall task. They were asked to recall words corresponding to the blank spaces in simple sentences. The task had a verb condition and an object condition. First, we compared the number of words recalled and that of wrong answers given by TD children and TD adults. Then, similarly, a comparison was made between children with ASD and TD children. We found no significant difference in the ability to recall words between TD children and TD adults. In the object condition, children with ASD recalled significantly fewer words than did TD children. Children with ASD added features to modify the scene, to limit it, or to express it concretely with features of incorrect answers. Therefore, it is suggested that children with ASD exhibit enhanced partial processing at the stage of retrieving semantic memory of words, and exhibit weaknesses in integrating the meaning of the whole sentence.</p>

<p>In this study, 16 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 37 typically developing (TD) children aged between 8 to 18 years were required moral judgments from the points of view on third person, recipient of action, and actor. Stories using as material included two variables, i.e., actor's intention and outcome of action with positive or negative value. Results indicated that children with ASD and TD children could consider both intention and outcome in each material. Additionally, judgments according to the points of view changed in both groups. However, children with ASD put more weight on negative outcome than on positive intention when actor's intention and negative outcome were incongruent, especially from the points of view of recipient of action.</p>

<p>We examined neurocognitive process of response control during the Stop-signal task by setting up the difference of visual stimulus condition. The aim of this study was to examine how the type of Go and Stop stimuli and combination of them, related to car (the car stimulus condition) and sign (the sign stimulus condition), is reflected in behavioral performances and ERP. Twenty-three adults participated in this experiment. As a result, the reaction time (RT) and the stop signal reaction time (SSRT) was significantly prolonged in the car stimulus condition, and also the commission error rate to Go stimulus was significantly increased, than in the sign stimulus condition. In ERP, significantly higher GFP peak and longer GFP latency from 175 ms to 225 ms after the Go stimulus was onset, in the car stimulus condition. Similarly, significantly higher GFP peak from 175 ms to 225 ms after the Stop stimulus was onset, and significantly lower GFP peak from 230 ms to 400 ms after the Stop stimulus was onset, additionally the amplitude of the SST-P3 decreased in the car stimulus condition, than in the sign stimulus condition. These results suggest that the difference of the stimulus condition, especially the difficulty of the stimuli distinction, affects the attentional resource allocation to the both Go stimuli and Stop ones in the Stop-signal task. And the effects might be reflected in the both behavioral performances and ERPs.</p>

<p>Inattention is strongly associated with poor planning and low working memory capacity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between inattention score, behavioral performance during problem solving tasks, and prefrontal cortex activity in typical developing adults. The mastermind game was used as the problem solving task. For the investigation of brain activities, cerebral blood flow in the prefrontal cortex area was measured using near-infrared spectroscopy during the mastermind game. In terms of behavioral performance, longer completion times and lower accuracy were observed in the high-inattention score group compared with the low-inattention score group on 4 pin conditions where the difficulty level was highest. The hemodynamic changes in oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) in the low-inattention score group were similar regardless of difficulty level in all analyzed areas. This indicated that the entire fronto-parietal network may be related to problem solving processes. In the high-inattention group, the hemodynamic changes in oxy-Hb decreased on 4 pin conditions where high-working memory was utilized. These results suggest that the tendency for high inattention influences the working memory process and medial PFC activities related to working memory.</p>

<p>Recent studies about assessment of cognition/intelligence have indicated that assumed cognitive function assessed by several tests changed from single component to several components. Such test has the hypothesis about individual's competence and levels of cognitive functioning so that the examiner may be informed about the relative levels of processing （strengths and weaknesses） within the individual. These characteristics have been supported by examiners engaged assessment and intervention of cognitive profiles about children with developmental disabilities. In this paper, we introduce the Das's theory of intelligence of which the major components are Planning, Attention, and Simultaneous and Successive Processing （or "PASS"） based on Luria's neuropsychology. And we describe specific application of the model to the assessment of PASS cognitive components （the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System;DN-CAS）. DN-CAS is a unique clinical instrument, composed of novel measures, that remains one of the few alternatives for cognitive assessment professionals seeking an alternative to the Cattell-Horn-Carroll （CHC） model of intellectual functioning, supporting the Wechsler and other tests of intelligence.</p>

This study investigated the semantic processing of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Event-related potentials (ERP) with children performing silent reading tasks were analyzed. Furthermore, we used descriptive tests to require participants to answer whether a sentence was correct and to correctly rewrite the incorrect sentences. According to an analysis of ERP, the ASD group demonstrated significantly smaller N400 amplitudes compared with the typically developing (TD) group. However, no significant differences between the groups were observed in the percentage of correct answers on descriptive tests. These results suggest that children with ASD have a peculiarity of neural processing for semantically incongruent words, although they can determine whether sentences are correct or incorrect, which is similar to the TD children.

