Marzieh Mashalpourfard - Department of Psychology, University of Payame Noor, Tehran, Iran.

Background: The ability of communication is one of the critical features, which helps exceptional children to achieve an independent life. Therefore, using educational methods that enhance these abilities in these children is very important and necessary.  Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of storytelling on the communication skills of educable mentally-retarded students in Ahvaz City, Iran. Materials and Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test design with a control group. A sample of 30 mentally-retarded students, who were studying in exceptional schools of Ahvaz, was selected by a multistage cluster sampling method. Then, they were divided into experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. Subjects in both groups completed the pre-test and post-test communication skills questionnaire, and only the experimental group underwent the tale program. The obtained data were analyzed by covariance analysis. Results: The results of this study showed that the mean scores of Dan’s communication skills. There was a significant difference between the students in terms of group membership (experimental group and control group) in the post-test (P=0.001).  Conclusion: The storytelling method based on the communication skills of low-income students’ educational mentality was effective and the experimental group trained by the storytelling method achieved higher post-test scores in communication skills.

Storytelling, Communication skills, Educable mentally-retarded children