Quantitative Aspects of Communicative Impairment Ascertained in a Large National Survey of Japanese Children

The Japanese version of the Children’s Communication Checklist-2 (CCC-2) was rated by caregivers in a large national population sample of 22,871 children aged 3–15 years. The General Communication Composite (GCC) of the CCC-2 exhibited a distribution with a single-factor structure. The GCC distribution between autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and language impairment (LI) groups in the general population fit inside a bell curve with significant overlap with the general population, and a continuum was evident between groups. No evidence of a natural cutoff that would differentiate categorically affected from unaffected children was seen. The Social Interaction Deviance Composite (SIDC) supported the notion that ASD and LI are on the opposite endpoints of a SIDC continuum of communication impairment. © 2017 Springer Science+Business Media, LLCEmbargo Period 12 month

Place-Name Study in Multicultural Education in Japan : Ainu place-names in the Kanto Region

私たちの住んでいる土地は,それぞれの時代に生きた様々な民族が,彼らの生活や価値観,時には個人の名前を刻み込んできたパリンプセスト(何度も上書きされた古代の羊皮紙)のようなものである.地名には,過去の,時に古代にまでさかのぼる,考古学とは別の観点からの人間史の重要な痕跡が認められる.この意味において,地名はいわば"言語的DNA"であって,それらは,人間の身体の中のDNAと同様に,人間の膨大な歴史を示している(Sims-Williams, 2006).地名の多くには,さまざまな言語の署名が認められるといってよい.日本列島の地名に見られる言語には,日本語,アイヌ語,朝鮮語,琉球語,そして英語があり,これらの5つの言語が素材となって地名を形成している.それだけではなく仏教の影響をうけたパーリ語の地名の例もある.また,ここでは取り上げないが,聾唖者のコミュニティーの中には,手話という伝統的な言語システムを用いて確立されたその土地の呼び名も存在する.異なった言語と言語集団の流入は,言語学者が呼ぶところの"多言語主義"を反映している.しかしながら,下層にある言語部分を明らかにするには,通常,地名の表層を発掘する必要がある.ここでは,北海道や東北ではなく,関東という異例の場所におけるアイヌ語の地名を取り上げる.Place-names are a sign of the multilingual history of a particular place. The late-20^ century witnessed an important shift from the Meiji-generated propaganda of ethnic and linguistic homogeneity to an increasing awareness of Japan\u27s multilinguality and multiculturality. The study of place-names is a useful contribution to research on the languages of Japan and multilingualism in Japan. The abundance of Ainu place-names in Hokkaido and Tohoku is well-known. Not so well documented are the Ainu place-names in other parts of Japan. This paper assembles from different sources the most important Ainu place-names in the Kanto region

CCC-2 Norms

Files used to create norms for CCC-

Association between maternal Autism Spectrum Quotient scores and the tendency to see pragmatic impairments as a problem.

The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that individuals with higher Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scores would be more permissive of pragmatic impairments than those with lower AQ scores. We investigated the presence of a correlation between the AQ scores of mothers with children in grades 1 to 6 and their evaluation of assumed pragmatic impairments in children using the Maternal Evaluation of Pragmatic Impairments in Children (MEPC) measure. Mothers were asked to rate how they would feel if their child showed the communication behaviors listed in scales D (coherence), E (inappropriate initiation), F (stereotyped language), G (use of context), and H (nonverbal communication) of the Children's Communication Checklist-2, which measures pragmatic impairments. All responses were given on a five-point Likert scale. The results indicated that the higher the maternal AQ score, the less the mother tended to evaluate pragmatic impairments as a problem. We also examined whether the age and gender of assumed children influenced the correlation between AQ and MEPC scores, but found no significant correlation. The partial correlation coefficients were calculated for each subscale, none of which was significant. A negative correlation was found between AQ and MEPC scores as a whole