『源氏物語』における催馬楽

片桐洋一教授古稀記念特

自閉症スペクトラム児の不安に対する指導支援 : 鉄道路線図による不安の可視化

自閉症スペクトラム障害 (ASD) 児は不安やストレスへの対処能力の低さ (White et al. 2009)が指摘されている。本研究では不安の強い ASD 児に対して,対象児の興味関心のある鉄道路線図を不安の程度の尺度として用い,不安,緊張場面の想起,不安,緊張の数値化,対処法ついて指導者とやり取りを行った。指導前後の不安,緊張の高い場面だけではなく,期待に関する場面の想起があり,鉄道路線図が不安以外の感情のスケールとしても用いることができると考えられた。対象児の中には不安,緊張の高い場面であっても,事前に知らされている場合や有効な対処法を利用させることで,不安が軽減する場合もあった。不安を可視化することにより,自己の不安状態や対処法を客観視することにつながり,ASD 児自身が不安な出来事に対する事前の構えを持つこと,さらに,周囲の大人が ASD 児と共通のスケールを持つことによって,ASD 児の不安状態を把握することが可能である。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

Genetic influences on prefrontal activation during a verbal fluency task in children: A twin study using near-infrared spectroscopy

Objective: The genetic and environmental influences on prefrontal function in childhood are underinvestigated due to the difficulty of measuring prefrontal function in young subjects, for which near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a suitable functional neuroimaging technique that facilitates the easy and noninvasive measurement of blood oxygenation in the superficial cerebral cortices.Method: Using a two‐channel NIRS arrangement, we measured changes in bilateral prefrontal blood oxygenation during a category version of the verbal fluency task (VFT) in 27 monozygotic twin pairs and 12 same‐sex dizygotic twin pairs ages 5–17 years. We also assessed the participant's full‐scale intelligence quotient (FIQ) and retrieved parental socioeconomic status (SES). Classical structured equation modeling was used to estimate the heritability.Results: The heritability of VFT‐related brain activation was estimated to be 44% and 37% in the right and left prefrontal regions, respectively. We also identified a significant genetic contribution (74%) to FIQ, but did not to VFT task performance. Parental SES was not correlated with FIQ, task performance, or task‐related prefrontal activation.Conclusions: This finding provides further evidence that variance in prefrontal function has a genetic component since childhood and highlights brain function, as measured by NIRS, as a promising candidate for endophenotyping neurodevelopmental disorders