Teach Effectively!

I recently came across “Play Attention,” a patented bio-feedback system designed to develop individuals’ control of their own brain waves and, thereby, help them develop the ability to attend (focus, concentrate). I have a vague recollection of seeing a discussion of it 10-15 years ago, but I hadn’t pursued it carefully. A few weeks agoI spent a bit of time investigating it.

Readers familiar with my bias will anticipate my first questions: Does it work? How do we know whether it’s effective? Some preliminary evidence is good, but where’s the proverbial beef?

The Web site for the product offers limited evidence of effectiveness. It does not provide links to others’ research nor does it list references to research studies. It provides five testimonials and two studies. The testimonials are called “peer reviews” and are composed of answers by teachers to survey questions. The first study is labeled “educational research” and is a report about improvements (pretest-posttest) in Connors Continuous Performance Test scores of seven children in an elementary. The second study is “scientific research” and reports the results of two case studies conducted by a clinical psychologist in which boys’ scores on the Integrated Visual & Auditory Continuous Performance Test improved as well as parent ratings of performance (all pretest-posttest).

The Internet is littered with references to Play Attention, but they don’t provide evidence of effectiveness. ADD and Sensory Integration sites feature it. Clinical psychologists tout it. Technology stores sell it. Newspapers and magazines review it uncritically. Drat! Where’s the evidence?

There are a couple of supportive treatments. Tamara Ashton wrote a column about it for Journal of Special Education Technology in 2001 (“Improving Attention, Reducing Behavior Problems, and Bolstering Self-Esteem: The Many Benefits of Play Attention,” 16.2). She covered the evidence I described in the previous paragraph as well as an article by J. A. Siglan Intervention in School and Clinic (2000, “Play Attention: Focusing on success,” 36.2, 122-124). I don’t find the evidence as compelling as these titles suggest Ashton and Siglan do.

The reason I have this vague recollection is that I read actual studies examining the effects of biofeedback on attention in the 80s and 90s.

I still want to know whether Play Attention works in applied settings. It definitely merits a “use with caution” label. Couldn’t someone simply randomly assign some students to Play Attention training, some to a placebo, and some to a control condition then monitor their performance over time (can anyone say “CBM?”)? Until then, it’s just another example of an interesting idea translated into practice and hyped without having evidence of effectiveness.

What should we learn from all this? I’m left with this lesson: We educators need to do an even-better job of communicating the importance of evidence-based education. We can welcome new ideas that hold promise, but we have to hold them up to the clear, bright light of scientific scrutiny before we put them into practice. Our clients’ outcomes depend on us doing this.