Examining the effectiveness of the Turkish alternative language communication systems program in improving the communication skills of children with special needs

This study investigated the effect of the Turkish Alternative and Augmentative Communication System (TADIS) language skills of children with special needs. The study is an experimental design with a pre-test-post-test control group. The study group consisted of a total of 30 individuals with moderate-severe autism spectrum disorder and mental retardation between the ages of 15-22. The independent variable of the study was the TADIS program, and the dependent variable was language skills. In the study, the Turkish Communication Development Inventory I (TİGE I) (Fenson et al., 1993) was used as the data collection tool. The application continued for 10 weeks, 2 hours per week. The results were evaluated with the Wilcoxon test in intra-group tests and the Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis test in inter-group measurements. As a result of the study, it was determined that the experimental group to which TADIS was applied had significantly higher language scores than the control group. Keywords: Language development, tadis, disabled individual