اثربخشی آموزش کارکردهای اجرایی بر افزایش هوش‌بهر دیداری-فضایی و فعال کودکان دارای اختلال یادگیری پایهٔ اول و دوم دبستان

زمینه و هدف: کارکردهای اجرایی، فرایندهای شناختی پیچیده‌ای هستند که رفتار هدفمند ایجاد می‌کنند و نقص در آن‌ها معمولاً همراه با اختلال یادگیری می‌باشد. پژوهش حاضر با هدف بررسی اثربخشی آموزش کارکردهای اجرایی بر افزایش هوش‌بهر دیداری-فضایی و فعال کودکان دارای اختلال یادگیری شهر زاهدان انجام گرفت.روش بررسی: طرح ‌پژوهش حاضر ‌نیمه‌تجربی از ‌نوع ‌‌پیش‌آزمون-‌پس‌آزمون ‌با ‌گروه گواه ‌بود. جامعهٔ آماری پژوهش شامل تمامی دانش‌آموزان پسر پایهٔ اول و دوم دبستان مراجعه‌کننده به مرکز اختلال یادگیری در سال 97-1396 بود که بر اساس پنجمین ویرایش آماری تشخیص اختلالات روانی به‌عنوان افراد دچار اختلال یادگیری تشخیص داده شدند. از این جامعه، 24 دانش‌آموز بیمار واجد شرایط به روش نمونه‌گیری داوطلبانه انتخاب و به‌صورت تصادفی در دو گروه آزمایش (12 دانش‌آموز) و گواه (12 دانش‌آموز) قرار گرفتند. آموزش کارکردهای اجرایی به مدت 15 جلسهٔ 60دقیقه‌ای روی گروه آزمایش اجرا شد.‌ از هوش‌آزمای تهران-استانفورد-بینه (2005) ‌برای‌ جمع‌آوری‌ اطلاعات ‌استفاده ‌شد. داده‌ها با استفاده از روش آماری تحلیل کوواریانس در نرم‌افزار spss نسخهٔ 23 مورد تجزیه‌وتحلیل قرار گرفت و سطح معناداری (0٫05=α) در نظر گرفته شد.یافته‌ها: نتایج به‌دست‌آمده از پژوهش حاضر نشان داد که آموزش کارکرد‌های اجرایی بر افزایش هوش‌بهر دیداری-فضایی و هوش‌بهر فعال کودکان دارای اختلال یادگیری اثر معناداری داشت (0٫001=p).نتیجه‌گیری: با توجه به موثر بودن آموزش کارکردهای اجرایی بر افزایش هوش‌بهر دیداری-فضایی و هوش‌بهر فعال، می‌توان گفت آموزش کارکردهای اجرایی روشی مناسب و کاربردی برای ارتقای هوش‌بهر دیداری-فضایی و فعال برای دانش‌آموزان دارای اختلال یادگیری است.

Effects of Executive Function Skills Training on Visual-Spatial Processing and Working Memory in Elementary School Children with Learning Disorders

Background & Objective: Learning Disorder (LD), an information–processing problem, interferes with learning skills and using them effectively. LDs usually affects individuals with average or above–average Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Prevalent LDs affect children’s reading and writing abilities, as well as mathematics, verbal, and nonverbal skills. Numerous children may challenge in school with some topics or skills. A significant number of children, despite having an average or higher IQ, present severe and significant deficiencies in intelligence tests and experience problems in normal adaptive abilities associated with educational learning. LDs cause social, emotional, and academic problems in students. An executive function is a group of essential mental skills. It is an umbrella term for neurological–based skills, involving emotional self–regulation. An executive function disorder can impair an individual’s ability to organize self and control their behavior. Individuals with executive function issues may encounter troubles controlling emotions or impulses, as well as problems with starting, organizing, planning, or completing tasks. Visual-Spatial processing and working memory are critical aspects of executive function in children with intellectual disabilities. Visual–Spatial processing is an individual’s ability to process visual signals to discern spatial relationships between objects and to visualize different scenarios or images. Moreover, working memory is defined as the part of short–term memory, i.e., concerned with immediate conscious conceptual and linguistic processing. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of executive function skills training on visual–spatial processing and working memory in children with LDs.Methods: This was a quasi–experimental study with a pretest–posttest and a control group design. The statistical population of the study included all boys in the first and second grades of elementary school who were referred to the local Learning Disabilities Centers in Zahedan City, Iran, in 2017–2018. Accordingly, the study subjects were diagnosed with LDs based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM–5). Of this population, 28 students met the inclusion criteria; four students failed to continue the study. The inclusion criteria were receiving a diagnosis of LDs, the age range of 7–8 years, signing informed consent forms, having an IQ of <70, comorbidity with attention deficit disorders, having any visual and auditory disorders, and having any other disorders (e.g., conduct disorder, developmental disorders, etc.). The exclusion criteria were absence from >3 training sessions and unwillingness to continue participating in the research. Finally, 24 students were selected by voluntary sampling method and randomly assigned into the experimental and control groups (n=12/group). The executive function skills training was performed in 15 sessions for the experimental group. The Tehran–Stanford–Binet Intelligence scale was used for data collection. This tool is a modified version of the Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scale for the Persian–speaking population. It is a cognitive ability and intelligence test, i.e., generally used to diagnose developmental or intellectual deficiencies in young children. The collected data were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS. Results: The present study results indicated significant differences between the experimental and control groups concerning working memory and visual–spatial processing scores after presenting executive functions skills training. Therefore, in the posttest stage, the working memory and visual–spatial processing scores of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the controls (p<0.001). In other words, executive functions skills training significantly increased the working memory and visual–spatial processing scores of students with LDs in the posttest stage.Conclusion: The current study findings suggested that the implication of the approach presented in this study improves skills related to learning in children with LDs; thus, it could be helpful, at least as a complementary method in this group.