Quest to bolster education for students with learning disabilities in Japan brings researcher to Vaughn Gross Center
Akiko Kaizu arrived in America on March 28.
A specialist from the National Institute of Special Education in Japan will spend the next seven months mining the expertise of Vaughn Gross Center researchers in an attempt to strengthen her country’s educational policy for children with learning disabilities.
“Sufficient educational support for children with learning disabilities… does not exist in Japan,” said Akiko Kaizu, who arrived in Austin on March 28. “It is one of our challenges today.”
Kaizu is particularly interested in studying the assessment and teaching methods developed at the Center, but the Tokyo resident plans on being more than a passive observer — she wants to take something home with her.
“I would like to investigate how to integrate practice and research,” she said. “But, more importantly, I’d like to take back various useful methods in order to help shape the policy on special education in Japan. I want to contribute to children, teachers, and parents.”
Kaizu’s work for the National Institute of Special Education in Japan dovetails nicely with multiple research projects at the Center. Specifically, Kaizu’s responsibilities include:
- Engaging in research that contributes to the formulation of national policy for children with disabilities.
- Providing training for specialist instructors.
- Offering educational advisory services to local governments and educational centers.
- Collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information on special education.
- Collaborating with universities and other educational institutions both in Japan and overseas.
It is this last responsibility that brought Kaizu, who received a doctorate in psychology and pedagogy from Tokyo Gakugei University, to the United States. She had little trouble deciding which institution to visit.
“Dr. Sharon Vaughn is a well-known learning disabilities scholar in Japan, and I heard her keynote speech at a conference of the Japanese Academy of Learning Disabilities,” Kaizu said of the Vaughn Gross Center’s director. “Many famous scholars whose names I have seen in academic journals work at the Center. This is a dream come true.”