The Effectiveness of Drama Therapy on Attention Span in Boy Students with Intellectual Disability

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of drama therapy on attention span of boy students with intellectual disability in primary school. In present quasi-experimental study، pretest and posttest design with control group was used. 30 boy students selected randomly from two exceptional primary schools and assigned to experimental and control groups equally. Attention span of all the students was measured by Tolous-Pieron and Cognitive-Diagnostic Kay Tests. Experimental group attended in 12 drama therapy sessions (per session lasted for 45 minutes) for 6 weeks، and control group didn`t receive any intervention. Subjects completed Toulous-Pieron test and Cognitive-Diagnostic Kay test after the end of therapeutic sessions، again. ِData were analyzed by analysis of covariance. The results showed that there was significant difference between attention span of experimental and control group according to Kay Test (p=0. 002) and Toulous- Pieron Test (p=0. 049). In sum، it was concluded that drama therapy has caused the improvement of attention span in students with intellectual disability.