COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TWO METHODS OF TRANSCRANIAL DIRECT CURRENT STIMULATION (T-DCS) AND PLAY THERAPY ON ATTENTION AND PSYCHO-MOTOR FUNCTION OF CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES: A SEMI-EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

Learning disorder is one of the most common neuro-developmental disabilities in childhood that requires effective interventions.The aim of this study was to compare the effect of tDCS and play therapy on improving attention and psycho-motor function in children with learning disorder. The present study was a semi-experimental (pre-test and post-test design with control group), and statistical population consisted of all the clients of Saqez educational center learning disorders in the academic year of 2016-2017. The research sample consisted of 30 primary and secondary school students who were selected by simple random sampling. Experimental groups received the intervention for 4 weeks (two sessions per hour per week) and the control group received their daily activities during the interventions. Before and after the end of the interventions, the attention and psycho-motor function of the subjects were measured by the continuous IVA test and Royan Oseretsky's motor test and the data were analyzed using the covariance test. The findings showed that both methods increased the attention and psycho-motor function in children with learning disorder, but this improvement was more significant in the tDCS method(p<0.05). According to the findings of this study, parents, teachers, and all therapists are recommended to place tDCS in the educational programs along with therapeutic games.