Effect of Co-curricular Activities on Development of Social Skills of Children with Intellectual Disability

Abstract

Background: Social skills are an integral part of an individual's survival in a society. Children with intellectual disability show significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior as expected of children of similar age preventing the typical acquisition of adaptive social skills. Such skills are learned by continuous interaction with others through engaging in some activities. By participating in co-curricular activities their communication skills could be enhanced and they could express themselves in a better way. Objective: This study has been conducted to find out the effect of co-curricular activities on development of social skills of children with intellectual disability. Sample: The subjects N=8, (Six boys and two girls, IQ ranging from 35-49) were selected from Govt. Rehabilitation Institute for Intellectual Disabilities (GRIID), Chandigarh based on set inclusion and exclusion criteria. Design: Using purposive sampling and utilizing single group, pre and post tests experimental method. Tool: The pre and post tests were conducted by making use of Social Skill Assessment Tool developed by the researcher . Results: The intervention programme was conducted for 20 sessions to perform three co-curricular activities i.e. dance for 10 sessions, play (throwing the ball into the bucket) for 5 sessions and thumb painting for another 5 sessions. Duration of each session was 45 minutes on daily basis except for weekends and gazetted holidays. Based on the result of post test performance, the collected data was analyzed quantitatively by using t-test. In the analysis, it was found that the mean scores of pre-test and post-test were 27.12 and 50.75 respectively and the calculated t value was 10.88 whereas the table value of t was 3.49, which was less than the calculated value. Hence, null hypotheses was rejected at p<0.01 level of significance. The statistical analysis shows that there is a highly significant effect of co-curricular activities on development of social skills of children with intellectual disability. Conclusion: Based on the above findings, the researcher in the present study has explored that co-curricular activities help in improving the social skills in children with intellectual disability. Keyword: Social skills, co-curricular activities, children with intellectual disability