The effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation (computer-based and classic) interventions on cognitive functions of children with specific learning disorder in Iran: A meta-analytic study

This meta-analysis aimed to see how effective traditional and computer-based cognitive rehabilitation programs are at improving cognitive skills in children with special learning problems.

This research is a meta-analysis of selected studies published in Iran between 2010 and 2020 in the field of cognitive rehabilitation interventions for special learning disorders using computers and classics training. The papers were researched and chosen from databases of scientific research publications in the fields of psychology and related sciences, with the research goal in mind. some educational databases were examined and searched, including the comprehensive portal of humanities (ensani.ir), the Noor specialized magazines database (noormags.ir), the scientific information database (sid.ir), the google scholar international scientific search (scholar.google.com), the Iranian magazine’s database (magiran.com), and the MOH journals database (idml.research.ac.ir), from which 40 research papers were chosen to be entered into the database.

There were a total of 1061 samples and 40 effect sizes in the studies that were reviewed. The effect size of both cognitive rehabilitation program approaches on improving cognitive function in children with specific learning disorders was equal to d=0.95 with d=1.01 for the effectiveness of computer-based training and about d=0.90 for the effectiveness of classic training, according to the meta-analysis. According to Cohen's table, the calculated sizes of effects suggested high effects.

This findings indicate that both computer-based and traditional cognitive rehabilitation programs have a considerable impact on the cognitive function of children with specific learning disorders.