Developmental Research Unit

I am Professor Mehmet Yanardağ. I have been serving as a faculty member at Anadolu University Institute for the Disabled since 2009. My field is physiotherapy and rehabilitation. We continue our clinical and research-based studies during the planning and implementation of intervention programs for children with special needs and motor disabilities attending our institute. The Institute for the Disabled was officially established on the 18thof August 1993 and started to serve as a unit affiliated to Anadolu University Rectorate. Since then, it is a unit that provides special education and rehabilitation services to children with special needs and at risk, as well as providing services implemented through many research projects carried out within the Developmental Research Unit. It continues to work as a unit that seeks evidence and contributes to national and international literature. The Institute for the Disabled has both an application unit where educational services are provided and a Developmental Research Unit where research services continue. Every day, special education and rehabilitation services for 100 children are carried out in the Developmental Practice Unit. Research projects of many graduate students and faculty members continue in the Developmental Research Unit. The results of these research projects also provide practical knowledge. Services are provided to children with special needs, children at risk, children seeking counseling and their parents. The mission of the Institute for the Disabled is to provide comprehensive intervention with interdisciplinary cooperation of practices from different disciplines such as special education, physiotherapy, child development, psychology, psychological counseling and guidance, speech and language therapy, and occupational therapy. It continues its activities with the mission of supporting and increasing the developmental level of children and carrying out intervention processes and evaluation processes so that they can benefit from educational services in inclusive environments with their peers. The Institute for the Disabled continues to be the first and only institute in this field in Turkey. In this context, our institute continues its activities with the vision of being a model institute both nationally and internationally. It maintains its vision of being a model for new institutes to be established in other cities and other universities
There are many ongoing postgraduate projects and research projects, especially in the Developmental Research Unit of the Institute for the Disabled. The vast majority of these projects focus on new methods in special education, effectiveness research on new intervention methods. Research on the effectiveness of these intervention methods and techniques, especially in different types of disability such as autism, spectrum disorder, down syndrome, continues. Especially in the Developmental Research Unit, various new research projects are carried out in laboratories with technology support. For example, by monitoring the face and eye tracking of children in the NOLDUS human behavior observation laboratory, research is carried out on the interaction with their parents or teachers, initiating social communication, maintaining interaction, joint attention and eye contact. Research continues in the motor laboratory, especially on balance and walking. Studies on motor development and movement abilities continue, in children with special needs who have motor development problems such as cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder or down syndrome. We also carry out research on Parkinson’s, especially in adult neurological groups. Walking and posture analysis are performed on patients with Parkinson's disease, by using a neurostimulator, and the functions of the patients are checked with a better neurostimulator regulation. Many innovative studies are carried out thanks to technology. In the Developmental Practice Unit within the Institute for the Disabled, we have 10 classrooms, 5 individual and 5 group classes, where special education services are provided. In addition, there are 3 research laboratories in the Developmental Research Unit. One of them is the human behavior observation laboratory, in which the NOLDUS system enables the monitoring and analysis of children's social interaction, communication and adaptive behavior. Our other laboratory is the balance and walking analysis laboratory. In this laboratory, research is carried out with equipment and tools, including balance and posture analyzes for both children with special needs and the adult group. There is also a technology laboratory. This technology laboratory is a laboratory where movement-based applications and interventions are made for children with special needs, especially by using movement-sensitive tools. In addition, there are 3 small laboratories where research is carried out. There is also a Physiotherapy Motor Development Unit where intervention services are offered to children in need of physiotherapy.
The Research Institute for Individuals with Disabilities was founded in 1993. It is the first and only research institute in Turkey that is dedicated for the individuals with disabilities. In this context, the mission of this institute is to carry out services related to the evaluation and preparation of individual education programs and intervention processes for children with special needs, especially in the 0-8 age range, and to be a model for other stakeholder institutions in Turkey. In particular, children at risk with special needs from Eskişehir, different cities and even European countries apply to our institute both for evaluation and service purposes. The Developmental Research Unit tries to provide services by evaluating these applications. In addition, our institute provides research and application opportunities for graduate and doctoral students both in the Developmental Practice Unit and the Developmental Research Unit. Especially; Since the Graduate School of Educational Sciences, Institute of Social Sciences and Institute of Health Sciences offer various opportunities to graduate students for their research, these laboratories can be used by graduate students. In this context, our institute is a laboratory where various research and applications can be carried out, especially by the graduate students. At the same time, many faculty members within the Research Institute for Individuals with Disabilities carry out both individual and joint research projects. Our institute also continues its research mission with TÜBİTAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey), European Union, and UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) projects. Students with special needs can carry out their thesis and research, especially for postgraduate students who are serving children with special needs and who continue their education in our university or in different institutes. Students studying in undergraduate programs, especially in Special Education Teaching undergraduate programs, can do their internship practices here. Approximately 100 children attending the Developmental Practice Unit can improve their professional skills and do internships by working with and observing teachers during their individual and group training every day.