Art Teaching in a Special School Setting: Effect on Acquisition of Academic Skills by Children with Conditions of Mental Retardation

Abstract

There is paucity of researches in the area of art education for children disadvantaged with conditions of mental retardation in Nigeria. This paper attempts to find out the efficacy of art teaching in enhancing the acquisition of academic skills by such children. The illustrated case study is one from a randomly selection of six pupils who made up the final sample population. Art teaching was used as an intervention strategy over a duration 104 weeks, and was found to enhance the acquisition of intellectual skills by children with conditions of mental retardation. Recommendations were made for enhancing and developing caring practices for such children.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n3p13