This study investigated the semantic processing of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Event-related potentials (ERP) with children performing silent reading tasks were analyzed. Furthermore, we used descriptive tests to require participants to answer whether a sentence was correct and to correctly rewrite the incorrect sentences. According to an analysis of ERP, the ASD group demonstrated significantly smaller N400 amplitudes compared with the typically developing (TD) group. However, no significant differences between the groups were observed in the percentage of correct answers on descriptive tests. These results suggest that children with ASD have a peculiarity of neural processing for semantically incongruent words, although they can determine whether sentences are correct or incorrect, which is similar to the TD children.

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are indicated to be weak against stress and anxiety (White et al., 2009) .In this study, four children with ASD participated. We adapted the intervention for children with ASD. The railway map was used as a measure of anxiety levels, because of subjects were interested in it. The purpose of this study is to investigate effectiveness of intervention that visualized about the degree of anxiety using the railroad map in children with ASD. The subjects proposed recent stressed events and fun events. To visualize the degree of anxiety and strategies solving anxiety events, they could evaluate them and communicate about their anxiety by the railroad map. We suggested that some of thechildren with ASD could reduce in anxiety by envisaging stressed events and their schedule. Children with ASD varied anxiety level and their anxiety expression. That showed children with ASD would express their degree of anxiety and other affects using the railroad map.

We investigated the inhibition control in prefrontal area activation associated with Real Animal Size Test (RAST) by using near-infrared of spectroscopy (NIRS), in subjects from five children to typical developmental adults. Adults showed Stroop effect as reflected by slower RTs in incongruent condition than congruent. The concentration of oxy-Hb increased under incongruent condition than that under other conditions. The oxy-Hb concentration of high-interference group was higher than that of low-interference group, the results indicated that high-interference group administered more inhibited task-irrelevant information and selected take-relevant information than low-interference group, thus subjects in high-interference group might have higher load on incongruent condition to maintain good performance as much as low-interference group. In children with Stroop effect, the concentration of oxy-Hb decreased during interference condition. The result suggested when children suppress sufficiently distracting stimulus, prefrontal area related inhibition control was more activated, because of their prefrontal area may not maturate to a level comparable to adults.

The purpose of the present study was to explore the efficacy of the COGENT program on promoting of cognitive abilities and constructing readiness about reading in two pre-school boys with high-risk for learning disabilities. As a result, the abilities of the kana reading, the basic skill on reading and successive processing on PASS cognitive processing were improved. These results suggest that the COGENT program was a useful remediation program for children with high-risk of learning disabilities. In this study, we introduced the pair learning. The participants were inspired by the behavior each other. And they were questioned the problem each other. So, we considered the interactions between participants were also facilitated the learning in this program.

The purpose of the present study was to re-examine the construct validity of the Das-Naglieri Cognitive Assessment System Japanese Edition (CAS-J) with data from the standardization sample for the CAS-J (N=1,201), dividing the sample into 4 age groups: 5-7, 8-10, 11-13, and 14-17. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to compare 4 models: a 1-factor model, a 2-factor model [(PA)(SS)], a 3-factor model [PA(SS)], and a 4-factor model [PASS]. The results from a Χ2 test were the smallest at all 4 age groups on a 4-factor model. Indices suggested that the 4-factor PASS model was best/better fit to the CAS-J standardization data in all 4 age groups. It was concluded that the PASS theory of intelligence was confirmed in the Japanese standardization sample. The findings also provided further information about the construct validity of the CAS-J. The present results suggest that the PASS theory of intelligence may be a useful model for Japanese children and adolescents.

