Comparison of the Effectiveness of Cognitive Rehabilitation Training and Vestibular Stimulation on Academic Achievement of Female Students with Specific Learning Disorder

Learning disabilities in children affect many cognitive and behavioral areas, leading to reduced social relationship and academic achievement. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation training and vestibular stimulation on the academic achievement of female students with a specific learning disorder.

The research was semi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design for two experimental and control groups. The statistical population consisted of all female students with specific learning disorders with a diagnostic file in the Center of Learning Disabilities in Sari in the academic year of 2020. Of these, 45 were selected by the available method and randomly assigned to three groups of 15 individuals. For the first experimental group, the Powell Cognitive Rehabilitation Protocol for Children with Specific Learning Disabilities was performed in 8 sessions of 45 minutes; also, for the second experimental group, the protocol of vestibular stimulation of Ganz was performed with 8 sessions of 45 minutes, and no intervention was performed for the control group. The instrument used was Pham & Taylor Academic Achievement Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using a multivariate analysis of covariance with spss18 software.

The results showed that the mean academic achievement in the experimental group of vestibular stimulation in pre-test and post-test was 61.36 and 84.11, respectively; also, the mean academic achievement in the experimental group of cognitive rehabilitation in pre-test and post-test was 61.24 and 97.87, respectively; finally, the mean academic achievement of the control group in pre-test and post-test was 61.27 and 6.07, respectively. Further, the findings showed that cognitive rehabilitation and vestibular stimulation affect the academic achievement of children with specific learning disabilities (p≤0.001); however, the former is more effective than the latter (p≤0.001).

The research findings can provide practical implications for improving the psychological characteristics of children with specific learning disabilities using cognitive rehabilitation therapy.