The Opinions of Special Education Teachers on the Use of Assistive Technologies in Special Education

This research is a descriptive study aiming to determine at what level assistive technologies are utilized in the special education field, to identify the barriers to use of assistive technologies, and to support strategies based on opinions and thoughts of teachers working on this field. The population of this research was constituted by teachers working in public and private education institutions operating in 2017-2018 academic year affiliated to the city of Hakkari in Turkey. In this research, a survey developed by Linda Chmiliar of Athabasca University in 2007 was used as the data collection tool. The study included 211 teachers from different age groups, gender and students with special needs at different levels of instruction. As a result of the research, it was determined that the most restricting factors in the use of assistive technologies in special education were the cost of the equipment, lack of sufficient assistive technology tools for the students and lack of knowledge about the assistive technologies. Factors related to the most important support strategies related to the use of assistive technologies were identified as budget support for providing tools and equipment, educational support for assistive technologies and technical support for the use of equipment