Advice for the Japanese Education System
SUPPORT IS AVAILABLE FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS, BUT
– LANGUAGE will potentially be the biggest obstacle
– If the school does not have anyone to help with interpreting, consider finding a friend or hiring an interpreter to help with translating when first communicating with the school.
STEPS to TAKE BEFORE VISITING A SCHOOL:
1st STEP:
A family should go to their local city or district hall before looking at any schools. Visit both the foreign affairs division and the education division of the city hall, preferably in that order. Share as much information as comfortably possible about your family situation, as well as your child’s specific needs.
* Any previous assessments or diagnoses will likely not be used but it is still worth trying. Similarly, when talking with the education division, sharing any previous learning plans (e.g. IEPs), is recommended but it is likely they will not be used afterwards.
* As previously mentioned, if you have someone who can help you with interpreting when you visit the local city or district hall it will be of great help. Sometimes, a local area will have a interpreting organization or service.
2nd STEP:
After learning about the child’s needs, the education division may conduct further assessments of the child, which will likely include an IQ test.
* These IQ tests are in Japanese and do not take into sufficient account language and cultural differences. The issue here is the score on the IQ test, which can largely determine the placement of the child into a regular school special needs support setting, or special needs school. Please try to see if it is possible to receive language accommodations. Once the score has been receive, if the parent does not agree with it, please plead the case of language differences as being a factor. The education division or school may take this into account and wait until the student has improved their language to take the IQ test again. It is extremely important that the family ensures they are comfortable with the initial placement that is decided, as transferring back and forth from different school settings is difficult
FOUR TYPES OF SUPPORT SETTINGS AVAILABLE FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
i) The first is a regular school without any special needs support. In this setting the teacher will likely provide little accommodations and modifications for a student who has any learning needs, and such efforts will likely differ depending on the teacher.
ii) The next special needs support setting is the regular school setting with a resource room (pull-out support) and learning support assistant (push-in support). In this setting, depending on the learning plan of the student, the student will usually be in the mainstream classroom but will occasionally receive pull-out support depending on the subject, or push-in support as well.
iii) The third type of support setting is the special needs classroom in the regular school. The students will receive most of their support in this classroom and will be with other students as well depending on the subject or part of the day.
iv) The fourth type of support setting is the special needs school, or school which caters exclusively for children with special needs. The students will receive support exclusively and entirely in the school.
* These four settings are designed to meet the various needs of the students. The first setting is for students with fewer special needs and the fourth setting is for those with the most needs.
* It is important to point out, however, that these four types of settings only exist in Japanese compulsory education (elementary and junior high school). In high school it is essentially narrowed down to two support settings, either the regular school with very little support (occasionally a resource room available), or a special needs school setting. The Ministry of Education (MEXT), is making efforts to improve the amount of support available in regular high schools, but it is a work in progress
