Meta-analysis of the Effectiveness of Therapeutic-Educational Interventions on the Improvement of Specific Learning Disorder

Researchers and practitioners in the field of specific learning disabilities have applied different therapeutic methods in their experimental and quasi-experimental studies to help individuals with this disorder and to solve their academic problems. Current study, using meta-analysis methodology, aims to investigate the effectiveness of therapeutic-training interventions on the improvement of specific learning disorder. 

This meta-analysis study included all the national researches available in the area of therapeutic-training interventions done for specific learning disorder, published during 2001 to 2014. To achieve these researches, the database of the Academic Center for Education, Culture and Research, Magiran database, and the website of human sciences were searched. To select the initial studies, the keywords of specific learning disorder, learning disability, math learning disability, reading disability, writing disability, spelling disorder, dyslexia, dysgraphia, Davis method, Fernald method, Kephart, training interventions, and psychological interventions were used. To determine the effect size of the therapeutic-training interventions, 33 effect sizes were selected by convenience sampling out of the 24 researches accepted and the meta-analysis was done on them. Study tool was meta-analysis checklist.

Findings showed that the effect size of therapeutic-training interventions on the improvement of specific learning disorder was 0.75 which is considered a high value as per Cohenchr('39')s table. Results also indicated that the effect size of Fernald therapeutic technique was higher than the two other methods (practice and repeat and multi-media) which had the effect sizes of 0.87 and 1.32, respectively.

The effect size obtained shows the effectiveness of therapeutic-educational interventions on the improvement of specific learning disorder. Also, regarding the results of this study indicating the greatness of the effect size of Fernald multi-sensory technique, it can be concluded that multi-sensory techniques that pay attention to different problems of students with specific learning disorder should be prioritized in designing therapeutic programs for these students.