A Digital-Analogical Intervention Program Following a Play-Based Approach for Preschoolers: The Effects on Executive Functions and ADHD Symptoms in a Pilot Study

Abstract

Today, the effective use of technological tools is a fundamental aspect of learning. Nevertheless, in Italy’s education system the integration of digital technologies in a pedagogically meaningful way is still not very widespread, especially in non-compulsory levels, such as preschool. Integration of digital technologies as early as preschool could be useful to support child development, especially for fostering executive functions (EFs). These play an important role in the daily life of all children, whether or not they have special education needs (SEN), such as coping with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. This paper reports a pilot study in which a play-based intervention is adopted that combines interaction with both educational apps and analogical materials. The main aim of the study is to investigate whether application of this intervention promotes the development of EFs and a decrease in ADHD symptoms (inattention and impulsivity/hyperactivity), as perceived by teachers and parents. The results show significant improvements in various EFs components and, in the experimental group, ADHD symptoms seem to decrease, especially in those children considered at risk by their teachers and parents. This suggests that the digital-analogical intervention can be implemented in preschool as an innovative way to improve cognitive abilities and as an early strategy for children with ADHD symptoms.

Case Report: A playful digital-analogical rehabilitative intervention to enhance working memory capacity and executive functions in a pre-school child with autism

“…This is consistent with findings reported in the literature, which suggest that pre-school digital-native children are very attracted and motivated by apps, a means they find very familiar and intuitive (24). Furthermore, the study findings also confirmed the capacity of educational apps to enhance WMC and EFs in an intervention program (21,48). This is also in line with studies involving children with ASD, which highlight the added value of using digital technologies during the intervention (14), in particular when seeking to enhance cognitive abilities such as WMC and EFs (4).…”

“…The study in question was carried out as part of the ShareFUN project. 1 This follows the authors' previous research (21), which has demonstrated that the integration of digital and analogical materials in interventions for preschool children could yield added value; this is because the two forms offer different affordances in clinical intervention contexts (22). For the digital activities, we opted for educational apps because they are low cost, familiar, and intuitive for pre-schoolers to use (23).…”