The present study investigates the relation between reading and phonological processing in school-age children with and without reading difficulties (RD). After the developmental change in this relation in children without reading difficulties (grades 1-6; N=120) had been examined, the nature of reading problems and phonological deficits, and the relation between them, were investigated in children with reading difficulties (N=10; 9 elementary-school boys, 1 middle-school girl). Reading ability was assessed by having the children read kana characters, words, and nonwords. For the analysis, reading time was divided into reading latency and articulation time. Phonological processing was assessed by using a mora deletion task and a nonword repetition task. The results suggested that the correlation between reading and phonological processing varied with grade level for children without reading difficulties, which implies that the relationship shifts during reading development. A deviance analysis suggested that the children with reading difficulties had significantly longer reading latency for kana words and longer articulation time for kana nonwords. Moreover, the child

The present study examined numerical processing ability in Japanese children with mathematical difficulties (N=6), children without mathematical difficulties (N=95), and adults (N=11). TK-style Japanese language and mathematics diagnostic tests were used to evaluate the children's academic achievement. Numerical comparison task was administrated in order to investigate the processing speed of numerical magnitude and the distance effect, which is a phenomenon in which reaction time decreases as the numerical distance between the stimuli increases. The main results of the numerical comparison task were as follows: (a) Processing speed decreased with age. Furthermore, the children without mathematical difficulties showed the distance effect regardless of age. (b) Processing speed was slower in the children with mathematical difficulties who were in the lower grades. (c) The numerical distance effect was not seen in the participants who had slower reaction times than those of the children with mathematical difficulties who had faster reaction times. These results suggest that children with mathematical difficulties might have trouble with the representation of numerical magnitude.

We studied developmental changes in the screening questionnaire for use with age five years old children, and tested the accuracy of it. The questionnaire was developed for early detection of mild developmental disorders (Ishikawa et al., 2007). 758 kindergarten children in Tsukuba City were surveyed with it twice at a year interval by their homeroom teacher and parents. After the first survey we observed the children in nursery school to find developmental or child care problems. Following features were extinguished in one year later in typical development; absence of friend, no participation to group, not following to rules and orders of play or work, clumsiness, language and discourse problems. These features were sustained in children suspected to have developmental disorders. The sensitivity of screening was low because negative predicted value was set to be high. To increase the sensitivity it was discussed that several items should be added, that kindergarten teachers and parents should be enlightened on the questionnaire, and that items of sustaining features mentioned above should be weighted.

The purpose of this study was to clarify number process deficits in children with mathematical difficulties. Previous study reported that children with mathematical difficulties have cognitive deficits for material involving numbers, but only few people address the issue of number process speeds in children with mathematical difficulties. This study traces developmental changes and difficulties in automatic and intentional process of Arabic numerals using a number - Stroop paradigms. The results revealed that speeds of number processing increased with age, the difference between RTs in physical size and numerical comparison decrease in children with mathematical difficulties. But, children with mathematical difficulties have great difference between RTs in physical size and numerical comparison tasks by comparing with age-matched controls. Moreover, the effect-size analysis indicated that the great advantage for the congruent pairs compared to neutral and incongruent condition in children with mathematical difficulties. A bigger facilitation effect in congruent condition was shown because of physical size was automatically processed from infancy, and the numerical comparison RTs we

rights: 日本特殊教育学会rights: 本文データは学協会の許諾に基づきCiNiiから複製したものであるrelation: IsVersionOf:http://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/110007329050

The gambling task used here requires subjects to choose cards from four decks that varied in gains and losses in order to maximize their profit. Gender and individual differences have been reported in choice behaviors as measured with the gambling task. However, how individual differences influence gender differences in the gambling task remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate these influences; therefore, we divided the male participants into two groups based on choice behaviors in the gambling task and measured skin conductance responses (SCRs) in two male groups and a one female group. On comparing the three groups, males who chose riskless cards showed higher punishment and anticipatory SCRs than the second male and female groups. Moreover, males other than the participants who chose riskless cards had the same reward, punishment, and anticipatory SCRs as the females. These findings suggest that inclusion of participants who chose riskless cards in the male group causes gender differences in performance and SCRs during the gambling task. (Japanese Journal of Physiological Psychology and Psychophysiology, 25 (3) : 245-254, 2007.)

