Effectiveness of a Neuropsychological Intervention on Academic Skills in Children with Mild Intellectual Disability: A Preexperimental Study

Abstract

Objective: To design and implement a neuropsychological intervention program aimed at strengthening literacy and arithmetic skills in children with mild intellectual disability (ID) at the Ignacio Ramírez Elementary School in Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico, and to analyze changes in their academic performance following its application. Method: A quantitative study with a preexperimental pretest-posttest design involving a single group. Participants were 7 elementary school students with mild ID, assessed using the Child Neuropsychological Evaluation (ENI), a battery composed of 13 subtests. Results: The results showed statistically significant differences in several ENI subscales, particularly in tasks involving non-word recognition, sentence recognition, non-word reading, syllable reading, and writing to dictation (p < 0.05). In the mental arithmetic task, a trend toward improved performance was observed among participants; however, this difference did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.053). Conclusion: The tasks incorporated into the rehabilitation program yielded favorable results in certain academic literacy and arithmetic skills, suggesting their potential for strengthening academic performance in children with mild intellectual disability.