Cognitive Developmental Approaches Toward Inclusive Education

Abstract

Informal assessments were conducted in individualized learning settings, and its significance was examined from a cognitive developmental perspective. First, three students aged 8-9 who had no or few words were given the learning by after-school day service staff. They showed qualitatively different attitudes to the educational materials according to each cognitive development. Second, once-a-month homebound intervention was performed by author for a 5-year-old boy without intellectual disability, who had strong behavior disturbance and drawing difficulty. When learning refusal was strong, it was effective to adjust the approach going back to the early cognitive developmental stage shown by above three cases with few words. After one year and five months, he enrolled in a regular school. Now, at the end of the first grade, he still enjoys going to school and has begun writing some essays with a little support. It is suggested that focusing on early cognitive development affected his motivation to learn.