Clinical Trial: Pilot Study of the Feasibility and Efficacy of Working Memory Training in Children With Cochlear Implants

Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Unknown status
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: Pilot Study of the Feasibility and Efficacy of Working Memory Training in Children With Cochlear Implants

Brief Summary: This study is an investigation of the effect of a computer-based working memory training program on memory and language processing in at-risk children (e.g., those with working memory weaknesses) who have received cochlear implants.

Detailed Summary:

The long-term goal of this research program is to improve speech-language outcomes in prelingually deaf children who receive CIs. The objective of this proposal is to investigate the short-term effects of a novel working memory training program on memory, learning, and speech-language outcomes in children with CIs. The specific hypothesis of this project is that completion of a behaviorally-based training program designed to increase working memory capacity will improve attention, working memory span, and working memory-related speech-language processing in a group of deaf children with CIs. This hypothesis is based on past research demonstrating the efficacy of working memory training programs in improving attention and working memory in children with attention deficits, as well as on past research showing an association between working memory and speech-language outcomes in children with CIs. Knowledge about the effects of working memory training on CI speech-language outcomes will provide a better understanding of the process by which children with CIs learn speech-language following implantation and may offer an entirely new avenue of intervention to improve speech-language outcomes, particularly in deaf children who show limited improvement following implantation.

The specific aims of this study are:

  1. Specific Aim 1: Determine the feasibility and application of a novel, computer-based working memory training program when applied to children with CIs. We hypothesize that children with CIs will show a progression of learning in both auditory and visual working memory during the training program that will mirror that of normal-hearing children.
  2. Specific Aim 2: Determine the effect of the working memory training program on core attention, concentration, and
    Sponsor: Indiana University

    Current Primary Outcome:

    • Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). [ Time Frame: all visits ]
    • Spatial Span [ Time Frame: all visits ]
    • Digit Span [ Time Frame: all visits ]


    Original Primary Outcome: Same as current

    Current Secondary Outcome:

    Original Secondary Outcome:

    • Learning, Executive, and Attentional Functioning Scale (LEAF). [ Time Frame: all visits ]
    • CHAOS Scale [ Time Frame: all visits ]
    • Symbol Search [ Time Frame: all visits ]
    • Symbol Coding [ Time Frame: visits 2 & 3 ]
    • Stroop Color and Word Test [ Time Frame: all visits ]
    • NEPSY-II Repetition of Nonsense Words (RNW) [ Time Frame: visits 2 & 3 ]
    • Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability- Speeded Object Naming [ Time Frame: all visits ]
    • NEPSY-II battery (Sentence Repetition) and one from the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning - 2 battery (Sentence Memory)-- Sentence Memory [ Time Frame: NEPSY- Visits 1 & 4; WRAML- Visits 2 & 3 ]


    Information By: Indiana University

    Dates:
    Date Received: September 26, 2008
    Date Started: August 2008
    Date Completion: August 2012
    Last Updated: May 2, 2012
    Last Verified: April 2012