Preliminary Study on Enhancing Literacy Skills Through Intervention Targeting Inhibitory Control, Cognitive Flexibility, Working Memory, and Attentional Control

(1) Background: It is important to understand how inhibition, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and attentional control impact reading and writing skills to identify areas for intervention and create effective intervention programs. This pilot study explores the connection between these abilities and academic performance in children aged 6 to 8 using a design with control and experimental groups. (2) Methods: Both groups were assessed pre- and post-intervention using the Color and Word Test, Copy Test of a Complex Figure, Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-2, and Literacy Analysis Test. (3) Results: The results showed significant enhancements in inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and working memory in the experimental group, underscoring the importance of executive functioning in the proper development of literacy. However, no significant differences were observed in reading or writing skills between the two groups, although the experimental group showed improvements in the correlations of all studied variables after the intervention. (4) Conclusions: These findings indicate that improving executive functions may be essential for enhancing literacy skills in children of this age group, being important both for research and for educational practice, emphasizing the importance of including executive function when developing intervention strategies to enhance reading and writing skills.