Can a classroom game help preschoolers learn to think flexibly?
NCT ID NCT07832344
First seen Sep 21, 2026 · Last updated Sep 21, 2026
Summary
Researchers are testing whether a school-based program called Unstuck and On Target for Early Childhood can help 4- and 5-year-olds with executive function deficits. Executive function covers skills like planning, staying flexible, and managing emotions. The program uses storybooks, music, and play across 16 short sessions led by preschool teachers, plus parent education. The trial compares children who receive the program with those who get their usual special education services, and it also checks whether teachers find the program practical and useful.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- Unstuck and On Target for Early Childhood, a school-based cognitive-behavioral program delivered by preschool teachers
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could give preschool teachers a practical way to help young children with executive function deficits build flexibility and self-control before they start kindergarten.
- What could go wrong
- The trial is small, with 90 children, and tests whether teachers can deliver the program as intended. Executive function skills change slowly in young children, so an 8-week window may be too short to show clear benefits.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 90 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
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Aug 2027
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
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Apr 2029
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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4 to 5 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Age 4-5 years at time of enrollment 2. Enrolled in a participating publicly funded preschool program and eligible for special education services through an Individualized Education Program (IEP), in a classroom placement that includes children who can communicate using verbal speech 3. Ability to speak in at least short sentences and answer simple questions about removed contexts (e.g., events that occurred earlier that day) in English 4. Identified by school staff as having executive function challenges, on basis of written description of sample behaviors and nomination to study participation by school staff/teachers 5. Intact or corrected-to-normal hearing and vision 6. The parents speak and read English or Spanish with sufficient fluency for completion of consent forms and informant questionnaires, as well as understanding family educational materials. Exclusion Criteria: 1. No longer enrolled at a participating school site 2. Insufficient English fluency or language skills to complete intervention 3. Sensory, neurological, developmental, or other impairment that would prevent the child from participating in the intervention and/or completing study measures
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.