Examining the dimensions of cognitive processing in students with learning disorders

Master thesis in the field

Psychology and education of exceptional children

Investigation of cognitive processing dimensions in students with learning disorders

The aim of this research was to investigate the dimensions of cognitive processing in students with learning disorders. For this purpose, 120 children (82 boys and 38 girls) aged 7 to 13 years were selected by purposive sampling by referring to learning disorder centers in Shiraz, and their parents completed the Cruz Cognitive Processing Questionnaire (1999) which has six dimensions of auditory processing, visual processing, conceptual processing, processing speed and attention. This scale was translated into English by a psychologist fluent in English and adapted to Iranian culture. To calculate the validity of the scale, the internal correlation method was used and the correlation coefficients ranged from 0.37 to 0.77, and the reliability of the scale with Cronbach's alpha coefficient method was 0.89 for the whole scale and for the subscales from 0.72 for vision processing to 0.79 for processing speed. In this study, to investigate the difference between girls and boys with learning disabilities with regard to the factor of educational level in the dimensions of the cognitive processing scale, the statistical method of two-way analysis of variance was used. The results showed that the scores of different educational levels in the dimensions of cognitive processing do not differ significantly except in processing speed, there is a significant difference between girls and boys in the field of auditory processing, conceptual processing and processing speed, and girls had more problems than boys, and the interaction between educational levels and gender was significant in the dimensions of auditory processing and conceptual processing. Also, to investigate the difference between the dimensions of the cognitive processing assessment scale among students with learning disabilities, the research findings showed that there is a significant difference between the different dimensions of the scale in students with learning disabilities, and among the children in the sample group, the lowest average is related to the dimension of sequential processing and then the dimension of attention, and the highest average is related to the dimension of visual processing, and this finding can be used in the education of these children. Having the most problems in the attention dimension, considering the importance of attention skills to focus on activities, especially in the classroom, and the effects that it clearly has on learning and information processing, the use of educational methods and programs that affect the strengthening of this dimension can be an effective step in their academic progress.

Key words: learning disorder, cognitive processing.

General

All students in different ages and academic periods in terms of The level of learning is not the same and some of them, especially in the first years of education, have lost the same conditions with their group and their behavior forces teachers to refer them to specialists (Bradari, 2017; quoted by Mohammadi, Bahnia and Farhabd, 2018). Although these children have normal appearance and intelligence, they have serious problems in school when learning to read, write and count. The term "learning disorders" was first used by Samuel Kirk[1] in 1963 to explain such cases. Almost half of the children who receive special education services and about 5% of the total public school population have been identified as having learning disabilities (Lyon [2], 1996). And its ratio is usually higher in boys than in girls and three to four times more. Each person's problem has a unique learning disorder that shows different combinations and levels of problems and difficulties. One of the common characteristics of people with learning disabilities is unequal areas of abilities. The term learning disorder refers to a neurobiological disorder in one or more basic psychological processes related to understanding or using spoken or written language. These conditions, which may affect a person's ability to speak, listen, read, write, spell, or perform mathematical calculations, are caused by abnormal brain function (Lerner and Jones [3], 2008). Due to the bad functioning of the brain, children with learning disorders receive and process information in a different way than normal children (Bashrepour, Isazadegan and Ahmadian, 2013).. Humans do not only perceive the world directly, but also have the ability to receive and process information, and this ability also helps the development and evolution of the very orderly and at the same time complex nervous structure of the human being, which has been achieved during the development of the individual (Moghadam, Staki, Saadat and Kushki, 2019). The presence of any inadequacy or defect in information processing can lead to inconsistent behaviors, academic problems, and difficulty in dealing with everyday affairs. In recent years, the issue of the inability to understand and learn some educational materials in some students has been given great attention by education experts and experts (Afroz, 2015; quoted by Barki Irani, Shaghaghi and Sadeghian, 2016).

In fact, the term "learning disorders" are specific neurobiological disorders that affect the brain's ability to store, process information or communicate. The US Ministry of Education stated in the 1994 report that more than 4% of all primary school students needed special services in the field of learning and 54.2% of these children had special education programs and their types in regular schools (Seif Naraghi and Naderi, 2019). The studies and researches that have been carried out show a great relationship between academic failure, dropping out of school, victimization and delinquency and learning disabilities and suggest the importance of the issue in timely and preventive measures. Unfortunately, every year, hundreds of children with educational disabilities do not receive the necessary treatment due to the lack of access to appropriate help and because their educational issues are not well known, and this opens the way for them to run away from school, drop out of school, and enter the world of delinquency (Azari resident 1379; quoted by Sharif et al., 1385).

We perceive everything in the world through the senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and We learn to taste. The information we get through our senses relies on the correct functioning of the brain areas that connect to the existing knowledge after interpreting the information and creating a concept from it. This information is stored for processing needs and is often converted into some type of output such as writing, language or performance. Information processing disorder is a defect in a person's ability to effectively use information collected by the senses, which is not the result of hearing loss, visual impairment, attention deficit disorder, or cognitive or intellectual disability (National Center for Learning Disability[4], 1999-2008). Multiple areas of information processing, some of which overlap, can affect academic success. Information processing disorders are seen as a special type of learning disorder in many people with learning disabilities and often help to explain why a person has problems with learning and performance. The inability to process information correctly can lead to academic problems, low self-confidence, and withdrawal and frustration in social situations (National Center for Learning Disabilities, 1999-2008). One of the tools used to measure information processing in learning disorders is the cognitive processing questionnaire [5]. This questionnaire was prepared by Cruz [6] to help the process of differential and non-biased diagnosis of students' learning disorders (Cruz, 1999). The purpose of this questionnaire is to provide scores of information processing or students' learning styles, which indicates a suitable tool for collecting information from parents about children's learning and thinking skills. It has been determined that this questionnaire can obtain the differential validity of specific subgroups of learning disorders and promote a clearer understanding of learning disorders along with more appropriate educational interventions. The information processing model selected for the cognitive processing questionnaire includes 6 general domains (auditory processing [7], visual processing [8], processing speed [9], attention [10], sequential/logical processing [11], conceptual/abstract processing [12]), each of which is based on research theories of learning and cognition (Fast [13], 2002). Processing speed means how quickly the brain is able to act or react in different situations (Cruz, 1999) and affects how the brain organizes information, the ability to focus on important things and ignore less important things, and also allows the brain to switch from one activity to another. There are many ways that the brain receives information, the most common way to receive information in school is through visual and auditory inputs.