| Title |
A Study on the Characteristics of the Current Situation of the Child Care Centers for the Children with Disability in Japan - Focus on the 'Day Service for Children' in Tokyo - |
| Keywords |
Children with Disability ; Child Care Center ; Current Situation ; Day Service for Children ; Japan |
| Abstract |
This paper aims to identify the characteristics and the current situation of the architectural characteristics, children’s characters using facilities, and status of management and utilization by surveying ‘Day Service for Children’ in Tokyo-do. First, About the status of management and utilization, ‘Day Service for Children’ is operated by a local government, NPO corporate group and social welfare corporate. There are not big differences of the care program or running hours depending on operating principals but there are differences depending on staff organization, number of children and space constitution. Also, infants ratio at 'Day Service for Children' is high for the purpose of detecting disability early and supporting their development early. They have diverse disabilities but developmental disabilities’ ratios high and most children are using both this facility and normal nursery centers together. Samples for proper child care based on status of space constitutions were installing lock, raising door knobs and using softer floor materials which are for children’s safety. For the problem of space utilization, most comments were about lack of space which is not enough for teaching and training materials. Therefore, as an example, observation rooms for parents and teachers were sometimes used as storages and it changes teachers’ moving direction, staying area and behavior zone. The programs of ‘Day Service for Children’ are divided to group teaching and private one. It will be the best if they have separate spaces such as group class room, private class room and play room. When they were operated by NPO corporate group or Social welfare corporate, there are many cases that their space was not properly zoned for each activity. |