Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Abstract
Background & Objectives: Attention–deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common childhood neuropsychological disorder. This disorder causes problems and damage to normal functions such as academic achievement, behavior in school, interaction with family, and communication with peers. Research shows that defects in cognitive functions are prevalent in these children. So, children with ADHD face severe problems in the executive functions of the brain, such as working memory. Although the use of computer programs to improve the performance of children with hyperactivity disorder has gained significant popularity today, better results can be achieved by integrating these programs with family–oriented educational/therapeutic techniques. Since there has not been a study on the effectiveness of a combined family–centered and computer–aided educational program in improving the problems of children with attention deficits, based on this, the present study aims to determine the effectiveness of a comprehensive family–centered computer–assisted program in improving the working memory of 6–9 years old children with ADHD was performed.
Methods: This quasi–experimental research employed a pretest–posttest design with a control group. The study population included children with ADHD in the age range of 6 to 9 years in Tehran City, Iran. They were referred to Hasti and Parsa medical clinics in the academic year of 2022–2023 and were diagnosed with hyperactivity. The research sample included 30 children selected by convenience sampling and randomly replaced into two groups of each 15: experimental and control. The research tool was the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–4th Edition (2003). The implementation method was such that after the necessary coordination with the officials of Hasti and Parsa clinics, the implementation of the research began. In this way, the working memory pretest was performed first for both groups (experimental and control). The treatment sessions were conducted in 9 sessions for the experimental group, but no intervention was applied for the control group, and the intervention was completed immediately after. The posttest was carried out for the experimental and the control groups. To comply with the ethical principles of the research, treatment sessions were given to the people of the control group after the research, and they were also assured about the confidentiality of the information of the research samples. In this way, the required data was collected. Finally, using SPSS version 26 software, the independent t test was used to compare the ages of the two groups, and covariance tests were used to measure effectiveness at the 0.05 level.
Results: According to descriptive findings, the scores of the experimental group showed noticeable changes in all three dimensions of working memory compared to the control group's scores. So, the average score of the experimental group in the dimension of forward digits increased from 7.594±0.942 in the pretest to 8.888±0.734 in the posttest. The average dimension of backward digits increased from 7.683±0.903 to 8.712±0.613, and finally, the average dimension of numerical sequence increased from 8.514±0.702 in the pretest to 9.313±0.731. In the control group, the changes were almost very minor. The result of the covariance analysis showed that after removing the effect of the pretest, the average posttest scores of the two groups had a statistically significant difference in the variables of forward digits (p=0.003), backward digits (p=0.038) and numerical sequence (p=0.001).
Conclusion: Considering the effectiveness of a computer–assisted comprehensive family–centered program in increasing working memory in Children with ADHD, this program has validity, and this package can be used in interventions related to solving the behavioral, cognitive, social, and academic problems of these children.