SBIR-STTR Award

Koronis Biomedical Technologies (KBT) and its' collaborators propose to develop and fully validate a low-cost, developmentally appropriate, smartphone-based cognitive intervention for young children. The proposed intervention seeks to address the needs of families with young children identified with deficits in executive function (EF), a critical cognitive process associated with self-control. Emerging assessment tools provide a science-based, normed cognitive assessment for children as young as two years old. Parents of these young children, identified with cognitive deficits, have an unmet need for affordable cognitive intervention option. This research seeks to fill this need by developing an in-home cognitive training system which provides parents with a modular series of short, easy-to-follow, collaborative cognitive training activities they will share with their child. The system will employ a novel two-generational training model that views parental involvement as a critical component of the intervention process. In this model, an engaging, parent-facing smartphone application will deliver personalized daily training activities consisting of both traditional hands-on activities as well as collaborative parent controlled, child-facing video games. This approach supports multiple pathways for learning and the building of strong personal relationships between parent and child.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
Narrative There is a great need for science-based cognitive behavioral intervention for young children with executive function deficits. Executive function is a classification for a broad range of neurocognitive processes involved in goal-directed problem solving and self-control, and there is widespread recognition that children's developing executive function skills provide an important foundation for learning and school success. Advances in the design and delivery modality for executive function interventions is an important public health goal.

Project Terms:
youngster; childrens'; children; Children (0-21); Child Youth; 0-11 years old; Child; Infant and Child Development; Child Development; child developmental psychology; Pediatric Psychology; Child Psychology; Systematics; Classification; cognitive behavioral treatment; cognitive behavioral therapy; cognitive behavioral modification; cognitive behavioral intervention; cognitive behavior therapy; cognitive behavior modification; cognitive behavior intervention; Cognitive Psychotherapy; Cognition Therapy; Cognitive Therapy; Communities; Disorder; Disease; Engineering; Exercise; Family; Foundations; Goals; Modern Man; Human; Institutes; Learning; Literature; Medical Device; working memory; Shortterm Memory; Immediate Memory; Short-Term Memory; Minnesota; Neurosciences; Parents; Problem Solving; Production; Public Health; Research; Researchers; Investigators; Research Personnel; Schools; school of medicine; medical college; medical schools; Science; Software; Computer software; Computer Software Tools; Software Tools; Tablets; training module; Training Activity; training transfer; learning transfer; Psychological Transfer; Universities; Video Games; Work; Generations; base; Clinical; Phase; Series; Training; Psyche structure; mental; Individual; Research Project Grants; Research Projects; Research Grants; R01 Program; R01 Mechanism; R-Series Research Projects; scaffold; scaffolding; Mechanics; mechanical; Scientist; Home environment; Home; Clinic; System; Neurocognitive; Services; skills training; experience; success; professor; neurodevelopment; Neural Development; skills; Cognitive deficits; cognitive defects; novel; validation studies; Self-control as a personality trait; self control; Modality; Biomedical Technology; Modeling; Intervention; interventional strategy; Intervention Strategies; executive function; executive control; Cellular Phone; smartphone; smart phone; iPhone; Cellular Telephone; Cell Phone; Address; autism spectrum disorder; autistic spectrum disorder; Kanner's Syndrome; Infantile Autism; Early Infantile Autism; Autistic Disorder; Autism; Doctor of Philosophy; PhD; Ph.D.; International; Randomized; randomly assigned; randomization; randomisation; Cognitive; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; Small Business Innovation Research; SBIR; Principal Investigator; Process; Development; developmental; Behavioral; Pathway interactions; pathway; cognitive training; cost; design; designing; human study; 2 year old; two years of age; two year old; aged two years; aged 2 years; age 2 years; 2 years of age; parental involvement; multidisciplinary; usability; prototype; flexibility; flexible; Regimen; Executive Dysfunction; Executive Impairment; Executive Function Deficit; cognitive testing; cognitive assessment; cognitive process; Assessment tool; Assessment instrument; smartphone Application; iPhone Application; iPhone App; iOS application; iOS app; Smartphone App; Smart Phone Application; Smart Phone App; Cellular Phone Application; Cellular Phone App; Cell phone App; Cell Phone Application; Android Application; Android App; phase 1 testing; phase I testing; phase I evaluation; phase 1 evaluation; health goals

