KEYS to Succeed: Cognitive and Academic Intervention Program for Children and Adolescents Surviving Cancer
Condition: Childhood Brain Tumor
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The study will examine whether school liaison services and home-based parental tutoring can
      help with academic difficulties of paediatric brain tumour survivors who received cranial
      spinal radiation and have returned to school. Forty-five patients will participate in the
      project. All patients will receive psychology liaison services to link resources at the
      hospital with those in the community. Patients will participate in one of two tutoring
      programs designed to directly or indirectly improve math skills over 12 weeks. Weekly phone
      calls will be used to support parents using the program. Patients will be tested before,
      immediately after, and six months following each tutoring program to assess growth in
      mathematics and working memory abilities.
    

Detailed description: 
      Paediatric brain tumour survivors who receive cranial spinal radiation have learning
      problems, particularly in mathematics and working memory. Working memory is often described
      as a "mental workspace" where relevant information is held in mind and processed. Working
      memory is important in mathematics for holding in mind relevant information and carrying out
      steps necessary to solve problems.

      This study will examine whether school liaison support and home-based parental tutoring can
      help address the academic difficulties of paediatric brain tumour survivors who have received
      cranial spinal radiation and who have returned to their community school. Forty five patients
      will participate in the project. First, all patients will receive psychology liaison services
      to link resources at the hospital with those in the community in order to provide information
      regarding the effects of pediatric cancer on learning and facilitate the implementation of
      appropriate assistive technology and remediation programs. Patients will then participant in
      one of two tutoring programs over the course of a 12 week period. One group of patients will
      participate in a program that addresses working memory with the intent of indirectly helping
      with mathematics skills. This program will be delivered over the internet. Another group of
      patients will participate in a program using a work book to directly help improve mathematics
      skills. Weekly phone calls will be used to support parents in doing the program. Patients
      will be tested before, immediately after, and six months following each tutoring program to
      assess growth in mathematics and working memory abilities. The two intervention programs will
      be compared to a waitlist control group that receives only the liaison service (including
      academic support through weekly phone calls over the 12 weeks).

      The findings from this study will provide evidence about the type of intervention that is
      most effective at helping paediatric brain tumour survivors improve their mathematics skills
      and working memory ability.
    

Intervention name(s): Jump Math; Cogmed; Liaison Services
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Jump Math is a workbook based program aimed at improving math skills; Cogmed is an online computer program aimed at improving working memory skills; Liaison Services will include working closely with schools to help explain the strengths and weaknesses of a child based on cognitive testing and to help with the implementation of recommendations
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment