Development of Language-Cognitive Program for Prevention of Learning Disabilities in Preschool Children

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1) A diagnostic system for identification of children at high risk of learning disabilities at age five has been successfully developed on the base of.the diagnostic research study conducted to about 180 five-year-old preschool children in spring, 2001. It's validity was confirmed through the school readiness research study conducted in spring, 20022) Series of language-cognitive teaching programs, computer software, for the prevention of learning disabilities has been developed: (1) Introductory programs to a computer, (2)Introductory program for literacy in Hiragana, (3) a reading and writing program of Kanji, (4) a program teaching the basis of decimal system. Additionally, (5) a lexicon-semantic programs through learning classification of various kinds of objects was also developed.3) We conducted a teaching experiment to ten five-year-old children at high risk of learning disabilities for about two yeas from June 2001 until March 2003 by individual teaching method using a computer and various kinds of program developed by us. As the result of our educational intervention to them for two years, 6 out of 10 children were confirmed to be prevented from learning disabilities by the final evaluation tests of their abilities in Japanese, arithmetic and of intelligence, conducted at the end of the academic year of the 1st grade, March, 2003.4) The analysis of data shows that the success of prevention of learning disabilities by such special education depends much upon the degree offormation of school readiness in them at the period of school entrance.