Objective/Background: The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effectiveness of standard earmuffs and noise-cancelling (NC) headphones in controlling behavioural problems related to hyper-reactivity to auditory stimuli in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Methods: Twenty-one children with ASD aged 4–16 years (16 boys and 5 girls), after a 2-week nonwearing baseline period, were asked to use standard earmuffs and NC headphones for 2 weeks, in a random order. Parents or teachers rated participants’ behaviours that were related to their reaction to auditory stimuli. Results: Four participants refused to wear either the earmuffs or the NC headphones. It was found that the T-score on the Goal Attainment Scaling was significantly higher during the earmuff period than that in the baseline period (Z = 2.726, p = .006). The behaviours of 5 children with ASD improved during the NC headphone period as compared with those in the baseline period; there were no differences in the T-scores on the Goal Attainment Scaling between the NC headphone period and the baseline period (Z = 1.689, p = .091) and between the earmuff and NC headphone periods (Z = −0.451, p = .678). Conclusion: This study demonstrated the effectiveness of standard earmuffs and NC headphones in helping children with ASD to cope with problem behaviours related to hyperreactivity to auditory stimuli, therefore, children with ASD could use earmuffs to help to deal with unpleasant sensory auditory stimuli.

Background/Objective: Motor coordination impairment is common in children with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between motor coordination, cognitive ability, and academic achievement in Japanese children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Methods: Thirty-four school-age (6–12 years old) children with neurodevelopmental disorders and 34 age-matched typically developing (TD) children were recruited in this study. Correlations between the scores of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (M-ABC2) and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children — Second Edition (K-ABCII) that assesses cognitive abilities, and academic achievement were analyzed. Results: The children with neurodevelopmental disorders obtained a lower total score and all component scores on M-ABC2 compared to the TD children. In children with neurodevelopmental disorders, M-ABC2 Manual Dexterity score was significantly correlated with K-ABCII Simultaneous Processing (r = .345, p = .046), Knowledge (r = .422, p = .013), Reading (r = .342, p = .048), Writing (r = .414, p = .017), and Arithmetic (r = .443, p = .009) scores. In addition, M-ABC2 Balance score was significantly correlated with K-ABCII Learning (r = .341, p = .048), Writing (r = .493, p = .004), and Arithmetic (r = .386, p = .024) scores. Conclusion: These findings stress that it is essential to accurately identify motor coordination impairments and the interventions that would consider motor coordination problems related to cognitive abilities and academic achievement in Japanese children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for identifying abnormalities in prefrontal brain activity in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) as they inferred the mental states of others.Methods: The subjects were 16 children with ASD aged between 8 and 14 years and 16 age‐matched healthy control children. Oxygenated hemoglobin concentration was measured in the subject's prefrontal brain region on NIRS during tasks expressing a person's mental state (MS task) and expressing an object's characteristics (OC task).Results: There was a significant main effect of group (ASD vs control), with the control group having more activity than the ASD group. But there was no significant main effect of task (MS task vs OC task) or hemisphere (right vs left). Significant interactions of task and group were found, with the control group showing more activity than the ASD group during the MS task relative to the OC task.Conclusions: NIRS showed that there was lower activity in the prefrontal brain area when children with ASD performed MS tasks. Therefore, clinicians might be able to use NIRS and these tasks for conveniently detecting brain dysfunction in children with ASD related to inferring mental states, in the clinical setting.

Burnout among kindergarten teachers is a subject of great concern. Although burnout is reported to be significantly associated with turnover intention and work engagement, few studies have examined factors associated with burnout among these teachers. Therefore, in the present study, we performed a cross-sectional survey of burnout and associated factors among kindergarten teachers. We distributed 3363 questionnaires to all 205 authorized kindergartens and childcare institutions in Nagasaki Prefecture and received 1086 responses (response rate: 32.3%). The participants were limited to full-time female class teachers. After excluding survey forms with incomplete content, we ultimately examined valid responses from 442 participants. The survey examined burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory, MBI), teacher stress (Nursery Teacher’s Stress Scale, NTSS), coping behaviors (Brief Scales for Coping Profile, BSCP), and social support (Social Support Scale, SSS). A multiple regression analysis revealed that all 3 MBI subscales were positively associated with “understanding of how to handle children” on the NTSS and negatively associated with “superiors” on the SSS. “Emotional exhaustion” was significantly associated with “interpersonal relations at work” and “lack of time” on the NTSS, and “avoidance and suppression” on the BSCP. “Depersonalization” was significantly associated with age, “disconnect in working conditions” on the NTSS, and “proactive problem solving” and “venting emotions to others” on the BSCP. “Diminished professional accomplishment” was significantly associated with age, “lack of time” on the NTSS, and “proactive problem solving” and “change in perspective” on the BSCP. These results suggest that support from superiors that enables teachers to better understand children and handle them appropriately is necessary to prevent burnout.

The turnover rate among kindergarten teachers in advanced countries is extremely high. As such, there is an urgent need to determine the reasons for this turnover and to identify ways to prevent it. The current study investigates the individual and environmental factors that impact kindergarten teachers’ willingness to continue working. A total of 600 kindergarten teachers in Japan participated in this study. Participants responded to questionnaires regarding their willingness to continue working, mental health, work engagement, and the availability of social support. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analyze participants’ data, with willingness to continue working for 5 or more years as the dependent variable. Additionally, Spearman rank correlation was used to examine the correlations between factors associated with willingness to continue working. Factors such as older age, living with a spouse, caring for younger children (up to 2 years old) at work, good mental health, and higher work engagement were significantly associated with teachers’ higher willingness to continue working. Factors such as marriage, health and family problems, overtime work, issues with workplace childcare, and education policy, working time/day problems, human relations, and difficulties taking care of children were correlated with teachers’ lack of willingness to continue working. The findings of this cross-sectional study suggest that welfare benefits and individual support systems could be key elements to encourage kindergarten teachers to continue working and could lead to their improved job satisfaction and mental health. Balanced work conditions and workers’ high agreement with their workplace's overall childcare or educational policies may lead to lower turnover. Some programs – such as relationship counselling – could have a positive impact on teachers’ mental health and job satisfaction.