Database of Teaching Materials and Methods for Special Needs Education

Name of teaching material

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Target	Kindergarten (5 year olds) Children who like trains (actual trains, train pictures, train toys, etc.) Children who show interest in reading letters by asking, “What does it say?”. Children who are able to write their name
Disability category	mentally challenged　autism
Teaching units / Applicable scenes	Japanese　activities for independent living　pre-school education
Specific purposes	Children study hiragana letters, and learn how to read and write them. They play a game to find words containing letters written on train-related karuta cards (e.g., words containing the letter “ma”, such as “Marunouchi Line” and “mama”).
Considerations for disability characteristics	The teacher shows illustrations to the children, and helps them find letters used in everyday words; and the children look around the classroom to find them.
Expected effects and results	Children can answer relevant questions by studying train-related karuta cards. They can find, for example, the letter “ma” in the word “mama”, looking at the “Marunouchi Line” card.
How to use	1. The teacher shows train-related karuta cards, from which each child picks one in turn. 2. Children read aloud the letter in the circle on their card, and write it in their sketch book. 3. Children look for the same letter written on familiar things, such as items used in everyday life.
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Informant Special Needs Education School for Children with Autism,University of Tsukuba
Keywords Hiragana, letter search, drawing, photograph