Chapter 3 Asian and pacific american languages and cultures

The purpose of this chapter is to provide information on Asian and Hawaiian and other Pacific Island American (APA/PIA) cultures and languages for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) for assessment and intervention of communication disorders. Beginning with the 2000 census, “Asian” refers to people having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. It includes people who indicated their race or races as “Asian Indian,” “Chinese,” “Filipino,” “Korean,” “Japanese,” “Vietnamese,” or “Other Asian,” or wrote in entries such as Burmese, Hmong, Pakistani, or Thai (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000a). “Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander” refers to people having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. It includes people who indicated their race or races as “Native Hawaiian,” “Guamanian or Chamorro,” “Samoan,” or “Other Pacific Islander,” or wrote in entries such as Tahitian, Mariana Islander, or Chuukese (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000a). Countries in the Middle East will be considered in Chapter 6 on Middle Eastern and Arab American Cultures.

APA/PIAs are fast becoming an influential presence in the United States socially, politically, and economically. In 2010, Gary Lock was U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Stephen Chu was U.S. Energy Secretary, and Eric Shinseki was U.S. Secretary of Veteran Affairs. All are APA/PIAs. The 1990 Immigration Act relaxed immigration restrictions, which facilitated the increase in immigration eligibility worldwide. The law created flexible and separate worldwide ceiling limits per country on family-based, employment-based, and diversity immigrant visas and a lottery-based immigration eligibility. Immediate relatives of U.S. citizens are exempted from this quota. As of 2008, there are 13.5 million individuals self-identified as Asian Americans, representing 4.5% of the total U.S. population, and the increase in the Asian population alone (26.8%) was three times more than the increase in the overall U.S. population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008). It is projected that by 2050, the white population in this nation will decrease from 70% to less than 50%, whereas the Asian and Pacific and Hispanic or Latino population will continue to increase to above 50% (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000a). By the year 2020, Asian American children in U.S. schools are projected to total approximately 4.4 million. The largest number of Asian immigrants in the United States is the Chinese, second only to the immigrants from Mexico (U.S. Census, 2011). APA/PIAs are extremely diverse in all aspects of their ways of life, including language, culture, religion, attitudes toward education, child-rearing practices, and roles within the family. The Asian and Pacific Island cultures, however, have interacted with and influenced each other for many generations and therefore share many similarities. For example, historically, Korea and Vietnam were once considered part of the Han dynasty (108 bc and 111 bc). The Japanese traveled to China in the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907 ad) and learned the Chinese language and took it back to Japan. Buddhism, which originated in India, was spread to China through the work of Tang San Zang (602 to 664 ad) in the Tang Dynasty (Wriggins, 2004). Buddhism was spread to Japan in the Tang Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty from 1405 to 1433 ad, General Cheng Ho traveled seven times from the port of Quanzhou (Zetong) to Southeast Asia and South Asia, and finally arrived in Africa (Suryadinata, 2005). The long history of foreign cultural exchanges with the West began with the Silk Road. It was an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent that expanded to Europe, with Chinese silk as the major primary commodity. Since its trade began in 206 bc, it led to the inflow of many Middle Easterners and Europeans to China. However, warfare drew cultures into conflicts. After the First Sino-Japanese War (1894 to 1895), the Qing Dynasty ceded Taiwan to Japan. In the 20th century, Japan invaded China in 1938, and the war lasted 8 years until 1945 when Japan surrendered. Although the exchange of cultures through trade, politics, and religion resulted in many similarities that we observe today, it is important to also remember that each of these groups is different in its own way. The following information is presented to provide an understanding of APA/PIAs to assist the SPL in providing services to the culturally and linguistically diverse APA/PIA people.

Overview of asian and pacific american people

APA/PIAs have been immigrating to the United States for more than two centuries, with the first records of arrival of Chinese dating from 1785. Since that time, more than 20 Asian groups have immigrated to the United States. As of the 2000 census, the most numerous APA/PIAs have origins in India, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Korea, and Vietnam (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000a). Between 1975 and 2002, more than 1 million refugees from Southeast Asia settled in the United States (Jiobu, 1996; U.S. Census Bureau, 2000a). Each of the countries in Asia and the Pacific represents an individual and distinct culture with unique values, beliefs, and world views. Each has its own languages and dialects, communication behaviors, and styles. Within each of the countries, there are many different ethnic groups as well. For example, in China, there are 56 ethnic groups with many different languages and dialects. Han Chinese represents 91.6% of the population, with 55 other nationalities or ethnic groups also present throughout the country. It is critical that clinicians recognize the heterogeneity of the APA/PIA people and consider the unique characteristic of each subgroup as well as the uniqueness of individuals within the group.

