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Mohammadi A, Marashi S A, Hashemi S E. Exploring the Effectiveness of Cognitive Rehabilitation on Visual Working Memory and Cognitive Flexibility in Dyslexic Students. MEJDS 2025; 15 (0) :45-45
URL: http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-3318-en.html
Exploring the Effectiveness of Cognitive Rehabilitation on Visual Working Memory and Cognitive Flexibility in Dyslexic Students
Arezoo Mohammadi1 , Sayed Ali Marashi *2 , Sayed Esmaeil Hashemi3
1- PhD Student in General Psychology, Department of Psychology, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
2- Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
3- Professor, Department of Psychology, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran
Abstract:   (1216 Views)

Abstract
Background & Objectives: Dyslexia, as one of the subgroups of learning disorders, is considered the most common learning disability. Dyslexia is defined as a defect in recognizing words and misunderstanding words, and reading them slowly without having intelligence problems, auditory and visual defects, and a lack of educational facilities. Dyslexia often starts at a young age and typically becomes apparent during the early years, such as elementary school. Dyslexia, as one of the subgroups of learning disorders, has the highest prevalence among students. Given the numerous challenges faced by dyslexic students, it is essential to utilize educational programs and cognitive skills rehabilitation strategies within an engaging computer software environment to foster interest and enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning for these students. Additionally, cognitive rehabilitation therapy is considered a novel treatment that has been well–received. However, its role in the sample group of dyslexic students has not yet been well studied, and research studies are limited and few. So, the present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation on visual working memory and cognitive flexibility in dyslexic students.
Methods: The method of the current research was quasi–experimental using a pretest–posttest design with a control group. The statistical population of this research consisted of all female students with dyslexia in the third grade of elementary school who were referred to Jahrom City Counseling and Psychology Services Center, Iran, in the 2022 academic year. From this population, 30 qualified volunteers were included in the study, selected using the convenience sampling method, and randomly assigned to two intervention and control groups (15 participants in each group). The inclusion criteria included being a girl, suffering from dyslexia, committing to participate in therapy sessions, studying in the third grade of elementary school, and not participating in other psychological treatment interventions at the same time. The exclusion criteria included absence of more than three sessions from the intervention program and non–compliance with treatment rules. The tools used in this research were the Corsi Block–Tapping Task (Corsi, 1972), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Grant & Berg, 1948), the Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices (Raven, 1938), and the Reading and Dyslexia Test (NEMA) (Karami Nouri & Moradi, 2006). A cognitive rehabilitation program was implemented for the experimental group (comprising 12 sessions of 45 minutes, twice a week), but the control group did not receive any intervention. In the present study, Captain Log's Cognitive Rehabilitation Software version 2020 was used to conduct the intervention. This version consists of 9 main tasks. Each task consists of other tasks. These tasks are arranged in order from easy to difficult. It is worth noting that ethical principles, including free participation in the research, non–disclosure of information, confidentiality, and the right to withdraw from the research at any time, were consistently observed throughout the research process. In the present study, the following tools were used to collect data. The data were analyzed using covariance analysis and SPSS software, version 26, at a significance level of 0.05.
Results: The results showed that, after controlling for the effect of pretest scores, there were significant differences between the experimental group and the control group in the posttest, regarding the mean posttest scores of dependent variables related to visual working memory (p=0.049) and cognitive flexibility (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Based on the study results, cognitive rehabilitation treatment improves the visual working memory and cognitive flexibility in female students with dyslexia. Therefore, counselors and therapists can utilize cognitive rehabilitation interventions while working with students with dyslexia.

Keywords: Cognitive rehabilitation, Visual working memory, Cognitive flexibility, Dyslexic students
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Type of Study: Original Research Article | Subject: Rehabilitation
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