The effect environmental approach (affordances) approach to the attention and memory of children with mental disorders

Introduction: For people with developmental disabilities, understanding motor development provides a good basis for intervention, treatment and improvement. Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of environmental affordances on attention and memory of 6 to 9 year-old children with intellectual disability. This was a practical and quasi-experimental (intervention) study. Method: Target population included all children (6-9 years old) with intellectual disability. 50 male students were conveniently recruited as the sample of the study and randomly divided into two groups: experimental and control group (25 per each group). The subjects of the experimental group went under training and exercises for 36sessions , (3 times per week for 3 months), and 30 to 45 minutes per session.Tolouan-Pyrene attention test and Andrew Ray memory tests were employed to assess attention skills. Single variable covariance was used to analyze the collected data. Results: The results indicated that the environmental affordances were effective in improving motor skills such as the perception of vision and balance (p<0.01). Also, the results of this study showed that the providers did not have any effect on the visual acuity variables (p>0.05). Findings: Results of the study suggested that affordances were effective in improving attention skill (p<0.01), also results indicated that the affordances had no impact on memory variables (p>0.05). Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that it is necessary to pay attention to the environment and environmental abilities, and applying appropriate methods for improving attention in children with mental disorders. On the other hand, memory needs more organized clinical research, so that they can be sure of the effects of providers in memory.