The Effectiveness of Assertiveness Training on Anxiety Symptoms in School-Age Children With Specific Learning Disorder

Authors

Abstract:

Objective: Specific learning disorder is a type of neurodevelopmental disorder, in which children with disabilities have difficulty understanding, or using spoken and written language. The disorder diagnoses when children have significant reading, writing, and math skills lower than expected. One of the characteristics of children with a learning disorder is the presence of anxiety symptoms, which are often chronic, and failure to address them can negatively affect the child's growth and academic performance. Assertiveness training is a structured intervention that uses to reduce the symptoms of anxiety. The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of assertiveness training on anxiety symptoms of male school-age children with special learning disorders in Tehran City, Iran. Materials and Methods: The present study was a quasi-experimental research in which a pre-test in addition post-test design with a control group used along with a five weeks follow-up. The population included 8-11 year-old male children who were studying in the Learning Disorders Centers in Tehran City in the school year 2019-2020. The sample consisted of 130 male school-age children who were in convenient selected from the five educational districts (2, 13, 12, 18, and 15). At first, the Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM) assessed all subjects and 72 children who got a normal intelligence quotient (≥85) completed the Child Spence Anxiety Scale (SCAS-C). The studied sample was selected according to the formula for the determining the sample size and the probability of its drop-out (34 people). After scoring the SCAS-C, 45 children received a moderate anxiety (44-88 points). Thirty-four students (19, 10, and 5, respectively with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia) were randomly selected among them and matched based on their age, school grade and socio-economic status. They randomly assigned to the experimental and control group with mean and standard deviation of age 10.45±2.25 and 8.87±1.89 respectively. The experimental group divided into three subgroups (six people in two groups and five people in one) due to the efficacy of training in small groups and participated in 10 assertiveness training sessions (twice a week and 90 minutes for per session) while the control group received only the mainstream programs in the Learning Disorder Center. All subjects assessed by the SCAS-C at the end of the training sessions and five weeks follow-up. The obtained data from pre-test and post-test situations analyzed by using univariate and multivariate analysis of covariance. In addition, the data were analysed by the analysis of variance with repeated measure to determine the stability of the assertiveness training after the five weeks follow-up Results: The results of univariate and multivariate analysis of covariance showed that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of anxiety symptoms and its components in the experimental and control groups before and after the assertiveness training sessions (p<0.01). The results based on the eta quotient show that the values of 66%, 66%, 32%, 63%, 63%, 71%, and 73% respectively of the variance of total anxiety symptoms, generalized anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, personal injury fears, social phobia, separation anxiety and panic disorder/agoraphobia in students with special learning disorder can be explained by participation in assertiveness training intervention. The results of analysis of variance with repeated measure showed that the effect of assertiveness training has only lasted on reduction of generalized anxiety, personal injury fears, anxiety phobia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder after five weeks follow-up. However, the effectiveness of the intervention program not found for the total anxiety symptoms, separation anxiety and panic/agoraphobia after follow-up study. Conclusion: The results indicate that the assertiveness training can reduce the symptoms of anxiety and its components in school-age male children with specific learning disorder. Therefore, we conclude that the design and implementation of similar training programs help students to strive to establish interpersonal relationships, reduce the frustration of academic failure, express their feelings, think of possible ways to deal with anxious situations, manage their negative behaviour, and be prepared to accept multiple roles in adulthood. Thus, by providing assertiveness training, maladaptive behaviors and mental health problems (especially anxiety symptoms) can be preventive in students with special learning disorder in addition to prevent ongoing problems in the fields of education and occupation.

Upgrade to premium to download articles

Sign up to access the full text

Already have an account?login

similar resources

Comparison of the Effectiveness of Cognitive Rehabilitation Training and Vestibular Stimulation on Neuropsychological Characteristics of Children with Specific Learning Disorder

Introduction: Learning disabilities in children affect many cognitive and behavioral areas, which ultimately lead to reduced social relationships and a lack of academic achievement. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation training and vestibular stimulation on neuropsychological characteristics of children with a specific learning disorder. Metho...

full text

The effectiveness of mindful parenting on self-efficacy of mothers and anxiety symptoms in preschool children with anxiety symptoms

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of mindful parenting on the self-efficacy of mothers and anxiety symptoms in preschool children with anxiety symptoms in Tehran. The research method was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population included all mothers of children aged five to six years with anxiety symptoms in kinderg...

full text

Intervention based sociodrama: Evaluating the effectiveness on the anxiety in children with social anxiety disorder

Introduction: The aim of this study was to explain the effectiveness of sociodrama intervention to reducing anxiety in children with social anxiety disorder. Methods: Research method in this study was a single-subject of AB experimental designs. The study population consisted of all children with social anxiety disorder 6 to 7 years that attended psychological centers in Tehran in 2021. Among t...

full text

The Effect of Self-Regulation Empowerment Program Training on Academic Anxiety of Students with Specific Learning Disorder

Background: Students with specific learning disorder are faced with various physical and psychological stressful factors, that affect their quality of life. Considering the relationship between academic anxiety and self-regulation, as one of the methods capable of assisting students with specific learning disorder is self-regulation empowerment training. The current study aimed at determining t...

full text

The effectiveness of painting therapy on anxiety and oppositional defiant disorder in children with mental retardation

Abstract Background and Purpose: The Purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of painting therapy on anxiety disorder and oppositional defiant disorder in children with mental retardation. Method: This research was a quasi-experimental method with a pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The statistical population of the present study included children with mental disab...

full text

the impact of computer-assisted language learning on achievement motivation of high school students

چکیده انگیزه دلیل اصلی رفتارهای ما است. به نظر می رسد انگیزه جزء جدایی ناپذیر فرایند یادگیری باشد. ارزش ذاتی موفقیت تمایل به پیشرفت را در یادگیرنده ایجاد میکند. به عبارت ساده این تمایل انگیزه پیشرفت نامیده میشود. انگیزه پیشرفت را میتوان در احساس یادگیرنده هنگام چالش با درس های مدرسه، لذت انجام فعالیت درسی، یا حس کشف پاسخ مشاهده کرد.حتی ممکن است انگیزه پیشرفت را در تلاش یادگیرنده برای جلب تایید...

My Resources

Save resource for easier access later

Save to my library Already added to my library

{@ msg_add @}


Journal title

volume 22  issue 4

pages  0- 0

publication date 2021-12

By following a journal you will be notified via email when a new issue of this journal is published.

Keywords

No Keywords

Hosted on Doprax cloud platform doprax.com

copyright © 2015-2023