In general, APA/PIA populations practice the collectivist culture in contrast to the Western individualistic culture. The collectivist culture is more interdependent, whereas the individualist culture is more independent (Buszynski, 2004; Cheng, 2010; Gudykunst, 2001). Unlike the earlier immigrants from East Asia, the Southeast Asian immigrants, who came through the three waves of immigration between 1975 and 1980, represented a diverse group from Vietnam, Kampuchea, and Laos known as “the boat people.” In addition, most of the Hmong people came from the mountains of Laos. Later immigrants since 1970 came from Hong Kong, China, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other Pacific Rim and Pacific Basin areas. After the attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, fewer immigrants came from Pakistan and Afghanistan because of immigration restrictions on persons from the Middle East.

Refugees and immigrants from Asia and the Pacific Islands come from a variety of historical, socioeconomic, educational, and political backgrounds. Like many other refugees, APA/PIA refugees are often victims of civil wars and poverty. In recent years, many Chinese entered the United States illegally and paid thousands of dollars to persons often known as “snake heads” to bring them over. They often work in squalid conditions to pay off their debts and eventually find their “American Dream.” APA/PIAs bring a variety of financial profiles, languages, folk beliefs, world views, religious beliefs, child-rearing practices, and attitudes toward education, all of which have a profound impact on speech-language pathology services.

Descendents of immigrants

In general, the second generation of immigrants hears the mother tongue at home and may attend weekend schools to keep up the home language. The third generation tends to speak English in most environments and may have little knowledge of the home language of their grandparents. The Southeast Asian refugees who came in the 1970s and 1980s have their second and third generation families here in the United States. Just like the Japanese and the Chinese Americans, the third generation speaks English fluently, and most do not speak another language at home.

Definitions of impairments: role of culture

A cultural definition of what constitutes an impairment or disorder is dependent on the values of each cultural group. APA/PIA folklore is full of the belief system and spiritualism. The treatment of birth defects, disorders, and disabilities is influenced by cultural beliefs and by the socioeconomic status of the individual and the family within a given group (Cheng, 1999, 2009; Gollnick & Chinn, 2005; Strauss, 1990). For example, in the Chinese language, the term for deaf is generally linked with mute; the term for deaf and mute is one term. Another Chinese term, handicap, is a combination of “broken” and “disease.” In all cultures, attitudes toward disabilities can be traced in part to folk beliefs and superstitions. Many Asian Pacific cultures define the cause of a health-related problem in spiritual terms (Cheng, 1999, 2007; Meyerson, 1990; Strauss, 1990).

Many Eastern cultures view a disabling condition as the result of wrongdoing of the individuals’ ancestors, resulting in guilt and shame. The cause of disabilities is explained through a variety of spiritual or cultural beliefs, or both, such as imbalance of inner forces, also known as Qi, which means steam or energy, bad wind, spoiled foods, gods, demons or spirits, hot or cold forces, or fright. For example, the Chamorro culture views a disability as a gift from God and believes that the person with a disability belongs to everyone in the community and is in the extended family. The person with the disability is thus protected and sheltered by the family. For example, many Chinese believe disability is caused by karma (fate). Pakistanis may view individuals with a visible disability as a curse and ostracize them from society (Cheng, 1989, 2007; Trueba et al., 1993). Attitudes toward disabilities are a reflection of current and historical beliefs about the nature of disabilities. All over the world, people use different methods to treat illnesses and diseases, including consulting with a priest, barefoot doctor, herbalist, Qi-Gong specialist, clansman, shaman, elder, or physician. Among the Hmong, for example, surgical intervention is viewed as invasive and harmful. The Hmong believe that spirits may leave the body once the body is cut open, causing death (Fadiman, 1997). Treatment procedures also vary, ranging from surgical intervention or therapy to acupuncture, message, cao (coin rubbing), gat gio (pinching), giac (placing a very hot cup on the exposed area), steam inhalation, balm application, herbs, inhaling smoke or ashes from burnt incense, or the ingestion of hot or cold foods (Cheng, 1995a).

