The social development characteristics of children with mental reterdation in Bolu

This study was planned to study the social developmental characteristics of the children with mild learning disabilities and to determine whether these characteristics vary according to different variables or not. Since there are only few children in Bolu, sampling wasn't taken. 50 children from Emine Mehmet Baysal Eğitim Uygulama Okulu and îş Eğitim Merkezi who were qualified by Bolu Center of Rehabilitation and Research were examined in the scope of our research. "Information Forms About Parents and Children" were applied to the children with mild disabilities and their parents; "information Forms About Teachers" were applied to the teachers; and "The Registration Form About Social Development Characteristics " was also handed out to their teachers were collected as data in bolu which were included in the appendix. The reliability test for "Registration Form About The Scoial Development Characteristics" which was shown in appendix 2 was done using cronbach - a for each subcategory. Cronbach coefficients for interpersonel social skills was found to be. 8893, cronbach coefficients for selfcare skills was found to be.9534, cronbach coefficients for skills in the house was found to be. 975 1 and cronbach coefficients for social skills was found to be. 9642. Moreover, "The Registration Form About The Social Development Characteristics" was examined for inter-reliability by ussing the method ICC ( Intra Class Correlation Coefficients ). In bolu, the ICC was found to mbe. 9835 (ICC =9835). It has been proved that the registration form for the scoial development charecteristics ties are reliable. Content reliabilitiy for "Registration Form About The Social Development Characteristics" was acquired by the help of a psychologist, a child development expert, a special educatian expert and a translator. The data collected through investigation tools mentiered in Appendix I and appendix II were evaluated and interpreted ussing spss 10. These results were abtained after this study: 1. The social development charecteristics of the children with mild disabilities vary according to the age groups. The interpersonel social skills for age group 6-12 were found high, whereas self care skills, the skills including how to behave at home and social skills for age group 13-18 were found high. 2. Another factor affecting the social development charecteristics is " sex".it has been discovered that girls are better at interpersonel social skills while boys are better at self care skills, at skills at home and social settings. 3. Since few children in our research had taken presschool education and few of them had taken part in social activities and since the majority of their parents had low educational and socia- economic standards, analysis of these issues couldn't be made. Key words: Child With Mild Disabilitiy, Social Development, Independent Life Skills. IV