Cognitive-Behavioral Game Teaching on Impulsivity in Children with Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder

Hyperactivity disorder is a nervous–developmental disorder that is characterized by continuous behavioral patterns such as attention–deficit or hyperactivity–impulsivity. One of the most prominent symptoms of this disorder is the problem of attention span, impulsivity, and excessive mobility that affects the functions of a person's life negatively. The absence of treatment raises the risk of academic failure, drug consumption abuse, and psychiatric disorders. One of the ways to help these children is the game. Cognitive–behavioral therapies include strategies that have been designed for changing the thinking, attitude, perception, and behavior of problematic individuals. In this approach, which cognitive–behavioral methods are used together, it is emphasized on the identification of false, negative, and irrational beliefs affecting the emotions and behaviors of patients and the correction of these underlying beliefs. Impulsivity is to act without sufficient thought and not to restrain the quick actions of mind and movement that occur in the absence of a conscious judgment. The primary goal of cognitive–behavioral therapy games is to identify and modify conflicting thoughts related to the child's emotional behaviors and problems. One way of helping these children are playing; through the use of play and the use of toys, children can convey thoughts, feelings, and concerns that they cannot express otherwise. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of cognitive–behavioral game teaching on the impulsivity of children with attention–deficit.

The research method was a semi–experimental design with pretest–posttest design with randomized control group. The research population consisted of all 7 to 10 year–old school–age children with primary that had attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders in 3 district of Karaj. A total of 24 people were selected by multi–stage cluster sampling and randomly divided into two groups of experimental (12 people) and control (12 people). The experimental group received a cognitive–behavioral therapy game for 8 sessions of 30 minutes. Both groups responded to the Conners parent questionnaire in two stages of pre–test and post–test. Data were analyzed by covariance analysis using SPSS–20 software. All has been significant at level (p<0.001).

The research results showed that there was a significant difference between the mean of behavioral problems, learning difficulties, psychological problems, impulsivity and anxiety–passivity in the experimental and control groups in the post–test stage.

According to the findings of the research, it can be concluded that behavioral–cognitive game teaching has been improved impulsivity and lack of attention of children with attention deficits/ hyperactivity.