The panel titled “Autism Spectrum Disorder and Inclusion/Integration Practices” was held online on April 2, 2022, through the collaboration of Istanbul Medeniyet University Autism Research Center and IMU Faculty of Education Sciences.
This year’s theme was “inclusion/integration practices”. Just like every year, this year, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was discussed from different perspectives. In this context, autism spectrum disorder and inclusion/integration practices were approached from the perspectives of academicians, teachers and parents.
The panel started with the opening speeches of Our Vice-Rector Prof. Dr. Yaşar BÜLBÜL, Dean of the Faculty of Education Sciences Prof. Dr. Ahmet AKIN and the Manager of Autism Research Center Prof. Dr. Yeşim GÜLEÇ ASLAN. In the opening speeches, the speakers highlighted the importance and support given by our university and faculty to the efforts to increase the quality of life of individuals with special needs,to raise social awareness about individuals with special needs, and the need to create effective inclusive learning environments for handicapped individuals.
After the opening speeches, the panel started with the speech of Prof. Dr. Sema BATU. Having made significant contributions to both the literature and practice in the field of inclusion / integration for years, Prof. Dr. Sema BATU contributed to the program with her presentation titled “Autism Spectrum Disorder and Overview of Inclusion/Integration Practices”. BATU mentioned that students with autism spectrum disorder should be supported to show their best performance by using effective teaching strategies and that opportunities should be created for students to communicate with their peers. Then, our faculty member Dr. Ayşe Büşra SUBAŞI YURTÇU talked about the needs of inclusion/integration education in our country and a service she started within the scope of the Social Autism Program. The collaborative consultation process offered to volunteering preschool teachers was explained and the opinions of participating teachers Merve TEZEL and Tuğçe YURT were shared. After this presentation, our faculty member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Özcan Erkan AKGÜN shared his experiences of inclusion/integration from the perspective of the parents and emphasized the factors that experts and parents should pay attention to. Inclusive education practices from the perspective of the teacher were shared with the speech of the preschool teacher Fatma KIYAK, who shared her integration/inclusion experiences with a student with ASD.
Finally, our pre-school teaching students Şerife AKDENIZ, Nisanur AKYÜZ, Rabia KARABACAK, Buse YALÇIN, Merve Nur DEMIRCI and Eda Demir, who were awarded by TOVAK for their “Be Aware of Disadvantaged Children” project they carried out with their supervisor Prof. Yeşim GÜLEÇ ASLAN, shared details about their project. The panel ended with a question-answer session.
