Individual Education Support System Using ICT for Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

Children with developmental disabilities require special support to help them in different aspects of daily life, and individual educational support is a crucial part of such support. We developed a collaborative system for supporting children with developmental disabilities using ICT to be used by teachers, parents, and supporters. This chapter introduces this system, which provides close and immediate support through instantaneously sharing daily behavior information about the child between teacher-parent-supporters. In addition, storing the data in a highly secure cloud system facilitates passing information to children’s next educational level. Moreover, AI can match support needs and support services according to the characteristics of individual children by using ICF codes for suggesting immediate, dynamic support.

1. Introduction

A survey conducted in Japan by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology targeting children with ADHD [1], ASD [2, 3], LD [4], SLD, and DCD [5, 6] characteristics revealed that approximately 6.3% of children need support. Therefore, the Ministry advocated promoting special support education. In 2003, the Ministry’s “Future of Special Support Education (Final Report)” proposed the creation of “Individualized Educational Support Plans” as one mechanism for responding to the diverse needs of young children with disabilities appropriately. As a result, the “Individualized Educational Support Plan” and “Individualized Guidance Plan” were included in study courses.

Subsequently, in 2004, the Law for Supporting Persons with Developmental Disabilities was enacted, which legally defined developmental disabilities for the first time in Japan. Its basic principles also state that “support shall be provided to persons with developmental disabilities according to their age, sex, the disability status, individual living conditions, and the needs of related government and private sector organizations, engaged in medical, health, welfare, education, labor, and other associated services.” Support programs must be conducted seamlessly in close coordination with other organizations while supporting the decision-making process.

However, neither the creation of “individualized educational support plans” nor “individualized instructional plans” nor appropriate education and support based on these plans have been widely implemented in actual educational settings. In response to this situation, the 2016 revision of the Act on Support for Persons with Developmental Disabilities Article 8 stipulates “the preparation of individualized educational support plans, i.e., plans regarding individualized long-term support conducted in collaboration with relevant organizations engaged in work related to education, and relevant organizations and private organizations engaged in work related to medical care, health, welfare, and labor, among others,” which refers to the preparation of a report on the status of company business. The Government of Japan shall take other necessary measures, such as promoting the preparation of plans for bullying prevention and individual guidance, promoting measures to prevent bullying, and developing other support systems. The new law includes the following provisions. Furthermore, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s “Courses of Study for Special Needs Schools (2017)” states cooperation between school and the home. “In consideration of the child or student’s developmental stage, the child or student, the language activities of the child or student shall be enriched, and consideration shall be given to helping the child or student establish study habits in cooperation with the home.”

The report “Promoting Special Support Education for the Establishment of an Inclusive Education System Toward the Formation of a Coexisting Society (Subcommittee on Elementary and Secondary Education, Central Council for Education, 2012)” states the following about cooperation and support with parents, “Close cooperation between school and home is important in providing support for children with disabilities. For example, the school where the child with disabilities is enrolled and the home should regularly share information about the child’s progress and clarify the roles of each.” In 2018, the Triangle Project, which is a cooperative project between families, education, and welfare, was designed to provide parents, guardians, and medical institutions measures to “promote further cooperation between families, education, and welfare so that children with disabilities and their parents/guardians can receive seamless support in the community” [7]. In response to the report, the Ministerial Ordinance partially revised the Enforcement Regulations of the School Education Law.

“When a school prepares an individualized educational support plan,” the school shall prepare it in cooperation with relevant organizations and private organizations such as medical, welfare, health, and labor, among others (after this, referred to as “relevant organizations, among others.”), while taking into consideration the wishes of the students concerned or their guardians. Moreover, in preparing an individual educational support plan for a school, the school shall share necessary information regarding support for said students, among others, with relevant medical, welfare, health, labor, and other organizations and private organizations (after this referred to as “relevant organizations, among others.”), while considering the wishes of said students, among others, and their guardians. In addition, regarding handover, “it is essential to provide consistent support for students with disabilities from early childhood to after graduation from school from a long-term perspective, including school life and life at home and the community.” Therefore, schools should prepare an individualized educational support plan that includes the individuals and their guardians. The significance of transitions was also included, “After obtaining the consent of the students, the school should pass appropriate information about them to their next schools of higher education, among others.”

As mentioned above, school teachers need to create individual educational support plans and individual guidance plans for children with developmental disabilities in cooperation with their families and community supporters, and provide consistent support over a long period of time; however, it is currently difficult to do so sufficiently because teachers are too busy. Therefore, the current situation of developmental disabilities in Japan and the current state of the educational field (online, basic information as a subject) call for familiar, prompt, and effective support through the accumulation of daily activity histories using ICT. As described below, the use of ICT in education is progressing, and in Fukui Prefecture, tablet terminals have been distributed to all students and the ICT environment is being developed.

