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.

KEYWORDS:

• ASD
• cognitive remediation
• FASD
• metacognitive strategies
• process specific intervention

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the BC School Districts #63 (Saanich) and #85 (Port Hardy), and, particularly, the EAs and special education support staff within the schools whose time and dedication made the research possible. The authors also acknowledge the support of Rachel Jalbert and John Sheehan in their testing and data management roles in this study.