Anil Chacko, Ph.D.

Fellow in Child & Adolescent ADHD

Project Details

PROJECT TITLE

Enhancing Interventions for Preschool Children with ADHD within the Context of Head Start

PROJECT SUMMARY

Research is sorely lacking regarding the development and implementation of psychosocial treatments for preschool children with ADHD, despite the very high prevalence of this condition and its very early onset. Moreover, few studies have addressed the development of interventions that target preschool children from low-income, urban backgrounds—an environment that places children with ADHD at even greater risk for poor outcomes over time.

The purpose of Dr. Chacko’s study is to develop and evaluate of an accessible, effective, and sustainable multi-component psychosocial intervention service delivery model for preschool children with ADHD who attend Head Start in East Harlem, NY.

The proposed early intervention service delivery model aims to promote social, emotional, behavioral, and academic competencies and reduce associated impairment in preschool children with ADHD. The development of this multi-component intervention is also aimed to be highly sensitive to ethnic, racial, cultural, and contextual issues while also being developed to address multiple processes related to the persistence and exacerbation of impairments associated with ADHD.

Dr. Chacko will determine the effectiveness of this early intervention service delivery model by comparing it to services-as-typically-implemented in Head Start across multiple areas of functioning in preschool children with ADHD.

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