Can Training Balance, or Enjoying Music, Improve Attention, Problem-solving and/or Behavior Control Abilities?
Can Training Balance, or Enjoying Music, Improve Executive Functions of Children?
University of British Columbia
108 participants
Jan 25, 2023
INTERVENTIONAL
Conditions
Summary
This randomized controlled trial will investigate the hypothesis that since balance and executive functions (EFs) require a similar neural circuit and EFs are recruited when trying to maintain balance, that training balance might improve EFs as well as balance. There will be an active control condition (watching music videos) and a no-treatment condition. Children (18-12 years old) will be randomly assigned to one of these conditions for 12 weeks (36 per condition). The balance and music conditions will involve 15-min sessions 3x/week and a weekly check-in session with an investigator. Participants will be assessed pre-intervention, immediately post and 3-months post.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria1
- Children between 8 to 12 years old.
Exclusion Criteria9
- Children not fluent in English
- Children with performance over the 85th percentile at screening assessment of postural balance or EFs that it leaves little room for them to improve further.
- Children taking any medication that might affect cognition (e.g., psychostimulants)
- Children undergoing EF training, which might affect their performance on EF tests.
- Children undergoing other targeted training to improve their balance (e.g., dance, yoga, tai chi, martial arts), which might affect their performance on balance tests.
- Children with severe anxiety who might find the balance training anxiety-provoking.
- Children unable to perform simple balance exercises because of a physical handicap, disability, or musculoskeletal injury.
- Children with significant hearing loss or visual impairment even with correction.
- Neither the child's parent/guardian nor other responsible person strong enough to catch the child should he or she start to fall would be available to spot the child during the weekly session in case the child is assigned to the BT intervention.
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Interventions
The BT program has multiple difficulty levels, and each child will progress at an individual pace tailored to their balance skills. Training sessions will emphasize top-down control of balance and contain a combination of dynamic and static balance exercises. Children and their parents will receive written step-by-step instructions, with photos, verbal and/or video instructions on their private OneDrive folder. To monitor compliance, whether the exercises were done properly, and evaluate a child's progress, the parent/guardian will film the sessions, and upload the video to OneDrive, so we can score the child's performance and provide them with a progress tracking chart. Every child will be given the equipment needed to do the balance exercises: two wooden beams that will make a 12-foot balance beam, four small wooden cubes that will raise the balance beam 5 inches off the ground, a wobble board, a hopscotch mat, one roll of painter's tape, one measuring tape, a bell, a small book.
Children assigned to MT will be asked what kind of music and what performers they like best, and what songs they like most. After those open-ended questions, they will be asked about specific songs, guided somewhat by the child's previous answers, and will watch short excerpts from music videos to see which the child would like to listen to and watch during Week 1 of the MT program. This is all to guide the selection of music videos the child will enjoy and might give some thought to. They will receive 10 music videos per week, through the child's private OneDrive folder, from which they can choose 4 to watch every session. Children will be instructed to not do anything else, but simply watch the videos or listen with their eyes closed. To monitor compliance, and to check if the child was paying attention to the music videos or just having them play in the background while doing something else, the parent/guardian will film the MT sessions, and upload the video to OneDrive.
Locations(1)
View Full Details on ClinicalTrials.gov
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NCT05602857