The Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy on Attention and Concentration and Social Adjustment of Students with Intellectual Disability

The present article was done with the aim to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral play therapy on attention and concentration and social adjustment of students with intellectual disability. The research method was quasi-experimental with a pretest and posttest design plus control group. The statistical society consisted of male students with intellectual disability in second grade of elementary exceptional schools during 2021-2022; among them 30 students were selected and categorized in experimental group (15) and control group (15). Wechsler (4th edition) scale used to evaluate students` attention and concentration of active memory and Sinha and Singe (2002) for social adjustment. Prior to the study, Pre-test of attention and concentration and social adjustment was implemented in both groups. The experimental group received cognitive-behavioral play through the training package in 12 sessions, but the control group did not receive any intervention. After the Intervention in the post-test stage, both of the groups answered to the same questionnaire of pre-test stage. The research data was analyzed with one way and Multivariate Covariance Analysis. The cognitive-behavioral play had a positive effect on the increase of students’ attention and concentration and social adjustment and their subscales (P<0.05). According to the effectiveness of the cognitive-behavioral play, it was suggested to apply periodically the methods of cognitive-behavioral play training with the aim to increase intellectually disabled students` attention and concentration and social adjustment.