Cognitive Training in Attenuating Attention Deficits/Child Treatment for Cancer

Primary Objectives: 1. To evaluate the feasibility of enrolling children and adolescents with newly diagnosed brain tumors, leukemia, or lymphoma in a program designed to prevent the academic and cognitive declines that commonly result following central nervous system (CNS) disease and treatment. Hypothesis 1: Despite the rigors of disease and treatment, children and adolescents will be able to participate in the CTP while they are receiving treatment for cancer. The high participation of our patients in routine school activities during treatment suggests that they will have the energy and interest required to participate in cognitive training. 2. To evaluate whether a Cognitive Training Program (CTP) might be helpful to patients in preventing attention deficits that commonly result following CNS disease and therapy. Hypothesis 2: Patients in the CTP arm of the study will show fewer declines in neurocognitive performance at the end of training and again six months later, as compared with the control group who will receive the usual services provided by the Education Program in Pediatrics. 3. To explore the relationship between CTP treatment compliance and stability/decline in cognitive and academic performance in children and adolescents who are being treated for brain tumors, leukemia, and lymphoma. Hypothesis 3: Level of compliance with CTP treatment will be predictive of a patient's performance on neurocognitive measures.

Sex

All

Minimum age

6 Years

Maximum age

17 Years

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Eligibility criteria to participate in the study are: at least 6-years-old.
2. Enrolled in school or homebound instruction in a grade Kindergarten through 12th.
3. A diagnosis of leukemia, lymphoma, or brain tumor (e.g., primary brain tumors, leptomeningeal infiltration, or metastases) that requires treatment of the CNS (surgery, CRT, and/or chemotherapy).
4. Within 2 months to 14 months after beginning treatment for cancer.
5. Full scale IQ \> or = 70.
6. English-speaking. (This is defined as the ability to appropriately respond to test and training materials.)

Exclusion Criteria:

1\) A major physical, neurologic, or psychiatric condition that would preclude participation in the research program. The functional criteria for exclusion is inability to perceive and comprehend training materials and therapeutic interventions.