Therefore, the primary objectives of this study are 1) to establish a system that allows schools, parents, and support organizations to share information on children’s behavior immediately and dynamically, leading to smooth support; and 2) to establish a system that allows schools, parents, and support organizations to share information on children’s behavior immediately and dynamically, leading to smooth support. For this purpose, a cloud system was considered necessary and developed. Furthermore, 2) the second objective is to provide support devices that meet the individual characteristics of people with developmental disabilities. To achieve these two objectives, we developed a system using ICT technology, which can be used jointly by schools, families, and support organizations to solve problems.

Section 3 describes the system configuration, and Section 4 describes feedback to the support plan and progress for further development based on the configuration. Section 4 introduces the support devices and services developed based on the needs of supporters of children with developmental disabilities. Section 5 provides a summary of the discussion.

2. Educational support using ICT

The GIGA school concept in contemporary Japan promotes the development of a one-on-one terminal per student environment. In Fukui Prefecture, tablet terminals have been installed for all students. Highly advanced ICT education will be introduced to educational practices conducted to date. This innovation in education is expected to contribute to fair and individualized learning that leaves no one behind and fosters creativity in diverse children, significantly expands possibilities for children with special needs, and increases the options for supporting children with developmental disabilities. In Japan, teachers are faced with a large workload, and accelerating the introduction and operation of ICT, including integrated school administration support systems, will help reduce class preparation and grade processing burdens. It is also hoped that ICT would lead to a reform of schools’ working styles. We must not forget that the development of an ICT environment is a means and not an end. It is being undertaken to ensure that children are equipped with abundant creativity and develop the necessary qualities and abilities to live independently in the unpredictable future and participate in developing society as creators of a sustainable society. It is critical to nurture children’s ability to use information, including Internet literacy, to use ICT appropriately and safely.

Prior studies have reported case studies on online classes and online diagnostics [8, 9]. In previous studies, there have been numerous research and development efforts on devices and services to support children with developmental disabilities [10]. However, there is no other system that shares information on daily student behavior between school, family, and specialized agencies and matches it with appropriate support devices and services.

This section introduces a system undergoing research and development in Fukui Prefecture since 2009 to support children with developmental disabilities using ICT. The system connects schools, families, and specialized institutions and provides support while sharing daily information about children with homeroom teachers, guardians, and supporters.

3. Individualized education support system using ICT to link schools, families, and specialized institutions

3.1 Development of a collaborative support system according to individual characteristics

Before talking about systems, we would like to discuss some critical points about providing support. It is often said that supporting developmentally disabled children is very difficult. One reason is that the condition of a child with developmental disabilities often changes over time. Sometimes they are in good shape, and sometimes in bad shape. It is difficult to understand the child’s condition because every child is different. It is easy to assume that support, which worked well for one child, would also work for another child. Often, identical support does not work for different children. In addition, in many cases, children are good at what they do. As a result, people around children tend to think that children can do these things. Therefore, if children cannot do what is expected, people think they fail on purpose or are not authentic. In addition, children with developmental disabilities might not be able to repeat what they do well in one place in another place.

Moreover, it is difficult for individuals to understand their failures. These characteristics demand early recognition and support that matches individual needs. Early detection and observations are critical for supporting children with developmental disabilities. Each person feels and learns differently during parenting. Therefore, it is necessary to understand and recognize the characteristics and differences of each child when providing education suitable for their characteristics.

It is critical to observe each person, regardless of their disability; therefore, it is necessary to keep the child closely and precisely. Furthermore, it is required to do this on an uninterrupted and continuous basis in close cooperation with the school, family, and specialists. In addition, close collaboration is essential for a supportive environment. It is often stated that successful people with developmental disabilities always have a supportive key person. In the case of children, the key person is usually the homeroom teacher, parents, club or cram school teachers, or other supporters. For example, if the homeroom teacher and parents do their best to support the child but do so in opposite directions, they might become confused and unsure of what is best for them. Therefore, it is also necessary to have a common understanding between homeroom teachers and parents through close cooperation and collaboration. In addition, if a child continues to make mistakes, their environment might become cold in terms of human relations. Therefore, it is necessary to create a place where adults can support the child and help the child experience success in maintaining the warmth of the surroundings.

