Skip to main content

Teachers’ skill ratings of children with learning disabilities: A comparison of the United States and Japan

Annals of Dyslexia volume 50, pages 213–238 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

This study compared U.S. and Japanese grade school teachers’ perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of children in their classrooms identified as fitting commonly used criteria for a learning disability. U.S. teachers identified 4.0 percent of their children as meeting the criteria and Japanese teachers identified 1.5 percent. The teachers then rated these children’s abilities in the areas of listening, speaking, reading/writing, reasoning, mathematics, social, and study skills. Overall, U.S. and Japanese teachers’ rating patterns were similar on 70 percent of the skills. In most areas where significant differences were found—listening, speaking, reading/writing and study skills—U.S. teachers rated higher percentages of their children as “weaker” than Japanese teachers. A noteworthy exception was the area of social skills where Japanese children received higher percentages of “weak” ratings. U.S. and Japanese teachers also differed in their perceptions of causative factors leading to their children’s learning difficulties. We discuss the findings in terms of U.S.-Japanese differences in writing systems and cultural expectations.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

43,34 €

Price includes VAT (Finland)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Association for Children with Learning Disabilities (ACLD). 1984. Definition adopted by the ACLD Board of Directors, September 22.

  • Brady, S., and Shankweiler, D. Eds. 1991. Phonological Processes in Literacy: A Tribute to Isabelle Y. Liberman. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cazden, C. 1988. Classroom Discourse. Portsmouth: Heineman.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeFries, J.C. 1989. Gender ratios in reading disabled children and their affected relatives: A commentary. Journal of Learning Disabilities 22:544–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Francis, F., Fletcher, J., Shaywitz, B., and Rourke, B. 1996. Defining learning and language disabilities: Conceptual and psychometric issues with the use of IQ tests. Language, Speech and Hearing in the Schools 27:132–43

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallimore, R., and Hu-Pei Au, K. 1997. The competence/incompetence paradox in the education of minority culture children. In Mind, Culture and Activity, eds. M. Cole, Y. Engestrom, and O. Vasquez. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hallowell, E., and Ratey, J. 1994. Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood. New York: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammill, D., and Bryant, B. 1998. Learning Disabilities Diagnostic Inventory: A Method to Help Identify Intrinsic Processing Disorders in Children and Adolescents. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hara, K. 1998. Development of phonological awareness in normally developing children. In Report of Comparative Study in Japan and the U.S.: Children with Learning Disabilities, ed. J. Kato. Yokohama: Kanagawa Research Institute of Learning Disability.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirose, T., and Hatta, T. 1988. Reading disabilities in modern Japanese and Chinese. Journal of Research in Reading 11:152–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Interagency Committee on Learning Disabilities (ICLD). 1987. Organization’s 1987 definition.

  • Iwama, H. 1993. Japan’s group orientation in secondary schools. In Japanese Schooling: Patterns of Socialization, Equality and Political Control, ed. J. Shields. University Park: Penn State Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, D., and Myklebust, H. 1967. Learning Disabilities: Education Principles and Practices. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kephart, N. 1971. The Slow Learner in the Classroom. Columbus, OH: Merrill

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirk, S. 1962. Educating Exceptional Children. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levine, M. 1996. The ANSWER System: School Questionnaire for Developmental, Behavioral and Health Assessment of the Elementary School Child. Cambridge, MA: Educators Publishing Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeVine, R. 1995. Public harmony, private doubts. Harvard Graduate School of Education Bulletin, June, 14–15.

  • Liberman, I., and Shankweiler, D. 1979. Speech, the alphabet, and teaching to read. In Theory and Practice of Early Reading, vol. II, eds. L. Resnick and P. Weaver. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyon, R. 1996. Learning disabilities. The Future of Children: Special Education for Students with Disabilities 6(1):54–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyon, R. 1997. Personal correspondence with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.

  • Makita, K. 1968. The rarity of reading disability in Japanese children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 38(4):599–614.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michaels, S. 1981. “Sharing time”: Children’s narrative styles and differential access to literacy. Language in Society 10:423–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miles, T., Haslum, M., and Wheeler, T. 1998. Gender ratio in dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia 48:27–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muta, E., Hayashi, Y., Kato, J., Nakagawa, K., Sasaki, T., Morinaga, Y., Haynes, C., Hook, P., Macaruso, P., and Johnson, D. 1998. Regular education teachers’ assessment of academic and social skills in children with LD: A comparative study in the U.S. and Japan. Journal of the Japanese Academy of Learning Disabilities 6(2):80–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muta, E. 1997. Personal correspondence with Education Department, Seikei University, June 15.

