Daily life therapy is a form of specialised education for autistic children and young people attending one of two special schools located in Tokyo, Japan and Boston, USA.
Daily life therapy consists of an intensive and highly structured educational programme based around three key areas: 1) Physical stamina building; 2) Emotional stability; 3) Intellectual stimulation.
Pupils are encouraged to learn through an active approach with the focus on developing physical fitness, body co-ordination and emotional stability. The academic curriculum includes maths, science, social studies, technology and the arts.
Most of the teaching is delivered via direct instruction in groups, with an emphasis on reciting and repeating words or copying the behaviours of the other students or teachers.
Some other schools, such as the Rugeley Horizon School in the UK, have incorporated some of the principles of daily life therapy into their day to day practice.
There is almost no research (one very small case study) to suggest that daily life therapy is an effective intervention for autistic children and young people.
However, we believe that some elements of the approach (such as the emphasis on physical activity, structures and routines) may be beneficial to some autistic children and young people.
Our major reservation is the question of whether those who graduate through the schools are able to maintain and sustain any progress made away from the school environment and programme. Can they transfer any skills they have learnt into new environments, such as their daily lives?
We believe that further research into daily life therapy might be justified particularly if that research compares daily life therapy with other educational interventions which are commonly used to help autistic children and young people.
Please read our Disclaimer on Autism Interventions
The Boston Higashi School in the USA teaches children, young people and adults between the ages of 3-22 “with diagnoses along the Autism Spectrum, which include autism, autistic-like, PDD-NOS and Asperger’s Syndrome.”
The Rugeley Horizon School in the UK teaches children and young people “aged 4-19 who are on the autistic spectrum and who exhibit moderate to severe learning difficulties.”
According to the Boston Higashi School website, accessed on 6 January 2017, the aim of Daily Life Therapy is to “provide the core foundation of a broad and full education, rather than merely focusing on remediating deficits”.
Cumine et al., (2000), reported that "the main intentions of the approach are to develop self esteem and independent living skills; improve physical strength, coordination and stamina; and to stimulate the child's intellect across a range of learning areas including music, art, and drama".
Quill et al., (1989) reported that daily life therapy “appears to be founded in Eastern philosophy, which accepts a relationship between an individual's mind, body and spirit and Japanese pedagogy, which focuses on group education and group performance".
According to the Boston Higashi School website, accessed on 6 January 2017, daily life therapy provides a range of benefits
“Students develop an inner sense of well-being and confidence which propels their curiosity about the world around them through clear structure, a high level of engaging activities, and spontaneous fun”.
According the Priority Education Services website, 6 January 2017,
“Pupils [at Rugeley Horizon School] will achieve an enhanced degree of emotional stability through an active approach to learning, which reduces anxiety levels and enables them to access the curriculum. Pupils are able to engage in daily life with increased confidence, self-esteem, dignity and independence.”
Daily life therapy (also known as the Higashi method) is a form of specialised education for autistic children and young people attending one of two special schools located in Tokyo, Japan and Boston, USA.
According to the Boston Higashi School website, 6 January 2017,
“Daily Life Therapy is 24 hours of structured educational programming which focuses on the whole person’s character through “heart-to-heart” education. Based on bonding between students and teachers, it is an educational philosophy and way of teaching...”
Daily life therapy consists of an intensive and highly structured educational programme based around three key areas: 1) Physical Stamina Building; 2) Emotional Stability; 3) Intellectual Stimulation.
Pupils are encouraged to learn through an active approach with the focus on developing physical fitness, body co-ordination and emotional stability. The academic curriculum includes maths, science, social studies, technology and the arts.
Most of the teaching is delivered via direct instruction in groups, with an emphasis on reciting and repeating words or copying the behaviours of the other students or teachers.
According to the Boston Higashi School website, 6 January 2017,
“Daily Life Therapy employs a holistic approach in educating the whole child using three fundamental pillars: 1) Physical Stamina Building; 2) Emotional Stability; 3) Intellectual Stimulation
Together, these pillars provide the core foundation of a broad and full education, rather than merely focusing on remediating deficits.”
“Students can use vigorous physical exercise to learn to regulate their biological “rhythms of life,” and thus gain many other benefits in health, mood, awareness of one’s surroundings, and concentration, without relying solely on the use of medication.”
“In this vibrant and energetic environment, through a consistent, highly structured approach using group dynamics, teachers bond closely with each student to achieve emotional stability so that understanding and trust can develop through ‘heart-to-heart’ education.
Intellectual Stimulation
“Through group dynamics in classes, students are naturally taught social interactions and relationships as they study a broad-based, age-appropriate curriculum. Integrating literacy, math, science, social studies, technology and the arts (consisting equally of music, art, and physical education), our students experience a wide range of subjects to engage the mind.”
