Background: The main purpose of present study is the analysis of the emotion recognition ability in mild mentally disabled students in Shiraz.

Method: Population of study includes all students with mental disability in Shiraz, sample of study consists of 120 mild mentally disable students (60 boys and 60 girls) were selected from special schools by cluster sampling. The sample was assessed by Assessment Children’s Emotional Skills (Izard, 2004), which has three parts: situational, behavioral and pictorial. The validity of inventory was confirmed by using face validity and internal consistency and correlation between three parts. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA, two way ANOVA, covariation analysis and Chi-Square. Results: The results revealed that older students were better than younger ones in emotion recognition. Also based on the results, there weren’t any differences between two sexes (boys and girls) and in both groups education had a positive effect on emotion recognition. Most of the students had a tendency to label ambiguous instigators as sad. 

Conclusion: Ability of emotional recognition increases with age in students with mental disability. Also, they show emotional bias that should be followed in parenting and education.