The effectiveness of a reading and cognitive task-based Web delivered intervention program for children with reading...

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Reading difficulties impact children's academic and cognitive development.
• Web-based interventions offer accessible solutions for learning disabilities.
• Greek language's transparency presents unique considerations for reading intervention.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the "Poke the Reading Ability" (PtRA) web application for improving reading ability and cognitive performance.
• To assess the impact of a targeted intervention on children with reading difficulties.
• To explore the utility of a digital tool in addressing specific linguistic challenges in reading acquisition.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 60 children (9-12 years old) with reading difficulties participated.
• Pre- and post-intervention assessments used standardized (Test-A) and novel (Askisi) psychometric and neuropsychological tools.
• The PtRA web intervention included tasks for working memory, phonological awareness, decoding, visual discrimination, and reading comprehension.

Main Results:

• Children demonstrated statistically significant improvements across all 9 reading ability measures.
• Cognitive performance showed significant gains in all 3 assessed cognitive abilities.
• The PtRA intervention was effective in enhancing both reading skills and cognitive functions.

Conclusions:

• The PtRA web application is an effective tool for remediating reading difficulties in children.
• Digital interventions can successfully target and improve core components of reading and cognition.
• The findings support the use of technology in educational psychology for learning support.