Effectiveness of Neuropsychological Intervention on Reading Performance and Executive Functions in Dyslexic Children

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of neuropsychological intervention on reading performance and executive functions in dyslexic children. The research method was quasi-experimental. The statistical population of this study included all third grade dyslexic students who referred to the Learning Disabilities Centers in Zahedan in 2021. A total of 28 patients were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (14 people in each group). The neuropsychological intervention was performed in the experimental group for 15 one-hour sessions. Reading and Dyslexia Test (NEMA) (KaramiNouri & Moradi, 2005) and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (Gioia et al., 2000) was used to collect data. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to analyze the research hypotheses. The results indicated that the neuropsychological intervention is effective on both reading performance (except for the elimination of sounds and words-fake reading) and executive functions (P <0.01). Furthermore, the results of repeated measures ANOVA showed that the results were significant in the follow-up phase (P <0.01). The findings generally indicated that the intervention can be used as an effective treatment of dyslexia in learning disabilities treatment centers.

Keywords

• neuropsychological intervention
• reading function
• executive functions
• dyslexia