Stimulus pairing training for Kanji reading skills in students with developmental disabilities.
Use pictures your learner can already name during brief pairing drills to teach new written words fast and keep them.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Six students with developmental disabilities joined the study. All could name common pictures but could not read Kanji.
The team showed a picture, said the Japanese word, then flashed the matching Kanji. They repeated this pairing until the student could read the Kanji alone.
Sessions lasted five minutes. The class met three times a week for four weeks.
What they found
Every student learned to read all 12 Kanji. Scores stayed high one month later with no extra practice.
Students kept the skill even when pictures were removed. The pairing stuck.
How this fits with other research
Rosales et al. (2012) used the same pairing trick to teach Spanish words to preschoolers. Their kids also needed extra practice to talk about the words. Mikimasa’s older students skipped that step, likely because they already spoke.
May (2011) reviewed nine sight-word studies and found massed trials plus prompts work for autism. Mikimasa adds a twist: use pictures the learner can already name. That small change may lock the new word in faster.
Jones et al. (2010) taught students with moderate ID to read full sentences with prompts. Mikimasa shows you can start earlier: pair pictures with single symbols first, then move to longer text.
Why it matters
If your learner can name pictures, you have a free booster. Pick clear photos, pair them with the new text, and test solo reading right after. Five-minute drills, three times a week, can build a lasting reading repertoire without extra rewards or fancy tech.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Japanese students with developmental disabilities often exhibit difficulties in reading, particularly in Kanji (ideogram) reading, and in acquiring the equivalence relations between pictures, written words, and sounds. Previous research suggested that one student with autism could acquire Kanji reading along with equivalence relations through stimulus pairing training. However, maintenance rates tended to be very low, possibly due to the lack of picture stimuli. In this study, we examined the acquisition and maintenance of Kanji reading skills through stimulus pairing training using corresponding pictures for six students with developmental disabilities. We prepared stimulus pairs consisting of picture stimuli that the students could name along with a corresponding Kanji character that they could not read. All students successfully acquired and maintained the Kanji reading skills through this procedure. These findings suggest that the nameability of picture stimuli in stimulus pairing training may facilitate the acquisition and maintenance of equivalence relations for reading.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2013 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2012.12.016