Identification of Necessary Social Skills for Students with Mental Retardation for Developing of Social Skills Curriculum

The aim of this research was to identify the necessary social skills for students with mental retardation in elementary and middle schools. The present study was a descriptive-survey design. and For collecting data Identifying Social Skills Questionnaire (ISSQ) was administered. In order to develop ISSQ، first the related literature was reviewed and a pool of the necessary social skills items for children with mental retardation was identified. Consequently، the preliminary questionnaire was developed and a pilot study was conducted and its psychometric properties were computed. Finally، ISSQ were given to three groups of parents، teachers and professionals. For this purpose، 151 parents and 144 teachers using cluster sampling method، and 42 professionals utilizing purposeful sampling procedure were selected. After analyzing the data، the necessary social skills for children with mental retardation were identified in nine components as follows: 1) social skills related to school environment، 2) social skills related to the classroom، 3) interpersonal skills، 4) self management skills، 5) decision making and problem solving skills، 6) cooperation، 7) assertiveness skills، 8) social skills related to emotions and feelings and 9) social skills related to the community. The results revealed that all social skills listed in ISSQ obtained were very important in view of the three groups of participants. Therefore، it was recommended that in curriculum development and conducting research projects as well as intervention programs for students with mental retardation، the perspective of parents، teachers and professionals should be considered.