Interventions
PATHOLOGY
Our research group created a Dutch version of GraphoGame (GraphoGame-NL), specifically for the present study. Within the existing computerised gaming framework of GraphoGame, which was developed at the University of Jyväskylä (Five female students of linguistics and speech-language pathology at the University of Groningen spoke the auditory stimuli. Native speakers of Dutch subsequently evaluated all items with respect to their prototypicality and only the most prototypical items were then included in the game, yielding one to four different spoken realisations per target. While there are some systematic differences in pronunciation between the Dutch spoken in the Netherlands and the northern part of Belgium (for phonetic distances between Dutch dialects, see A mathematics game specifically designed for this research was used as an active control condition. Its framework was identical to that of the reading game, featuring a range of similar reactive/interactive mini-games with varying graphics and task demands with the levels containing number/digit knowledge, counting, comparison of numbers and amounts, sorting of adjacent or nonadjacent numbers in ascending or descending order, as well as simple addition and subtraction. The range of numbers within the training goes from zero up to 20, thus mirroring the classroom content of the first half of first grade. Despite the reading and math interventions being based on the same gaming framework, there are inherent differences in cognitive load for these tasks. The math game generally features fewer distractors and shorter levels compared to the reading game, meaning that at identical exposure in terms of played sessions and hours, children playing the math game will see more levels, give more responses, but see fewer distractors on screen.A third group of children formed a passive control group by following the conventional classroom curriculum without any additional computerised training. Notably, this group did take part in the in-game assessment sessions which the active intervention groups played in their first and last gaming session of the intervention (see details on assessments below).The children in the two experimental groups played the respective games (reading or math) for 10 to 15 min every day during school hours, resulting in 5 to 10 min of effective task time. Children played individually on a computer or laptop wearing headphones. The supervision of the training sessions was carried out by the teachers and differed among schools depending on the numbers of computers, the curriculum, and other local circumstances. At some schools, all the children in a classroom played the respective games at the same time in a computer room, whereas children at other locations took turns using five to 10 computers during classes. To ensure that the children understood the tasks and enjoyed playing the games, at least once per week, the teachers and student assistants asked them about their progress and encouraged them to give the game another try when the content became more difficult.