  • Muta, E. 2000. Personal correspondence with Education Department, Seikei University, March 30.

  • National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities. 1990. In NJCLD 1994, Collective Perspectives on Issues Affecting Learning Disabilities: Position Papers and Statements. Austin, TX: PRO ED.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennington, B.F. 1991. Diagnosing Learning Disorders: A Neuropsychological Framework. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rath, L. 1994. Phonemic awareness: Segmenting and blending the sounds of language. In Teaching Reading: Language, Letters, and Thought, ed. S. Brody. Milford, NH: LARC Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rozin, P., Poritzsky, S., and Stotsky, S. 1971. American children with reading problems can easily learn to read English represented in Chinese characters. Science 171:1264–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seward, J. 1994. Easy Japanese: A Guide to Spoken and Written Japanese. Lincolnwood, IL: Passport Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaywitz, S., Shaywitz, B., Fletcher, J., and Escobar, M. 1990. Prevalence of reading disability in boys and girls: Results of the Connecticut Longitudinal Study. Journal of the American Medical Association 264:998–1002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheridan, E. 1983. Reading disabilities: Can we blame the written language? Journal of Learning Disabilities 16(2):81–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheridan, M. 1993. Reading disabilities: Are there fewer in Japan? Reading-Horizons 33(3):245–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shields, J. Ed. 1993. Japanese Schooling: Patterns of Socialization, Equality and Political Control. University Park: Penn State Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson, H. 1993. The Asian advantage: The case of mathematics. In Japanese Schooling: Patterns of Socialization, Equality and Political Control, ed. J. Shields. University Park: Penn State Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson, H., Stigler, J., Lucker, G., and Lee, S. 1982. Reading disabilities: The case of Chinese, Japanese, and English. Child Development 53:1164–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson, H., Stigler, J., Lee, S., Lucker, W., Kitamura, S., and Hsu, C. 1985. Cognitive performance and academic achievement of Japanese, Chinese, and American children. Child Development 56:718–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi, M. 1995. “I” or “We”? Harvard Graduate School of Education Bulletin, June, 8–9.

  • Takeda, K. 2000. Personal communication with Japanese Academy of Learning Disabilities, March 15.

  • Torgeson, J., and Wong, B. 1986. Psychological and Educational Perspectives on Reading Disabilities. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treiman, R., and Baron, J. 1981. Segmental analysis ability: Development and relationship to reading ability. In Reading Research: Advances in Theory and Practice, vol. 3, eds. G. MacKinnon and T. Waller. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wadsworth, S., DeFries, J., Stevenson, J., Gilger, J., and Pennington, B. 1992. Gender ratios among reading-disabled children and their siblings as a function of parental impairment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 33:1229–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, M. 1987. The Japanese Educational Challenge: A Commitment to Children. New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, M. 1993. The Material Child: Coming of Age in Japan and America. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yamada, J., and Banks, A. 1994. Evidence for and characteristics of dyslexia among Japanese children. Annals of Dyslexia 44:105–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamada, J. 2000. The myth of absence of dyslexia in Japan. Perspectives 26(1):22–23.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. MGH Institute of Health Professions, CCC-SLP, 101 Merrimac Street, 02114, Boston, MA

    Charles Haynes Ed.D. & Pamela Hook Ph.D.

  2. Community College of Rhode Island, Providence, Rhode Island

    Paul Macaruso Ph.D.

  3. Seikei University, Musashino, Tokyo

    Etsuko Muta M.Ed.

  4. Shirayuri University, Chofu, Tokyo

    Yoichi Hayashi M.A.

  5. Kanagawa Research Institute of Learning Disabilities, Yokohama, Kanagawa

    Junko Kato M.D.

  6. Tsunashima Higashi School, Yokohama, Kanagawa

    Tokuko Sasaki M.Ed.

Authors
  1. Charles Haynes Ed.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Pamela Hook Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Paul Macaruso Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Etsuko Muta M.Ed.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yoichi Hayashi M.A.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Junko Kato M.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Tokuko Sasaki M.Ed.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charles Haynes Ed.D..

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Haynes, C., Hook, P., Macaruso, P. et al. Teachers’ skill ratings of children with learning disabilities: A comparison of the United States and Japan. Annals of Dyslexia 50, 213–238 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-000-0023-5

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-000-0023-5

Keywords

  • Social Skill
  • Learning Disability
  • Read Disability
  • Learn Disability
  • Dyslexia