Effectiveness of cerebellar education training in theory of mind and working memory of children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is one of the common childhood disorders with extensive negative effects on people emotional, metacognitive, cognitive, and communication processes.

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cerebellar training in the theory of mind and working memory of children with ODD.

This semi-experimental study utilized a pretest-posttest and follow-up design with a control group. The statistical population included all 5-6-year-old children with ODD in Gonbad-e Kavus city in 2022. A convenience sample of 40 people was assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group underwent cerebellum training in 20 sessions of 40 minutes, three sessions per week, while the control group did not receive any training. The research instruments included the Disorders of Children Symptom Inventory-4 (CSI-4) (1994), Theory of Mind Test (1999), and Counting Span Test (2003). The data were analyzed by SPSS-24 software using the repeated measures analysis of variance.

Cerebellar training significantly improved working memory and theory of mind in the posttest and follow-up stages (P<0.01). Also, 31.7% of the difference between the groups in the theory of mind, 21.5% in the forward memory span, and 17.9% in the backward memory span was due to the intervention effect.

Cerebellar training was effective on working memory and theory of mind of children with ODD. This research provides useful information regarding the cerebellum training package. Counselors and psychologists can use this intervention to improve working memory and the theory of mind of children with ODD.