The opinions of classroom teachers about the adaptations they perform for students with special learning disabilities

Students with specific learning disabilities have the same right to education as their peers. However, they cannot fully benefit from their educational rights due to various reasons. It is of particular importance for inclusion classroom teachers to realize instructional adaptations in order for their students who need special education due to physical, instructional and some other reasons to fully benefit from their educational rights and to minimize any loss of rights. The aim of this study is to determine the adaptations that classroom teachers make for students with special education needs with learning disabilities for successful inclusion process. The research is considered to be important in terms of setting an example for other studies to be conducted in the field of specific learning disabilities and providing a perspective to classroom teachers. This research was designed as a case study, one of the qualitative research designs. The study group of the research consisted of volunteer classroom teachers working in Iğdır province. Purposive sampling method was used in the study. Eight volunteer inclusion classroom teachers participated in the study. The data were collected face-to-face and online with the data collection tool, which was prepared before the inclusion classroom teachers' opinions and finalized with expert opinions. The data were analyzed by dividing them into themes and codes with descriptive analysis method. To state the data in more detail, as a result of the analysis, some of the classroom teachers did not see the need to make adaptations in certain subjects. On the other hand, it was determined that some teachers made physical adaptations in the classroom in many ways, from desk arrangement to classroom colors and activity corners. The classroom teachers who participated in the research stated that they made adaptations in terms of instructional goals and objectives to make them suitable for the special needs of the student, and that they made some adaptations in teaching methods and techniques for students with special learning difficulties (SLD). It was found that they faced some difficulties in the teaching process. Classroom teachers make many adaptations in many areas for their students with specific learning disabilities. Teachers take into consideration all kinds of color, temperature, order, safety, security, amount of stimuli in the school and classroom so that students can be physically more comfortable. Teachers who adapt the goals and objectives according to the level, structure and expectation of the student so that their students can learn in the best way according to their level despite their specific learning disabilities also adapt the teaching methods and techniques they use according to their students. While most of the teachers stated that they did not consider their university education and in-service trainings sufficient to work with students with specific learning disabilities and that one of the biggest reasons for this was that the trainings received were theory-oriented, teachers also mentioned many difficulties in the process, from the difficulties experienced in the process of diagnosing students, problems in cooperation with families, to the resource and material problems experienced for students with specific learning disabilities. Based on these findings, the results obtained were discussed within the framework of the literature and suggestions on the subject were given.