فصلنامه روان شناسی افراد استثنایی
پیاپی 12 (زمستان 1392)

The purpose of the present study was to investigate effects of training mothers with Adler-Dreikurs approach on decreasing positive and negative symptoms of ADHD in their children and increasing the children’s behavioral performance. The research employed a quasi-experimental method and a pre-and-post design with control group. A total 24 mothers whose children were diagnosed with ADHD were chosen through convenience sampling and were matched into experimental and control groups. The research instruments were the Child Symptom Inventory-4 (CSI-4), the Conners’ Parent Rating Scale, and the Child Behavior Checklist. The training was given to the mothers in the experimental group in ten 90- minute sessions. Both groups completed the questionnaires as the post-test. The data were analyzed using ANCOVA. The results showed effectiveness of the training in increasing the children’s behavioral performance (p < 0.05) and in decreasing symptoms of ADHD and hyperactivity (p < 0.05) but no effect on symptoms of attention deficit. Findings usually suggest that training parents based on Adler-Dreikurs methods decreases children’s behavioral problems and reduces symptoms in children with ADHD.

Mothers who have children with special needs are under more pressure than mothers whose children have no such problems. The pressure heightens when the child reaches adolescent, which can increase the mother’s frustration and risk her mental health. The purpose of this study was to compare mental health in mothers of adolescents with special needs and mothers of normal adolescents. The study used a causal- comparative method. Through random sampling, 75 mothers who had teenager with special needs and 25 mothers who had normal teenagers were selected out of all mothers in Babol. The Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) and the Raven intelligence test (adult forms) were used for collecting data, and the data were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey’s range test. The results indicated a significant difference in mental health between the mothers of special needs adolescents and the mothers of normal adolescents in many terms, including: depression (p = 0.033), anxiety (p = 0.008), aggression (p = 0.01), phobic anxiety (p = 0.023). In terms of compulsion, however, the difference was not significant (p = 0.10). It can be concluded that mothers of adolescents with special needs have lower levels of mental health compared to mother of normal adolescents. Furthermore, among mother of adolescents with mental impairments, deaf adolescents and gifted adolescents, the former have the poorer mental health. Based on the findings, we recommend that health care experts increase their focus on mothers of adolescents who have intellectual impairments and that they take proper actions to prevent psychological problems in general.

The present study aimed to examine effectiveness of adapted/created/enhanced (ACE) stories in teaching concepts related to public places to educable mentally impaired students aged 8 to 14 years. The study used a single-subject method and an AB design. The sample consisted of 6 female educable mentally impaired students who aged between 8 and 14 years. Six researcher-made stories whose validity had been approved by experts in the field were used for teaching six concepts related to three public places, including the park, the store and the restaurant. Baseline data were gathered from three sources: teacher, parent and researcher. Each story was then read to the students over five 30-minute (max.) sessions. To test if any information was learned by the students, students were assessed a week after the sessions were over. The results from analysis of the data indicated that the ACE stories had a positive effect on learning concepts related to the three public places by the mentally impaired children: Two children had learned 5 of the 6 concepts and the rest four children had learn all the 6. We suggest that ACE stories should be used in teaching concepts related to other topics to educable mentally impaired students.

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience serious difficulties in identifying, explaining and adjusting to their own and other people’s emotions. A considerable amount of researches has been devoted to finding effective strategies for addressing the problem. The present study examines effectiveness of group social skills training in dealing with alexithymia in male patients aged 10 to 12 who were diagnosed with autism. The study used a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test and post-test and a control group. The sample included 14 autistic boys who were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to the experimental and the control group (7 each). The Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children (Reiffe, Oosterveld and Meerum, 2006) was used for assessing the children in the pre- and post-tests. The experimental group received seven 45-minute sessions of social skills training adopted from Ozonoff (2002). The data were analyzed using repeated measures in SPSS-17 software. The results showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in the post-test phase, with the former showing a significant decrease in alexithymia. The study suggests that social skills training programs could be used in dealing with alexithymia in autistic children and in designing curricula for them.

The present study intended to determine the extent to which religion is significant as a mediator between emotional abuse and emotional disorders in adolescents, and it followed a correlational research design. The population included all middle school students in Jajarm (city in east of Iran) in the 2012-2013 academic year, all of which (604 individuals) were included in the study sample. The study instruments included Achenbach’s Youth Self-Report questionnaire, and two questionnaire assessing level of religiosity and emotional abuse. The data was analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and structural equations. The results indicated that there was a positive correlation between emotional abuse emotional (p < 0.05) and also anxiety disorders (p < 0.05). Furthermore, religion played a mediator role between emotional abuse and emotional disorder and it reduced negative effects of emotional abuse.

