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Improving cognitive ability and school achievement by computer based training of executive functions, the BASTA-projekt

Karin Dahlin and Mats Myrberg

Stockholm Institute of Education karin.dahlin@lhs.se

Abstract

The BASTA-project is a multidisciplinary intervention study aimed at improving cognitive ability, school performance and social functioning in children with ADHD. Children with attention deficits have problems in managing the school curriculum; they disturb their environment and have problems in their relations to peers, teachers and family. Some of them have ADHD. These kinds of problems have lately increased, possibly due to changes in the society and in schools. Currently, the treatment of ADHD is with stimulants. However, recently alternative ways to help these children have been proposed. In a newly published study (Klingberg, Forssberg and Westerberg, 2002) it has been shown that children with ADHD can improve their attention and working memory by systematic and adaptive computerized training thus enhancing their problem solving ability and decreasing their hyperactivity. The current project is aimed at further evaluating this method for children with attention deficits and reading and writing disabilities, in five outcomes dimensions: 1 brain activity, 2. cognitive abilities, 3. ADHD symptoms, 4. academic achievement, 5. social and educational settings. If the outcome of this study is favourable, the method could soon be used in Swedish schools.

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