Effects of Five Senses Enhancement Training on Cognitive Ability in Students With Reading Disabilities

 Reading and its disability are the major learning areas that can specifically challenge students with Learning Disabilities (LDs). Students with LDs are more significantly affected by cognitive problems. These students often grapple with disorganized thinking that can, in turn, generate other problems, like issues in problem-solving, planning, and life organizing. The role of cognitive ability in various LDs and the need for improving this ability has been well documented. When managing students with LDs, the primary focus must be on nurturing the 5 senses. This could be achieved using multi-sensory teaching techniques to help the learners grasp new data by various methods. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of the 5 senses enhancement on cognitive ability in students with LDs.

This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest-follow-up and a control group design. The population of the study consisted of all students referring to the Correction Center for Learning Disorders in Ferdows City, Iran, in the academic year of 2019-2020. The convenience sampling method was used to select a sample of thirty 7-8-year-old students with LDs. The selected students were randomly assigned into the control and experimental groups. PASS was applied to determine the sample size. Moreover, the error level (0.05) and the test power (0.9) was used to determine the sample size (n=15/group). In other words, the total sample size of the study was estimated to be 30 subjects. The inclusion criteria of the research were being diagnosed with LDs; presenting hearing and vision health according to the assessment plan; studying in regular public schools, an age of 7-8 years, and no mental health issues. The exclusion criteria of the study included absence from ≥2 sessions, simultaneous participation in another program, and receiving training on learning and completing homework for each session. To ensure the absence of intellectual disabilities in students, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Wechsler, 2003) was administered. For cognitive assessment, the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (Gioia et al., 2000) was completed by the parents in all evaluation stages. The experimental group received the 5 sense enhancement training (ten 70-minute sessions, 3 sessions/week); however, the controls received no treatment. Two months after the intervention, the follow-up test was performed. The control group also received training courses to observe all ethical principles. To analyze the obtained data, descriptive statistics, such as mean and standard as well as repeated-measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni posthoc test were used. Statistical analyses were performed in SPSS at the significance level of 0.05.

The ANOVA data of cognitive ability was significant for time effect (within the subjects) (p<0.001), group effect (intermediate subjects) (p<0.001), and time*group effect; the effect of group intervention for cognitive ability equaled 0.708. Thus, there was a significant difference in cognitive competence between the experimental and control groups during the research stages, highlighting the effects of the intervention. Moreover, in the experimental group, a significant difference was observed in cognitive ability between pretest and posttest and follow-up stages (p<0.001). However, there was no significant difference between the posttest and follow-up stages (p=0.207), reflecting that the effect of the intervention in the follow-up stage remained stable.

The present study findings suggested that the five-sense enhancement training can be effective as a timely intervention on cognitive ability in students with reading disabilities; thus, implementing this training is recommended to LD instructors.