Developing the Skills of Supporting “Children of Concern（気になる子）”I ―Trials for Students in “Child Care for Disabled Children”―

The number of “Children of Concern（気になる子）” is increasing, particularly in the preschool years, which is the foundation for the childʼs later life. However, the difficulties of supporters have not been resolved despite the various laws and training programs that have been enacted. In particular, there have been many episodes in which the “sense of difficulty” on the part of those providing support may affect the support, and reports have been made on the “sense of difficulty” of the supporters. An episode with a woman with a disability that she had been involved with for two years reported on the support required for her caregivers.（YANO, ANDO 2021ｃ）The 2021 and 2022 surveys revealed no great difference in the studentsʼ sense of difficulty with the “Children of Concern（気になる子）” in their practical training. Therefore, it was presumed that the theory-based learning we had conducted in the past was not insufficient, and we attempted to create an individualized teaching plan for “children of concern（気になる子）” so as to develop the basic ability to support them, and to request the basic ability to respond to them in the actual field. We therefore introduced “Creating Individualized Guidance Plans” into our “Child Care for Disabled Children（障害児保育）” classes this year, and later conducted a survey with our students. As a result, (1) students still have difficulty in imagining the “Children of Concern（気になる子）”. (2) Learning methods and key points for writing instructional plans for “Children of Concern（気になる子）” could be a basic skill for providing specific support. These two points were clarified. For this reason, in related classes, it is important to devise content that provides many opportunities to examine the meaning of childrenʼs words and actions, including watching DVDs, etc., as well as to provide students with more detailed understanding of the situation and points of observation based on their episode records after the completion of practical training, so that they can develop ideas for specific support methods according to individual cases. Furthermore, it became clear that it is important to create more easy-to-use forms for support and guidance plans, and to improve the basic skills of documentation. The study also indicated that more verification of the effectiveness of these methods is needed in the post-graduation field.