Effectiveness of the cognitive rehabilitation based on recognition of emotional-face on behavioral problems, and the theory of mind in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation based on emotional recognition on behavioral problems and theory of mind in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The research was an experimental study with pre-test-post design and a control group. The statistical population consisted of students with ASD (298 subjects=65 girls+232 Boys) of Shiraz City in 2019-2020 academic year. The sample consisted of 44 students who were selected by purposeful sampling from among normal and exceptional schools with simple random method and were placed in 2 groups of 22 (16 boys+6 girls). Intervention in 12 sessions was performed on the experiment group and control group members continued their daily programs. The research tools included Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (Ehlers, Gillberg, Wing, 1993), Theory of Mind Test or ToM (Stimann, 1994) and study of cognitive rehabilitation background based on emotion recognition (AREF). Data were analyzed using single-variable and multivariate analysis of covariance using statistical software SPSS24. Results showed that cognitive rehabilitation method based on emotional recognition had a positive effect on improving behavioral problems (F=33.68, df=1, P≥0.001), level one (P=0.001 & F=21.23) level two (P=0.002 & F=11.58) and the overall score of theory of mind (P=0.001 & F=16.93), but did not have a significant effect on level three theory of mind. Based on the results, it can be concluded that teaching the proper recognition and diagnosis of various emotions through cognitive rehabilitation (substitution) can improve behavioral problems and upgrade the levels of theory of mind.