It is now mandatory to develop Individualized Educational Support Plans; however, transitional support, which is handing over a child’s history to the next level, is rarely adequate. Parents are especially burdened by the frequency of completing and submitting their child’s history to different agencies providing support. Teachers are also burdened by the large amount of paperwork related to special needs, including the Individualized Educational Support Plan. When a child moves to the next grade or higher education, there is an increasing risk of losing an opportunity to learn if too much time is spent understanding a child’s characteristics. Therefore, transferring the child’s history and ongoing support is essential [11]. Childhood is an exercise in developing the ability to live. Therefore, failures are necessary experiences. It is necessary to give children the opportunity to succeed when they make a mistake. It is also essential to gradually develop their ability to live by turning experiences of failure in elementary schools into successful experiences in junior high schools, technical colleges, high schools, and universities, and gradually connect these successful experiences to the real world of employment and employment continuity. The continuous transfer of information plays a vital role in achieving this goal. Therefore, a system for recording information about daily activities in close chronological order is necessary for understanding the conditions and behaviors of each individual and sharing this information continuously with support providers. In addition, busy teachers, supporters, and parents have less time today due to their busy schedules. Therefore, it might be impossible to provide 100% support for children with developmental disabilities in this busy and information-overloaded age, regardless of the enthusiasm and talents of teachers, parents, and professionals. As a result, a system is needed to collect information to understand children’s characteristics for providing support according to individual needs. A system is also required for sharing daily information quickly among all parties involved. In addition, supporting many children with developmental disabilities is one of watching and waiting because the type of support that should be provided is unclear even after the child’s characteristics are identified.

As a result, a system that dynamically and immediately matches individuals with support resources, including people, equipment, the environment, and individual characteristics, is needed. Therefore, we developed a system to solve the above issues consisting of a web cloud platform system and assistive AI to support people by providing individualized educational support through the collaboration between people and AI. We are currently conducting a new experiment with the cooperation of the Fukui Prefectural Teachers Association and elementary, junior high, and special-needs schools in Fukui Prefecture to demonstrate the system. The individualized Education Support System in Fukui Prefecture was developed by developmental disabilities specialists, parents’ associations of children with developmental disabilities, and the teachers. The system’s operation was established with the cooperation of Fukui Prefecture’s elementary and junior high special-needs schools and teachers’ unions. We developed the first version of an “ICT system called Picotto for connecting parents, schools, developmental disabilities specialists and their supporters.” Beginning in 2009, we operated the system and conducted demonstration tests. Strong security and personal information management are required for managing and using this platform. Therefore, Hitachi Solutions East Japan, Ltd. was contracted to manage and operate the system from 2021. Figure 1a shows a use case of the system. Figure 1b shows a diagram of the systems’ overview.

Figure 1.

(a) Use case of the system (b) diagram of the systems’ overview.

As seen in Figure 1, the system allows parents, homeroom teachers, and supporters involved with each student to set up checkpoints for each child based on their characteristics and goals and check these checkpoints daily and write comments. The homeroom teachers at school also check five items related to each child daily and write comments. Also, parents or guardians check approximately five items for each child at home and write comments. The checklist consists of items corresponding to the individual’s educational support and instructional plan goals. If a support person is present, they can also include information. Information sharing about behavior checks and comments using the system is immediate and stored in a database. It analyzes and visualizes this data, which will be explained in detail later. It also suggests and displays assistive devices and support services. Each behavior check item is tied to the relevant code in ICF-CY [12] inside the system. Support devices and support services are also registered by tying them to the relevant codes in ICF-CY. Therefore, AI can derive necessary support services by performing operations based on taking the product of the behavior history and the ICF-CY codes of support devices and services and adding them together. However, case study meetings are also held to include experts’ opinions, and if necessary, support devices and support materials can be developed. Teaching materials and support services are not limited to academic subjects but include information on food, clothing, shelter, and social skills, considered educational. New interventions such as supportive devices are added to the daily routine in response to this feedback, and this spiral is continued by providing support and developing a child’s history.

Teachers and parents conducting simple checks of these items on a PC or a tablet can accumulate daily information about the child at school and home. The system allows information sharing between the student, the family, and specialized institutions. Such information sharing facilitates understanding of students’ conditions’ medium- and long-term progress, enabling the chronological management of children’s growth and developmental process. An example of such a screen is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2.

A screen for conducting daily checks.

Figure 2 shown here was entered by a homeroom teacher having a student with a sleep disorder. The screen contains items such as “Greetings given” and “Did not sleep during class.” Moreover, there is a space on one side of the screen to write additional explanations about the checked items (Video 1: https://youtu.be/h8ekbDrvqhY). In addition, based on the values of items that are checked daily, evaluation points are assigned to items on learning, physical, language, interpersonal, daily living, and emotions. They are presented in an easy-to-understand radar chart format (Figure 3). In this display format, the difference between the maximum and minimum values is visualized as maximum. It is also possible to display evaluation points. The current system version facilitates selecting two periods and displaying two patterns simultaneously so that changes in the individual’s condition can be seen immediately. Various other interfaces are also available, including a CSV output function.

