Effectiveness of aerobic, cognitive and metacognitive strategies and simultaneous training on verbal working memory of students with specific learning disability in writing

This study has investigated the effectiveness of teaching cognitive and metacognitive strategies, aerobics and simultaneous training on verbal working memory of these students.

The approach of this research is quantitative, quasi-experimental and using pre-test, post-test and follow-up with control group. The statistical population was all second and third grade elementary students with special learning disabilities in Mashhad in the academic year 1397-98. The sample size was 48 people selected by available sampling method and randomly divided into four groups of cognitive and metacognitive strategies training, aerobics, concurrenttraining and control. DSM-V diagnostic interview and the new version of the Tehran-Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test were used to collect data.

The post-test and follow-up results showed that the training group of cognitive and metacognitive strategies with aerobics, simultaneous training had a significant difference compared to the control (P <0.05). The mean of cognitive and metacognitive group was higher than aerobic and control and lower than simultaneous training group. The aerobic group had a significant difference with the simultaneous and control training group (P <0.01). The aerobic group had a higher mean than the control and a lower mean than the concurrent training group. The difference between the training and control group was also significant in post-test and follow-up (P <0.01).

According to the results, simultaneous use of cognitive and metacognitive training and aerobic exercise is more effective than when they are used alone.