Meltem Haksiz and Mukaddes Sakalli Demirok / Procedia Computer Science 102 ( 2016 ) 635 – 641
education life and therefore, this will not only affect his/her success in the Turkish lesson, but in all his/her lessons,
and it will also affect his/her future success significantly 3 8 9 12 14.
Despite the positive impact of reading success on the school and academic achievement, some children need
support in learning how to read and write. Children with developmental disability (mental deficiency, hearing loss,
visual disability etc.), children with reading disability, children who use a language or a dialect at home which
different from the one that is spoken in the school, children who have a home environment that lacks of readingwriting activities, and children with oral language disorder, are under the risk of reading-writing failure 19. It is
indicated that, the removal of this risk depends both on the teachers using the methods that would increase the
students’ reading and writing success, and on receiving technological support. For instance; the teachers
participating in BaydÕk and Kudret’s study 5, expressed that there were many CD-ROMs available that could be used
in hand-writing and first reading teaching, that they used these a lot, and that they did not face many problems in
hand-writing teaching. It is indicated that; alongside the CDs that the teachers needed in teaching (for instance:
hand-writing teaching CDs), the interactive storybooks in CD-ROM formats, particularly support the early literacy
development. It is expressed that; CD-ROMs improve the self-reliance of children, especially who have specific
requirements, by making their active participation possible, and they also contribute to children’s reading and
writing success by increasing their writing motivations. Moreover, it is a well-known fact that, children do develop
their social skills as they have the opportunity to use the storybooks with their friends 17.
In addition to these, computers simplify the adaptation of educational materials or teaching in accordance with the
children’s characteristics. For instance: by means of computers, a teacher can easily reduce the number of words a
text includes, or enlarge the type size, and also a student can follow a book by receiving voice or visual cues in order
to turn the page 6. Today, technology plays and effective and active role in every field of life. Technology renews
itself day by day, and it can be used by the teachers in the manner that would meet the individuals’ requirements in
both daily life and educational and teaching environments 1 2 11 23 22 13. Moreover, this lesson environment that the
teachers create by technology, should be supported with the use of internet 4.
Different from other teaching tools, computers, one of the technological tools widely used in the educational and
teaching environments, provide multilateral unique opportunities in terms of teaching and learning 24 21 20. The use
of computers has also been started in special education fields, just like the other fields of education and training.
Computer technology has considerably an important place in the education, as it increased the students’ learning
experiences and simplifies the learning of children who need special education. Technological innovations made in
education, will create a learning environment that would meet the individuals’ requirements who needs a special
education, once the educationists and computers start to complete each other 10.
The use of technology in special education, includes a wide section involving the families of the individuals with
specific requirements, the subject matter experts of special education, and the individuals with specific requirements.
While technology enters into our life each passing day, it is required to use these technologies also in the special
education and to benefit from the opportunities provided by the technology 15. In one of the studies analyzing the use
of computers in the special education, it was determined that; the students earned the targeted reading skills during
the teaching process conducted for the students with mental deficiencies, by the use of simultaneous cues via the
computers 16 In another research conducted, it was observed that; the reading comprehension activity carried out
with a reading material prepared by power point presentation program, had a positive effect on students’ reading
comprehension skill 7. The researchers who conducted the aforementioned research, expressed that; such a
presentation enabled the visual presentation of the words, sentences and the text, and it might have also increased the
mentally challenged students’ participation in the lessons thanks to its strikingness.
In order to simplify the reading and writing process of their students, teachers might develop various materials in
the computer environment. Especially today, the easy-to-use computer software enab