Learning Disability

The purpose of the present study was to construct and normalization the pre-school students' learning disability test. A researcher-made visual-spatial test consists of seven sections (symbolization, space status, visual distinction, visual argumentation, visual memory sequence, maze, and rotational form) its content validity is confirmed by psychology professors and then was performed on a sample of 206 preschool students. The questions were analyzed, and their validity, reliability and cut point were determined. This test has enough reliability. To determine the validity of construct and composing component of the tests, the main component by rotation in Varimax normalized method was used. In analysis of the factors of questions in spatial perception subtest, seven of which were namable. Conformity factor analysis was also used to determine the validity of factors: the conformity factor analysis confirmed that the structure of questionnaire had an acceptable fitness to the data. independent t-test demonstrated that there is a significant difference between average scores of the students with learning disability and normal. To investigate convergent validity, we used the checklist of learning disability that simultaneously was completed by the mothers. The results of Chi-Squared test demonstrated that there is a significant relationship between these two variables, the completed checklist by mothers and completed learning disability test by children.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of family communication patterns and parenting style in the self-esteem of secondary school students with learning disabilities in Ardabi  in the year 1399. The present study is a descriptive-correlational study. The instruments of this study include the  Revised Family Communication Patterns Questionnaire (2004), Baumrind Parenting Questionnaire 1973.Cooper-Smith Self-Esteem Questionnaire (1967). These questionnaires were administered to 200 adolescents with learning disabilities. Finally, the collected data were statistically analyzed through the implementation of questionnaires. The results show that the effect of communication patterns and parenting styles in explaining self-esteem is significant. Multiple regression results also showed parenting styles have the power to explain the variable of self-esteem more than communication patterns; Therefore, the best predictor of self-esteem is parenting style. There is a direct and significant relationship between communication patterns and parenting styles with the self-esteem of adolescents with learning disabilities.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of Neurofeedback (NFB) Therapy with Play Therapy in improving attention and cognitive function in students with Learning Disorder (LD). This study was a quasi-experimental research with a pre-test and post-test design. The statistical population of the research was about 600 elementary school students with LD in Lar city in 2017 (N=212). A sample of 60 LD children who were identified in schools was selected by multistage cluster random sampling and randomly divided into four groups fifteen-three experimental and one control group. The tools used in the study were the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-R) (Wechsler, 2003) and integrated visual and auditory continuous performance (IVA) (Sandford and Turner, 1995). NFB training was done according to the guidelines recommended by Monastra et al. (2005) in 20 sessions and play therapy cognitive performance and attention therapy were done according to the guidelines recommended by Drewes (2009) in 20 sessions, while no intervention was performed in the control group. Data were analyzed by the covariance analysis method. The results showed that NFB and play therapy were effective in increasing cognitive performance (p<0.01) and attention (p<0.01) compared to the control group. The combination of play therapy and NFB intervention was more effective on cognitive performance and attention rather than the two interventions separately. According to the results, it is recommended that therapists and clinical psychologists use NFB and play therapy to increase the sustained attention and working memory of students with LD.

Child-teacher relationship is one of the determinants of students’ behaviors, especially those with specific problems, which in turn can be affected by other factors. The present study was conducted to investigate the mediating role of homework problems in child-teacher relationship, behavior problems, and social adjustment amongst students with learning disability. Among the elementary students with learning disability referred to the learning disability education centers affiliated to Yazd Education Organization, Iran, 231 ones were selected randomly. The data were gathered using the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale, Teacher-Child Rating Scale, and Homework Problems Checklist and were then analyzed by Path analysis. The findings showed that homework problems were positively correlated to child-teacher conflict and negatively associated with child-teacher closeness among Learning Disabled (LD) students. Overall, the child-teacher relationship affected homework problems, eventually leading to behavioral or social adjustment problems. In other words, homework problems played a mediating role in the relationship between the quality of child-teacher relationship and LD students’ behavioral problems and social adjustment. Hence, improving the child-teacher relationship can reduce homework problems and, as a result, promote social adjustment among LD students.