Comparison the Effectiveness of Cognitive Games on Executive Functions of Students with Disorder of Dyslexia and Dysgraphia

Special learning disorders such as dyslexia and dysgraphia disorders are among childhood psychiatric disorders that effect on other functions of the individual in childhood and adulthood. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of comparison the effectiveness of cognitive games on executive functions of students with dyslexia and dysgraphia.

This study was a quasi-experimental with a pretest and posttest design with four groups (two experimental groups and two control groups). The research population was elementary school students with dyslexia and dysgraphia who referred to the Learning Disabilities Centers of Zahedan city in 2020-21 years. The research sample was 100 people (25 people in each group) who after reviewing the inclusion criteria were selected by available sampling method and randomly were replaced in four groups. Each of the experimental groups underwent 20 sessions of 30 to 45 minutes (3 times a week) under cognitive games with the help of Sound Smart cognitive software and the control group was placed on a waiting list for training. Data were collected by executive function scale (Barkley, 2012) and were analyzed by tests of chi-square and multivariate analysis of covariance in SPSS-24 software.

The findings showed that the experimental and control groups did not significant difference in terms of gender and educational level (P>0.05). Also, teaching cognitive games led to improves the executive functions of self-management to time, selforganization/ problem solving, self-restraint/ inhibition, selfmotivation and self-regulation of emotion in both groups of students with dyslexia and dysgraphia in compared with the control group (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference between the two intervention groups in terms of improving executive functions (P>0.05).

The results indicated the effectiveness of cognitive games on executive functions of students with dyslexia and dysgraphia. Therefore, planning is essential by specialists and therapists to improve the executive functions of students with dyslexia and dysgraphia through cognitive games.