Captain's Log: Effectiveness of computerized cognitive training on ADHD symptoms

Purpose. The investigation's purpose was to evaluate the Captain's Log program's effectiveness in reducing children's ADHD symptoms. Captain's Log is a computerized cognitive training program. Children who have been diagnosed with ADHD frequently experience difficulty maintaining their attention and focus. The use of psychostimulant medication often reduces the hyperactivity symptoms of ADHD, but may or may not be effective in increasing the child's attention or focusing abilities. This study is designed to evaluate a specific treatment modality's ability to improve children diagnosed with ADHD's focus and attention, regardless of psychostimulant medication use.;Methods. Fifty-nine children from age five to age 11 were given the opportunity to participate. Following parental consent, parents completed a BASC Monitor for ADHD screener (Parent Form), the child's teacher or after-school counselor completed the BASC Monitor for ADHD screener (Teacher Form), and the child completed an IVA-CPT to establish a base level. Older children (eight years of age and older) also completed a BASC-2 self-report form. The participating children were randomly divided into a control group and an experimental group. The experimental group spent about 20 minutes utilizing the Captain's Log program on a laptop computer. The control group played educational computer games that focused on spelling, math, and reading skills. The children were seen once a week for up to eleven weeks. After the training period, the parents and teachers/counselors completed a second BASC Monitor and the children were reevaluated using the IVA-CPT and BASC-2 Self Report forms.;Results. The first hypothesis was that the use of the Captain's Log training program would significantly improve CPT scores and parent/teacher reports of behaviors for children who were previously diagnosed with ADHD or met the research criteria. Because of the small sample size, limited number of diagnosed participants completing the second set of measures, and the number of control group participants who left the program, I was unable to analyze this hypothesis. The third hypothesis was that participants who met the criteria for ADHD, were currently on medication, and completed the computerized cognitive training would show significant improvement on their CPT assessment and parent/teacher reports of behaviors. Unfortunately, the limited number of medicated participants prevented analysis. The second hypothesis was that those children who were diagnosed with ADHD or met the research criteria for ADHD and received the Captain's Log training program would demonstrate more improvement on their IVA-CPT scores and parent/teacher reports of behavior than children without ADHD diagnosis. The second hypothesis was evaluated using a series of ANCOVA procedures. Few significant results were found, none of which confirmed the hypothesis. Finally, few significant results regarding demographic information were found. These insignificant results are believed to be because of the limited sample size and insufficient exposure to the computerized cognitive training program. Several problems throughout the data collection process also may have hampered results.;KEY WORDS: ADHD, Computerized Cognitive Training, Captain's Log, Continuous Performance Tests.