Determining the opinions of parents with children with special needs on digital games

Digital games are games that have been in our lives since the 1980s, including all video, game console and mobile games (Bozkurt, 2014). With the discovery of the Internet, interest in tools has increased. These are phones, tablets, computers and game consoles (Gökçeaslan & Günbatar, 2012; Güler et al., 2017). The aim of this study is to determine the views of families with children with special needs on digital games. In the research, data were created and analysed using content analysis, which was designed with phenomenology (phenomenology), one of the qualitative research methods. A semi-structured interview form and a questionnaire containing demographic information were used in the study. The study was conducted with children between the ages of 6-13 who were diagnosed. Relatives of 36 children whose children were diagnosed with special needs participated in the study. As a result of the resulting data, codes were created and as a result, themes and sub-themes were reached. The research was conducted in a special education and rehabilitation centre in Sultangazi, Istanbul. In the research, digital game theme and sub-themes were reached. As a result, it was concluded that children with special needs prefer war games the most. It was concluded that the purpose of playing games was entertainment, they preferred mobile phones the most, and they played games for at least 2 hours a day. It can be said that the negative effects of digital games are that children with special needs cannot spare time for their lessons and spend all their time in digital games. The positive contributions of digital games were found to contribute to the educational processes, skills and development of children with special needs.