The comparison of preschoolchildren with mental retardation in terms of social skills and problem behaviour

This study has been conducted to examine if there is a significant difference between normal peers? social skill levels and between 4-6 year-old children?s social skill levels with mental disability.Information form prepared in line with this purpose and Social Skills Rating System (SSRS)?s preschool-teachers form were administered to normal 90 students and to 60 students with mental disability between 4-6 ages attending preschool and nursery class depended on the 8 different Ministry of Education located in the districts of Şişli and Kağıthane in İstanbul.Data collected based on scale study with the help of SPSS 15.0 statistical program was analyzed. Average standard deviation of descriptive statistics were used in determining children with mental disability and normal children?s social skill and behavior problem levels and Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskall-walls analysis, Discriminant analysis, and tests of Wilks?Lambda and Chi-Square were used in determining the differences between children with mental disability and normal children?s social skill and behavior problem levels.In research result it has been found that children with mental disability have low social skill levels and have more behavior problems when compared to normally developing children. Also, in research result it has been precipitated that children with mental disability in different ages and normal children?s social skill and problem behaviors in different ages differ in significance level in terms of statistics according to their age and sex.Keywords: Social Skills, Behavior Problems, Children with Mental Disability