The role of executive functions in predicting the academic skills of mentally retarded primary school students

Nasiri, Zahra; Manzari Tavakoli, Hamdollah; Soltani, Amanollah; Bahreyni, Anahita

doi:10.30473/etl.2025.71535.4217

The role of executive functions in predicting the academic skills of mentally retarded primary school students

Document Type : Research

Authors

¹ PhD student in Educational Psychology, Department of Psychology, Kerman Branch ،Islamic Azad University, Kerman, Iran

² Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Kerman Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kerman, Iran

³ Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Kerman Branch ، Islamic Azad University, Kerman, Iran

⁴ Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Kerman Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kerman, Iran

10.30473/etl.2025.71535.4217

Abstract

Children with disabilities as a special group and the damage of the society have few academic skills. One of the important things in this field can be executive functions. Therefore, this research was conducted with the aim of studying the role of executive functions in predicting the academic skills of dictation of mentally retarded elementary students.The descriptive research method was correlation type. The statistical population was all the mentally retarded elementary school students in the exceptional schools of Kerman in the academic year of 1402-1401. 278 people were selected by stratified random sampling method. Brief executive function questionnaire and teacher-made mathematics test were used to collect data. Data analysis was done with sps25 and Amos24 software. The model of the role of executive functions in predicting the academic skills of mentally retarded elementary students was acceptable by controlling the effect of intelligence and age. There was a significant relationship between inhibition, attention transfer, emotional control, initiation, working memory, planning, material organization and revision with the academic skills of intellectually disabled students, and the components of executive functions simultaneously accounted for 0.357 of the variance of the skills Students explained low ability, and strongly affected planning and working memory, respectively. The results showed that the students who were strong in executive functions performed better in the dictation exam.

Keywords