Figure 3.

Visualization of behavioral changes using radar graphs.

In this PoC (Proof of Concept), we have designed and developed support devices when necessary according to the status picture of the individual. The IoT (Internet of Things) support devices we have developed provide support while automatically collecting data on the student’s behavior, and we have added functions that enable a detailed understanding of the student’s condition and reduce the burden on teachers and parents.

We will briefly explain the mechanism for collecting action data from this IoT support device.

This system has an API (Application Programming Interface) designed to allow the addition of behavioral data and comments from various external assistive devices and educational materials.

Information from outside sources can also be stored in the device (Figure 4), allowing easy integration with external services.

Figure 4.

The user can select action items in this system when the “External linkage” checkbox is checked on the external linkage function screen.

The evaluation from the externally linked supporting devices is set as behavior check item, and the five levels of assessments are stored in the daily behavior history of students, similar to school teachers’ and guardians’ daily evaluations. This figure shows a screenshot of a day’s history. You can see the evaluations entered by school teachers, parents, students, and the day-to-day behavior evaluations automatically accumulated by the device.

Next, we will explain how these assistive devices and support services are matched with individual characteristics. Picotto performs daily behavioral checks, and each behavioral item is weighted and tied to a related ICF code. Different support devices and support services are also associated with ICF codes related to the cognitive functions they support. For example, ICF code d710 is related to basic interpersonal interactions. Therefore, assessment and support tools for interpersonal relationships related to fundamental interpersonal interactions, such as situational awareness training support systems, would be identified by this ICF code.

Thus, behavioral checks by teachers, parents, supporters, and assistive devices can be collected, and data regarding the individual’s strengths and weaknesses can be analyzed using this system. Furthermore, we have developed a function that expresses daily items using ICF codes, which matches and introduces support devices, teaching materials, and support services. This function enables matching students with external support services without exposing their personal information. Thus, system can immediately provide support services according to the individual characteristics and the current condition of a child. If you need to see more information, you can press “See More” to display additional information. Using this system, teachers and parents can conduct daily checks and identify support suggestions through ICF collaboration according to the characteristics of individual children.

This is the management screen of the system. Currently, it has 1500 behavior items already incorporated, and these behavior items are tied to ICF codes and weighted. ICF codes are also assigned to behavioral items. We have included ICF codes for items that were not included.

3.2 Results of questionnaire evaluation of the Picotto system

The results of the questionnaire of the system to the research collaborators who used the system in 2016–2018 are shown in Figure 5. The total number of respondents to the questionnaire was 25: 10 parents, 7 teachers, 5 supporters, and 3 others.

Figure 5.

Results of questionnaire evaluation of the Picotto system.

About 70% of the users responded that they were able to share information with teachers, parents, and supporters and were able to see the child’s behavior in concrete terms. In general, the use of the system was found to be effective. About 70% of the users thought that the introduction function of the support device service was effective. The chart function was used by only about 20% of the users. In the interview survey, there were requests to use the chart function for reports such as individual education support plans and reports, although it is not used much as a daily information sharing function.

4. Introduction of support tools

Supportive services would be more effective if daily behavioral data were accumulated and analyzed in case conferences by homeroom teachers, parents, supporters, and specialists. Moreover, interventions using existing assistive devices will be used when available. However, if no suitable assistive devices are available, they can be developed. In our experience, it is better to conduct a needs survey for each person and individually develop equipment for that person, which often results in more user-friendly support-tools, rather than collecting the needs of many people and developing equipment because each person’s developmental disabilities are different. We have found that it is better to develop several support-tools that meet individual needs, one by one, which will result in a product that meets everyone’s needs, which is better than analyzing general needs and developing average support tools. Assistive devices have been developed based on individual characteristics and needs. For example, there are various assistive devices such as social skills training systems [13], support systems [14, 15], learning systems [16, 17], psychological tasks to examine personal characteristics [18, 19], etc. This chapter introduces several assistive technologies.

4.1 IoT support system using RFID, GPS

IoT technology is useful for locating people and things, such as “where are people?

Location-based services” are available to solve these problems. Speaking of location-based services, systems that utilize GPS (Global Positioning System) are already in use for managing people and objects moving over wide areas, and systems that use RFID (radio frequency identifier) are already in use for managing objects. In addition, GPS and RFID technologies have become very inexpensive to use. Therefore, they are being applied to the development of support tools to meet individual needs.

In this section, we explain the development process and usage of “Helping system not to forget anything using RFID” and “GPS Tracking System.”

