Can Training Balance, or Enjoying Music, Improve Attention, Problem-solving and/or Behavior Control Abilities?

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA · Oct 28, 2022

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is looking to see if practicing balance exercises or enjoying music can help improve important skills in children, like attention, problem-solving, and controlling their behavior. Researchers believe that since both balance and these skills use similar areas of the brain, training in one might help the other. Children aged 8 to 12 years old will be randomly placed into one of three groups: those who train their balance, those who watch music videos, and those who receive no treatment. Each child will participate for 12 weeks, with short sessions three times a week and a weekly check-in with a researcher.

To be eligible for this study, children must be between 8 and 12 years old and fluent in English. However, some children may not qualify, such as those who are already very good at balance or executive functions, those taking certain medications, or those currently involved in other balance or executive function training. Throughout the trial, participants will be assessed at the beginning, right after the program ends, and again three months later to see if there are any improvements. This study offers a unique opportunity to explore how balance training might benefit children's cognitive skills while also keeping them active and engaged.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• • Inclusion Criteria
• • • Children between 8 to 12 years old.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • 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.