Play and Pre-Literacy Among Young Children

NCT ID: NCT02432443

Last Updated: 2017-03-22

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 53 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2015-06-30
• Study Completion Date: 2016-08-31

Brief Summary

Children begin to develop fundamental motor skills (FMS), such as running and kicking, and pre-literacy skills, such as rhyming, during early childhood. These skills are very important as they lay the foundation for more complex movements and literacy skill development later in life, support overall healthy development in several areas, and help contribute to the child's readiness for school. A child with strong motor skills is well equipped to lead a life with healthy levels of physical activity, positive social interactions, positive self-perceptions, and greater cognitive and language abilities. These skills will not develop optimally on their own so it is essential to teach, challenge, and reinforce them at an early age; often this learning takes place at home prior to entering school. Most research on this topic has primarily focused on school-aged children or children with specific developmental challenges and less is known about teaching motor and pre-literacy skills to young children and giving parents the tools to practice these skills at home with their children. The aim of the present study is to examine the effect of a motor and pre-literacy program, which emphasizes parental involvement, on motor, pre-literacy, social skills, cognitive abilities, and self-competence in 3 to 4 year old children with typical development.

Detailed Description

The primary purpose of the intervention is to support the overall healthy development of children. Children will be recruited from families attending community agencies (e.g. Ontario Early Years Centres) in Hamilton. Interested parents will receive information flyers with the study team's contact information and instructions to contact the study team if they are interested in participating in the study. Interested parents will be screened for eligibility of their child. Information packages will be emailed or mailed to eligible families and will be followed-up with over the telephone in one week to obtain informed verbal consent. Baseline appointments will be booked for all eligible children. Informed written consent will be obtained at the baseline appointment before testing begins. Children will be randomized 1:1 to either the experimental or wait-list control group. Randomization will be completed using a computer algorithm. All children will be assessed pre- and post-program as well as at follow-up, 5 weeks after the completion of the program. Children in the wait-list control group will be assessed one additional time at baseline. The program will run for one hour per week for 10 consecutive weeks. Parents will be asked to complete a checklist each week indicating the number of times they practiced the activities at home. A sample size of 36 children is considered sufficient to provide 80% power to detect a medium effect size, with an alpha of 0.05. Eighteen children will be randomized to the experimental group and 18 children will be randomized to the wait-list control group.

Conditions

Child Development

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NON_RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Motor and pre-literacy program

First group to receive the motor and pre-literacy program.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Motor and pre-literacy program

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The program will run for 60 minutes once per week for 10 consecutive weeks and will consist of three components: direct FMS instruction, unstructured exploratory free-play, and an interactive storybook reading activity. The curriculum and teaching strategies to be used for the first two segments of our intervention have been successfully implemented in previous research to improve the motor skills of 4 year old children with autism (Bremer, Balogh, \& Lloyd, 2014). Specific strategies and books were selected from an existing evidence-based curriculum (Justice \& McGuinty, 2009). There will be active involvement of at least one parent in the direct instruction and reading components.

Wait-list comparison

Second group to receive the motor and pre-literacy program after the experimental arm has completed the program.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Wait-list Comparison

Intervention Type: OTHER

The participants will not participate in the motor and pre-literacy program for 10 weeks after enrollment and will continue with their normal daily life without any intervention. After the experimental arm completes the motor and pre-literacy program, the wait-list group will receive the exact same motor and pre-literacy intervention.

Interventions

Motor and pre-literacy program

The program will run for 60 minutes once per week for 10 consecutive weeks and will consist of three components: direct FMS instruction, unstructured exploratory free-play, and an interactive storybook reading activity. The curriculum and teaching strategies to be used for the first two segments of our intervention have been successfully implemented in previous research to improve the motor skills of 4 year old children with autism (Bremer, Balogh, \& Lloyd, 2014). Specific strategies and books were selected from an existing evidence-based curriculum (Justice \& McGuinty, 2009). There will be active involvement of at least one parent in the direct instruction and reading components.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Wait-list Comparison

The participants will not participate in the motor and pre-literacy program for 10 weeks after enrollment and will continue with their normal daily life without any intervention. After the experimental arm completes the motor and pre-literacy program, the wait-list group will receive the exact same motor and pre-literacy intervention.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• typical development

Exclusion Criteria

• diagnosed with any developmental delay (e.g., autism, Developmental Coordination Disorder, etc.) or health conditions that may prohibit safe participation in the program (e.g., unstable heart condition).

• Minimum Eligible Age: 36 Months
• Maximum Eligible Age: 59 Months
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

McMaster University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

John Cairney

Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

John Cairney, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

McMaster University

Locations

Boys and Girls Club of Hamilton

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

McMaster Innovation Park

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Countries

Canada

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Other Identifiers

INCH-0415

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id