Investigation of the Children with Disabilities and Their Problems in Children’s Books

This study aims to find out how children with disabilities in elementary school level children's books are represented within the scope of types of disabilities, problems they face in their everyday life, their problemsolving styles, content features of children's book. Research material of the study consists of 26 children's book containing children with disabilities, which address to elementary school level children as a result of scanning both bookstores and digital media. In this research, data collected through document analysis from qualitative research methods were analyzed with descriptive analysis technique. Selected children's books were examined in detail with book review form developed in accordance with expert's opinions. At the end of the research, it was observed that orthopedic insufficiency and clinic illness were the most common types of disabilities in children's books. Problems faced by the disabled characters are problems of being in need, transportation and communication problems. Intrinsic motivations and self-acceptance of disabled characters, and their high morale support their problems to be solved more easily. Negative use of language, presence of characters that can be accepted by society, sense of hope for disabled characters, positive family relations, happy ending of story are remarkable results regarding content of research.