Recommendation
A note of appreciation and recommendation_ To help children break free from misunderstandings and turn on the ‘switch of enlightenment’
Starting with_ For children who are neglected and left without help

Chapter 1: Children, Not a Problem of Reflection

Why I was shocked by the drawing my child drew
Children who see the world differently
I lack the power to see, hear, and imagine.
School life classified as 'difficult to handle'
Praise training only postpones the problem.
Group Training for Change

Reviewer's Note 1: What is Borderline Intelligence?
Editor's Note 2: Why It's Difficult to Identify Borderline Intelligence

Chapter 2 I am a good person

Children who can't cut cake
I'm not good at math or reading.
Lack of planning and predictive skills
There is no reflection, not even conflict.
The idea that 'I am a good person'
Where children's obsession is headed
Behaviors caused by distorted interpersonal perception

Chapter 3: Characteristics of Children with Problem Behaviors

Six Signs of Anxiety in Children
【Weak cognitive function】Weak ability to see, hear, and imagine
Why Some People Become "Problem Children" or "Unmotivated Students"
If you have weak imagination, you won't be able to make an effort.
From improving cognitive function rather than reflection
【Weak emotional control】When you are swept up in emotions, your thinking ability declines.
Flight due to excessive stress
You need to understand why children get angry.
'Hwa' that stops cool thinking
Emotions motivate actions
Inflexible thinking leads to wrong actions.
Lack of Flexibility as Determined by the Behavioral Assessment of Executive Dysfunction
Children who have difficulty in school due to inflexible thinking
If you are inflexible, you will become trapped in a victim mentality.
【Inadequate Self-Evaluation】 Not being able to see yourself properly
Why do we give ourselves inappropriate evaluations?
Weak Relationship Skills: Problems Experiencing When Interpersonal Relationships Don't Go Well
Do you do bad things to avoid being hated?
If your relationship skills are weak, your view of the opposite sex will also become distorted.
【Weak physical motor function】 Misunderstanding caused by unintentional actions
Motor control disorders impair physical abilities
Why is poor physical function a problem?

Chapter 4: Children's Signals and Indifferent Reactions

Various signals sent by children
The time to send signals starts around the second grade of elementary school.
Even the guardians don't notice
Even society doesn't know
The 'bottom five' kids in the class
There's nothing wrong with it though
Why don't they know this at school?
I commit a crime because no one cares

Reviewer's Note 3: Current Status of Support for Children with Intellectual Disabilities in Korea

Chapter 5: People Forgotten by Society

Why did you commit a crime that would be discovered so quickly?
People who cannot properly enjoy their daily lives
People we forget when we become adults
It's hard to distinguish between people who don't have problems and those who do.
Misunderstanding about the expression 'hardness'
Being abused because of intellectual vulnerability
Disabled people in need of protection become criminals
The reality of disabled people who have become prisoners
The 'Forgotten Children' in Juvenile Detention Centers
Victims create victims

Chapter 6: Praise Training Is Not the Solution

Will true praise education improve things?
The stereotypical phrase "the child has low self-esteem"
The reality of neglecting things outside of curriculum education
We need support for cognitive functions that form the foundation of learning.
What Psychotherapy in Hospitals Can't Solve
Why Intelligence Tests Alone Are Not Enough
A diagnosis of "intellectually sound" creates a new disability.
Why You Can't Learn Social Skills
Current Mental Emotions: What's the Problem?
The need to introduce programs tailored to each problem child

Chapter 7: It can change in 5 minutes a day

It is important to understand the triggers for change in children.
The effects of 'knowing myself' and 'improving self-evaluation'
A change that starts with 'I can do it too'
Three Types of Support Children Need
A new therapeutic approach focusing on cognitive function
Cognition training to improve cognitive function
Finding symbols to help you control your misbehavior
Training that doesn't hurt children's feelings
5 minutes a day is enough
Take advantage of a variety of free textbooks.
What Happens When Brain Function Is Impaired
Sex-related problem behaviors and cognitive function
A program for children with mental illness
The way is to detect problems early and provide support.

In conclusion, I hope you will pay more attention to the signals that children send.

What's wrong with kids who can't cut a cake into exactly three pieces?
When cognitive function is impaired, everything appears distorted.

Koji Miyaguchi, a child psychiatrist who works at a medical juvenile detention center, discovered during his counseling sessions that many children had cognitive impairments that made it difficult for them to function in daily life.
As part of a cognitive function test, Dr. Koji drew a circle on an A4 sheet of paper and told the children:
“Here is some cake.
"If three people are eating together, how should you cut it? Try to cut it so that everyone can eat the same amount." Surprisingly, many children couldn't do that.
They hesitated and struggled, either cutting the circle in half or dividing it into four parts. The picture of a circle divided into three parts on the cover of this book was actually drawn by children who took the test, intuitively showing the reality of children with cognitive impairments and raising awareness in Japanese society and the educational community.
It became a bestseller on Amazon Japan immediately after its publication, selling over 500,000 copies and taking the number one spot on the bestseller list in Japan in the first half of 2020.
More than a year after its publication, many people have shown interest and sympathy for the questions raised by this book.


