Changes in Emotional/Behavioral Aspects of Children with Developmental Disabilities through Long-term Academic Support

In Japan, 6.3% of elementary and junior high school students who are enrolled in normal classes experience learning difficulties (MEXT Japan, 2002). A child's inability to read well can generate an inferiority complex that results in the loss of the child's motivation to learn. This in turn has been found to lead to secondary impediments that may result in juvenile delinquency. In the present study, children with learning difficulties and their parents participated in a year-long intervention. Children received academic tutoring, and their parents met with researchers to discuss their children's problems and progress. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was used to inspect the kind of changes which arose in daily life after one year. It was found that through this intervention total problem behaviors, especially aggressive behaviors, were reduced and children achieved high levels of motivation for learning. These changes may lessen the likelihood of problem behaviors for these children in the future.