Effectiveness of Emotional Regulation Training in improving adaptability and social adequacyof students with learning disabilities

Research aim was to determine the effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Training on improving social, emotional and educational adjustment and social quality of students with learning disabilities. Research method was quasi-experimental with control, experimental group and pretest, posttest, and a 2 months follow up. The statistical population consisted of 497 third to sixth grade female and male primary school students with a variety of learning disabilities who were referred to the Center for Learning Disabilities of Bushehr province’s Department of Education during the 2017-2018 school year. Of these, using convenience sampling and considering the requirements of the research project, 148 students were short-listed in the first stage, and of these, 40 students were selected and assigned to an experimental group and a control group. The measurement tools were Singha and Sing Compatibility Questionnaire 1993 and Fellner, Lease & Philips Social Competence Scale 1990. Questionnaires were administered to both groups in three phases. The experimental group went through eight ninety-minute sessions of Emotion Regulation Training, once a week using the method developed by Allen, McHugh and Barlow 2009. Data was analyzed using mixed variance analysis with repeated measures design. Findings showed that Emotion Regulation Training has a significant effect on improving social adjustment (F= 4.218, P= 0.025), educational adjustment (F= 5.802, P= 0.002), emotional adjustment (F= 5.472, P= 0.036), and social adequacy (F= 5.463, P= 0.015) of students with learning disabilities, and this effect remains unchanged in the two-month follow-up phase. Since Emotion Regulation Training helps improve the individuals’ interactions with peers and increases their awareness, acceptance and emotional expression, such training can be used as an effective intervention method to improve social, emotional and educational adjustment and social adequacy of students with various learning disabilities and also students with similar disabilities.