Feasibility of a parent-delivered attention and working memory intervention for early school-aged children born preterm

Bray, S.; Tao, T.; Kaur, S.; Singh, M.; Ip, A.; Yin, S.; Merrikh, D.; Heo, S.; Ryan, E.; Guo, S.; Hendson, L.; Dewey, D.; Macoun, S.

doi:10.1101/2025.10.10.680956

bioRxiv · 10.1101/2025.10.10.680956

Feasibility of a parent-delivered attention and working memory intervention for early school-aged children born preterm

Bray, S.·Tao, T.·Kaur, S.·Singh, M.·Ip, A.·Yin, S.·Merrikh, D.·Heo, S.·Ryan, E.·Guo, S.·Hendson, L.·Dewey, D.·Macoun, S.

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Abstract

Preterm birth is a common neurodevelopmental condition that can have lasting impacts on cognition, including attention and working memory. Interventions that strengthen these skills in early childhood could support school readiness. Dino Island is a tablet-based intervention that combines process-specific practice of attention and working memory skills with a compensatory component that teaches metacognitive skills to scaffold learning. In this pilot study, we evaluated the feasibility of parent-delivered Dino Island in young children born preterm (N=10), alongside a control group who played educational games (N=12). Both groups were instructed to play 2-3 times per week for approximately 20 minutes over a 12-week period. Attention and working memory on untrained tasks were assessed before and after completing the intervention. Parents provided fidelity data through tracking sheets and participated in exit interviews to offer feedback and identify barriers and facilitators. We found that the Dino Island program was successfully delivered by parents with high fidelity. Attrition was higher in the Dino Island group, likely reflecting the challenges of delivering cognitive remediation in home settings. Comparison of attention and working memory scores on untrained tasks pre- and post-showed practice effects but no specific benefit of Dino Island. However, parent reports suggested behavioral improvements specific to the Dino Island group, noting far-transfer effects where children applied metacognitive strategies in other contexts. Overall, this work shows feasibility and tolerability of Dino Island in young children born preterm. Future research should examine its potential impact on school readiness and longer-term academic outcomes in this population.

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Bray, S., Tao, T., Kaur, S., Singh, M., Ip, A., Yin, S., Merrikh, D., Heo, S., Ryan, E., Guo, S., Hendson, L., Dewey, D., Macoun, S.. 2025-10-13. Feasibility of a parent-delivered attention and working memory intervention for early school-aged children born preterm. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.10.680956

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