Designing an Executive Functions Training Program and Evaluating its Effective on Improving of Theory of Mind in Children aged 6 to 8 Years with Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder
Subject Areas : Childkarim abdolmohamadi 1 , farhad ghadiri 2 , hamid alizadeh 3
1 - Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education & Psychology, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran
2 - Ph.D of Psychology, Faculty of Literature and Humanities , Urmia University, Urmia, Iran
3 - Professor, Department of Psychology and Education of Exceptional Children, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran
Keywords: children 6 to 8 years old, executive functions, Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder, Theory of Mind,
Abstract :
AbstractThe purpose of this study was to determine the effective of the training program of executive functions on improving levels of theory of mind in children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder. The research method was semi-experimental with post-test pre-test with control group. The study population included all 6- to 8-year-old children in Tabriz, of whom 30 were selected by convenience sampling and randomly assigned to experimental (15) and control (15) groups.Then the Theory of Mind Questionnaire (Hutchins, Perlock , Bonazinga , 2012) was completed by parents of both groups. After performing the pre-test, the experimental group was trained in the executive functions program. The program was designed by researchers and consisted of 24 sessions in which 4 skills (working memory, inhibition, flexibility and attention training) were taught, At this stage, the children in the control group did not receive any training. The post-test was performed again and the data obtained from the pre-test and post-test were analyzed using analysis of covariance.The data showed a significant difference between the control and experimental groups in the post-test of variable theory of mind scores after adjusting for the effect of pre-test of theory of mind(P<01). Based on this study, it can be suggested that improving the executive functions can increase the levels of theory of mind.
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