Clinical Research Directory

The treatment group received Prefrontal Synthesis (PFS)-training activities emphasizing mental-juxtaposition-of-objects organized into the gamified application MITA. MITA includes both verbal and nonverbal exercises aiming to develop voluntary imagination ability in general and PFS ability in particular. MITA verbal activities use higher forms of language, such as noun-adjective combinations, spatial prepositions, recursion, and syntax to train PFS: e.g., a child can be instructed to "put the large red dog behind the orange chair" or "identify the wet animal after the lion was showered by the monkey;" or "take animals home following an explanation that the lion lives above the monkey and under the cow". In every activity a child listens to a short story and then works within immersive interface to generate an answer. Correct answers are rewarded with pre-recorded encouragement.

The active-control group received the same standard clinic-based early intervention but, during the tablet-computer-based therapy unit, used non-MITA applications targeting memory and executive functions (e.g., matching colors and shapes, logical sequences, same/different discrimination, sound discrimination, imitation and musicalization, early literacy and graphomotor skills, animal-sound matching, quantity-number association, comparison, counting, and introductory fractions).