The purpose of this study was to construct a diagnostic spelling test for thirdgrade elementary school students and to evaluate its reliability and validity. The population included all third grade students of elementary school in Kermanshah and Kangavar region in the 2012-2013 school year. The sample consisted of 30 normal students and 30 student with spelling disorder (who had been referred to the region’s center for rehabilitation of learning disorders), who were chosen through random sampling. The test was constructed based on the third grades main spelling textbook and it included 115 words. The test’s reliability was determined using Cronbach's alpha, which yielded the satisfactory result of 0.98. The validity was evaluated using group differentiation, cut point determination and interpreting the ROC curve between the two groups. The average test score for normal students was 18.18 (out of 20) and for students with LD it was 4.96, which showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) and thus established the validity of the test. The cut point score from the ROC curve was 13.40. The study successfully established reliability and validity of the constructed test, and suggests it as a tool for diagnosing spelling problems in third grade elementary students.

The aim of this study was to analyze the content of the textbooks of the preprofessional grade for students with intellectual impairment in terms of independent living skills. The statistical population and the sample consisted of all textbooks (30 books, all compiled in 2009, covering 10 subject areas) provided for students with intellectual impairment. The data were coded and categorized and then analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS. The results indicated that 8.54% of the textbooks had content which specifically addressed independent living skills, in which social skills (26.6%) and vocational skills (23.4%) took up the largest portions and child nurturing and caring skills (0.9%) and legal skills (0.8%) took up the smallest portions. We suggest the books should be revised, since they have addressed independent living skills insufficiently and inconsistently whereas they need to prepare students with intellectual impairment for leading an independent life in the society.

This study compared social adjustment of hard of hearing students included in regular schools of Shahrekord and those enrolled in the city’s exceptional schools from the viewpoint of their teachers and parents. The study followed a causal-comparative research design. The population included all 150 hard of hearing students in Chahar Mahal wa Bakhtiari Province, 49 of which were enrolled in regular schools and 18 were selected for the study sample after controlling the interfering variables. These 18 were then matched with 18 students who were enrolled in exceptional schools. The data were collected using Rotter questionnaire (parent and teacher forms) completed by the children’s parents and teachers. The data analysis was carried out using ANOVA (p < 0.001). The results indicated that a) teachers believed that there was no significant difference between social adjustment of included and not-included hard of hearing students while b) parents felt that the difference between social adjustments of included and not-included hard of hearing students was significance, and that included classrooms were effective.

The present study aimed to investigate effects of family-based psychological and educational interventions on improving adaptive behaviors of school students with mental impairment. It followed a semi-experimental research design. A total of 36 parents of students with mental impairment were selected through multi-level cluster sampling and assigned to the control and the experimental group. The data were gathered using Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, and analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The data analysis showed a significant difference between adaptive behaviors in the students of the two groups (p < 0.001). Thus, we can conclude that family-based psychological and educational interventions have a positive effect on adaptive behaviors of students with mental impairment.

Attention deficit is one of the core elements of learning disorder. Aimed at studying attention deficit, this paper compares attention control and distraction in students with and without learning impairments. Three groups of students with learning impairments (one group of 15 with dyslexiadysgraphia, another group of 15 with dyscalculia, and yet another group of 15 with mixed disorder) were randomly selected out of students enrolled in centers for learning impairments supervised by regional office of Ministry of Education in Uremia. A forth group of 15 normal students was also randomly selected. The study followed a causal-comparative research design. The diagnosis of type of learning impairment for each student was checked using structured clinical interviews, and the students were then asked to complete the attention control and effortful control questionnaires (the distraction-persistence subscale). The data were analyzed using one way ANOVA, MANOVA and the Least Significant Difference (LSD) test. The results showed significant differences between the groups’ mean test score in attention focus, attention control and level of distraction. The result of the LSD test showed that the main difference existed between the group of normal students and the other three groups, whose members were children with learning disorders. In other words, no significant difference existed in the three groups themselves. The results reveal that, compared to normal children, students with learning impairments have far less attention control and far more distractibility. Furthermore children with different types of learning impairments are homogeneous in terms of attention control and distractibility.