# Brain plasticity underlying acquisition of new organizational skills in children

> **NIH NIH R33** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2021 · $841,104

## Abstract

Project Summary
This phased innovation application in response to RFA-MH-16-406 seeks support for an initial (R61) 2-year
phase for milestone-driven testing of a specific neural target of intervention by a novel modification of a
treatment targeting organizational skills in children in 3rd to 5th grades of elementary school who have deficient
organizational skills in the context of neurodevelopmental disorders. Attaining our proposed milestones would
trigger support for three additional years (R33 phase) to confirm target engagement in a larger sample with
random assignment to intervention vs. wait-list control conditions, to assess the relationships between target
engagement and changes in functional outcomes. Organizational skills impairments contribute to school failure
and to poor long-term outcomes and occur across multiple neurodevelopmental disorders. They are
insufficiently addressed by medications or most existing behavioral treatments. Organizational skills training
(OST) has resulted in robust, enduring improvements in a prior controlled trial. To further develop this
intervention, we seek to identify the neural targets engaged by effective intervention. Our pilot data and
theoretical considerations support the overarching hypothesis that intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC)
between dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior ventral striatum (aVS) represents a treatable
target. Accordingly, in the initial R61 phase we propose to estimate the effect size of intervention-related
decreases in dACC-aVS iFC in at least 22 children with high-quality imaging and clinical data obtained both
before and after modified OST (OST-m). If we meet our proposed milestones that the decrease in dACC-aVS
iFC will exceed a specific effect size and account for an appreciable proportion of the variance in the
improvement in organizational skills, we would proceed to the R33 phase. In the R33 phase, we would expand
the study to obtain at least 86 more children randomized to the OST-m intervention or to wait-list who will
provide complete high quality pre- and post-intervention/waitlist imaging and clinical data. For both phases, we
will obtain state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data with a primary focus on resting-state
functional MRI. Our specific aims in the R33 phase are to confirm target engagement in the group randomized
to OST-m vs. the waitlist group; to examine the relationship between changes in the neuronal target and
clinical improvements in organizational skills and academic proficiency; and to identify moderators of
improvement in organizational skills by examining baseline clinical measures alone and in combination with
whole-brain voxel-wise resting-state indices. Evidence supporting the validity of dACC-aVS iFC as a modifiable
neural target would then support future studies to further enhance the effectiveness of cognitive/behavioral
interventions in children. Importantly, even negative results will be informative r...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10222511
- **Project number:** 5R33MH113663-05
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** FRANCISCO XAVIER CASTELLANOS
- **Activity code:** R33 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $841,104
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10222511

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10222511, Brain plasticity underlying acquisition of new organizational skills in children (5R33MH113663-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10222511. Licensed CC0.

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