Randomised Controlled Trial of a Cognitive, Emotional and Social Stimulation Programme for Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Children.

There is evidence of a large gap in the cognitive development of children and adolescents in violent contexts and situations of socio-economic vulnerability. There are multiple reasons that affect the cognitive and emotional development of these children, who are at a disadvantage with respect to children of the same age who are not in the same situation or who enjoy better contextual situations. Poor nutrition, the type of stimulation provided by the environment, stressful situations and the constant subjection of the brain to states of alertness encourage the deficiencies found in their integral development. This neuropsychological stimulation programme specifically designed for children at risk of social exclusion aims to be an effective tool in strengthening some of the cognitive abilities with the greatest evidence of impairment, in this case, language (e.g., vocabulary, comprehension and expression), attention (especially the ability to sustain it voluntarily for prolonged periods of time: concentration), and executive functions (set of skills that allow us to voluntarily regulate our behaviour thanks to the inhibition of responses, planning, reasoning and flexible decision making adjusted to the demands of the environment).

In response to the results and observations of the studies carried out within the framework of project 0C138/2020 'MEJORA GUATE', this research proposes intervention objectives for the needs of the participating population, based on a more holistic strategy that integrates the child and their immediate environment. Considering that caregivers and teachers mediate cognitive, emotional, and social development, this project seeks to improve the impact on the different areas of the child's performance. To achieve the planned objectives, work will be carried out through three main axes of application: the neuropsychological stimulation axis, the neurodevelopment training axis, and the dissemination axis, which will in turn be divided into two phases.

The Neuropsychological Stimulation Axis: aims to improve and enhance the development of the cognitive and emotional skills of children from disadvantaged areas of Colombia through direct intervention with them through group activities carried out in their usual educational contexts. To this end, innovative neuropsychological tools from the clinical care of children with neurodevelopmental disorders will be applied to the cognitive and emotional stimulation of these children at risk of social exclusion.

The Training Axis: will build the knowledge base on neurodevelopment and brain function in learning, with the aim of promoting best practice in the implementation of teaching staff, as well as parenting practices and home support by carers. The training will be delivered in a dual format, face-to-face and online, following pedagogical processes with established didactic objectives, evaluation criteria and monitoring of the training received.

The Dissemination Axis: aims to disseminate the advances and results of the research, as well as the pedagogical content of the training, which will generate a greater social reach by promoting complementary channels through which the content on learning and its brain functioning can be shared with different social actors in a didactic and pedagogical way. In terms of resources, it is proposed to create a handbook of good practices to serve as a model for other educational communities, a website with didactic resources and asynchronous training processes, as well as fluid channels for sharing knowledge through social networks commonly used by these groups, such as WhatsApp or Instagram.