Enhancing the Cognitive and Motor Abilities of very Young Children: A Pilot Study of the Efficacy of the PlayWisely Approach

Abstract

PlayWisely is a novel approach to early learning designed to target the positive development of a wide range of cognitive and physical/motor abilities by stimulating the rapidly developing brain of very young children (from 4 months to 3 years of age). The current pilot study represents a first step toward providing an evidence base for the efficacy of this approach by conducting a small‐sample (N = 17) randomized controlled comparison of the cognitive and motor abilities of a group of children who were administered 16 weeks of PlayWisely training with a wait‐list group of children who were administered this training 5 months later. Results showed a marginally significant 20% greater differential increase in the overall total cognitive scale scores over the 10‐month study period coupled with significant differential increases in both fine motor and visual motor subscale scores and a marginally significant differential increase in the speed of processing subscale scores (as measured by the Merrill‐Palmer‐Revised Scales of Development).