Child-rearing practices

Child-rearing practices and expectations from children vary widely from culture to culture (Cheng, 2009; Hammer & Weiss, 2000; Heath, 1983; Van Kleeck, 1994; Westby, 1990, 2009). With the single-child policy in China, many children are considered “spoiled” and are pampered by their parents and grandparents (Cheng, 2010). There are differences in how parents respond to their children’s language, how and who interacts with children, and how parents and families encourage children to initiate and continue a verbal interaction. Differences in what are considered the best educational practices must be taken into account as well. Some families understand and support bilingual education; others believe that schools know best about how to educate their children and that English should be used in schools. Among families there is also variation about attitudes toward the first and second language and culture, various levels of formal education in the first or second language, or both, and expectation for their children (Butler & Cheng, 1996; Cheng, 1998; Heibert, 1991). In many Eastern cultures, education is considered a combination of teaching and nurturing.

Language

The hundreds of different languages and dialects that are spoken in East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands can be classified into five major families: (1) Malayo-Polynesian (Austronesian), including Chamorro, Ilo-cano, Hawaiian, and Tagalog; (2) Sino-Tibetan, including Thai, Yao, Mandarin, and Cantonese; (3) Austroasiatic, including Khmer, Vietnamese, and Hmong; (4) Papuan, including New Guinean; and (5) Altaic, including Japanese and Korean. Additionally, there are 15 major languages in India from four language families: (1) Indo-Aryan, (2) Dravidian, (3) Austroasiatic, and (4) Tibeto-Burman (Shekar & Hegde, 1995). Many Asians are polyglots and can speak multiple languages; for example, the people from the Philippines can speak English, Tagalog, Ilocano, and a number of dialects.

Folk beliefs, religions, and philosophical views

The Asian and Pacific populations hold a variety of religious and philosophical beliefs. Major religions and philosophies include Buddhism, Catholicism, Christianity, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, Animism, and Islam. In addition, because of Western influence, Christianity is practiced. There are many Catholic churches in the Philippines and across the Pacific Islands. Many Pacific Islanders consider the Bible a major source of inspiration. There are many different Asian and Pacific folk beliefs. Folk beliefs are generally passed down informally through oral history from generation to generation, whereas religious beliefs are generally archived and passed down formally. People vary in their reactions to folk beliefs because of their diverse experience in different levels of education and exposure to Western education cultures. In addition to folk beliefs, many APA/PIAs practice faith healing; other methods of healing include exercises such as Qi-Gong, over-the-counter drugs, prescription drugs, herbs, acupuncture, acupressure, cupping, or a combination of methods. The use of non-Western methods of healing may be difficult for Western physicians to manage in their overall treatment of patients because they are not always familiar with such methods.

Collectivism versus individualism

In general, Western cultural patterns pertain to minimal context orientation and convey information in a precise, linear, and straightforward manner (Cheng, 1993, 1995a). This logical manner is very different from the circular mode of orientation generally practiced by the Eastern culture. Another important part of the Asian culture is the practice of collectivism, which is different from individualism, and treating clients from an individualistic culture is therefore very different from treating clients from a collectivist culture. The Asian culture practices the collectivist view, in which family is the most important. Family can be a distant relative, an adopted child, a neighbor, a member of a clan, village, or town, a person who shares the same last name, or a good friend.

Individualism is respectful of personal space and privacy. Personal information may not be willingly shared even with members of the immediate family. Independence is preferred over interdependence.

Eastern and western definitions of education

Western education tends to draw out wisdom in a horizontal manner. The emphasis is on critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving. The Chinese term for education is made up of two characters: teaching and nurturing. This definition emphasizes the vertical relation of teaching to nurture. Eastern education tends to center on teaching, nurturing, and providing knowledge, which emphasizes the vertical relationship between teacher and student, or parent and child. In comparison, the English word education is derived from the Latin verb educere, which means to lead, draw, and bring out. The Latin origin appears to emphasize the horizontal “drawing out” of wisdom into vision.

