Postgraduate Theses on Coaching Practice in Special Education: A Systematic Review Study

English (OpenAlex)

Introduction: The importance of evidence-based practices in special education has been a focal point for the field. Ensuring the implementation of evidence-based interventions with high reliability and the effective results in special education have revealed the importance of programs aimed at increasing the competencies of individuals providing interventions and coaching have become widespread. Coaching practices, which is considered a new area for special education, has not yet been determined creates conceptual confusion. Method: In this systematic review study, it was aimed to examine descriptively and methodologically the theses involving coaching practices with individuals with special needs and to provide a conceptual framework for coaching practices. In this context, twenty theses, fifteen of which were doctoral theses and five master's theses, were examined in the database of the National Thesis Center of the Council of Higher Education (YÖKTEZ), including the year of production, participants, type of coaching, setting, dependent and independent variables, effectiveness data for acquisition, monitoring and generalization, application, inter-observer reliability and social validity data regarding their reliability and validity. Findings: The findings obtained from the study show that the training programs offered to parents, teachers and siblings, which include side-by-side, distance and hybrid coaching practices, are effective in helping individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability, specific learning disability and multiple disabilities to acquire skills, and in helping parents, teachers and typically developing siblings to maintain and generalize the skills acquired by individuals with special needs. In all the theses examined, it is seen that social validity data were collected in addition to intervention and inter-observer reliability data. Discussion: The findings of the thesis studies included in the review were discussed with the findings of other studies examining coaching practices in the field of special education in the literature and suggestions were made for the future.