BACKGROUND:

A variety of cognitive rehabilitation has gained popularity in early childhood with neurodevelopmental disorder at clinical rehabilitation settings.

OBJECTIVES:

The purpose of this review was to analyze the cognitive therapies used and to analyze the methods applied in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

METHODS:

This study searched for experimental studies published between 2006 and 2016 using two databases including EBSCOhost and PubMed. The keywords used included “diagnosis included in the neurodevelopment disorder of DSM-5” AND “cognition” or “cognitive function”. After the searching, this study reviewed the abstracts initially and assessed full articles subsequently, and then we selected total of 26 studies. Two reviewers independently assessed the level of evidence of qualitative studies using the PICO method, and this study analyzed the frequency of participants, intervention information, and methods used were analyzed.

RESULTS:

This study was generated a total of 3,115 publications of literature review. Twenty-six studies were included in this review as for the levels of evidence of the qualitative studies selected. 12 studies was received the cognitive therapy for autism spectrum disorder, and 17 studies was participated grade-schooler (5–12 yrs) to investigate the effects of cognitive therapy. Cognitive therapy showed the level I evidence in participants with Autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and global developmental disorder.

CONCLUSIONS:

The results of this study provide an indication about the types of cognitive therapies used in children with neurodevelopmental disorders, and provide available and beneficial information of cognitive therapies at research and clinical setting.