4.1.1 Systems to help prevent lost and found items using RFID

ADHD children often forget things. Forgetting things at school and other activities at school is a failure experience in daily life and often causes students to lose motivation. To continue to improve this, simply asking parents to check their children every day is not efficient, as well as losing the opportunity to check by themselves. Therefore, we developed a system to check for forgotten items by ourselves.

Register the timetable of each student and the information on belongings in the database of the system. If anomalous belongings, etc., increase due to change of schedule, etc., the teacher in charge of each student can add to belongings from the dedicated page. To use this system, paste the RFID tags on lecture notes and etc., students see the timetable and touch the necessary items on the tablet to check for forget items. Then, it checks with the database to check whether the ID assigned to RFID should be read and prepared. If there is a match, the color of the items that are displayed on the tablet is changed, visually as well, you can be sure that you are ready (Figure 6).

Figure 6.

(a) Interface screen: tablet set in a school bag (b) RFID tags on textbook and notebook (c) database table structure.

Children with developmental disorders also suffer from excessive anxiety over tasks that deviate from routine work. Therefore, the tablet terminal is fixed to the school bag, providing a tablet terminal, has been considered so that you do not have to take action, such as to prepare.

As a result, it is possible to focus only on the act of “match the timetable,” there is no need to direct the useless attention.

User interface screens are developed according to the needs of the users, as they differ according to their requirements. For users who want to reduce the amount of information, we developed an interface screen that displays only one day's worth of information, and for users who want to grasp the entire schedule, we developed a weekly schedule.

4.1.2 GPS tracking system to school and home

The prototype system was developed to manage school arrival and departure due to the need to know where they are when walking between school and home.

In order to take advantage of this feature, it is necessary to register the location information in advance. Here, the position information represents the latitude and longitude when dividing the road used at the time of going down and back school at intervals of several hundred meters. If students go through them in order, they can be regarded as going through prescribed roads. In order to start this tracking process, when students go to and from school, students do not need to operate tablets. You register your home and school in advance, and as soon as you leave a circle that is a few hundred meters in radius, tracking will start. Tracking will not start when you are staying in the circle of the specified two points (departure point and arrival point).

4.1.3 Information sharing from assistive devices using API

By sending information on students from IoT-based support devices, etc., to Picotto using API, information can be shared in real time with supporters at school, home, and professional organizations.

For example, if a student is able to go to school without deviating from the route, the five-point rating for the school attendance behavior item will be 5. Also, for example, if a student prepares three points of belongings, the behavior check item of the system will be given a three-point rating (Figure 7) (Video 2: https://youtu.be/14-chu1gh_M).

Figure 7.

Collecting daily behavioral data of children with developmental disabilities from assistive devices and support services.

4.1.4 Results of the IoT-based assistive devices questionnaire evaluation

The results of a questionnaire survey of the system to research collaborators who used the system in 2016–2018 are shown in the Figure 8. Twenty-five people responded to the questionnaire: 10 parents, 7 teachers, 5 supporters, and 3 others

Figure 8.

Results of the IoT-based assistive devices questionnaire evaluation.

About half of the system users considered the GPS-based tracking system to be effective for school and home. More than 80% of the users wanted to use the system. About 70% of the respondents thought that the system to help prevent lost and found items using RFID was effective and wanted to use it. In addition, 60% of the users thought that the automatic collection of five-point evaluation values by the external linkage function was effective.

4.2 Plant pot system for communication support and living support

Plant cultivation has been reported to have a variety of positive effects on people, including relaxation and refreshment from the colors and fragrances, a sense of accomplishment from growth of plants, and daily exercise. In agriculture, the IoT is widely used and applied to cultivation management. We thought that the IoT technology used in plant cultivation could be used not only for plant cultivation but also for supporting human life and communication and devised a plant pot that supports the daily life of the person cultivating the plants [20].

By using this system, we expect the following effects (1) and (2).

1. The system supports plant cultivation by collecting information on the surrounding environment using various sensors installed in the flowerpots and telling the user to adjust the temperature, solar radiation, and water content to suit the plant. The goal is to support the user’s employment by providing a sense of accomplishment through plant cultivation while communicating with the system.

2. The system understands the user’s daily rhythm based on the temperature and illumination information acquired by various sensors and the time of day and provides daily life support. The plant pot system recommends the use of air conditioning and heating to achieve the appropriate temperature for a person with sensory deprivation or encourages sleeping and waking for a person whose bedtime rhythm is disrupted.

