The effectiveness of life skills training on enhancing the social skills of hearing impaired boy secondary school students in inclusive schools

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of life skills training on enhancing the social skills of 12-to-16 year-old male students with hearing impairment in inclusive schools. Materials and Methods: The design of this study was experimental with pretest-posttest and control group. thirty 12-to-16 year-old male students with hearing impairment attending inclusive schools of Arak (Iran) were randomly selected and assigned to either an experimental (n = 15) or a control group (n = 15). The Social Skills Rating Scale (SSRS) was completed by students’ teacher at the pretest. The experimental group received a 14-week life skills training program consisting of 16 sessions of 2 hours each, two times a week. The same questionnaire (SSRS) was used for the posttest measurements. The Posttest SSRS were administered immediately after the termination of the intervention program. Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Independent t test and ANCOVA were conducted for the statistical analysis of data. Results: The experimental group had better performance in social skills in comparison to the control group. Also, they obtained higher scores in cooperation, self control and assertion skills than did the control group (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Life skills training can significantly increase those aspects of social skills that concern social life and cooperation, self control, and assertion in male students with hearing impairment attending inclusive schools. Keywords: Life skills, Social skills, Hearing impaired, Inclusive schools