هانیه قاسمیان مقدم

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of a course of Taekwondo goal-oriented physical exercises on the cognitive functions of children with learning disorders.

In this quasi-experimental study, which was conducted with a pre-test-post-test control group design, 20 boys with learning disorders were selected from the centers for learning disabilities by referring to special education in Mashhad. In the pre-test stage, the participants' working memory and inhibition were measured by N-back and Stroop tests, respectively. After that, the exercise group participated in the selected Taekwondo exercise program for three 50-minute sessions per week for four weeks. In each session, a set of My Brain cognitive games was used before the implementation of the exercise protocol. In the first 10 minutes of the session, cognitive games were played, then 10 minutes of warming up, 30 minutes of teaching and practicing Taekwondo techniques, and finally 10 minutes of cooling down were conducted. During this period, the control group did their usual activities. Finally, the dependent variables were measured again in the post-test phase. Repeated measures analysis of variance test was used for statistical analysis. 

Taekwondo goal-oriented physical exercises improved cognitive functions in the Exercise group; All these changes were significant compared to the control group (P<0.05).

Taekwondo goal-oriented physical exercises can be effective as an intervention to improve the cognitive functions of this group of children.

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of basic taekwondo exercises on the executive functions of children with a learning disorder. For this purpose, 20 boys aged 10 to 12 years with learning disorder in Mashhad were selected and randomly assigned to exercise and control groups. The exercise group practiced Taekwondo for 12 sessions, each session lasting 50 minutes, repeating three days a week. The control group also engaged in their normal daily activities during this period. Changes in subjects' executive functions were measured before and after the exercise period by the N-back and the Tower of London tests. Analysis of variance with repeated measures was used for statistical analysis. The results showed that basic taekwondo exercises improve executive functions in the exercise group; All these changes were significant compared to the control group (p<0/05). Therefore, based on the results of the present study, it can be concluded that basic taekwondo exercises help to improve the executive functions of children with learning disorder by affecting brain areas related to executive functions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of selectedperceptual motor exercises on motor proficiency of children with learning disorder. Based on this study, 24 boys (79 years old) with learning disorder in Mashhad were selected and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group was subjected to selectedperceptual motor exercises for 20 sessions of 30 minutes, which was repeated 5 days per week. During this period, the control group performed its routine activities. Changes in the motor proficiency were measured using with the Burininks Oseretsky test before and after the intervention. Repeated measures analysis of variance. showed that selectedperceptual motor exercises improved the balance, power, response speed, vision motor control, upper limb coordination, speed agility of the upper limb, bilateral coordination and sprint agility of children in the experimental group, relative to the control group (P <0.05).

Balance is one of the basic important principles of learning in children, and its disorder can negatively affect learning.The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of selected motor games on balance in children with specific learning disorder. This study was semi-experimental and application in terms of aims with pretest-posttest and a control group. 24 boys (7-9 years old) with specific learning disorder in Mashhad city were selected and assigned randomly to experimental and control groups. The experimental group performed selected motor games for 20 sessions, 30 minutes each sessions, 5 sessions per week. During this period, the control group performed its routine activities. Changes in the static balance of the subjects were measured by the Stork balance test and Sharpened Romberg test and dynamic balance of the subjects were measured by the heel-to-toe walk test and timed up-and-go test before and after the intervention. For statistical analysis, analysis of variance with repeated measures was used. Findings showed that selected motor games improved the static and dynamic balance of the experimental group. All these changes were significant in comparison with the control group (P<0.05). Based on these findings, it can be concluded that selected motor games help to improve static and dynamic balance in children with specific learning disorder.

Background and Purpose: One of the basic strategies to reduce the working memory problems in children with specific learning disorder is goal-oriented physical activity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Paaryaad perceptual-motor exercises on the working memory of children with specific learning disorder. It was an applied semi-experimental study with pretest-posttest control group design. In this study, twenty-four 7-9-year-old boys with specific learning disorder in Mashhad were selected in the academic year of 2017-2018 and assigned randomly to either the experimental or the control group. The experimental group was subjected to twenty 30-minute sessions of Paaryaad perceptual-motor exercises, repeated five days per week. During this period, the control group performed its routine activities. Changes in the working memory of the subjects were measured by N-back test before and after the intervention. Findings of the study showed that Paaryaad perceptual-motor exercises improved the working memory of the experimental group. All these changes were significant in comparison to the control group (P <0.05). Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that Paaryaad perceptual-motor exercises, affecting the brain areas involved in the working memory, can improve this type of memory in children with specific learning disorder.