Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate social skills among visually impaired students from the aspects of basic social behavior, interpersonal relationships and cognitive social behavior. The sample consists of 74 students with visual impairment and 89 sighted students from three secondary schools in Malaysia. All respondents are between thirteen to fifteen years of age. Social Skill Assessment Tool for Visual Impairment (SSAT-VI) by McCallum & Sacks was used to get the data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in the form of mean scores to obtain the levels of social skills developed by the participants. The findings show that students with visual impairment have a lower score on social skills than sighted students. The lowest levels are for basic social behavior (mean = 3.63), especially, for body language skills (mean = 3.41). This study implies that the impairment contributes toward the poor personal development of social skill of the participants. There is a need for intervention to increase the levels of social skills acquisition.