Clinical trial NCT03063411: Testing Whether a Short Training Program Designed to Improve Cognitive Skills Improves 4-year-olds' Maths Skills
Official title: Testing a Short Executive Function Training Intervention to Improve Mathematical Reasoning in a Diverse Sample of Children Before They Start School
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Cognitive Development
Keywords: Maths reasoning
Working memory
Executive Functions
Cognitive Control
Academic Skills
Randomised Control Trial
Lead sponsor: University of Sheffield
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: University of Nottingham
First posted: 2017-02-24
Enrollment: 175
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 3
Maximum age (years): 5
Standard ages: CHILD
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: This study will test whether a short training program - designed to improve memory and attention skills - will benefit mathematical reasoning in preschoolers from a range of socio-economic backgrounds. The investigators will test how long any benefits last for and whether any intervention effects are greater for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The aim is to test interventions that aim to close the achievement gap by improving skills known to underpin academic skills, at an age children may benefit most from training.

Detailed description: Children's academic success across a range of domains is related to their executive function skills - specifically by their ability to maintain and update information (working memory) and to suppress inappropriate responses (inhibitory control). These skills undergo significant development during the preschool years. Notably, preschool executive function skills strongly predict school readiness, as well as concurrent and later academic achievements in mathematics. The aim of this project is to test an intervention that is specifically designed to improve preschoolers' executive functions - crucially, before the achievement gap sets in. The study will be carried out, following CONSORT (2010) guidelines, with typically developing preschoolers (aged approximately 4 years of age). The study will include children from socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged families. Children will be randomly assigned to either an executive function training group or an active control group. A nominated person external to the project will conduct the random allocation process. The random allocation will be done for each nursery to ensure roughly even numbers in each group from each nursery. Children in both groups will complete computerized tasks lasting 15-20 minutes once a week for four weeks. The investigators will compare the trained children to an active control group that closely matches the training in terms of activity. To check for improvements, the investigators will measure cognitive and maths skills at baseline (one week before training); one week post-training; three months post-training; and one year post-training. These assessments will be conducted by testers blind to the child's group.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion criteria:

* Must be attending a nursery school attached to a primary school.
* Must speak and understand English (class teachers will advise on this).
* Must have at least one measure of working memory completed at baseline and one measure of inhibitory control completed at baseline.

Exclusion criteria:

* Must not have a significant diagnosed or known physical, mental or learning disability.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in mathematical reasoning scores as measured by the WIAT-II mathematical reasoning sub-test.
timeFrame: Baseline = one week before the intervention; post-test = one week post-intervention, three months post-intervention.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Long-term change in mathematical reasoning as measured by the WIAT-II mathematical reasoning sub-test.
timeFrame: One year post-training from baseline
measure: Change in verbal working memory as measured by the Backward Word Span task.
timeFrame: One week post-intervention from baseline, three months post-intervention from baseline and 1 year post-intervention from baseline.
measure: Change in visuo-spatial working memory as measured by the Corsi Block task.
timeFrame: One week post-intervention from baseline, three months post-intervention from baseline and 1 year post-intervention from baseline.
measure: Change in in inhibitory control as measured by the Grass/Snow task.
timeFrame: One week post-intervention from baseline, three months post-intervention from baseline and 1 year post-intervention from baseline.
measure: Change in in inhibitory control as measured by the Peg Tapping task.
timeFrame: One week post-intervention from baseline, three months post-intervention from baseline and 1 year post-intervention from baseline.
measure: Change in classroom engagement score as rated by teachers using the Classroom Engagement Scale (FitzPatrick & Pagani, 2012).
timeFrame: Three months post-intervention from baseline and 1 year post-intervention from baseline.
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Sheffield
country: United Kingdom
facility: The University of Sheffield
Study officials:
References: