Investigation of Social Behavior Experiences Created by the Little Athletes Project Applied to Children with Special Needs and Partners in the 2-7 Age Group

Introduction: The purpose of this research is "Examination of Social Behavior Experiences Created by the Little Athletes Project Applied to 2-7 Age Group Children with Special Needs and Partners". Materials and Methods: 12 children with special needs and 14 partner children participated in the study. Children formed a 3-6 age group. Of 12 special needs children, 7 were boys and 5 were girls. The partner children consisted of 8 boys and 6 girls. The studies continued for 2 days a week, 50-60 minutes and 8 weeks. In the program, the movement and game training program in the application program guide of the little athletes project was applied. Before and after the application, interviews were made with the parents and recorded. In addition, it was observed and reported by 2 volunteer instructors. Findings: From the observations made as a result of the research, it was concluded that the children started to communicate with each other, helped each other in the games, obeyed the commands, had a lot of fun, did not want the study to end, and still wanted to continue the applications after the study. In the interviews with the parents, it was stated that their children, who had seen a special child before, acted shyly, but during and after the program they called "these are our friends", they did not exhibit any avoidance or hesitation behavior, and they stated that they wanted to play with them when they met in their neighborhood. Conclusion And Evaluation: As a result, positive developments were observed in social behaviors in both groups (children with special needs and partner children) in the movement education program for inclusive children with special needs, while positive developments were observed in communication skills. In addition, according to the opinions of the parents, it was stated that positive behaviors were observed in the children in both groups.