Exceptional Children Psychology
Fatemeh Khandani; Noorali Farrokhi; Abotaleb Saadati Shamir
Abstract
IntroductionThe aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of executive function training and play therapy on promoting the learning of mathematical concepts of students with learning disabilities. Learning mathematics is one of the basic subjects related to learning science, which has been devoted ...
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IntroductionThe aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of executive function training and play therapy on promoting the learning of mathematical concepts of students with learning disabilities. Learning mathematics is one of the basic subjects related to learning science, which has been devoted to many studies and theories. Students learn not only to calculate in mathematics. Rather, they learn how to reason and use it to solve their real life problems. Disruption in mathematical calculations is manifested in various ways, including difficulty in determining sizes or naming mathematical numbers, inability to count, compare, and mental and practical calculations. Children with math disorder have problems with math calculation or reasoning ability in math. Due to the difference in the definitions of learning disorder and also the difference in the attitudes and educational goals of these children, the prevalence estimate fluctuates from one to thirty. MethodThe present study was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical sample consisted of 45 third grade elementary students who were selected by available sampling method and were replaced in 3 groups of executive functions training, play therapy and control group. The research tool was Tabrizi Learning Disorder Checklist (2010) & the K-Matt mathematical test. Experiment participants were trained in 10 sessions of 90 minutes. The sample size examined in this research was 45 people. After implementing the questionnaire on the sample, using a pre-test-post-test experimental plan with a control group, 15 people were randomly placed in the control group, 15 people in the executive functions training method, and 15 people in the play therapy training method. In the pre-examination phase, the amount of arithmetic skill learning was measured using the mentioned questionnaires. Then the researcher used educational methods (executive functions and play therapy and common education) for the studied groups for 10 sessions. At the end of the training period (post-test), the researcher obtained the scores of the questionnaire for learning mathematical concepts and arithmetic skills from all three groups (executive functions, play therapy and control). ResultsFindings showed that there is no significant difference between the effectiveness of executive function training and play therapy on learning mathematical concepts (P <0.01). Also, there is no significant difference between the effectiveness of executive function training and play therapy on learning mathematical concepts (P <0.01).DiscussionThe results showed that both executive functions and play therapy interventions have beneficial effects on learning mathematical concepts of students with learning math. It can be concluded that there is no significant difference between the effectiveness of teaching executive functions and play therapy on learning mathematical concepts of students with mathematical learning disabilities. In other words, both group training of executive functions and play therapy are effective on learning mathematical concepts of students with mathematical learning disabilities.
Sareh Moaref; Nadareh Sohrabi
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of play therapy and clay therapy, and difference between them in improving of attention deficit disorder in treatment of children in elementary school. In this study whole experiments design with posttest – pretest control group was ...
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of play therapy and clay therapy, and difference between them in improving of attention deficit disorder in treatment of children in elementary school. In this study whole experiments design with posttest – pretest control group was used. Research populations was include female students at the elementary school which were 7-10 years old, who had attention deficit disorder in one of schools in Shiraz, that is full of population. After completing the questionnaire about attention deficit disorder (CSI-4) by teachers for students, 45 students were selected who earned the highest scores in this questionnaire, and finally they were placed in two groups of clay therapy and play therapy and control group by simple random sampling. After completing these forms Jordan’s attention deficit disorder, by teachers and parents of students, 8 individual session of 60 minutes, and two groups sessions of 90 minutes of clay therapy and play therapies received by tests groups, which researches were designed based on marks attention deficit disorder, which includes audio visual attention, sequence of procedures, audio and visual memory, Speed of operation, and understanding organizations. After running the Therapeutic intervention program these Jordan’s Index forms were completed by teachers and parents, again. The results of one way ANCOVA showed a significant difference between test groups of clay therapy and play therapy and control groups of attention deficit disorders. In addition, the results of independent sample of T-Test, didn’t showed a significant difference between the methods of clay therapy and play therapy in treatment of attention deficit disorders. The finding of this research showed that clay therapy and play therapies can be and effective methods in increasing the focus and attention for students in the course of their works, and the symptoms of increasing attention deficit disorder can be prevented in higher ages in life by this method.
