Learning of Disabled Children in Japan: Simultaneous Participation in Different Activity Systems

The learning activity systems of disabled children attending local public school in Japan were analyzed within the framework of activity theory. The children participated in several different activity systems at the same time, all of which have certain structural features in common. These include the Subject child, the presence of adults who guide the child's learning, the goals of those adults, and the ontogenetic history that constrains the goals. In this study, two systems-the family and the special education classroom-and their relationship were analyzed. The data were derived from the author's experience as an advisor of parents and teachers of disabled children in special education classes in Japanese local public elementary and junior high schools. When the same Subject child mediated both systems, two kinds of contradictions became visible, both of which were the possible moments of the development of each system: intrasystemic and intersystemic contradictions. The latter occurs because the adults in each system envision the future of the same Subject child based on the different ontogenetic history of the system, and the former occurs because the possible future of the child has to be envisioned based on the existing past. The possibility of the resolution of the contradictions and the development of the systems with a shared ontogenetic history is discussed.