Koronis Biomedical Technologies (KBT) and its collaborators propose to develop and fully validate a low-cost, developmentally appropriate, smartphone-based cognitive intervention for young children. The proposed intervention seeks to address the needs of families with young children identified with deficits in Executive Function (EF), a critical set of cognitive processes associated with self-control. Emerging assessment tools provide science-based, normed cognitive assessments for children as young as two years old. Parents of young children identified with cognitive deficits have an unmet need for an affordable cognitive development intervention option. The proposed research seeks to address this need by building an in-home cognition training system that provides parents with a modular series of short, easy-to-follow, collaborative cognitive training activities they will share with their child. The system will employ a novel two-generational training model that views parental involvement as a critical component of the intervention process. In this model, an engaging, parent-facing smartphone application will deliver personalized daily training activities consisting of both traditional hands-on activities, as well as collaborative, parent-directed, child-facing video games. Building on a successful Phase I study showing promising validity and usability of the system, this approach supports multiple pathways for learning and building strong personal relationships between parent and child, while training the EF skills critical to success in goal-oriented pursuits.

Public Health Relevance Statement:
Narrative There is a great need for a science-based cognitive behavioral intervention for young children with executive function deficits. Executive function is a classification for a broad range of neurocognitive processes involved in goal-directed problem solving and self-control. There is widespread recognition that developing children's executive function skills provides an important foundation for learning and school success. Advances in the design and delivery modality for executive function interventions is an important public health goal.

Project Terms:
Child; 0-11 years old; Child Youth; Children (0-21); youngster; Child Development; Infant and Child Development; Child Psychology; Pediatric Psychology; child developmental psychology; Child Rearing; Parenting; Parenting behavior; childrearing; Classification; Systematics; Cognition; Cognitive Therapy; Cognition Therapy; Cognitive Psychotherapy; cognitive behavior intervention; cognitive behavior modification; cognitive behavior therapy; cognitive behavioral intervention; cognitive behavioral modification; cognitive behavioral therapy; cognitive behavioral treatment; Consultations; Disease; Disorder; Engineering; Exercise; Family; Foundations; Goals; Hospitals; Human; Modern Man; Institutes; Lead; Pb element; heavy metal Pb; heavy metal lead; Learning; Literature; Medical Device; Short-Term Memory; Immediate Memory; Shortterm Memory; working memory; Minnesota; Neurosciences; Parents; Play; Problem Solving; Production; Public Health; Research; Investigators; Researchers; Research Personnel; social role; Role; Schools; medical college; school of medicine; medical schools; Science; Software; Computer software; Computer Software Tools; software toolkit; Software Tools; Tablets; Testing; Training Activity; training module; Psychological Transfer; learning transfer; training transfer; Universities; Video Games; videogame; Work; Generations; Administrator; Specialist; Caring; base; Site; Clinical; Phase; Series; Training; mental; Psyche structure; Individual; pediatrician; R-Series Research Projects; R01 Mechanism; R01 Program; Research Grants; Research Projects; Research Project Grants; Collaborations; Letters; scaffolding; scaffold; mechanical; Mechanics; Scientist; Clinic; System; 3-D; 3D; three dimensional; 3-Dimensional; Neurocognitive; Consult; skills training; experience; success; professor; Neural Development; neurodevelopment; skills; cognitive defects; Cognitive deficits; novel; validation studies; self control; Self-control as a personality trait; Modality; Biomedical Technology; Modeling; Intervention Strategies; interventional strategy; Intervention; executive function; executive control; Apple; Malus domestica; Cell Phone; Cellular Telephone; iPhone; smart phone; smartphone; Cellular Phone; Address; Autism; Autistic Disorder; Early Infantile Autism; Infantile Autism; Kanner's Syndrome; autistic spectrum disorder; autism spectrum disorder; Ph.D.; PhD; Doctor of Philosophy; International; randomisation; randomization; randomly assigned; Randomized; Cognitive; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; SBIR; Small Business Innovation Research; Process; Development; developmental; Behavioral; Pathway interactions; pathway; cognitive training; cost; design; designing; 2 year old; 2 years of age; age 2 years; aged 2 years; aged two years; two year old; two years of age; parental involvement; multidisciplinary; usability; therapy development; develop therapy; intervention development; treatment development; prototype; flexibility; flexible; phase 1 study; Phase I Study; Regimen; Executive Dysfunction; Executive Function Deficit; Executive Impairment; cognitive testing; cognitive assessment; cognitive process; cognitive development; Assessment tool; Assessment instrument; web portal; internet portal; on-line portal; online portal; web-based portal; smartphone Application; Android App; Android Application; Cell Phone Application; Cell phone App; Cellular Phone App; Cellular Phone Application; Smart Phone App; Smart Phone Application; Smartphone App; iOS app; iOS application; iPhone App; iPhone Application; health goals; Home