چكيده فارسي :
زمينه و هدف: مشكلات تحصيلي به خصوص مشكلات ويژهٔ يادگيري در دانش آموزان توجه زيادي را به خود جلب كرده است. يكي از ابعاد توجه شده بررسي كاركردهاي اجرايي در دانش آموزان است. هدف اين پژوهش مقايسهٔ كاركردهاي اجرايي انعطاف پذيري شناختي، حل مسئله، سيالي كلامي، حافظهٔ كاري، استدلال و بازداري پاسخ در دانش آموزان داراي اختلال رياضي و مقايسهٔ آنان با دانش آموزان عادي بود. روش بررسي: جامعهٔ آماري اين تحقيق، دانش آموزان دختر از مقطع ابتدايي شهر مشهد در سال 1396-1397 بودند. در اين پژوهش بيست دانش آموز عادي و بيست دانش آموز با اختلال رياضي براساس ملاك هاي انجمن روان پزشكي آمريكا انتخاب شدند و كاركردهاي اجرايي آنها تحت بررسي قرار گرفت. براي جمع آوري داده ها، آزمون بستهٔ كاركرد اجرايي دليس - كاپلان (قوامي و همكاران 2016) به كار رفت. داده ها با استفاده از واريانس چندمتغيره و تيم ستقل مقايسه شدند. اطلاعات با نرم افزار كامپيوتري SPSS تجزيه و تحليل و بررسي شد. يافته ها: نمرات دانش آموزان با اختلال رياضي در كاركردهاي اجرايي انعطاف پذيري شناختي (F=1.235, p<0.001), حل مسئله (F=4.827, p<0.001), سيالي كلامي (F=0.922, p<0.001), حافظهٔ كاري (F=0.035, p<0.001), استدلال (F=1.344, p<0.001), و بازداري پاسخ (F=9.778, p<0.001) به صورت معناداري در مقايسه با نمرات دانش آموزان عادي متفاوت بود. نتيجه گيري: نتايج نشان داد كه كودكان داراي اختلال رياضي در مؤلفه هاي كاركرد اجرايي (انعطاف پذيري شناختي، سيالي كلامي، حل مسئله، حافظهٔ كاري، استدلال، بازداري) درمقايسه با كودكان عادي ضعيف تر هستند و ضعف اين كودكان در كاركردهاي مذكور به نقص در عملكرد قشر پيشاني و به ويژه قشر پيش پيشاني آنها مرتبط است. علت شناسي نوروپسيكولوژيك و علوم اعصاب شناختي منجر به سبب شناسي كاركردهاي خاص مي شود.
چكيده لاتين :
Background & Objectives: Learning disorders that create many problems for academic achievement have attracted the attention of researchers.
Learning disabilities belong to a large group of complications, called neuropsychiatric disorders. One of the most significant learning disorders is dyscalculia; it includes deficits in learning mathematical theorems, the visual perception of numbers, the understanding of simple numerical
concepts, and computational methods. Untreated dyscalculia may continue till adolescence and may cause emotional problems, like math anxiety.
Experts have presented several reasons in explaining the causes of this disorder; however, the research emphasis has been on issues related to
executive functions. Executive functions include various processes involved in target–oriented behaviors, such as cognitive flexibility, problem–
solving, verbal fluidity, working memory, reasoning, and response inhibition. The present study compared the performance of students with
dyscalculia and their healthy counterparts.
Methods: This study was causal–comparative research. The statistical population of this study consisted of all female primary school students
in Mashhad City, Iran, in the 2017–2018 academic year. In total, 20 healthy students and 20 students with dyscalculia were selected according
to the American Psychiatric Association criteria by convenience sampling method. Besides, their executive functions evaluated—the study
groups matched in terms of age and gender. The test performed individually. To prevent the effect of fatigue on the test results (due to the high
number of sub–tests, the test performed in two rounds; half of the subtest performed, and after a break, the other half performed. To obtain the
required data, the D–KEFS used. The D–KEFS is a neuropsychological test used to evaluate the verbal and non–verbal executive functions in
individuals aged 9 to 90 years. This test used to measure cognitive flexibility, problem–solving, verbal fluidity, working memory, reasoning, and
response inhibition. This test has nine subtests, each of which is used to measure the performance of the related components. From these sub–
tests, the first subtest is a comet assay to measure cognitive flexibility; the eighth subtest test, i.e., the Tower of London test, measures problem–
solving ability. The second subtest comprises the verbal fluency test, which measures the verbal fluidity. The fifth subtest assesses working
memory using the card classifying method. Moreover, the seventh subtest, i.e., the word context test, explores reasoning. Finally, the fourth
subtest, i.e., the color Stroop test, investigates response inhibition. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS using Multivariate Analysis of
Variance (MANOVA) and Independent Samples t–test.
Results: The scores of students with dyscalculia in the executive functions components of cognitive flexibility (F=1.235, p<0.001), problem–
solving (F=4.827, p<0.001), verbal fluidity (F=0.922, p<0.001), working memory (F=0.035, p<0.001), reasoning (F=1.344, p<0.001), and
response inhibition (F=9.778, p<0.001) were significantly different from the scores of healthy students. In all aspects of executive functions,
there was a significant difference between students with dyscalculia and their healthy peers (p <0.01).
Conclusion: The obtained results revealed that children with dyscalculia acquired lower scores in the components of executive functions, such
as cognitive flexibility, verbal fluidity, problem–solving, working memory, reasoning, and response inhibition, compared to the healthy children.
The weakness of these children in these functions are related to the forebrain functional impairments and, in particular, their prefrontal cortex.
Furthermore, students with dyscalculia reported more problems than their healthy counterparts in the variable of cognitive flexibility. Training
the skills related to these functions is effective in improving the educational performance of these children; thus, the timely diagnosis and intervention are necessary for improving these difficulties.
