Determining the Effectiveness of Memory-Based Cognitive Rehabilitation on Impulsive Behaviors of Students with Specific Learning Disorders

 Specific learning disorder (SLD) presents one of childhood's most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorders. Mounting evidence supports that impulsive behaviors are linked with learning disabilities. These behaviors are based on many disorders, including learning disabilities. Several therapeutic and educational techniques have been investigated to improve the symptoms and problems of students with special learning disabilities. One of these treatment methods is memory–based cognitive rehabilitation, which holds promise in various fields. However, the above program has not been employed in the impulsive behaviors of students with special learning disorders. Therefore, the current research was conducted to determine the effectiveness of memory–based cognitive rehabilitation on the impulsive behaviors of students with specific learning disorders.

 This research method was quasi–experimental with a pretest–posttest design with a control group. The statistical population included all female students with learning disabilities studying in the elementary schools of Ardabil City, Iran, in the academic year 2022–2023. A total of 30 students were selected by available sampling after meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Then, they were assigned to two groups of 15 students: experimental and control. The study tools comprised the Colorado Learning Difficulties Questionnaire (CLDQ) (Willcutt et al., 2011) and the Impulsiveness Scale–11 (Patton et al., 1995). The memory–based cognitive rehabilitation program (Sohlberg & Mateer, 2001) was implemented during ten 60–minute sessions only for the experimental group. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS26 software at two levels of descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (univariate covariance analysis). The significance level of statistical tests was considered 0.05.

 The results showed that the effect of memory–based cognitive rehabilitation on reducing the impulsive behaviors of the experimental group was significant after removing the pretest effect (P=0.002). According to the effect size, 31.1% of the changes in impulsive behaviors in the posttest phase was explained by memory–based cognitive rehabilitation.

 According to the findings, memory–based cognitive rehabilitation effectively reduces impulsive behaviors of students with specific learning disorders by affecting memory–related brain areas. Therefore, it is recommended to use this program in schools and specialized clinics for exceptional children.