Decoboco Base Develops 'PEACE' Emotional Regulation Program for After-School Day Services in Collaboration with Universities

Decoboco Base Co., Ltd. (HQ: Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Kiyotaka Matsui), which operates vocational transition support services like D-Career and after-school day services, has developed an emotional regulation program for children with developmental disorders, suitable for after-school day services, in collaboration with Tottori University, Kobe University, and Nara Women's University. They also conducted an investigation into its feasibility and preliminary effectiveness. The results of this study have been published in the journal 'Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities'.

Research Background After-school day services are welfare services that provide support to children with disabilities and their families during after-school hours and on days when schools are closed. These services serve not only as places for support but also as hubs for various experiences, including play and social interaction. Among the primary users of after-school day services, children with developmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are known to struggle with emotional regulation, often experiencing high levels of anxiety and frustration. While problems in the environment surrounding these children are considered a major factor, enhancing the children's own emotional regulation skills is also crucial. However, until now, no support program has been widely available for use in after-school day services that promotes these skills in such children.

After-school day services, in particular, require programs that can be easily implemented due to constraints on the time available for support and the expertise of support staff. It is also necessary to prevent inconsistencies in the quality of support provided by different staff members.

Research Overview This research was conducted as a joint project with Decoboco Base Co., Ltd., which operates numerous after-school day services. The study created a program to support emotional regulation that can be implemented in after-school day services and attempted to verify its feasibility and preliminary effectiveness. The program is an improvement on PEACE (Program of Emotional Awareness for Child Empowerment), an emotional regulation program for children with developmental disorders previously created by the authors. To ensure ease of implementation and consistency of support, audio-accompanied slide materials were used as auxiliary teaching aids. In addition, scenarios, worksheets, homework assignments, and materials for parents were provided, based on which staff at the after-school day services implemented a 10-session program.

The program was implemented for an intervention group of 13 children, with surveys conducted before the intervention, after the intervention, and at a 3-month follow-up. For the control group of 32 children, only surveys were conducted. Effect indicators used included the degree of emotional and behavioral difficulties, the degree of problem behavior, and social skills, as evaluated by parents and staff. Due to reasons such as program implementation status and missing values, the final analysis targets were 7 children in the intervention group and 29 in the control group.

As a result, all participants who started the program completed all 10 sessions, indicating that the program has high feasibility in after-school day services. Furthermore, parental evaluations showed significant effects on emotional problems at the post-intervention and follow-up surveys, and significant effects at the follow-up survey for hyperactivity/inattention. A significant effect was seen in the total difficulty score after the intervention. On the other hand, no consistent changes were seen in the evaluations by the staff.

Future Outlook Methodological challenges remain, such as the small sample size and the large difference in the number of participants between the intervention and control groups. Future research will involve implementation and verification with a larger number of subjects.

While emotional support for children with developmental disorders is currently not well-implemented, challenges in emotional regulation are frequently at the root of various behavioral problems. Additionally, inconsistencies in the quality of support at after-school day services have been pointed out. Moving forward, the research group expects that the spread of this program will expand emotional support for children with developmental disorders.

▼Research Grants MEXT KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) JP18K02440: 'Development and Verification of Multilayered Support Resources Contributing to the Improvement of Support Functions in After-School Day Services' Joint research by Decoboco Base Co., Ltd., Kobe University, and Tottori University: 'Development and Effect Verification of an Emotional Regulation Support Program for Children with Developmental Disorders at After-School Day Service Providers'

▼Published Paper Title: Development and Preliminary Evaluation of PEACE, a Social and Emotional Learning Program for Children with Developmental Disorders Authors: Yuma Ishimoto, Keiko Nogami, & Takahiro Yamane Journal: Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities DOI: 10.1007/s10882-026-10066-8