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. The subjects 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
results were obtained as for the effectiveness of sociodramatic play programs for the
children with mental retardation. First, despite individual differences, general
improvements in the children’s comprehension and production of vocabulary were
observed. Second, the cRldren were found to better understand 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.
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