Effect of cognitive - behavioral play therapy on working memory, short-term memory and sustained attention among school-aged children with specific learning disorder: a preliminary randomized controlled clinical trial

Abstract

It has been shown by several studies that cognitive behavioral play therapy (CBPT) can ameliorate the condition in children diagnosed with specific learning disorder (SLD). However, there is still need for randomized controlled clinical trials, in order to evaluate this line of action as a standard option. The essence of this preliminary study was to assess the effect of CBPT on working memory (WM), short-term memory (STM) and the sustained attention (SA) of school-aged children with SLD using a randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT). In the present study, 35 eligible children with a DSM-5 SLD diagnosis, aged 7–9, were randomly allocated in CBPT (n = 18) and control groups (n = 17). Evaluation of all participants was conducted for WM, STM and SA using the digit span subscale of WISC-III, Wechsler memory scale-4th edition (WMS-IV) test and visual continuous attention test (DAUF), respectively, both at the time of inclusion to the project and one month later. The intervention group participated in 8 group sessions of CBPT and the control group was evaluated without any intervention. The study was completed by a total of 16 boys and 14 girls (n = 15 per group). The mean ± S.D. of participants’ age were 8.29 ± 1.12 years and 8.20 ± 1.28 years in the CBPT and control groups, respectively. The treatment was effective on variables of the DAUF test (p = 0.001). In addition, there was no significant improvement in any variables of WMS-IV and the digit span subscale of WISC-III tests between two groups (p < 0.05). In this work, it was found that CBPT is effective on SA improvement among children with SLD, but this intervention lacked effect on WM and STM in children with SLD. This study recommends more RCTs with large sample sizes, more individual therapeutic sessions, longer time of follow-up and different protocols.