A Randomized Clinical Trial Comparing Executive Function and Language Skills Training on School Readiness in Preschool Children

June 16, 2016 updated by: Guilherme Vanoni Polanczyk, University of Sao Paulo
Background: environmental influences in the first years of life have a great impact on adulthood. Adequate environmental stimulation in the first years of life positively influence cognitive, emotional and neurological development. Studies show that high quality education for 3 to 6 years old children are cost-effective for diverse outcomes, such as socioemotional and cognitive development, as well as school performance. However, it is not clear why specific types of interventions are most effective on school readiness, an important precursor of literacy status and later life outcomes. Objectives: adapt to the Brazilian context two well-known intervention programs: (1) executive functions training developed by Diamond, and (2) oral language skills based on the Nuffield Programme developed by Snowling and colleagues. Methods: a randomized controlled trial involving 720 children (4 to 5 years old) allocated to three groups: (1) adapted school curriculum focusing on executive functions training, (2) adapted school curriculum focusing on oral language skills training, and (3) regular school curriculum.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

582

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

3 years to 6 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Schools interested in the intervention program
  • Preschool children (4 to 6 years old)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Presence of any sensory impairment
  • Intellectual disability

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Executive functions training
Behavioral: Executive functions training
Daily training of executive functions via activities to develop auto-regulation, attention and memory.
Experimental: Language skills training
Behavioral: Language skills training
Daily training of language skills via activities to develop phonological awareness and vocabulary.
Active Comparator: Regular school curriculum
Other: Regular school curriculum
Ministry of Education national school curriculum.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in school readiness
Time Frame: Beginning of the school year (baseline) and at the end of the school year (post intervention, 7 to 8 months later)
Assessed with a 43 items questionnaire developed by the research staff.
Beginning of the school year (baseline) and at the end of the school year (post intervention, 7 to 8 months later)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in inhibitory control
Time Frame: Beginning of the school year (baseline) and at the end of the school year (post intervention, 7 to 8 months later)
Inhibitory control assessed via the Flanker e Simon (Dots task) tests.
Beginning of the school year (baseline) and at the end of the school year (post intervention, 7 to 8 months later)
Change in working memory
Time Frame: Beginning of the school year (baseline) and at the end of the school year (post intervention, 7 to 8 months later)
Working memory assessed via the neuropsychological Automated Working Memory Assessment (AWMA).
Beginning of the school year (baseline) and at the end of the school year (post intervention, 7 to 8 months later)
Change in oral language skills
Time Frame: Beginning of the school year (baseline) and at the end of the school year (post intervention, 7 to 8 months later)
Expressive language assessed via the Child Language Test - ABFW.
Beginning of the school year (baseline) and at the end of the school year (post intervention, 7 to 8 months later)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Sao Paulo

Collaborators

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

February 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 10, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 16, 2016

First Posted (Estimate)

June 21, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 21, 2016

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 16, 2016

Last Verified

June 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2012/51.624-1

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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