A. Problematic

Students with intellectual disabilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia face a number of academic problems due to their limited ability to benefit from the curricula currently offered by intellectual education institutes and programmes, especially since the special education regulations stipulate that the educational services provided by schools to students with disabilities be limited to the mild intellectual disability category (1422 AH). A study (2008 المعيقل،), which evaluated the extent to which life skills are applied in the curricula of students with intellectual disabilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, confirmed that a number of difficulties face such application, namely: (a) inadequacy of educational environment, (b) unqualified human cadres, (c) lack of life skills, (d) lack of adaptive behaviour or life skill assessment, (e) weakness of family role, and (f) lack of community resources.

In light of this reality, the study in question seeks to design a functional curriculum that accommodates the needs of students with moderate intellectual disabilities, by referring to international functional curricula and adapting them to the requirements of the Saudi environment. The study also seeks to gauge the effectiveness of the proposed curriculum in helping students with moderate intellectual disabilities acquire functional skills, by comparing the performance of a group of female students who are taught the proposed curriculum with the performance of their colleagues who are taught other curricula currently adopted in intellectual education institutes.