Effectiveness of Cognitive Rehabilitation Program on Attention Dimensions and Reading Efficacy in Students with Dyslexia

Dyslexia is the most common learning disability. One of the most important factors associated with dyslexia is attention which can affect reading accuracy, speed and comprehension. Present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation program and attention reinforcement on the dimensions of attention and reading efficacy in students with dyslexia.

This research was a quasi-experimental study with control group pretest-posttest design. The study population included all the male primary school students of grade 3 in Kermanshah in the academic year 2016-2017. Among them, 30 students with dyslexia were selected by convenience method and then randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group (15 in each group). The experimental group received the cognitive rehabilitation program for 12 sessions of 45 minutes, while the control group underwent no intervention. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children- Fourth Edition), Reading Disorder Test, Stroop Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and Continuous Performance Test were used as the study tools and data were analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA.

The findings of the study showed that cognitive rehabilitation program was effective on selective attention, shifting attention, and reading efficacy of students with dyslexia and the effect of this intervention was persistent after two-month follow up period, however there was no significant effect on sustained attention (Commitment error: F= 1.52, p≥0.05; Negligence error: F= 2.32, p≥ 0.05; Reaction time: F= 0.13, p≥0/05).

Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that by strengthening the dimensions of attention and increasing the accuracy and more accurate processing of letters and words read, the intervention method used in this study improves the reading efficacy of students with dyslexia.