Investigation of the effects of the quality book reading early intervention program (NIKO) on parents and their children with down syndrome

In early childhood, it is possible to evaluate and intervene parent-child interaction through routines at home through programs. One of the early intervention programs that aim to increase the quality of parent-child interaction by teaching parents to use quality book reading strategies is the Quality Book Reading Early Intervention Program (NIKO). In this study, it was aimed to examine the effects of online NIKO on children diagnosed with Down Syndrome and their parents. The research was conducted in the form of online group sessions with 17 children aged 0 to 6 diagnosed with Down Syndrome and their parents and practitioners. The research was carried out with two groups, the control group with 9 participants and the experimental group with 8 participants. Two teaching sessions per week were organized with the parent-child couples in the experimental group and the program was completed in an average of 5 weeks. At the end of the research process, the same teaching process will be repeated with the participants in the control group. Both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods were used in the study, which was designed with the mixed research method. While the pretest-posttest control group design was used in the quantitative dimension of the research, the Culture Analysis method was used in the qualitative dimension. Findings obtained from both quantitative and qualitative data of the study, it was seen that the NIKO program created a 33.62 point increase on the qualified book reading behaviors of the parents participating in the study and an increase of 11.75 points on the interactive behaviors of the children with Down Syndrome. positive effect is supported. Keywords: Down syndrome, Reading, NIKO, Parent-child interaction.