IBAÑEZ ALFONSO, JOAQUÍN ALEJANDRO, Rodríguez-Prieto P. , ACCERENZI, MICHELA, SIMPSON, IAN CRAIG
No
Int. J. Educ. Res.
Article
Científica
1
1
01/01/2026
001838733000001
2-s2.0-105045895654
Introduction Guatemala is among the poorest countries in Latin America, with high levels of social inequality, poverty and extreme violence. This socioeconomic context poses a risk for cognitive and emotional development in children. In addition, the socioeconomic gap faced by its inhabitants increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article presents the results of the implementation of a neuropsychological stimulation program aimed at improving academic performance. Methodology A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a cognitive and emotional stimulation program focused on Attention, Language, Executive Functions, and Social Cognition, through a digital neurorehabilitation platform using tablets inside classrooms. Participants from 5th grade (n = 352, 45.5% females) were randomly divided into an experimental and control group. Pre- and post-intervention assessments were conducted, along with a follow-up assessment one year later with role reversal between the experimental and control groups. Results The program had a significant positive impact on the primary functional outcome: academic performance (GPA). Specifically, GPA significantly increased in two of the four participating schools during the main intervention (ß = 0.42 and 0.51, p ' .001). Follow-up assessments confirmed this protective effect, with one school showing a significant improvement in GPA after receiving the program (ß = 0.42, p ' .001). After applying strict statistical corrections for multiple comparisons, improvements in individual cognitive and emotional measures did not reach the threshold for significance and were treated as positive tendencies. Discussion These findings suggest that the intervention's success is driven by an aggregate effect, where sub-threshold improvements across multiple cognitive and emotional domains accumulate to produce a measurable boost in global academic performance. This RCT supports the use of this neurorehabilitation tool as an effective school-based "digital shield" to safeguard academic trajectories in high-vulnerability contexts, mitigating educational gaps in children following systemic disruptions. © 2026 Elsevier Ltd.
Child development; Cognitive stimulation; Emotional competence; Pediatric neuropsychology; Randomized controlled trial; Vulnerability