Effectiveness of Computer-Assisted Cognitive Remediation (CACR) and Psychostimulant Drugs in Planning Skill of Children with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

This research aims to determine and compare the effectiveness of computer-assisted cognitive remediation (CACR) and psychostimulant drugs in improving the planning skill (as executive function) of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The research design was pre-test, post-test, and follow-up with two experimental groups. 23 ADHD children were selected by convenience sampling and inclusion-exclusion criteria. Two groups were matched according to the severity of their disorders and randomly assigned to psychostimulant drug therapy (n=11) and CACR (n=12) groups. The research tools were Tower of London (TOL), Persian version of SNAP-IV scale, the short form of WISC-R, and child syndrome inventory (CSI-4). The data were analyzed by RM-MANOVA and Mixed design MANOVA. The CACR had effective and enduring variation on planning skills of ADHD. In comparison, CACR had an enduring but non-significant impact on enhancement of planning skills. Altogether, both treatments are effective at improving the planning skill (as executive function); therefore, CACR can be used as an alternative technique to treat children with ADHD.