Thesis:

The Effect of a Training Package Based on Visual-Motor Games on Improving the Spelling Skills of Elementary School Students in Mashhad with Academic Difficulties (Focusing on Spelling Issues)

This study aimed to investigate the effect of training based on visual-motor games on improving spelling of students with learning disabilities in Mashhad with learning disabilities (focusing on spelling problems). This study is an applied research in terms of purpose and a semi-experimental study with a pre-test-post-test with a control group in terms of method. The statistical population of the study consisted of all primary school boys and girls who are studying in primary schools in Mashhad. According to the center's statistics, the number of these students in the first to sixth grades was 26,500, and from among these and from the students who were willing to cooperate, 40 students were selected based on voluntary sampling and formed the statistical sample of the present study. After identifying the eligible students, they were divided into two groups of 20 (experimental and control) based on matching characteristics (age, gender, severity of disorder, intelligence level). The data collection tools included the spelling recognition test, the spelling training protocol through motor games, and the Wechsler memory test (Form A). In this study, data were analyzed using SPSS 28 software. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics were used to examine and compare the mean and standard deviation of variables in the control and experimental groups, and inferential statistics were used to analyze the research hypotheses, which included univariate and multivariate covariance assumptions. The results of the inferential analysis using analysis of covariance showed that after controlling for pre-test scores, there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in spelling scores. The effect size was large at 0.664, indicating that 66.4% of the variance in spelling scores at the post-test was explained by training based on visual-motor games. Also, the discriminant analysis of the types of spelling errors showed that the greatest reduction in errors in the experimental group was related to visual memory errors, errors due to weakness in visual discrimination, and visual sequence memory errors, which is consistent with the nature of the intervention (visual-motor games). Overall, the findings of this chapter indicate that training based on visual-motor games significantly improved the spelling of students with learning disabilities, and therefore the research hypothesis is confirmed.

Keywords: Keywords: visual-motor games, spelling improvement, learning disability