Development of a Multimedia Training Program with Neuropsychological Approach and Evaluation of its Effectiveness in Social Skills of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Neurodevelopmental disorders are group of neuropsychiatric disorders that occur in childhood and cause disruption in the growth and development of the brain or central nervous system in children. According to research results, children with neurodevelopmental disorders are weak in physical, cognitive, emotional, and social skills. This study aimed to develop a multimedia educational program with a neuropsychological approach and evaluate its effectiveness in the social skills of children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

In this study, initially, a multimedia educational program with neuropsychological approach was designed, and the content validity of the tool was confirmed by experts. The statistical population of this study included male students aged 7-11 years old with neurodevelopmental disorder in Tehran, Iran. Using the purposefully convenience sampling method, and after administering Stanford-Binet Test of Intelligence (Fifth Edition), 100 children with neurodevelopmental disorder and natural IQ level and above were selected and randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The experimental group was subjected to 90-min 24 multimedia educational sessions with neuropsychological approach. On the other hand, the control group received no intervention. They were then followed-up after one month and a half. The required data were collected using Social Skills Rating System (Gresham and Elliot, 1999) as pre-test, post-test, and the follow-up.

The results of repeated measurement MANCOVA showed the effectiveness of the multimedia educational program with neuropsychological approach in the improvement of social skills of children with neurodevelopmental disorder (P˂0.01; Effect Size 0.35). Furthermore, it was shown that the effect of this program with neuropsychological approach on the social skills of children with neurodevelopmental disorder was constant even after one month and a half.

A multimedia educational program with neuropsychological approach can be used to increase and strengthen the social skills of children with neurodevelopmental disorders.