The Boston Higashi School provides a number of services including a day programme, a residential programme and an employment education programme.
According to the 2012 Ofsted report, the fees for attending Rugeley Horizon School are:
We have, as yet, been unable to identify the costs of attending the other schools which follow daily life therapy.
The day programme at the Boston Higashi School operates 217 days a year and the residential programme operates 304 days a year. In theory the education happens throughout the 24 hours, and certainly throughout the child’s waking day.
The Rugeley Horizon School in the UK operates up to 52 weeks and provides 24 hour care.
Parental involvement
According to the Boston Higashi School website, accessed on 6 January 2017,
“The Boston Higashi School requires active participation from parents in their child’s program. Participation includes gaining an understanding of the educational philosophy of Daily Life Therapy®, participating in workshops and individualized training sessions, maintaining two-way communication with staff, implementing strategies for behavioral self- regulation and enthusiastically supporting their child at celebratory school events which mark very special times of the year for the school family.
“Family participation and involvement through trainings, workshops, home visits, joint activities, weekend pick-ups and longer vacations together bolster the mission to educate our students to become lifelong productive members of their families and communities".
There are no known adverse effects of daily life therapy.
There are no know contraindications (something which makes a particular treatment or procedure potentially inadvisable) for daily life therapy.
However according to the Henry Spink Foundation website, accessed on 6 January 2017,
“Opponents to the therapy argue that the instruction taught is very rigid and may not suit Western children as well as Japanese children.”
Daily life therapy, or key elements from the therapy, are available from
The Boston Higashi School in Randolph claims that its staff are highly trained, all having at least a Masters in special educational needs, gained independently of daily life training through the Massachusetts state university.
The staff at the Rugeley Horizon School are expected to hold relevant teaching and other qualifications (such as post graduate qualifications in autism provided through the University of Birmingham).
The Boston Higashi School was founded in 1987 in Boston by Kiyo Kitahara, a Japanese educator, who had developed a method for teaching autistic children. She developed this method (daily life therapy) at Musashino Higashi Gakuen, a private school for children with special needs in Tokyo, which she also founded in 1964.
The school in Boston has since moved to Randolph in Massachusetts. Since then some of the principles developed by the Boston Higashi School have been adopted elsewhere, including the Horizon School in Rugeley in the UK, which is owned by the Priory Group.
We have identified one scientific study of Daily Life therapy published in a peer-reviewed journal. It took the form of an observational study of three children, aged between primary and junior high school.
The study (Larkin and Gurry, 1998) concluded that that several important areas of Daily Life Therapy are worthy of greater attention, including strong gains in behaviour and attending to classroom stimuli.
“The children in the classrooms are quiet, well behaved, sit at their desks and manage well in a group of 6 to 10 children with one adult teacher. To observe this in a school for children with autism and PDD is remarkable.”However, it also reported a disturbing lack of progress in other areas, including a lack of progress in appropriate responses. “The target students appeared not to learn to follow specific directions or to comprehend what the teacher was asking them to do".
We have only been unable to identify one scientific research study (Larkin and Gurry, 1998) published in a peer reviewed journal which looked at the efficacy of daily life therapy for autistic children.
We identified one other paper on daily life therapy published in a peer-reviewed journal (Quill et al, 1989) but this was a descriptive account rather than an efficacy study of the therapy.
There were a number of potential design flaws in the study by Larkin and Gurry.
The study was an observational study of three children only, with three other children from the original cohort being lost to follow up.
The study used a non-standardised outcome measure lacking any external validity.
The research was conducted by researchers based at Lesley University, to which the Boston Higashi School is affiliated. This could have led to unwitting bias on the part of the researchers.
For a comprehensive list of potential flaws in research studies, please see ‘Why some autism research studies are flawed’
There is almost no research (one very small case study) to suggest that daily life therapy is an effective intervention for autistic children and young people.
This lack of evidence does not prove or disprove the effectiveness of daily life therapy for autistic children and young people. It may simply show how little research has been conducted to date.
We believe that further research into daily life therapy might be justified. Future research should
This section provides details of scientific studies into the effectiveness of this intervention for people with autism which have been published in English-language, peer-reviewed journals.
If you know of any other publications we should list on this page please email info@informationautism.org
Please note that we are unable to supply publications unless we are listed as the publisher. However, if you are a UK resident you may be able to obtain them from your local public library, your college library or direct from the publisher.
This section provides details of other publications on this topic.
You can find more publications on this topic in our publications database.
If you know of any other publications we should list on this page please email info@informationautism.org
Please note that we are unable to supply publications unless we are listed as the publisher. However, if you are a UK resident you may be able to obtain them from your local public library, your college library or direct from the publisher.