samaneh maleki

Specific learning disorders are neurodevelopmental disorders with biological origin. This origin includes the interaction of genetic, paragenetic, and environmental factors. At the same time, the symptoms of this disorder occur at the cognitive level. Specific learning disorders include problems in academic abilities such as fluency in reading, reading comprehension, writing, and mathematical reasoning. The most common learning disorder seems to be dyslexia. Learning disabilities are one of the main problems in children's academic performance and progress in the educational system of the United States and probably other countries around the world. One increasingly prominent and well–documented treatment for this developmental impairment has recently been the executive functions training approach. This study is intended to be a systematic review of the effectiveness of executive functions training on reading and writing skills of students with learning difficulties as a scientific ground for selecting more efficacious treatments.

To this end, this research was done as a systematic literature review, scoping various techniques and different treatment approaches that have been applied so far to enhance the academic performances of students with reading and writing difficulties. Three online databases were searched: PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Only research studies published in English were accounted for. No limitations were exerted but on the subject's country or language. The time duration for all search was from 2010 to 2022. All papers were to be first–order research; this study did not include other literature reviews and meta–analytic research in its study sample. It also excluded interventions for other learning problems, such as dyscalculia. Furthermore, interventions for adult problems were excluded.
A total of 1172 potentially relevant papers were found at the primary searching activities. However, after different levels of elimination, only 14 papers were decided to meet the criteria fully.

There were few relevant treatments, but they were divergent regarding the techniques used and the cognitive functions trained. Among them, however, those who were found to be more decisively influential were Computerized Executive Functions Training (CEFT), Computerized Working Memory Training (CWMT), Action Video Games Training (AVG), and Visual Spatial Attention training. Careful examination of these treatments shows that most computerized training tasks could have been executed in non–computerized versions. Indeed, computerization for most tasks is only a methodological strategy to implement training in exact timing. Meanwhile, some negative evidence was also found, suggesting that some of the executive functions training that has been frequently claimed to be effective were completely useless on children with learning disabilities. Although this evidence is relatively negligible, subsequent work is needed to determine the effectiveness of each treatment. On the other hand, some of the most effective intervention programs were organized in such a way as to take, explicitly or implicitly, a central or supervisory system of executive functions for granted.

Despite the lack of certainty regarding the effectiveness of each of the interventions individually in improving learning problems, it seems that to improve children's reading and writing skills, using programs based on executive functions as a combination of several designed components is a more practical approach.

From a public health standpoint, the average weight of newborns is one of the main indicators of the quality of health care services received, reproductive health, safe motherhood, nutrition and intrauterine growth during pregnancy. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the biological characteristics and the marital satisfaction of mothers who give birth to newborns with low birth weight (LBW) in the city of Chalus. This is a causal–comparative study, conducted in 2016 in which the mothers of 50 newborns with a birth weight of less than 2500 g and those of 50 newborns with an ideal / satisfactory weight of more than 3800 g were surveyed. The information was gathered with Afrooz Questionnaires for Biological, Cognitive, Psychological and Social traits of Mothers and Marital Satisfaction of Couples. The data collected from the questionnaires was analyzed with descriptive statistics and logistical regression using SPSS version 22. The results of this study showed that the frequency of newborns with LBW in Chalus was%3/7. The frequency of pregnant mothers with an age of less than 20 was%3/33 while those over 35 was%11, and%23/8 with consanguineous marriages. The analysis showed that of the maternal characteristics studied, Mather’s age and marital satisfaction had a statistically significant relationship with LBW in newborns. This study demonstrated that certain biological and psychological maternal traits have a considerable impact on LBW in newborns, and can be further considered in programs aimed towards the prevention of LBW.

Reading is the most critical and complicated learning activity for children in the first years of school and is the basis of all various learning. Reading disorder is the most common kind of learning disorder. The working memory outstanding deficiency is proven in who are affected by the reading disorder in different projects. Working memory is the most important cognitive process which is the basis of thought and learning and plays an effective role in learning reading and math for children. Studies about children with learning disorder have shown that deficiencies in working memory are related to reading, writing and mathematics disabilities. Therefore, to design effective interference for this group of children besides reading-skill-centered activities, providing opportunities to reinforce working memory seems also essential.

