The Effect of Sociodramatic Play on Language Ability of Children with Mental Retardation

Lee, Young-Chul; Lee, Mi sook; Lee, Young-Chul; Lee, Mi sook

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Commun Sci Disord. 1998;3(1): 138-159.

Young-Chul Lee^` , and Mi sook Lee^`

이영철(Young-Chul Lee)| 이미숙(Mi sook Lee)

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to look into the effect of language teaching with sociodramatic play programs on the improvement of language ability and communication in the children with mental retardation. T he subject s were 3 children, one from a special school and two from a special class in an elementary school. The sociodramatic play programs included shopping trip, hospital task, bank task, and post office task, each with 5 steps : talking, stage setting, role assigning, playing , and reviewing. Positive result s were obtained as for the effectivenes s of sociodramatic play programs for the children with mental retardation. Fir st , despite individual differences, general improvement s in the children s comprehen sion and production of vocabulary were observed. Second, the children were found to better under stand the meanings related to what , who, and where than those related to how and why. Third, the length of sentences the children produced was significantly increased.