ABSTRACT
The Ministry of Education Science, Sports and Culture’s (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of Education) Conference of Cooperators in the Study of Children with Learning Disabilities and Similar Difficulties in Learning presented its final report in 1999 (Ministry of Education, 1999d). According to this report, the establishment of a system in Japan for educating children with learning disabilities has entered the stage of concrete work. At present, children receiving special education in Japan represent slightly over 1% of all school children. This figure represents children who are taught at special schools for children with visual impairments, speech and hearing handicaps, and intellectual and physical disabilities and health impairments, in special classes set up in elementary and middle schools and in some resource rooms. Children with learning disabilities are not covered by special education. However, in recent years, concurrent with the heightening interest in education for children with learning disabilities, there has been the introduction of the idea of inclusion. Consequently, people have begun to demand special education services for children in regular classes, something that had not been discussed expressly in Japan heretofore.