The plant pot system contains wish of improvement and enhancement of our lives to be filled with smiles, that’s why we named this pot “Etubo-chan,” which means smiling pot in Japanese. Figure 9 shows a photograph of this system. M5Stack Basic, which has a small display, speaker, SD card slot, and Wi-Fi communication, was used as the core microcomputer of the system. M5Stack Basic has a micro-SD card and stores Japanese character data and images of anthropomorphic plant pot characters. The character normally displays a sleeping image, and when the user approaches the plant pot system, the infrared sensor reacts and displays an image of the awakened character. At the same time, M5Stack outputs audio and text greetings that match the time obtained from the NTP server. If the time is past the preset bedtime, the system outputs “I’m sleepy” to encourage the user to go to bed. Then, the system converses with the user to create an appropriate environment for the plant and human by using the values obtained from the illuminance sensor and the temperature/humidity/barometric pressure sensor. Specifically, the system outputs “It’s too dark” when the illumination level is low and “It’s too hot/cold” when the temperature is too hot/cold to encourage the user to take action. If the plants need water based on the soil moisture sensor value, the system tells them “I want water” and encourages watering. Finally, the system says on behalf of plants “thank you for coming see and watering me.” In addition, the values of various sensors every 5 minutes, the time when a person approaches, and the time when watering is performed are saved in CSV format on a MicroSD card. Video 1 (https://youtu.be/h8ekbDrvqhY) shows an example of the plant pot system working.

Figure 9.

The plant pot system “Etubo-chan” (Video 3: https://youtu.be/TR7sV01Kfug).

We conducted a verification experiment regarding the relaxation effect of this system. In the experiment, 12 subjects were asked to perform three tasks: Task A “watering a empty plant pot,” Task B “watering a plant pot with a plant,” and Task C “watering a plant pot system with a plant.” At that time, EEG measurements and interviews were conducted. The alpha wave occupancy of each task was calculated from the EEG, and the averages of all of them were compared in Figure 10. The results showed that the occupancy of alpha waves during Task C “watering a plant pot system with a plant” was significantly higher than that during rest and Task A “watering a empty plant pot.” This result suggests that the flowerpot system has a relaxing effect. In addition, in the interview survey, the participants commented that the flowerpot system “made them happy to talk,” “the presence of the character made watering feel more meaningful,” and “the system was cute and relaxed.” In this study, we have developed a flowerpot system with a relaxing effect, and we received many positive comments.

Figure 10.

Comparison of the average α wave occupancy in each task.

4.3 Programming education system and mentor training program for children with developmental disabilities

In Japan, there is a shortage of IT human resources, and as a national policy, programming education has been made mandatory in elementary, junior high, and high schools, with the aim of promoting the spread of programming education among young people.

However, the shortage of instructors to provide programming education is also a serious problem. Therefore, it is important to train IT personnel and instructors at universities and other institutions of higher education.

On the other hand, employment support for people with developmental disabilities is a pressing issue for the nation, and there are high expectations for IT workers because they can work from home even if they have disabilities, allowing them to work in a variety of ways.

Some developmentally disabled people with ASD are good at systemization [21], and we worked on programming education and training of educators (mentor training) for young developmentally disabled people aged 7–18 as a project commissioned by Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

4.3.1 Training mentors

The characteristics of people with developmental disabilities vary from person to person in a hundred different ways, and it is important to understand developmental disabilities as well as to provide correct support. Furthermore, it is necessary for supporters of developmental disabilities to understand programming education and programming work.

Therefore, we planned a training program consisting of 15 lecturers (five people consisting of specialists in developmental disabilities, doctors, and educators, five IT professionals, five specialists who support employment for people with developmental disabilities), each lasting 30–60 minutes, with the aim of training mentors. The training sessions were videotaped, and e-Learning materials were created, making it possible to conduct mentor training on an ongoing basis regardless of location.

The mentors were teachers at special-needs schools and special-needs classes, undergraduate and graduate students in engineering, graduate students at technical colleges, undergraduate and graduate students in education, professional staff at after-school daycare services, and professional staff at temporary daytime support providers.

4.3.2 Mentor training course to understand development disabilities

Mentor training course is largely divided into (1–3) fields with 30–60min lectures per segment.

1. Course list relating to understanding people with developmental disabilities

   • Psychological characteristics of developmental disabilities and educational support

   • Treatment of and rehabilitation for autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, and learning disabilities

   • Support for ASD in and out of school

   • Understand secondary disability in development disability

   • Focus on support for children with developmental disabilities at school and involvement with others

2. Course list relating to science/manufacturing, programming education

   • School course guidelines

   • Programming teaching materials

   • Programming educational methods corresponding to individual characteristics of children with developmental disabilities

   • Job as programmer

   • Integrated system development

3. Employment support for people with developmental disabilities

   • Support people with developmental disabilities with self-understanding

   • Employment of severely disabled people at home and coordination with special-needs school

   • A gap between education and labor

   • Anecdotal report of support for children with developmental disabilities

   • Inclusive society and science technology to realize it

4.3.3 Development of new programming teaching materials based on characteristics of disabilities and implementation of programming education

Computer programming is considered an important skill for developing higher-order thinking in addition to algorithmic problem-solving skills, and there are high expectations for the development of mathematical concepts and problem-solving skills [22], such as Scratch [23] and Scratch Jr [24], which is specialized for young learners. With the advent of computer programming tools with visual design for beginners, programming education using such tools has been popular in Japan.