The most common and significant learning disabilities include reading disorders. Reading is the foundation for all other learning, and children with weak reading skills are more vulnerable learners through their education and future, thereby failed to show significant progress in academic learning outcomes. Reading covers a language learning system and it is a subset of lingual skills. Linguistic difficulties constitute the main core of reading disorders; hence, practitioners in this discipline are required to take the initiative in effective interventional programs, not only as to provide opportunities to practice and develop active learning, but also as to stimulate and strengthen linguistic components of reading.

Working Memory Questionnaire (WMQ) (2012) is a measure for evaluating daily problems in relation with working memory deficits in patients with brain damages. This memory is our ability for recalling and managing data. People take note of the information they need to remember on their minds. So working memory (WM) is one of the effective factors on quality of life. On the other hand, there is a need for reliable and valid memory tool. The main aim of this research was to study psychometric properties of working memory questionnaire (WMQ) in a case from the Iranian society. Instruments of this research were Working Memory Questionnaire (WMQ) and Cornoldi Working Memory Questionnaire that were conducted on 300 (150 male, 150 female) residents in Kashmar city. They participated voluntarily in the research. To determine the validity of the questionnaire, factor discovering analysis and first type confirmation were used. To study convergent validity, researchers used Cornoldi Working Memory Questionnaire and Cronbach Alpha to determine the reliability. Factor analysis results showed that with the exception of items 6 and 29, other items have appropriate factor load. Cronbach Alpha coefficient was 0/894. Also, components of WMQ had statistically significant and positive relationships with Cornoldi Questionnaire scores. Based on the obtained results, WMQ is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing working memory in the Iranian society.

In today's world, the growing trend of immigration led to the increase of the migrantstudents population. However, the migration process for whatever reason or extendof duration, is stressful and these students are at risk in terms of psychologicalproblems. This study aims to investigate the effect of migration on the behavioralproblems of children. This is a causal-comparative research. Using randomizedcluster sampling, 364 children with their mothers were selected, so that from all theprimary and secondary schools of Kish Island, six schools (three girls schools andthree boys schools) were randomly selected, and from each school three classes wereselected, and all the students of each class with their mothers were involved in theresearch as samples. The research data were collected using the Quay & Peterson’sRevised Behavior Problem Checklist (parental version). For data analysis, Mann–Whitney U test was used. The results showed that considering the average rating,there is a significant difference between behavioral problems of native andimmigrant students, both in the total score and in the subscales of scores. The resultsindicate that the risk of behavioral problems in migrant children is significant.Having such information can be helpful in public health planning for the initialprevention of mental health problems in immigrants.

Families apply their own parenting methods for individual and social training of their children. These methods include models of child rearing that are shaped by interaction between behavior of parents and their reactions to children's behaviors. For assessing these methods, different kinds of scales and instruments have been proposed. The aim of this study was to investigate psychometric properties of Arjmandnia Parenting Methods Scale (APMS) on families who have children with intellectual disabilities. This research was a cross-correlational research. The population of this study included all parents who have children with intellectual disability in Tehran. Arjmandnia Parenting Methods Scale (APMS) and the Baumrind Parenting Styles (BPS) were administrated to 300 parents who were selected according to availability sampling method. The results of exploratory factor analysis revealed the validity of the five factors of the scale as indicators of internal consistency (Cronbach's Alpha and Theta respectively) and also the split half method indicated favorable credit for the scale and its components. The results show that the APMS has appropriate characteristics and totally can be used in the Iranian sample.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of linguistic plays on the verbal working memory performance in students with reading disorder.
The study design was quasi-experimental, with pre-test, post-test and control group. In this study, purposeful selected method was used for sampling and the sample was included 30 students in second and third grades. The study population were referred to Learning Disorders Clinics in Tehran and the Imam Hossein Hospital and were diagnosed as the reading disorder. The subjects were randomly assigned to the two experimental and control groups (each containing 15 individuals). Linguistic plays were conducted for a 50-minute session for six weeks (two sessions per week). To evaluate the effect of the linguistic plays, working memory subtests of WISC-4 (as an index of verbal working memory) were utilized. Analysis of covariance was used to analyze the data.
The findings achieved through data analysis showed that after omitting pre-test effect, test of working memory indicates the effectiveness of linguistic plays on the performance of verbal working memory both in students’ total score in the test and in working memory sub-tests.
According to the results of this research and the importance of improving working memory performance of students with reading disorder, it can be suggested that the linguistic plays can be used in the schools and health centers to increase the performance of both working memory in students with reading disorder.