Initiative Description: Children took an Arabic reading comprehension test, spelling test, and mathematics test. Parent and teacher questionnaires focused on problems related to poor attention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Parent questionnaires focused on home behaviors while teacher questionnaires focused on classroom behaviors. Children were selected for the study were those with a score of 12 or more on the parent questionnaire and were assessed as having a learning disability by school psychologists based on criteria for diagnosis used in the country (evidence of problems in literacy or mathematics, but an IQ over 85. Students were assigned to an intervention group and a baseline group. The baseline group experienced the normal teaching practices of the school. The intervention started with teaching students strategies to self-regulate off-task behaviors or to relax through breathing and muscle relaxation techniques. Interventions designed to reduce off-task behaviors while targeting spelling improvements should result in good gains in learning.

Study Results: interventions designed to reduce off‐task behaviors while targeting spelling improvements showed good gains in learning.

Reference: Everatt, J., Al-Sharhan, A., Al-Azmi, Y., Al-Menaye, N., & Elbeheri, G. (2011). Behavioural/attentional problems and literacy learning difficulties in children from non-English language/cultural backgrounds. Support for Learning,26(3), 127-133. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9604.2011.01491.x

Level of Evidence: Excellent