Targeting coping strategies, emotion regulation, and self-esteem in children with dyslexia to support mental health: A randomized-controlled trial of Clever Kids.
Mark Boyes, Kirsten Melville, Mandy Nayton et al.
✦ AI-curated · Sources linked
In 30 seconds
This pre-registered randomized controlled trial evaluated Clever Kids, a nine-week socio-emotional programme, in 78 children with clinically diagnosed dyslexia (mean age 10.19 years; 54% female). Children were assigned to the programme or a wait-list control and assessed before and after the programme and at three-month follow-up. Compared with the wait-list condition, participation was associated with improvements in child-reported coping, emotion regulation, academic and social self-esteem, and parent-reported anxiety and depression; these effects were maintained at follow-up. Intervention-by-time effects were not significant for other outcomes.
Key findings
- Clever Kids was associated with improvements in coping, emotion regulation, and academic and social self-esteem.
- Parent-reported anxiety and depression improved in the intervention group, with effects maintained at three-month follow-up.
- Wait-list assignment was unexpectedly associated with improved perseverance at follow-up.
- Intervention-by-time interactions were non-significant for all other measured outcomes.
Why it matters
Children with dyslexia may experience emotional and behavioural difficulties alongside learning challenges. This trial suggests that a targeted socio-emotional programme can improve several reported coping, self-esteem, and mental health outcomes, with benefits persisting over the reported follow-up. The findings support further evaluation of structured well-being support for this population, while not establishing effects on outcomes that did not differ between groups.
What to keep in mind
The trial included 78 children and used a wait-list control; the abstract reports follow-up only to three months.