The Effect of Perceptual Motor Training and Cognitive Games on Cognitive Development in Mentally Retarded Children

The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of perceptual motor training and cognitive games on cognitive development in mentally retarded children. In this experimental study, 45 mentally retarded children aged between 8 and 12 in Kermanshah province were randomly divided into 3 groups: perceptual motor training, cognitive training and control. The perceptual motor program included the protocol of Salari et al. (2014) and Kashi et al. (2015) and cognitive games included a collection of cognitive games of my brain that was run as software. The groups participated in the program for 8 weeks, 2 sessions per week and 45 minutes per session. Before and after the training, they participated in London Tower computer test and the Stroop color-word test as pretest and posttest. Data were analyzed with Mancova and Ancova tests.The findings of the study showed a significant difference among perceptual motor training, cognitive games and control in London Tower computer test and Stroop color-word test. Perceptual motor training had a greater effect on the improvement of cognitive functions in mentally retarded children than cognitive games. Therefore, it can be concluded that although both types of games play an effective role in improving cognitive development and can be used to improve children's well-being, perceptual motor training is a better tool to create more development effects than cognitive training.