None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
The ability to concentrate and stay focused on a task, to switch attention between tasks, to inhibit impulsive responding, and to mentally hold and use information are critical skills for learning and academic outcomes. The development of these skills is especially important in early childhood. In Australia around 10% of children (approx 400, 000) have attention difficulties. As of 2011 approximately 11% of children worldwide (6.4 million) have been diagnosed with clinical attention deficits. Attention difficulties are particularly prevalent in children with developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Currently the primary treatment for attention deficits is stimulant medication such as Ritalin. There is an urgent need for effective non-pharmacological interventions for young children. We propose a randomised controlled trial to assess the efficacy of a computerized attention intervention in boosting core attentional skills, academic outcomes and behaviour in young typically developing children and children with ASD. The intervention is a computerized training program (TALI Train) developed at Monash University by Dr Kirk and Prof Cornish. TALI has been shown to improve attention and numeracy skills in a randomised controlled trial including young children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The proposed trial will provide information on the potential of this program for broader populations and will also assess the feasibility of embedding this intervention into the classroom. Aim 1: To investigate if the TALI Train program is effective in promoting short term improvements in trained skills such as attention in young children with and without autism spectrum disorders (4 to 8years, IQ>75). Aim 2: To investigate if the TALI Train program is effective in promoting short term improvements in untrained skills such as executive functions (e.g. working memory), academic skills and behaviour in young children with and without autism spectrum disorders (4 to 8years, IQ>75). Aim 3: To evaluate whether any improvements in trained or untrained skills are maintained 6 months after the intervention. It is hypothesized that children will a) show improvements in trained skills such as attention immediately after training and b) show improvements in both trained and untrained skills, in particular academic skills, at the 6 month follow up.
Interventions
The proposed intervention is a computerized attention training program called 'The Training Attention and Learning Initiative' (TALI). TALI was designed to develop core attentional processes. The program consists of four activities that target the core attentional processes; such as selective attention, sustained attention, and executive attention/attentional control. TALI is colourful, interactive, and has the capacity to automatically adjust task difficulty to cater for the learning of each ch
The proposed intervention is a computerized attention training program called 'The Training Attention and Learning Initiative' (TALI). TALI was designed to develop core attentional processes. The program consists of four activities that target the core attentional processes; such as selective attention, sustained attention, and executive attention/attentional control. TALI is colourful, interactive, and has the capacity to automatically adjust task difficulty to cater for the learning of each child. The TALI software monitors each participant's use by regularly and automatically uploading each participants' deidentified scores. In the proposed research, TALI is to be used by children on an electronic 'touch' tablet for 20 minutes a day, 5 times a week, over a 5 week period. The program is to be used by children in the school classroom environment.
Sponsors
Monash University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Educational / counselling / training
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
4 Years to 8 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
All enrolled children within the junior grades (Preschool, Prep, Year 1, or Year 2) within the randomly allocated mainstream schools will be eligible to participate.
Exclusion criteria
Participants will be excluded if their estimated IQ scores are found to be below the standardised score of 75.
Outcome results
None listed