The Effect of Perceptual-Motor exercises on The Working Memory of Students with Special Learning Disabilities with Math Problems

The working memory is the mind's search engine. Working memory is a cognitive function responsible for keeping immediate information, manipulating and its using in thinking. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of perceptual-motor programs on the working memory of students with specific learning disabilities with mathematical problems. The present experimental study is a pre-test and post-test one with control group. The target population includes male students from the third to fifth grades of elementary school. All subjects were randomly assigned to experimental (21) and control (20 subjects) groups. Sixteen sessions of peritoneal exercise were performed twice a week for the control group. The research instrument consisted of a revised Wechsler Intelligence Scale for children, a KM test, and a children's illness Symptom questionnaire. Data were analyzed using independent T-test and Covariance analysis. The results showed that after intervention, the experimental group received better scores in the work memory test (P = 0.001), but the post-test control group did not show a change in their working memory scores. According to the results of this study, it is suggested that cognitive-motor exercises should be used to improve the memory performance of children with math disorders.