Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the drama in education on the social development of the mentally retarded children. The study was performed on 17 children whose developmental levels were 3-4 year according to the Portage Early Childhood Period Educational Program. Social development skills of children were determined by using a pre- and post-test with Vineland Social Maturity Scale. During the study, an educational program prepared to support social development was used by means of the method of educational drama. As a result of the statistical analysis, a significant difference was found between and within groups for pre- and post-test scores (p<0.05).

Keywords: drama, mentally handicapped children, education