Effectiveness of Computer-Assisted Cognitive Remediation (CACR) and psycho stimulant drugs on clinical symptoms of children with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neuropsychological disorder in children. This research aimed to determine and compare the effectiveness of computer-assisted cognitive remediation (CACR) and Psycho stimulant drug in improving clinical symptoms of children with ADHD. The research design was pretest، post-test، and follow-up with two experimental groups. 23 ADHD children were selected by convenience sampling and inclusion- exclusion criteria. Two groups were matched according to the severity of their disorders and randomly assigned to drug therapy (n= 11) and CACR (n=12) groups. The research tools included the Persian version of SNAP-IV scale، the short form of WISC-R and Child Syndrome Inventory (CSI-4). Data were analyzed using RM-MANOVA، a mixed design ANOVA. The CACR had an effective and enduring effect on reducing clinical symptoms of ADHD. Although CACR in comparison to drug therapy، did seem to have an effect in improving clinical symptoms; but this effect did not reach statistical significance. Overall، cognitive training was shown to be effective in improving motivational and motor as well cognitive symptoms. Therefore، CACR can be used as an alternative technique to psychostimulant drugs in the treatment of ADHD.