Dialogic Reading to Empower Executive Functions in Preschoolers

Costanza Ruffini; Silvia Spoglianti; Clara Bombonato; Silvia Bonetti; Maria Chiara Di Lieto; Chiara Pecini

doi:10.3390/children8050373

Dialogic Reading to Empower Executive Functions in Preschoolers

Children (Basel). 2021 May 9;8(5):373. doi: 10.3390/children8050373.

Authors

Costanza Ruffini¹, Silvia Spoglianti², Clara Bombonato³, Silvia Bonetti⁴, Maria Chiara Di Lieto⁵, Chiara Pecini¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literatures and Psychology (FORLIPSI), University of Florence, Via di San Salvi 12, 50135 Firenze, Italy.
² Paroleincerchio, Centro per l'Età Evolutiva, Via Leopardi 90, 40026 Imola, Italy.
³ Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health, Viale Pieraccini 6, 50139 Firenze, Italy.
⁴ Equipe Multiprofessionale Evolutiva, Via della Vetraia 7, 55049 Viareggio, Italy.
⁵ IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, Viale del Tirreno 341, 56128 Calambrone, Italy.

Abstract

Among the interventions recently developed to enhance Executive Functions (EFs) in preschoolers, Quincey Quokka's Quest (QQQ) is an illustrated book proposing EF activities embedded within a shared reading framework (Howard et al., 2017). In the present study, the Italian version of QQQ (QQQ_IT) was tested in 20 typical developing 4-5 year old children. Standardized tests were used to assess EFs pre- and post- intervention. QQQ_IT was conducted once a week for 8 weeks in small groups. A positive trend was registered in QQQ_IT performances from the first to the last sessions and a significant improvement, in comparison to the control condition, was obtained in the Color and Form Game test. These results, supporting the feasibility of the QQQ_IT intervention and its efficacy in increasing shifting abilities, confirm the usefulness of ecological interventions to empower specific EF components in preschool contexts.

Keywords: dialogic reading; executive functions; intervention; preschool; shifting.