A New Concept: A Facilitator for Individuals with Special Needs

Introduction: Special education is defined as education carried out by specially trained personnel to meet the special educational needs of individuals in environments appropriate to their disabilities and characteristics with specially developed educational programs and methods. Method: Qualitative research methods were utilized in this research. The participants were asked questions about the semi-structured interview form. 15 special education teachers (10 male, 5 female) from different special needs schools in İstanbul participated in this research. The findings were provided in the light of semi-structured interview in reference to opinions of 5 experts. It was derived from the responses given to the 5 personalized information forms and 5 research questions suggested by the researcher and 5 experts. The data was analyzed by using the content analysis method. Findings: Findings were gathered under five topics; the conclusion, the advantages of the application of the facilitator for individuals with special needs, the professional competency of the facilitator, opinions about this model, and the proliferation of the facilitator model. Discussion: It was indicated that the facilitators have both positive outcomes, such as supporting and encouraging the student, and negative outcomes, such as hindering the student’s independence and setting unreasonable education goals.