背景:沖縄県では発達障害児の早期発見・早期支援の充実が急務となっており、その療育体制が整備されつつある。発達障害児の多くが保育園を利用しており、早期療育の重要な担い手として保育士の質向上が課題である。目的:本研究の目的は保育士が発達障害または疑いのある子どもをどのように発見しているか、また彼らにどのように支援しているかを年齢別に把握することであった。方法:対象は沖縄県南部3市にある保育所90ヵ所に勤務する保育士878名であった。郵送による自記式質問紙法であり、内容は保育士の基本属性、障害児保育の有無、担当事例の特徴、療育支援の内容等であった。結果と考察:546名から回答を得た。現在発達障害児(疑い含む)を保育している者は約4割であり、保育士から特別支援を受けているのは170事例中7割であった。保育士が挙げた1~3歳児の早期発見に役立つ子どもの行動特徴は53項目と多数であったが、重要な指標の不足も明らかになった。また、早期支援は子どもへの支援、親への支援、社会的支援など多様であったが、記述数は早期発見の3割にとどまり、各問題行動に対応できてないことが明らかになった。結論:早期発見と早期支援の重要性から保育士の質向上のために、子どもの年齢を考慮に入れた実用的で継続的な研修の必要性が示唆された。Background: It is now recognized that early detection and intervention for children with developmental disorders (DDs) should be improved, and the developmental disorders system is building to provide the comprehensive services and supports these children and their families require in Okinawa. Because many of children with DDs are cared by day care workers in day care centers, improving the quality of day care workers is a priority matter. Purpose: Our goal was to determine by age of children how day care workers identified children with DDs and suspected children, and what early interventions they provided in day care settings. Method: Eight hundred seventy-eight day care workers in 90 day care centers at 3 cities in southern Okinawa were asked to complete self-report questionnaire. Result: The data was obtained from 546 day care workers. Approximately 40% of them were taking care of 170 children with DDs including suspected children. Seventy percent of those children were provided special interventions by them in day care settings. They gave 53 behaviors or characteristics of children one to three years of age as the warning signs that they were concerned, but they didn't notice any critical warning signs of DDs. They provided a variety of therapeutic and supportive services to eligible children and their parents, but the number of early intervention they described was a mere 30% of those about early detection. Conclusion: It was suggested that day care workers needed to be given practical and continuous training so as to assure their adequate capacity to detect the DDs by the Age of 3 years and deliver early intervention services to children with DDs and their families.