Child Cognitive Stimulation Programs: Various Modalities of Intervention in Socially Vulnerable Contexts

Abstract

The past two decades have seen increasing interest in the design and implementation of intervention programs aimed at stimulating cognitivecontrol capacities in children growing up in disadvantaged socioeconomicconditions, based on numerous studies that have reported a negative impact of poverty on child development. This chapter reviews the scope, limitations, and methodological challenges of the various modalities of intervention aimed at strengthening such capacities in children at social risk: cognitive training, computerized games, curriculum adaptations, and parent and teacher training. In addition, it presents two cognitive stimulation programs that were adapted to the school curriculum and whose goal was to promote executive functions (EFs) in Argentine children, with a view to improving their school competence. One of the interventions had a brief duration (15 sessions) and was carried out with 90 schoolchildren aged 9?12. The other one was longer (30 sessions) and involved 178 children aged 6?10. The results indicated that both experiences were effective in increasing EF in schoolchildren, with an associated improvement oftheir reading, writing, and calculating competences. However, the improvement varied in intensity and scope depending on the duration of the intervention and the age of the children. It is concluded that implementing ecological interventions that enrich the everyday practices of children at social risk is a way to narrow the persisting academic, economic, and socio-cultural gap associated with poverty conditions.