Dear students,
All children differ among themselves in terms of their physical characteristics and learning abilities. However, these differences are not significant in most cases. Therefore, growth and development needs can be met in general education schools under normal conditions.
However, some children differ significantly from their peers in their physical characteristics and /or learning abilities. Therefore, meeting the development needs requires some additional or different arrangements to the services provided in general education schools. We call these children "children with special needs", and all the arrangements provided to meet these needs "special education".
Apart from gifted or talented children, all children with special needs are children with disabilities. The most common disability group in this group is mental disability. This is followed by autism spectrum disorder. These two disability groups are taken as basis in the Special Education Training Undergraduate Program of our Department.
Special education requires individual planning and implementation of education based on a detailed educational assessment for each child with special educational needs. In this application, some special methods, techniques and strategies as well as related services are used according to the needs and characteristics of the child. In this context, special education is a team work and the "special education teacher" is at the center of this team.
