ABILITY LEVELS OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN APPLYING SIMPLE PRINTMAKING TECHNIQUES

Art fields, which have been used as a treatment tool since ancient times, are still used today to support the well-being of individuals.In applications where art is used as a psychoeducational intervention method in schools, the techniques frequently preferred are pastel, watercolor, oil painting, drawing with acrylic paint, sculpture, ceramic making, and printmaking techniques.This study aimed to determine the application levels of simple printmaking techniques applied by children with special needs during art activities and to guide special education teachers and families while performing these applications with children through the results of this study.The research was conducted with 40 children aged between 4-13 who were receiving education in a special education center in Nicosia, selected by the purposeful sampling method.The research method is qualitative research and has a case study design.The data recording form developed by the researchers was used as the data collection tool in the research.The data were analyzed in 5 categories: simple printmaking techniques, techniques that children can do without needing support, techniques that they need support for, what kind of support they need, their reactions to the drawing activity, and whether the application tells its story.As a result, it was determined that children can perform techniques that they apply with direct contacts, such as hand printing and fingerprinting, without needing support, that they need support in techniques such as citrus printing, leaf printing, potato printing, and paper printing, that they need more support such as modeling and physical guidance, that they participate in activities with pleasure, and that they use mostly emotional nonverbal expressions in telling their stories due to their language developmental disabilities.