Using Music and Musical Activities in Special Education: Developments in Turkey

Music, as an expressive art, plays a significant role in the lives of all children and it can be used in education to improve non-musical educational objectives as well as the musical ones. Music has also positive contributions to the development of children with special needs in terms of feeling the sense of achievement, giving self confidence, and teaching academic concepts. Enriching educational programs with music would contribute to academic, social, emotional and cognitive development of these children. This paper begins with the overview of the related literature on the effects of music and musical activities in educating children with special needs. It focuses mainly on the practices and studies in Turkey, The authors are attempting to identify the developments of using music and musical activities in education of children with special needs in Turkey. [An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Greek Society for Music Education Conference (GSME) in Athens, Greece, on Oct 30-Nov 1, 2009.]