Cognitive function refers to all intellectual processes and abilities that involve factors such as memory, perception, attention, language comprehension, judgment, and reasoning.
When these cognitive functions are impaired, everything appears distorted, making basic common sense unavailable.
That's why they can't solve simple problems like dividing a circle into three parts.
These children have difficulty calculating or reading, misinterpreting what others say, and acting on impulse, making it difficult to deal with unexpected events.
So, it is difficult to study, exercise, and socialize with people.


I have no motivation, I have trouble concentrating, I lack social skills…
Problems affecting 14% of children in our society

According to the author, Dr. Koji, there are six main characteristics that children with cognitive impairment exhibit.
First, the power to see, hear, and imagine is weak.
Second, there is a lack of emotional control.
Third, there is no flexibility.
Fourth, they make inappropriate self-evaluations.
Fifth, the ability to build relationships is weak.
Sixth, physical motor skills are weak (however, if you experience sports at a young age, your physical skills may improve, so this may not apply to you).
The reason why you lack motivation, have difficulty concentrating, lack social skills, and are very hands-on is all because of this.


According to the IQ distribution, children with cognitive problems account for 14 percent of the Japanese child population.
According to Dr. Chan-seon Park, a child psychologist who reviewed this book, a similar proportion of children in Korea suffer from cognitive function problems as in Japan.
If there are 20 students in a class, 3 of them are facing this problem.
However, because it is not easily visible on the outside, many parents and teachers tend to overlook it and seek other solutions.
It is about raising self-esteem by praising or correcting by scolding.
But neither praise nor scolding is a fundamental solution.
Children's low self-esteem comes from their shortcomings.
Therefore, rather than focusing on what they are good at, we should focus on what they are lacking and develop their abilities so that they can do well.
Yelling is even more problematic.
The kids are trying hard enough.
However, the problem is that the education and parenting environment does not match these levels.
In the current system, these children are classified as “difficult children” and are ignored and neglected rather than receiving the help they need.
In this way, they fall further and further behind others and eventually end up being treated as 'problem children' and end up on the path of delinquency.


It can change in 5 minutes a day
Specific solutions developed by a child psychiatrist based on clinical experience

These cognitive problems usually appear around the second grade of elementary school.
Therefore, we must pay attention to children and quickly identify any abnormal signs.
When they are still in elementary school, they can receive guidance from teachers and are highly dependent on their parents, so it is easy to cope, but when they become middle school students, it becomes difficult to cope because the environment changes rapidly due to puberty and other environmental changes.
If you feel that your child's learning, cognitive level, or language development is strangely different from that of his or her peers after entering school, or if your child's behavior is excessively aggressive or questionable, rather than unconditionally scolding or punishing your child, you should examine whether there are any emotional or cognitive problems.
If necessary, you should also take proactive measures, such as visiting a child psychiatrist or child counseling center.
Additionally, it is helpful to train to improve cognitive function at school and at home.
Dr. Koji, in particular, strongly advocates that schools should be responsible for this aspect, as this is where children spend most of their time every day, making it the most effective.


Dr. Koji suggests Cognition Training as a way to improve children's cognitive function.
Cognition Training is a method developed by Dr. Koji over a period of about five years while working at a medical juvenile detention center, and its effectiveness has already been proven.
It doesn't take a long time or be complicated.
Just play for 5 minutes a day.
Cognition training consists of five training sessions corresponding to the five elements that make up cognitive function: memory, perception, attention, language comprehension, judgment, and reasoning.
Describe, remember, find, imagine, and count.
'Describing' is to look at the connected shapes of a sample and draw them exactly as you see them, which helps build basic visual perception skills.
'Remember' is a method that gives you several missions, makes you listen to sentences, and then makes you remember specific words.
'Finding' means finding the same picture, and 'imagining' means drawing what the shape would look like from each position or making up a story using multiple pictures.
'Counting Numbers' involves counting apples among various fruit shapes, but setting a specific fruit as a stop sign and not counting it.


Parents, education professionals, policy makers, administrators, child psychologists, etc.
A must-read for any adult interested in children's behavior.

Ironically, the author became aware of this problem after working at a medical detention center for juvenile offenders.
Medical juvenile detention centers are places where juveniles suffering from drug abuse or mental illness are admitted and provided with corrective education. In Japan, there are three medical juvenile detention centers that admit developmentally disabled or intellectually disabled people with low cognitive function.
There, Dr. Koji met and counseled numerous children who, despite their intellectual weaknesses, had become criminals instead of receiving help at school or at home, and realized that they desperately needed help.
And after conducting several case studies, we concluded that many children are exposed to these problems not only in medical detention centers but also in schools and homes.
This book is based on the author's experiences.
We discuss what problems children with cognitive impairment face, how to identify their problems, and how to provide them with help.
It presents various solutions, including methods for improving cognitive function, educational methods, and support measures for children.
Through this, we will gain new perspectives and insights into the problems faced by children around us, and we will be able to seek new solutions that fit our circumstances.