Efficacy of an Intervention to Teach Zippering: A Two-Group Control Study

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Preschoolers are assigned to a control group or a comparison group to examine the efficacy of a new intervention to teach the skill of engaging and pulling up a zipper.

Detailed Description
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Purpose: This pilot study compares the efficacy of a standard teaching zippering vest presented with general verbal prompts to a modified teaching zippering vest presented with a related story and vocabulary in the acquisition of zippering skills among typically developing preschoolers. Institutional Review Board approval and parent consent was obtained. Design: An experimental two group pre-post test design was used. Setting: Research occurred in a local preschool. Participants: Participants were recruited from fifty 3.6-to 4.11-year-old preschoolers. Intervention: Eligible children received 3 zippering practice sessions with either a standard zippering vest (control group) or a modified vest with added visual and language cues (comparison group). The treatment protocol for both cohorts of participants was administered over a three-week time period to minimize the impact of normal development.

Official Title
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Effectiveness of Visual Cues and Verbal Storytelling in Teaching Preschool Children Zippering

Conditions
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Typical Preschoolers Who Can Not Zipper

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Standard zippering vest
* Behavioral: Modified zippering vest


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Child must be typically developing as assessed by the Developmental Assessment of Young Children 2 (DAYC-2) developmental screening. Child must be between 42 and 60 months of age. Child must be unable to zip by a) parent report and b) three observed attempts to zipper - Exclusion Criteria: Child must meet inclusion criteria and be present at school during three researcher visits to the preschool within three consecutive weeks. -

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 42 Months
Maximum Age: 60 Months

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Interventional Model Description: two cohort
Masking: Double


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Standard zippering vest<br>Children receive three supervised sessions for them to practice engaging and pull up a zipper, using a standard teaching zippering vest. | Behavioral: Standard zippering vest<br>* Standard zippering vest used to teach zippering<br>* Other names: Control group;|
| Experimental: Modified zippering vest<br>Children receive three sessions of specially designed zippering instruction using a modified zippering vest, where they can practice engaging and pulling up a zipper after being read a related story. | Behavioral: Modified zippering vest<br>* Modified zippering vest used to teach zippering, along with related story<br>* Other names: Comparison group;|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Zippering steps completed | The task of engaging and pulling up a zipper was broken down to 7 steps. By examining video data, the number of zippering steps completed was analyzed for each zippering trial. | all data was collected within three weeks for each child to minimize the impact of typical development |