Our target learners this time are students at special-needs schools and students with developmental disabilities receiving after-school day care services or temporary daytime support. In the past, we have held classes using general-purpose programming development tools such as Scratch, but because tools such as Scratch are multifunctional, they are difficult for these children with disabilities, and they often lose track of what to do. Therefore, we developed programming materials to foster logical thinking, such as various commands (walk, change direction, conditional branching, and repetition) through visual design, with the goal of solving clear-cut tasks such as escaping from a maze. The program is cloud-based and can be learned anytime, anywhere.

The programming materials were devised to enable children with developmental disabilities to work on them with interest and perseverance, taking into account their characteristics as follows.

Programming teaching materials were designed based on the following rule of SPELL. Further, curricula and methods of instruction were examined based on the rule.

1. Designing programming teaching materials based on the rule of SPELL

   • Structure: Set up easy and clear framework

     • Develop visualized and structured teaching materials

   • Positive: Get involved positively (praise)

     • Give praise for success

   • Emphasis: Empathy (understand)

     • Give encouragement even if failed

   • Low arousal: Low stimulation as excessive stimulation would cause panic by preparing eye-friendly screen layout conducive to working with calm, students who take the course can select screen layout of their liking (Figure 11).

   • Links: Bond (connection with community, mentors and students, and peers, cooperation)

   Provide an opportunity to facilitate communication by using projection mapping for testing program operations

2. Ingenuity in programming teaching materials based on characteristics of disabilities

Figure 11.

Children can choose the favorite screen layout according to their personal characteristics.

User interface with assist features by taking the characteristics of people with developmental disabilities into consideration.

User interface with assist features by taking the characteristics of people with developmental disabilities into consideration

• “Give praise” when program operation goes well.

• “Mollify” and “give hints” when not operating.

Understand sequential executions and control structures (repetition, conditional branching) with visual design and feel the concept of event-driven, and so on (Figure 12).

Figure 12.

Programming creation tool with visual design (explanation of each command).

Figure 13 is a screen shot of one stage (Stage006). The pop-up window on the right of the figure shows a clear goal. The cat character near the center of the maze is trying to reach the goal at the bottom while avoiding obstacles. Hints are given such as combining the “direction,” “repeat,” and “walk” commands.

• When Start, Goal is completed with simulation operation, a praising mark appears.

• Even if fails, give encouragement with just a bit more mark.

• Work on the challenge of escaping from a maze by a virtual robot with a clear goal.

• The aim is simple and clear.

• Ponder an effective path to reach a goal in maze escape game.

Figure 13.

Maze assignment with clear goals.

The aim is simple and clear. Ponder an effective path to reach a goal in maze escape game.

Programming becomes possible by combining commands with visual design and inputting parameter in the command (Figure 14). Each command block can be shifted to Java source for learning coding (Figure 15).

Figure 14.

An example of programming work.

Figure 15.

Java source code for command buttons.

Figure 16 shows the image when the command is executed. You can also check the operation while executing the command (source code) on the right side of the screen step by step.

Figure 16.

Execution of commands.

A total of 30 kinds of stages were set up with the difficulty level gradually going up. Formulate a plan such as getting treasures to earn points (Figure 17).

Figure 17.

An example of a difficult stage (Stage 20).

While operations can be checked individually in the computer terminal, offer a favorable environment for interacting each other using projection mapping via 3DG on a table with students around it (Figure 18).

Figure 18.

Execution screen of programming material using projection mapping.

As for projection mapping, the stereographic projection is used from both right and left, so as not to cast a shadow. Direct input is also planned by using pointing device.

Take the status of disabilities and the characteristics of children and students into consideration and do a follow-up.

The progress of students working on the challenge of programming can be grasped in the server, which can be utilized by professionals and mentors in conducting individualized teaching.

4.3.4 The status of programming class

A programming class was conducted at five schools so far, involving 24 students who took the course and 20 mentors.

We conducted a model class the first time and mentors took the lead in continuing to conduct programming class the second time and thereafter. A view of the classroom is shown in Figure 19.

Figure 19.

Programming class.

Especially, children with intellectual disabilities could understand aims and command details, went ahead with formulating programming, and managed to advance several stages.

