The effectiveness of making woven baskets from natural plants with direct teaching method in individuals with mental disabilities

There are many areas of development that typically developing individuals can do for themselves in their daily lives. However, this is not the case for individuals with intellectual disability. Individuals with intellectual disability should have a profession in order to live independently, participate in social life and be a producer in society. In this study, while teaching basket weaving skills with natural materials to students with intellectual disabilities, its contribution to independent working, occupation and sustainability was examined. The research was carried out with 14-18 years old students with mild intellectual disabilities at the 3rd Level 3 of Special Education Vocational School affiliated to a provincial centre in the Western Black Sea Region. In this research, single-subject research model, which is one of the quantitative research methods, was used. While examining the effect of basket weaving skill teaching with direct instruction method on the basket weaving skills of students with intellectual disabilities, multiple probe design with inter-subject probe phase, which is one of the single-subject research methods, was used. When we look at the results obtained from the research, it was seen that Direct Instruction Method was effective in teaching basket weaving skills to individuals with intellectual disabilities. Independent working skills were gained in all three students after the teaching sessions and probe sessions. It was revealed that the students were able to work independently and generalise by making baskets alone.