The Effectiveness of Sensory Integration-Based Therapy on Auditory Memory and Auditory Sensitivity of Students with Dyslexia

Background and Purpose: Dyslexia is a specific learning disorder that could lead to academic and behavioral problems in students and has a very high prevalence in schools. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of sensory integration-based therapy on auditory memory and auditory sensitivity of students with dyslexia. Method: This was an applied quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest-follow-up and a control group design. The statistical population of this study included all 7-12 year old children with dyslexia refered to psychology and counseling centers and psychiatric clinics in Tehran in 2020-21, From wich 30 students were selected by purposeful sampling method and were randomly assigned to the experimental and the control groups. The experimental group received the sensory integration-based therapy for eight 90-minutes-sessions. The instruments used in the study included the auditory memory subtest of the n-back working memory computer training task, and a revised version of the Wepman auditory discrimination test. Data were analyzed by the one-way repeated measures analysis of covariance in the SPSS statistics-26 software. Results: The results showed that the sensory integration-based treatment had a significant effect on auditory memory and auditory sensitivity in the experimental group, and the effectiveness of this program was maintained in one month follow-up (p <0.001). Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded that the sensory integration program with an emphasis on auditory memory and auditory sensitivity is effective in the treatment of dyslexia.