The effect of Cognitive Enhancement Program (COGENT) on reading and writing skills of students with specific learning disabilities

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the COGENT Cognitive Enhancement Program which is applied to third and fourth grades students with specific learning disabilities on reading speed, reading errors, reading comprehension, writing to dictation, and text copying skills. The study group of the research consists of 16 students with specific learning disabilities. Eight of these students were randomly assigned to the experimental group and eight to the control group and the COGENT applied to the students in the experimental group through six weeks and 12 sessions. No intervention was applied to the students in the control group. During the pre-test and post-test measurements of the study group reading speed, reading errors, reading comprehension, writing to dictation, and text copying skills were evaluated. A follow-up test was applied to the students in the experimental group two weeks after the post-tests were completed. Mann Whitney- U Test and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test were used for the analysis of the findings. The results of the research showed that the intervention improved reading speed, reduced reading errors, enhanced reading comprehension, and writing to dictation skills of students in the experimental group. Besides, these developments were found to be permanent after two weeks. Although there were improvements in means, there was no significant difference in students' text copying skills. In the interviews conducted for the social validity data of the research, the students stated that they liked the activities and wanted the practices to continue, and the teachers stated that they observed improvements in their students' reading-writing skills and some social skills.