Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Abstract
Background & Objectives: Students with reading disabilities are likely to have problems in other areas of their education, and children who are slower than other students in preschool and first grade are also behind in the second and third grades and have problems with executive functions. Executive functions include cognitive processes, including attention control, inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility, reasoning, problem solving, and planning, which are essential for controlling behavior. In addition to executive functions, the memory capacity of students with reading disabilities is also associated with problems. To empower children, various models and methods have been developed by scholars that have promoted children's individual and personality capabilities, improved self–awareness, life skills, and time management, and created a positive self–image. The effective methods for improving executive functions, memory capacity, and performance of students with reading disabilities are cognitive empowerment training and metacognitive strategies. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of cognitive empowerment and metacognitive strategy training on executive functions and memory capacity in 7– 11–year–old students with reading disorders.
Methods: The present research method was quasi–experimental with a pretest–posttest and a follow–up design and three groups (two experimental groups and one control group). The statistical population of this study included all students with reading disorders aged 7–11 in Gonbad–e Kavus City, Iran, who were studying in the academic year 2023–2024. They were introduced to the centers for special education learning problems. The sample size was 45 students selected through purposive non–random sampling. Of these, 15 were randomly assigned to the control group, 15 to the first experimental group, and 15 to the second experimental group. The inclusion criteria were as follows: studying in the second to sixth grades of elementary schools in the city or villages of Gonbad–e Kavus City in the academic year 2023–2024, having a reading problem, having normal intelligence, being in the age range of 7 to 11 years, willingness to participate in the research, and providing informed consent of parents. The exclusion criteria were absent from more than two sessions of therapy sessions, participating in any other type of educational intervention at the same time, and suffering from a chronic and severe physical or mental illness. The ethical considerations of the present study included the absence of any compulsion to participate in the study, observing the principle of confidentiality, avoiding any harm or injury to the participants, informed consent and full awareness of the parents about the objectives of the study, and the participants' freedom to not continue to cooperate in the study. Cognitive empowerment training based on the cognitive model of Thomas and Velthouse (1990) was implemented for eight 60–minute sessions in groups for the first experimental group, and the metacognitive strategies training package (Goetz et al., 2008) was implemented for six 45–minute sessions in groups for the second experimental group. The research instruments were the Parent Form of the Behavioral Rating Inventory for Executive Functions (BRIEF) (Gioia et al., 2000) and the Wechsler Digit Memory Test (4th edition) (Wechsler, 2003). Descriptive statistics, including mean, standard deviation, and frequency, were used to describe the data characteristics, and multivariate analysis of covariance and Tukey post hoc test was used in the inferential statistics section. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 27 software.
Results: The effect of time, group, and the interaction of time and group on the scores of executive functions and memory capacity variables were significant (p<0.001). Cognitive empowerment intervention methods and metacognitive strategies effectively affected executive functions and memory capacity variables (p<0.001). Also, there was no significant difference between the two intervention methods in affecting the variables (p>0.05).
Conclusion: According to the results, the two interventions, including cognitive empowerment and metacognitive strategies, have an effective role in improving the executive functions and memory capacity of students with reading disorders; also, there is no significant difference between the effectiveness of the two intervention methods, indicating the equal effectiveness of the two interventions.