The prevailing views toward education in most Asian and Pacific cultures present challenges for American educators and SPLs. People from China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam often view education as the most important goal one can achieve in life. This is largely a result of the influence of the teachings and principles of Confucius (Cheng, 1993, 2010). APA/PIAs often have different approaches to learning, and these approaches have implications for the strategies Asian students use to learn. The selected examples in Table 3-1 are representative of some Asian attitudes toward education and their educational implications. The relative importance of each of the attitudes differs from culture to culture.

TABLE 3-1 Asian Attitudes toward Learning

Asian Cultural Themes	Educational Implications
Education is formal.	Teachers are formal and are expected to lecture.
Teachers are to be highly respected.	Teachers are not to be interrupted. Students are reluctant to ask questions.
Humility is an important virtue.	Students are not to “show off” or volunteer information.
Reading of factual information is studying.	Fiction is not considered serious reading.
It is important to have order and to be obedient.	Students are to sit quietly and listen attentively.
One learns by observation and by memorization.	Rote memory is considered an effective teaching tool.
Pattern practice and rote learning are studying.	Homework in pattern practice is important and is expected.

As shown in Table 3-1, there are incongruities between Asian students’ learning styles and American teachers’ teaching styles. These differences can lead to teachers’ misconceptions of students and students’ confusion over the “proper” way of schooling, particularly with the naturalistic, whole-language approach to intervention used especially with preschool and early elementary school children. Again, the relative importance of each of the concepts varies with cultural group and among individuals within the group. Educators need to be sensitive to cultural tendencies of various APA/PIA groups. These tendencies, however, should not be viewed as static cultural rules. Generalizations must be avoided, and predictions should not be made based on a superficial survey of the culture. With the advancement of science and technology, the cyber-generation has access to the Internet, the World Wide Web, and social networks; these students share many commonalities because of their linkages in cyberspace.

Cultural characteristics of asian and pacific peoples

All APA/PIA groups and the individuals in these groups present a common background as immigrants or descendants of immigrants. However, each may have a very different story to tell. Such diverse personal and group experiences must be taken into consideration when working with these individuals.

Clearly, intragroup and intergroup differences exist among the Asian and Pacific Islander immigrant and refugee groups. Refugees are generally not prepared for emigration and often leave their country of origin suddenly because of political turmoil there. Immigrants leave their country of origin willingly and go through long periods of application and petition to the new country, and they are generally prepared for emigration. As stated earlier, caution should be taken to avoid overgeneralization of this information in relation to a particular client or family because the APA/PIA clients and their families represent diverse social, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds.

The chinese

Phonological characteristics

• No consonant clusters in Mandarin and Cantonese

• Tonal language (Li & Thompson, 1981)

• Each syllable has one tone marked

• Mandarin tones:

/ma/ with a high tone: “mother”

/ma/ with a rising-falling tone: “horse”

/ma/ with a rising tone: “scold”

/ma/ with a falling tone: “numbness” or “canvas”.

• Limited final consonants

• Mandarin: /n/ and /η/

• Cantonese: /m/, /n/, /h/, /p/, /t/, /k/, and glottal stop /ʔ/

• Characteristics of English learners

• Final consonant omission/deletion

• Difficulty with double and triple consonant clusters (e.g., /spl, /str/)

• Sounds of substitution

• Substitute /s/ and /∫/ to similar phonemes in Chinese.

• Vowels: /e/ for /ε/; /æ/ and /i/ for /ɪ/; /ou/ for /ɔ/ (e.g., “boat” for bought), or /u/ for /ʌ / (e.g., “roof” for rough)

Morphosyntactic characteristics

• A noninflectional language

• No plural markers, tense markers, copulas, the verb have, the auxiliary do, articles, the or a

• Different rules for the use of prepositions, pronouns, negatives (e.g., “me no like it” instead of “I don’t like it”

Orthography

• One character is one syllable for one free morpheme (e.g., the Mandarin word, “child,” is made of two morphemes or Chinese characters, /haɪ/ and /tsɪ/.

Pragmatic differences

• Turn-taking: generally do not interrupt a speaker to ask questions

• Politeness:

• Generally taught to be humble

• Generally embarrassed when praised.

• Social or power distance: determined by age, class, and marital status

• Expression of emotions:

• In the past, hugging, kissing, and touching were not frequently observed.

• Today, more are willing to express their emotions readily.

Other nonverbal signs may also be interpreted differently (e.g., a giggle can be used as a sign of embarrassment rather than a sign of disrespect).

