Cognitive stimulation in adolescents at risk of exclusion using the BAPNE® method

Abstract

In this paper we study the viability of an intervention using cognitive stimulation through the BAPNE® Method to benefit a group of young adolescent in an educational establishment in an area of very difficult socio-economic conditions. In addition, experimental research has been also conducted to demonstrate that this intervention can improve impulse control amongst the group under study. The experiment was carried out with a total of N=70 subjects divided between an experimental group and a control group. The intervention in the experimental group was carried out following the series of activities in the BAPNE® Method set out in the Bodypercussion- Programación didáctica (Volumes 1 and 2) teaching manuals during 25 weeks but the control group followed their normal music curriculum. The evaluation tools used to measure executive function were: the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT - F.A.S. & Animals), the Digit Span subtest (Digit Span Forward and Digit Span Backward), the Stroop Color and Word Test (SCWT) and the Trail Making Test (TMT). The data collection was analysed statistically using IBM SPSS v24 for Mac software and the results show that, between the pre- and the post-test, this intervention has visibly improved the inhibitory control and the verbal fluency amongst the experimental group.