A person specialized in supporting people with developmental disabilities but not in programming commented that “I could also use teaching materials like these for teaching.”

While working on the task, even children with autistic tendencies showed behaviors such as teaching their peers. There is an evaluation report of peer tutoring as a means of aiding the learning of programming languages [25]. This is not only effective for learning, but also provides an opportunity to promote communication, and peer tutoring may play an important role, especially for ASD children who have difficulty with communication.

4.3.5 Questionnaire results

(1) Training mentors

The composition of the mentors who participated in the project was characterized by a high percentage of those with programming experience (Figure 20).

Figure 20.

Mentor’s background (programming skills).

Approximately 90% (19 out of 21) of the mentors indicated that the programming courses were implemented as planned (Figure 21).

Figure 21.

Whether the course was accomplished as planned.

The areas that were successfully implemented and those that were not are shown in Figures 22 and 23, respectively.

Figure 22.

Questionnaire results on areas that were successfully implemented.

Figure 23.

Questionnaire results regarding areas that were not implemented well.

(2) Results of questionnaire on programming courses

From the implementer’s free answer:

• I think that the programming materials developed were able to clarify the issues and their objectives very well. The programming materials we developed were able to clarify the tasks and their objectives very well.

• The control structures such as sequential execution, repetition and conditional branching, which are indispensable elements of programming, were relatively easy to understand. This was a success beyond our expectations.

• The students were able to easily understand the operations of buttons, etc., which are necessary to build up programming (to give commands).

• In order to solve the given task, logical thinking, i.e., thinking about the order and combination of various commands, is necessary. This was a success beyond our expectations.

• The scope of instruction was clearly defined based on an understanding of the children’s aptitudes.

• The preparation of the PC environment was very smooth.

• It was good that the children showed interest in programming.

From the pupils’ questionnaires:

• The students found programming interesting in terms of character movement and completing stages, as well as in their own devising and experimenting (Figure 24).

Figure 24.

Results of a survey on the reasons why “programming” was interesting.

Regarding the contents explained by the mentors and what they actually did, 14 out of 25 students answered that it was easy, while four students answered that it was a little difficult, indicating that the degree of difficulty varied from person to person.

The fact that 80% of the students (20 out of 25) answered that the contents and use of the course materials was easy to understand indicates that the course materials were easy to use for most of the students (Figure 25).

Figure 25.

Whether the lecture content and exercises were difficult or not.

5. Summary and future issues

In this study, it was found that support for children with developmental disabilities using an ICT-based system for immediate information sharing among support schools, families, and specialized institutions was effective. In the results of the questionnaire, the system’s functions were generally highly evaluated. Contrary to expectations, the visualization of behavioral changes using radar graphs function was not used very often. This may be because both teachers and parents can grasp the situation of their children by viewing daily behavioral data. However, there was a desire to use the radar graphs to create reports on individualized educational support plans. In the future, we would like to develop a function that makes it possible to compose reports on individualized educational support plans in an easier-to-understand manner.

In Japan today, various changes in social structure are taking place with the new Corona, Society 5.0, the GIGA school concept, DX, etc. In particular, the Corona disaster has promoted the use of IT in schools, and now that the infrastructure for one device per student is being established, this trend is expected to accelerate.

Therefore, the most important thing for this project is to analyze the results while implementing and giving back to society. In the fast-paced IT field, it is important to quickly introduce and adapt to the new technology while putting it into actual use, and it is necessary to keep a fast spiral and not overlook the sense of difficulty of a minority group.

Therefore, the goal is to construct a system that is adapted to society by paying attention to social trends and collaborating with researchers from various fields, especially humanities and social sciences researchers, engineering researchers, and teachers in the field. Human-centered design is conducted to identify the needs of students and families, the school management system, and the needs of the field. Then, we will clarify the mechanisms of educational support and welfare support and their issues and propose and construct a feasible and sustainable support system. Currently, the PoC is being conducted with the cooperation of the Fukui Prefecture Teachers’ Union. The current issue is the busy schedules of teachers and parents, and we are developing a system that can centralize duplicated tasks to solve the busy schedules of teachers and parents while providing effective support for students. We hope that the educational system and the system will cooperate with each other, leading to a society in which no one is left behind, for all students and their parents.

We want to realize close, efficient, and collaborative support in time for students to enter society, so that they can live and work in society without suffering, and so that they can lead a better life and have more opportunities to learn. We believe that ICT individualized educational support system will play a role in making education more effective in today’s busy society.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP18K02896・JP19K12245・JP22K02786・JP22K12283, and SCOPE:162305008.

Notes/thanks/other declarations

We would like to thank the Fukui Teachers’ Union, teachers in Fukui Prefecture, parents, supporters, and collaborators.