The effect of song teaching on speaking skills in individuals with mental disability

Considering the effect of music education on children's language skills to individuals who need special education, this research was conducted to examine the effect of song teaching on speaking skills in individuals with intellectual disabilities. The research was designed according to the action research pattern. The study group of the research consisted of 6 individuals with intellectual disabilities who were educated in a special education and rehabilitation centre in Bayburt in the 2021-2022 academic year. In order to reach the findings obtained from the quantitative stage of the research, the songs named "Masal" and "Yurdumda" and the text of the fairy tale "Mırnav'ın Yeni Arkadaşı" were used in the preliminary and final evaluations prepared in line with the expert opinions to determine the speaking levels of the participants. Studies based on teaching various songs by ear song teaching methods and reinforcing them with repetition were applied by the researcher for 12 weeks between the pre-assessment and the final evaluation. The diary data kept by the researcher was used to collect the data. In addition, each instruction was video-recorded and archived. In the qualitative phase of the research; The speaking checklist applied to the participants was applied. The qualitative data were supported by the findings obtained from the semi-structured interviews applied to the families and teachers of the participants. "Demographic Information Form for Students", "Speech Checklist", "Teacher Preliminary Interview Form", "Teacher Final Interview Form" and "Family Interview Form" prepared in line with expert opinions in order to determine the level of speaking skills of the participants in the pre-assessment and post-evaluation. "Family Interview Form(Pre-Implementation Opinion Form)","Family Interview Form(Post-Implementation Opinion Form)" were used and the results obtained from the forms were analyzed by content analysis, one of the descriptive analysis methods. Since the number of people in the study group was less than 15, non-parametric tests were preferred for statistical analysis. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to determine whether there was a significant difference between the pre-evaluation and post-evaluation results. In the analysis of the data, 0.05 was accepted as the significance level. As a result of the analyzes made, according to the final evaluation scores; It has been observed that teaching singing in individuals with intellectual disabilities increases their speaking skills at a statistically significant level. As of the last evaluation points; While there was no significant difference in repeating the text of the lyrics of the song "Yurdumda", there was a significant difference in the song called "Masal". When the mean rank and total scores of the difference scores in repeating both songs with their melody and in repeating the text of the fairy tale "Mırnav'ın Yeni Arkadaşı" are taken into account, it was seen that the observed difference was in favour of the posttest. In addition, according to the findings obtained from teacher and family interviews; It has been seen that the song teaching practices used in the process have a positive effect on the participant individuals in general. Keywords: Music Education, Special Education, Music in Special Education, Mental Disability, Speaking Skill