Centre for Educational and Psychological Services
Computerised Intervention Programme(CIP)
When cognitive difficulties are noticed an assumption is made on the probable brain regions that are involved in these deficits. Stimulating these regions through activities is thought to bring about better functioning within these regions of the brain. This is referred to as brain/neuronal plasticity.
The basic premise of the Computerized intervention programme: When the brain is performing activities that are demanding it is said to be stimulated. The brain regions are hypothesised to respond to this stimulation thereby forming a circuit. The nature of the activity will determine which regions are stimulated. In other words specific regions could possibly be targeted using specific tasks presented in the form of activities.Repeated presentation of the same activity at increasing levels of difficulty is said to strengthen the connections in the brain performing those functions therefore increasing the functioning to an optimal level. Existing literature in children with developmental delays such as learning disorders and ADHD indicates presence of difficulties in a specific set of cognitive abilities. These include attention, executive functions (which is a set of verbal fluency, working memory, mental flexibility, interference control, inhibition control and planning and organization) and verbal and visual memory. In addition visuo-motor co-ordination, processing sounds and problem solving abilities are also known to be impaired in some children. The computerised programme consists of a set of activities that are known to improve several of these functions. The intervention programme is associated with improvements in phonological awareness, reading, spelling, writing and calculation abilities along with these cognitive abilities. The uniqueness of this programme is:
- Child friendly game based approach
- Wide range of cognitive abilities
- Multiple levels of difficulty
- Suitable for children as young as 5 years
- Feedback after each session
- A Mentor to encourage through difficult junctions
- People without learning difficulties will also benefit
