Examination of opinions on distance education of children with special needs in preschool period during the COVID-19 pandemic period

With the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face education activities were suspended in the world and in our country, and distance education activities were started. In this study, the views of the families of the special needs students in the preschool age group and the teachers working with special needs children in the preschool age group about distance education are examined during the COVID-19 pandemic period. For this purpose, phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. The study group of the research consists of 10 preschool teachers and 10 parents who have children with special needs in the preschool period. For the purpose of collecting the data of the research, a semi-structured interview form named "Distance Education Opinions", which was prepared separately for preschool teachers and families of individuals with special needs, was used. The data obtained within the scope of this research were analyzed by using descriptive analysis and content analysis, which are among the qualitative data analysis methods. As a result of the research, although teachers and families state that children with special needs do not break away from the education and training processes with distance education systems, they say that the socialization of children with special needs is affected by the distance education system. They emphasized that distance education systems cause technological addictions in children, regressions are observed, problems occur due to the difference of instructors, and cause adaptation and motivation problems.