Effectiveness of Neuropsychological Empowerment Program for Students with Cochlear Implants(NEPSCI) on Working Memory Problems of Deaf Student with Cochlear Implants: A Single- Subject Design

hearing cochlear implants bring about a positive outcomes for deaf children, but the experience of primary deafness imposes various constraints, one of which is the working memory problem. The present study aimed at developing a neuropsychological empowerment program for students with cochlear implants(NEPSCI) and its effectiveness on the working memory problems of deaf students with cochlear implants.

The present study employed an A-B single-subject research design. The statistical population consisted of students cochlear implants in Isfahan City in the academic year of 2017-2018. 3 students were selected from the population via the purposive sampling method. The research instruments were of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV(WISC-IV) and the Working Memory Rating Scale(WMRS). Accordingly, subjects were observed for 5 consecutive weeks(in baseline state), then the intervention was conducted in eight weeks. After that, during three weeks, variation consistency in the follow-up phase was observed. Data were analyzed through visual analysis.

. During the visual analysis of the data chart, intervention was effective on all three subjects. The percentage of non-overlapping data(PND) in both baseline and intervention phases for all three subjects was 87.5%, 75%, and 100%, respectively. This effectiveness in follow-up phase was still observable.

According to the results, it can be inferred that the NEPSCI is a suitable method for reducing the problems of working memory in students with cochlear implants and can be employed in educational and treatment centers.