Attention and working memory training: A feasibility study in children with neurodevelopmental disorders

Abstract

The current study investigated the efficacy of a game-based process specific intervention for improving attention and working memory in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The Caribbean Quest (CQ) is a 'serious game' that consists of five hierarchically structured tasks, delivered in an adaptive format, targeting different aspects of attention and/or working memory. In addition to game play, the intervention incorporates metacognitive strategies provided by trained educational assistants (EAs), to facilitate generalization and far transfer to academic and daily skills. EAs delivered the intervention to children (ages 6-13) during their regular school day, providing children with instruction in metacognitive strategies to improve game play, with participants completing approximately 12 hours of training over an 8 to 12 school week period. Pre- and post-test analyses revealed significant improvement on measures of working memory and attention, including reduced distractibility and improved divided attention skills. Additionally, children showed significant gains in performance on an academic measure of reading fluency, suggesting that training-related gains in attention and working memory transferred to classroom performance. Exit interviews with EAs revealed that the intervention was easily delivered within the school day, that children enjoyed the intervention, and that children transferred metacognitive strategies learned in game play into the classroom. Preliminary results support this game-based process specific intervention as a potentially effective treatment and useful tool for supporting cognitive improvements in children with FASD or ASD, when delivered as part of an overall treatment plan.

Studying the effects of computer serious games on people with intellectual disabilities or autism spectrum disorder: A systematic literature review

“…The researchers concluded that FaceMaze is an effective computer SG to teach children with ASD understand and perform facial expressions, because the results of typical developed and ASD children were similar. The study by Kerns et al (2016) presents Caribbean Quest, a computer SG, which goal is to improve the attention and working memory of children with ASD and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.…”

“…The study by Kerns et al (2016) presents Caribbean Quest, a computer SG, which goal is to improve the attention and working memory of children with ASD and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The study by Kerns et al (2016) presents Caribbean Quest, a computer SG, which goal is to improve the attention and working memory of children with ASD and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.…”

Working Memory Training Is Associated with Changes in Resting State Functional Connectivity in Children Who Were Born Extremely Preterm: a Randomized Controlled Trial

“…In recent years, much attention has focused on training the developing brain (see Jolles and Crone 2012 for a review), with the rationale being that training specific cognitive functions (i.e., attention and working memory) during development, can offer advantages in terms of learning capacity. Cognitive training interventions in children with neurodevelopmental disorders have demonstrated gains on trained and/or non-trained tasks (Kerns et al 2017;Robinson et al 2014). It is possible that neuroplasticity, which refers to the life-long process by which the brain adapts to changes in its environment (Pascual-Leone et al 2005), may underlie these cognitive improvements.…”

Choline and Working Memory Training Improve Cognitive Deficits Caused by Prenatal Exposure to Ethanol

“…Successful engagement of these domains supports the ability to keep information ‘in mind’, attend to appropriate cues and update information as contingencies change. Though many studies have documented deficits in executive function evident in FASD, few studies have attempted to improve these deficits with cognitive domain-specific training despite positive outcomes [ 12 , 13 ].…”