Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Abstract
Background & Objective: Acquiring reading skills is essential for children and plays an important role in their future educational activities and employment. Many elementary school children, despite having average or even higher IQs and the ability to adapt to the environment, show significant and fundamental problems in school learning, which are known under headings such as learning disabilities, learning disorders, and specific learning disabilities. Problems with executive functions are among the hallmark problems of students with reading disorders. Executive functions include a set of cognitive processes, including attentional control, inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility, reasoning, problem solving, and planning, which are essential for controlling behavior. Executive functions play an important role in students' academic performance. In fact, achieving academic success of students depends largely on their ability to plan, organize, process information in working memory, and monitor progress. Cognitive empowerment and metacognitive strategies training affects students' executive functions and memory capacity. The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of cognitive empowerment training and metacognitive strategies training on executive functions and memory capacity in 7-11 year old students with reading disorders.
Methods: The present research method was applied and the research design was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with three groups (two experimental groups and one control group) and a follow-up phase. The statistical population of this study included all students with reading disorders aged 7-11 in Gonbad-Kavous city who were studying in the academic year 1402-1403 who 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. 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. Brief (2000) Behavioral Rating Questionnaire of Executive Functions (Parent Form) was administered to parents and all students in all three groups, and Wechsler Digit Memory Test IV was administered to all three groups. Descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation, and frequency were used to describe the data characteristics, and multivariate analysis of covariance was used in the inferential statistics section. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 25 software.
Results: Data analysis using multivariate analysis of covariance showed that the effect of psychological empowerment training (CET) and metacognitive strategies training (MST) on the combination of research variables in the post-test stage had a significant difference in the groups (P < 0.001), and the results of univariate analysis of covariance showed that this significant difference existed only in the executive functions variable (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: Based on the research, it can be concluded that psychological empowerment training (CET) and metacognitive strategies training (MST) are effective on the executive functions of students with reading disorders. Based on the research results, it is suggested that specialists and teachers pay special attention to training and exercises related to cognitive empowerment and metacognitive strategies with the aim of improving the executive functions of students.