In the present study, effects of reading comprehension practice with rehearsal strategy was investigated with two students with reading disabilities. Two students participated in this study were of normal range of intellectual ability, verbal comprehension, and primary reading and writing skills. Nevertheless, they have difficulty on learning from school textbook by means of reading. In comprehension intervention, texts were lead from Japanese textbook for each students' appropriate grade and used. It was assumed that coding and memory demand of keywords in the texts is reduced by rehearsal strategy training, then more working memory resource become available and comprehension will be improved. After 6 months intervention, decoding-related abilities, word identification score and word reading speed, improved for both students, but higher level comprehension ability was improved for one of them. Although individual differences in verbal comprehension and working memory capacity are suggested as possible factors for the comprehension improvement difference, the importance of students to understand the purposes of the strategy and the expected outcomes of the strategy application was

We tested the validity of a screening questionnaire for use with five-year-old children. The questionnaire was developed for early detection of developmental disorders (Dairoku et al., 2006). There were 23 items for homeroom teachers nd 17 items for parents. 648 kindergarten children in Tsukuba City were surveyed with these two questionnaires. From observing these children and interviewing their teachers in nursery school, 87 of the children were found or suspected to have developmental or child care problems. The discrimination power of each item of these questionnaires was tested by comparing the answers about children with and without these problems. Eventually, 2 items for teachers and 1 item for parents were deleted. Both questionnaires showed sufficiently high reliability and validity. Since questionnaire items were subject to various interpretations, some interpretations of each item were listed as subitems. It thus became clear that kindergarten teachers must be enlightened in this regard. Moreover, since different situations can lead to different interpretations of a given item, it is necessary to specify the situation in which the behavior was observed, and to assess spec

本研究ではCrack-the-Codeを用い､ADHD児および健常児群におけるプランニングの発達的変化と配列の正誤にみられるプランニングの特徴について検討した｡その結果､健常児群では中学1年生から2年生にかけて正答率が上昇した｡ADHD児の半数が健常児群と同様の正答率を示したが､一部には正答率が低く､高いエラー率と低い修正率を示したADHD児も認められた｡配列が誤答の場合には､エラー率が高いのに加えて､修正率は低かったことから､プランの結果予測や評価が困難であり､ADHD児は健常児群に比べ課題遂行時間は短い者が多く､プランニングが精緻化されていないことが推察された｡今後､時間データや言語的指標を用いた詳細な検討が必要とされる｡

The Continuous Performance Test (CPT) performance of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was compared to an age-matched control group. We used the CPT-AX paradigm. To maintain uncertainty of the stimulus series, we implemented three different ISIs between the warning stimulus and the following stimulus. Both ADHD and control subject participants were divided into three groups by age (9, 11, and 13). In the control group, performance changed developmentally and the effect of ISI was different in each age group. The ADHD group made more errors (miss, false alarm) and indicated larger variance of percentages and reaction times of hits than the controls. These results suggested that children with ADHD have difficulty controlling response inhibition toward coping with ISI changes effectively. In conclusion, CPT-AX under various ISI conditions may contribute to evaluate a difficulty of the response control of children with ADHD.

The impaired response control in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and its developmental change were examined through behavioral measurements. Children diagnosed as having ADHD (N=19) and age-matched controls with no such identified problem (N=27) participated in the Continuous Performance Test (CPT). So that the effects of age could be investigated, the younger (mean age around 9 years old) and older (mean age around 11 years old) children were divided into separate groups. The inter-stimulus interval (ISIs) between a warning stimulus and the following one was varied among 800, 1,500 and 3,000 ms in random order. The children identified as having ADHD showed significantly lower hit rates and had more false alarms (FAs) than did the other group of children, and task performances were significantly different between the groups. Effects of inter-stimulus interval were found in the number of false alarms: as the interval was prolonged, the younger children with ADHD had more false alarms than the older ones. However, inter-stimulus interval had a similar effect on reaction time in both groups. These data suggest that the development of response control in children with ADHD may be similar to that in children not having that diagnosis. The impaired response control in the children with ADHD may disturb their performance and thereby delay the development of an executive function to perform goal-directed behavior. We conclude that further study using the Continuous Performance Test might establish a behavioral method for assessing impaired response control in children with ADHD.

Children with Werdnig-Hoffmann disease have a rapid spinal muscular atrophy. Paralysis of all muscles severely limits their participation in ordinary life; patients are assisted in the long-term by a ventilator. Thus, they miss opportunities for development of verbal and nonverbal communication. In order to facilitate home care of children with Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, it will be important not only to ensure these children the least restrictive environment, but also to develop a way that they can communicate and especially a way for them to learn expressive behavior. The purpose of the present study was to enhance the communication competence of a child with Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, through developing a discriminative response to verbal stimuli. The results showed that the method was useful and made it possible for the child to express various intentions.