The koreans

Immigration history

Since World War II, South Korea and North Korea have been politically divided. In 2000, the two governments finally attempted diplomatic affairs. However, since 2000, political tension has increased between the two Koreas. Information about North Korea is still limited; for more than 60 years, North Korea has kept its door closed. What we have learned is sketchy at best. We know that there are many people suffering from starvation and that the country is very poor. On the contrary, South Korea has a booming economy, and there are Korean Americans in major cities in the United States. Some are in politics. For example, Michelle Park Steel is a Korean American who is on the Board of Equalization in the State of California.

Korean immigration to the United States began in the early 20th century when Korean laborers went to Hawaii to work in the pineapple and sugarcane plantations and later went to the mainland. Before World War II, however, the Korean community in the United States was not visible because of its small population. Most Korean Americans emigrated from South Korea in the past three decades. The population increased about 27-fold between 1970 and 2000 from approximately 38,000 to 1.41 million (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000a). Koreans are the seventh largest immigrant group in the United States (Migration Institute Policy, 2003).

Religion

Korean immigrants are primarily Christians. Historically, Korean Americans have had a very strong fundamentalist and conservative Christian heritage. Between 70% and 80% identify themselves as Christian; 40% of those are immigrants who were not Christians at the time of their arrival in the United States. Many Christian churches in Korean communities conduct services in the Korean language. These churches also provide social and emotional support and informational help and serve as acculturation agents (Suh, 2004).

The family

As with persons from other Asian cultures, Koreans value the extended family, which typically includes three generations (Kim, 1978). Additionally, Korean values of social relations share their common influence by Confucianism with the Chinese (Keum, 2000; Yao, 2000). Traditionally, the father is the head of the family and represents the family honor. He is responsible for the welfare of the family and is typically the sole provider. The father or other men in the Korean family do not typically help with household chores (Kim, 1984). The Korean mother, who centers her work on the home, usually represents the family in dealing with the school. The elderly family members previously received a great deal of respect from younger family members.

Parent-child conflicts based on language and cultural differences have increased between immigrant children and their parents. Because of economic pressures, the size of the Korean family has decreased in the United States. Children have begun to question the traditional role of the father and to challenge his authority. According to Moon (2006), there has been a rapid decline in commitment and practice of filial piety and elder care. Particularly, most Korean American elders and caregivers do not believe that it violates filial piety to place an elderly parent in a nursing home, nor should the children live with their elderly parents who have functional limitations that require extensive care. Additionally, they prefer to move into an assisted living facility, rather than becoming a burden to family. However, most Korean American elders prefer independent living.

Education

Since 1945, the educational system in South Korea has been patterned after the American educational system of elementary school, junior high, and senior high, followed by 2 years of junior college or 4 years at a university (Kim, 1978). Teachers have a great deal of authority. Korean classrooms are orderly. Korean children are socialized into an environment in which going to the best schools is highly valued. They are accustomed to working extremely hard to obtain high scores on college entrance examinations to get into the best colleges. They are directed from the very beginning into specific fields such as business, science, medicine, or engineering and are not typically encouraged to go into fine arts and human services. There is little room for other alternatives or for students who are not capable of high achievement. On the other hand, disability is viewed as misfortune or punishment, and families of children with a disability may experience self-blame. It is important that clinicians acknowledge family interdependence and avoid stereotypes and labeling (Kim-Rupnow, 2005).

Language

(For language characteristics, please see Box 3-2.)

BOX 3-2 Korean Language

• Altaic family

• Koreans in North and South Korea speak the same language

• Various regional dialects, but mutually intelligible

• Until 1443, the Koreans used the Chinese written system.

• After that time, current orthography uses the Hangul system.

Phonological characteristics

• No word stress

• Nineteen consonants and eight vowels

• No labiodental, interdental, or palatal fricatives

• Limited final consonants

• No fricatives and affricates

• Characteristics of English learners

• Final consonant omission/deletion

• Final stops are often nasalized when they occur before a nasal sound (e.g., “banman” instead of “batman”)

• Difficulty with double and triple consonant clusters (e.g., /spl, /str/)

• Can sound monotonous and have difficulty with interrogative intonation

• Sounds of substitution

• Substitute /b/ for /v/, /p/ for /v/, /s/ for /∫/, /s/ for /z/, /t∫/ for /t∫/, or /dz/ for /θ/.

