Does the Use of Exergames Have a Positive Influence on Executive Functions and Academic Performance of School-Age Children with Specific Learning Disorder? A Literature Review

Abstract

This research consists of an integrative literature review whose objective was to verify the effectiveness of neurorehabilitative and neuropsychopedagogical interventions using exergames to enhance the functioning of Higher Brain Functions, called Executive Functions, and to improve school performance in children with Specific Learning Disorders (SLDs), at school age, between 4 and 11 years old. The APA PsycNet, Nature, Springer, ScienceDirect, Pubmed, NIH, Researchgate, Scielo, Pepsic databases were consulted. Of the 154 articles initially selected, 6 were analyzed after passing the inclusion criteria, all of which were in English. All selected articles were published from 2000 onwards, being quantitative experimental studies. In all studies, the console used was Microsoft’s Kinect Xbox or Nintendo Wii. Although the results cannot be generalized, the findings seem to point to the effectiveness of exergames as a neurorehabilitative and neuropsychopedagogical intervention and to an improvement in school performance in the case of Dyslexia and Dyscalculia, which are types of SLD. It was found that the production of knowledge on this subject is still incipient, with a lack of experimental research with a statistically representative sample size and a control group that remains inactive.