Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is the leading cause of preventable developmental disability in children, referring to a broad spectrum of physical, cognitive, behavioural, and psychosocial symptoms associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. Attention and executive function (A/EF) impairments are among the most pervasive and debilitating cognitive deficits in FASD, which contribute to short and long-term struggles with mental health, academic difficulties, and maladaptive behaviour. Despite this, there are limited interventions available for this population, and those that are available are often inaccessible due to availability and cost. In the current study, we propose to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a novel game-based A/EF intervention, ;Dino Island, in children with FASD as delivered by education assistants in school settings. We will recruit 40 children between the ages of 5-13 years with diagnosed or suspected FASD and 40 Educational Assistants (EAs) through our school partners in British Columbia. Children will be randomly assigned to either the DI or an active control condition. Children will complete 14 hours of intervention delivered by trained EAs. Pre/post neuropsychological testing will be conducted and will include standardized measures of A/EF, academic fluency, and behaviour. A portable EEG device (Neurocatch) will also be used to collect event related potential data focused on the P300 wave, which provides a measure of attention that is sensitive to functional cognitive brain changes induced by cognitive intervention. Qualitative data on feasibility will be collected and analyzed through exit interviews to identify trends. Findings from this study will expand on a growing literature on accessible cognitive intervention tools.