School Readiness Intervention for Preschool Children With Sickle Cell Disease

• Group randomization- Parent and child will be randomly selected (like the flip of a coin) to receive either the school readiness intervention or the standard school resources.
• Attend virtual classroom program sessions- If the participant is in the school readiness group, the caregiver, will attend about 8 weeks of sessions virtually with a teacher and a caregiver of a child with sickle cell, for a total of 8 sessions. The sessions will be during the summer and done in a group. Each session will last about 1 ½ hours and will be video recorded. These sessions will be shared with another researcher for feedback and consistency.
• Complete a caregiver interview-If you are in the school readiness group, a member of the study team will interview you after the virtual classroom sessions are over. The interview will take about 15-20 minutes and will be audio recorded. The caregiver will be asked for suggestions and how satisfied with the program.
• Complete assessments - Caregiver and child will complete a set of assessments that evaluate school readiness skills (e.g., early math and reading), child behaviors, and parent-child relationships before and after the intervention.

Inclusion criteria

• Diagnosed with sickle cell disease of any genotype.
• Enrolled on the institutional protocol: Sickle Cell Clinical Research Intervention Program (SCCRIP)
• Age 3.5-6.5 years inclusive at the time of enrollment
• English as the primary language
• Research participant and one parent willing to participate and provide consent/assent according to institutional guidelines

Caregiver Participants

• Have a child diagnosed with SCD of any genotype between the ages of 3.5-6.5 years and enrolled in SCCRIP
• English as the primary language

Exclusion criteria

• Do not have a child diagnosed with SCD of any genotype between the ages of 3.5-6.5 years and enrolled in SCCRIP
• Non-English speakers