Comparison of the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions based on brain gymnastics and cognitive rehabilitation on verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning in students with special learning disabilities

Learning disabilities are an important cause of academic failure for some students, and determining appropriate treatment methods can lead to their academic success. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions based on brain gymnastics and cognitive rehabilitation on verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning in students with special learning disabilities.

: The research method was quasi-experimental with pretest-posttest design and control group. The statistical population includes male and female elementary school students with learning disabilities in Tonekabon who referred to the Health Learning Disabilities Center of that city in the 99-98 academic year. Sampling method of this study was available that after selecting 45 people were randomly assigned to three groups (two experimental groups) and (one control group). Data collection tool was Wechsler IQ Scale 4 (2003). In this study, two treatment protocols of brain gymnastics program and Pars strengthening program were used. Univariate and multivariate analysis of covariance were used to analyze the data.

The results showed that therapy based on brain gymnastics and cognitive rehabilitation treatment had a positive and significant effect on verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning of students with special learning disabilities. Also, due to the fact that the mean level in the cognitive rehabilitation group was higher than the cerebral gymnastics group, a statistically significant difference was observed in the verbal comprehension variable in the effectiveness of treatment.

Therapeutic interventions based on brain gymnastics and cognitive rehabilitation should be used to improve verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning of students with special learning disabilities.