• Because [r] and [l] belong to the same phonetic category, they may be used interchangeably (e.g., r/l and l/r) (Chu, 1999)

• Korean does not have vowel distinction, so the following vowels are problematic: /i/, /I/, /u/, /ʌ/, and /au/.

Morphosyntactic characteristics

• No gender agreement, articles, no verb inflection for tense and number, and relative pronouns

Pragmatic differences

• Chinese influence

• Emphasis on harmony, filial piety, social order, fairness, reverence for elders, and the maintenance of human relationships.

• Seven levels of speech on a continuum of the most formal and polite form (addressing the Bible) to impolite forms (close friends)

• Korean children acquire the basic rules of honorifics by the time they enter elementary school (Chu, 1999).

• The choice of words and grammar denote the relationship between the communicators and the importance of that relationship (Chu, 1990).

• Nonverbal communication:

• Taciturnity reduces the amount of verbal interchange.

• Silence is a much more important part of communication for the Korean speaker than for the English speaker (Chu, 1990).

The japanese

Immigration history

The Japanese have had a history of immigrating to the United States since 1860. They have assimilated well and participate in social, business, civic, political, and religious groups outside Japanese American communities. However, the ban of immigration by the Immigration Act of 1924 limited Japanese immigrants. With Japan and the United States in opposition during World War II, Japanese Americans were put into internment camps because of their ancestry. When the war ended, they returned to their communities and since then have continued to integrate into predominantly white residential neighborhoods. Japanese Americans are the third largest Asian group in the United States. In the 2000 census, the largest Japanese American communities were in California, Hawaii, Washington, New York, and Illinois. Each year, about 7000 Japanese people immigrate to the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000a). Many Japanese are active in the political arena, including Congressman Mike Honda, Norman Mineta, and Senator Inoue.

Religion

Shintoism, a form of Buddhism, is the dominant religion in Japan today, although Christianity has been adopted by a large proportion of its population. In the United States, many Japanese Americans are Christians. The Japanese are the largest ethnic group in Hawaii, and many are practicing Christians. In many ways, owing to the long-standing nature of Buddhist and Shinto practices in Japanese society, many of the cultural values commonly associated with Japanese tradition have been strongly influenced by these religions.

The family

Japanese Americans are primarily U.S.-born, second (nisei)-, third (sansei)-, and fourth (yonsei)-generation citizens. Japanese families generally value obedience, dependence on the family, formality in interpersonal relationships, and restraint in the expression of emotions. As in other Asian families, Japanese family members have well-defined roles and positions of power. Japanese children are expected to maintain emotional bonds with and dependence on their parents and only secondarily develop self-reliance (Ima & Labovitz, 1990). Japanese parents, wanting children to be receptive to adult expectations, continually refer to duty and obligation and invoke fear of ridicule and shame to control their children’s lives. Many Japanese American families are fifth or higher generation in the United States. They have become one of the most assimilated of all Asian American groups. Perhaps as a direct result of this, they also have one of the highest interracial marriage rates of all Asian Americans. As more Japanese Americans intermarry, the less likely their children are to identify themselves as Japanese Americans.

Education

The teaching profession is one of the most highly regarded professions to the Japanese. To the Japanese, education is of prime importance. The Japanese student is expected to be attentive, work cooperatively, and be willing to accept the teacher’s word as significant (Ima & Labovitz, 1990). Japanese American students are often sent to after-school classes or to private tutors to ensure academic success. This contributes significantly to the pressures placed on children to be successful. On the contrary, disability, considered not conforming to the society, is often treated as a strictly private, family matter (Brightman, 2005). The adverse effect may be the family’s reluctance to seek professional remediation, and the practitioner should be mindful of this possibility and seek a nonconfrontational approach. However, this cultural attitude may diminish in strength from one generation to the next.

There are distinct cultural differences between the Japanese and Americans in classroom interaction. For example, group behavior and cooperation, important cultural concepts in Japanese society, are taught and learned in preschool: going to school in Japan is primarily training in group life, or shudan seikatsu (Peak, 1991). Lewis (1995) asserts that Japanese students do not just work in groups, they work as groups. Teachers create groups and group activities to help children enhance one another’s strengths and overcome one another’s weaknesses. Japanese children in the United States may still be expected to behave this way because of parental influence (Westby, 2009).