Dr. Inbar Lucia Trinczer

Attention Lab, the Constantiner School of Education and the Sagol School of Neuroscience

Attentive Kindergarten: An intervention program enhancing learning and social-emotional skills among preschoolers

Project description

The project is a program we developed based upon neurocognitive training principles, that involves the training of attention and cognitive control. It is a pioneering non-computerized game-like neurocognitive training program for preschoolers, planned to be implemented within the preschool routine and environment, aiming at enhancing pre-academic learning as well as self-regulation. It is hypothesized that the intervention will contribute to the consolidation of cognitive mechanisms and will improve teachers' ability to map and identify various difficulties in the early stages of development.

The program’s objectives are to enhance various cognitive mechanisms as well as children's self-regulation. Our pilot studies provided encouraging results: children with various difficulties improved their ability to stay focused and to inhibit responses to irrelevant stimuli. Moreover, teachers reported that the program enabled them to better understand children’s needs and consequently to provide them adjusted opportunities for learning, including tailor-made instructions and feedback.

By expanding this project and by assessing its impact we will provide kindergarten’s teachers evidence-based set of activities that will allow young children, with various difficulties, to experience meaningful learning, and to benefit from proper opportunities to fulfill their potential.

About me

I hold a B.A.O.T. (Occupational Therapy) from he University of Haifa and The Technicon’s School of Medicine, and M.A in learning disabilities from Tel-Aviv University. In June 2020 I submitted my PhD dissertation, in which I investigated the independent contribution of two computer-based neurocognitive training programs to academic, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes in the case of schoolchildren with ADHD, while attempting to address the most crucial critics in this research field.

In addition to my research, I teach in the M.A. program of preschool education at Talpiyot Teachers College. In my annual seminar (‘Cognitive and social factors in preschool children: Assessment and training’) all students will study the theory and practice behind the ‘Attentive Kindergarten’ program.