Not only genetic factors but also environmental factors are thought to contribute to the risks of development of neurodevelopmental disorders.　Recently, maternal immune activation during pregnancy is reported to play the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders.　On the other hand, the author has focused on premature birth as one of the environmental risk factors.　Although the survival rate of extremely preterm infants（EPIs）（children born before 28 gestational weeks［GWs］） has improved, many survivors develop cognitive impairment in later life.　Moreover, EPIs are more likely to have neurodevelopmental disorders.　We examined the developing human neocortex and confirmedthat neuronal migration continues beyond the gestational age at which the EPIs are born.　To investigate whether preterm brain injury affects neuronal migration, we produced ischemic brain damage in mouse embryos with the occlusions of the maternal uterine arteries and analyzed neocortical development.　The mice showed delayed neuronal migration and exhibited cognitive deficits.　Activation of the affected medial prefrontal cortex of the surviving mice improved the working memory deficits, indicating that decreased neuronal activity caused the cognitive deficits.　These findings suggest that altered neuronal migration by brain injury might contribute to the subsequent development of cognitive impairment in EPIs.

Autism spectrum disorder（ASD） and attention deficit hypertension disorder（ADHD） risk has previously been found to increase with each week of decreasing gestational age.

In very preterm born children, the neuropathological substrate of this disability is now recognized to be related to a structural and functional variety of dysmaturational disturbance of the brain.　Some studies reveal a “preterm behavioral phenotype” characterized by symptoms associated of inattention, anxiety, and social difficulties.

In this article we reveal our findings about the preterm behavioral characteristics concerning social difficulties.　Every preterm birth child（birth weight <1,250 g） who was discharged from neonatal intensive care units in Miyagi prefecture and followed to 5 years of age.　The PARS （Pervasive Developmental Disorders.　Autism Society Japan Rating Scales） scores suggested that subthreshold pervasive developmental disorders were very common.　However, in early childhood, interest in others, social smiles, and eye contacts were recognized.　In early school aged childhood, the overall language ability was likely to “catched up” to the level of children born term, however the difficulties in semantic and use of context were suggested.　They could be differentiated from a group of autism by the relative absence of restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests.　Their social difficulties might be caused by lower language functioning.

Recent robotic technology has made remarkable progress.　Intervention for individuals with autism spectrum disorders （ASD） is a strenuous task and requires perseverance.　In such a situation, humanoid robots have an advantage of uniform movement.　In addition, on the back that humanoid robot can behave regularly, do a fine movement, and individuals with ASD are interested in novel technology, and purported relative strengths and differences in understanding physical and visual worlds relative to social worlds, there have been many attempts using robotics to individuals with ASD all over the world.　Although a variety of robots have been proposed as possible therapeutic tools for interventions for individuals with ASD, the physical appearances of humanoid robots currently used in therapy with these patients are highly varied.　Accordingly, robot developers and therapists are interested in identifying the optimal appearance of robots used in interventions.　Future studies should be focused on what is the best kind of robot to use in relation to a specific ability that is being studied.

Summer treatment program （STP） is a comprehensive treatment for children with ADHD and their parents, which is developed in north America.　STP intervention components include a reward and response-cost point system, time-out, use of antecedent control（clear commands, establishment of rules） and praise and reward for appropriate behavior.　During STP, parents participate in parent training program to learn how to implement similar procedures within the home setting.　In 2005, we started Kurume STP in Kurume-city, Fukuoka, Japan.　A total of 316 children ranging age from 6 to 12 years participated in 14 years without any dropout.　We reported the positive effects of STP on behavioral changes in multiple domains of functioning, improvement of cognitive functions, neural enhancing effects evaluated by NIRS, and increased cortisol awakening response after completing STP.　Positive effects were also observed in improving children’s QOL and maternal POMS.　In this manuscript, we explained about STP briefly and reported the effects of STP to children with ADHD andthose with ADHD comorbid with autism spectrum disorder （ASD）.　STP was effective for the improvement of behavior of children with ADHD comorbid with ASD as well as children with ADHD only.

Recent cognitive neuroscientific studies of emotion allow us to understand more closely about the underlying mechanisms of human emotion.　Current essential research questions for understanding emotion are as follows : 1） what are the functions of the brain areas or networks involved in emotional processing, 2） how the autonomic bodily responses affect emotion perception or production, and 3） what is the significance of clinical studies for the patients with emotional disorders and autonomic nervous disorders.　In this article, I first reconsidered fundamental concepts of emotion by mentioning the difference between emotion and feeling.　I then reviewed recent development of the relevant studies mainly focusing on the interoception and salience network and the emotional disturbance followed by autonomic disorders, and finally highlighted on the importance of understanding “mindbrain- body” interactions.

　This article shows the author’s 40 years’ clinical practice for patients with aphasia.

　Poststroke aphasics were tested with the standard language test of aphasia （SLTA）, and following results were obtained

　　1）　 The word repetition was disturbed more frequently in the aphasia due to cerebral infarction than in that due to cerebral hemorrhage.

　　2）　 The word repetition was disturbed by cortical lesions involving the left perisylvian region, but not by deep lesions or atrophic cortical sulci.

　　3）　 The overall severity of aphasia was estimated with the principal component analysis.　Aphasic symptoms were severer in the aphasics with word repetition disturbance than in those without word repetition disturbance.

　　The repetition test, containing three components（ nonword, word, sentence） was applied in poststroke aphasics.　The maximal number of repeated syllables were compared among these three components.

　　Word repetition was easier than nonword repetition in all 23 aphasics.　Furthermore, sentence repetition was easier in 9 of 23 aphasics.　These 9 had better word repetition ability.

　　From the above mentioned results, the author proposed a schema of repetition, which postulates a parallel language processing－phonological, lexicosemantic, and syntactic processings.

　　Furthermore, the author proposed “10 maxims” regarding clinical characteristics of aphasia in stroke briefly, and the subjective report by an aphasic patient was presented.

　　Finally, the author commented on some controversies in aphasiology.

mTOR system regulates various vital functions in the systemic organs, and plays important roles in the brain, regarding both morphology （cellular size, shape and position） and function （learning, memory and sociality）.　Tuberous sclerosis complex（ TSC） is a congenital disorder caused by a defective suppressor of mTOR system.　Almost all of the brain symptoms of TSC are manifestations of an excessive activity of mTOR system.　Many TSC patients are afflicted by intractable epilepsy, intellectual disability and/or autism.　Molecular target therapy with mTOR inhibitors has recently been proved to be efficacious for epilepsy and autism, indicating the possibility for pharmacological treatment of developmental disorders.