The Impact of Primary School Games on the Social Development of Educable Mentally Retarded Children

The social development is a key factor in the treatment of mentally retarded children. One of the proposed methods for the social development of these children is play therapy. This paper aimed at determining the impact of primary school games on the social development of mentally retarded children. This quasi-experimental study was conducted among 8-11 years-old mentally retarded pupils in Tehran province. Two schools were selected from Exceptional schools of different districts of Tehran province through cluster sampling. Then, from the pupils of the two selected schools, 30 male students were randomly selected and assigned to an experimental group (n = 15, mean age: 10.7 ± 0.3) and control group (n=15, mean age: 10.5 ± 0.4). After informing the parents of the pupils and having them fill out the consent forms, experimental group carried out the school games. Vineland Social Maturity Scale was used to measure pupils’ social development. Intervention was carried out among the experimental group in 12 sessions for one month. Then, a posttest was carried out on both experimental and control group. Data was analyzed by covariance analysis using SPSS 19. There was a significant difference (p = 0.001) between the pretest and posttest mean scores of the total score of their social development and social development components among the experimental group when compared with the control group. These findings emphasized the impact of school games on the social development of educable mentally retarded children. It is proposed that through creating appropriate environments for their physical activity and involving them in social activities, help these children give up their isolation and solitude.