The effect of self-regulation empowerment program training on neurocognitive and social skills in students with dyscalculia

Abstract

Aim: The current study aimed at determining the effect of self-regulation empowerment program training on neurocognitive and social skills in students with dyscalculia. Method: The study was a semi-experimental with pretest/posttest design and a control group. The study sample was consisted of 26 students with dyscalculia in Guilan Province, Iran, 2018, selected by the convenience sampling method and assigned into two groups (one experimental and one control). To collect the data, Tower of Hanoi Task, Stroop Test, Dual N-Back Task, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and Social Skills Rating System were used before and after the intervention. A twelve-session self-regulation empowerment program training was implemented for the experimental group. Results: Mann-Whitney U test, and Wilcoxon test were used for data analysis and Cohen’s d test measured effect extent. The results of analysis showed that the self-regulation empowerment program training improved neurocognitive and social skills in students with dyscalculia. Discussion: Students with dyscalculia are faced with various physical and psychological stressful factors, which leads to decreased quality of life. Considering the relationship between neurocognitive and social skills with self-regulation, one of the methods capable of assisting the rehabilitation of the students with dyscalculia is the self-regulation empowerment training. Conclusions: According to the findings of the research, self-regulation empowerment training can improve the neurocognitive and social skills in students with dyscalculia.