The effectiveness of positive self-talk on academic buoyancy and students' test anxiety specific learning disorder

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of positive self-talk on academic buoyancy and test anxiety among students with specific learning disabilities. The research method was quasi-experimental pretest-posttest with control group. The statistical population consisted of all male students with specific learning disability in primary school of Isfahan in the academic year of 2018-2019. They were selected using multi-stage random sampling method. This means that from six education districts of Isfahan, two districts and from these two regions, six schools were selected randomly. Students with learning disabilities were integrated with Colorado learning disabilities questionnaire and Wechsler intelligence scale for children. They were randomly divided into two experimental (15) and control (15) groups. Participants in the research in two stages of pre-test and post-test responded to the research tools: Philips Anxiety Inventory and Academic Lifelong Learning Questionnaire. The training sessions consisted of ten sessions in minutes, based on the theory of Meichenbaum, with emphasis on cognitive-behavioral approach. The control group did not receive any training. Statistical analysis was performed using Co-variance analysis. The results indicate that positive self-talk training has a significant effect on reducing anxiety and improving academic buoyancy of male students. (p <0.001). Based on the results of positive self-talk training, students had a good way to improve academic buoyancy and reduce the anxiety of male students with specific learning disabilities.