地域生活と密着した児童発達支援事業所や放課後等デイサービスは，作業療法士（以下OT）実践の場として重要である。今回，児童発達支援事業所や放課後等デイサービスにおいてOTに期待される役割等を把握し，地域分野での小児OTの今後のあり方を検討する目的で調査研究を実施した。
調査の結果，事業所のOTはまだ少なく，運動や対人技能などの発達を個別に促す直接的支援が主であり，保護者支援や地域施設間の連携等の子どもに対しての間接的な介入は少ないということが分かった。
直接的・治療的関わりだけでなく，子どもを取り巻く環境に対し貢献することができるように，OTの専門性の認知を進める必要がある。またOT同士のネットワーク構築や，社会連携システムの構築など新たな活動に挑戦していくべきである。今後，職域の拡大と社会貢献の充実を図るためには，専門的な発達支援の啓発に加えて，OTは何が出来るかを発信し，社会的認知を進めていくことが必要である。

Community-based child development support offices and day-service centers for children are important places for the practice of occupational therapy. A survey was conducted to examine the roles that occupational therapists are expected to fulfill in child development support offices and after-school day service centers for children, and discuss the future direction of pediatric occupational therapy (OT) in communities.
According to the results of the survey, OT was conducted in few centers, and, in most cases, it was centered on direct support to encourage individual children to develop their exercise and interpersonal communication skills. Few centers provided their parents with support, promoted collaboration among community facilities, or implemented indirect intervention for children.
In addition to direct and therapeutic support, it is necessary to promote public recognition of the expertise of occupational therapists to improve the environment for children. It is also important to take on new challenges of developing networks among occupational therapists and establishing social collaboration systems. To help occupational therapists conduct their activities in a wider variety of fields and increase their social contribution, it is necessary to increase social awareness of the potential of OT, in addition to promoting education on specialized support for child development.