Home-Based Parent-Child Intervention to Enhance Executive Function

Abstract
Koronis Biomedical Technologies (KBT) and its collaborators propose to develop and fully validate a low-cost,
developmentally appropriate, smartphone-based cognitive intervention for young children. The proposed
intervention seeks to address the needs of families with young children identified with deficits in Executive
Function (EF), a critical set of cognitive processes associated with self-control. Emerging assessment tools
provide science-based, normed cognitive assessments for children as young as two years old. Parents of
young children identified with cognitive deficits have an unmet need for an affordable cognitive development
intervention option. The proposed research seeks to address this need by building an in-home cognition
training system that provides parents with a modular series of short, easy-to-follow, collaborative cognitive
training activities they will share with their child. The system will employ a novel two-generational training
model that views parental involvement as a critical component of the intervention process. In this model, an
engaging, parent-facing smartphone application will deliver personalized daily training activities consisting of
both traditional hands-on activities, as well as collaborative, parent-directed, child-facing video games. Building
on a successful Phase I study showing promising validity and usability of the system, this approach supports
multiple pathways for learning and building strong personal relationships between parent and child, while
training the EF skills critical to success in goal-oriented pursuits.

Grant Number: 5R44MH121664-03
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Shane Anderson