While many parents worry that their children are spending too much time playing video games, Kelcey Sihanourath is pleased to see her 13-year-old son Owain reach for his tablet.
Owain was diagnosed ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) when I was in preschool.
Since then, the family, who live in the US city of Savannah, Georgia, have taken their son to see occupational therapists to help him better cope with the tasks of daily life.
They also tried the medication route, but had to stop after prescription drugs exacerbated the boy’s regular migraines to the point of making him sick.
Since ADHD continued to affect school performance From Owain over the years, Kelcey “hoped for something more, any other option.”
“I could see him struggling to understand why he couldn’t focus and the frustration he had when he tried so hard and still got distracted,” she says.
“It broke my heart, but I felt trapped and completely useless.”
a very special game
Help came at the end of something that initially seems very incongruous: a video game called EndeavorRx.
EndeavorRx became the first game of its kind in 2020 to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the treatment of ADHD in children.
The videogame only available by prescription in the US and at first glance it looks a lot like other games; It consists of controlling a small alien who runs in a spaceship through different worlds and has to collect things.
The software was developed in conjunction with neuroscientists and is designed to stimulate and improve areas of the brain that have a key role in the function of attention.
The idea is to train a child with ADHD to better multitask and ignore distractions, with a computer algorithm that measures their performance and customizes the game’s difficulty in real time.
When doctors prescribe it, the child’s parents are sent an activation link that is needed before starting to play.
Kelcey says she was “a little skeptical,” but in late 2020 Owain started a three-month program where he was required to play 25 minutes a day. She then she did another round last year.
“He admitted that it was a little more difficult than he expected,” says his mother. “But he understood that he was doing it to help improve his concentration. He remained super motivated despite the difficulties and frustrations that arose.”
Positive changes
After each of Owain’s sessions, Kelcey noted her daily behavior on the app and tracked her progress.
Soon he began to see small positive changes in his behavior. For example, getting ready for school had become easier and there were no negative messages from teachers.
After failing fifth grade, Owain started getting excellent grades on his homework.
“It’s been amazing to see my son so successful, but even more so to see him confident in himself,” says Kelcey. “He’s no longer upset and confused about why he just doesn’t understand.”
Eddie Martucci, CEO of Akili, the Boston-based tech firm behind EndeavorRx, says the game was designed to boost cognitive progress.
“It is something that is very difficult to achieve by molecular means, like taking a pill. But it turns out that sensory stimuli can actually directly activate parts of the brain that control cognitive function,” she notes.
His company plans to launch the game in Europe in the next few years.
Screening for mental health problems
This is not the only company that has tried to combine playfulness with technology to address issues of the brain.
the british app Thymia is using video games to help doctors and related professionals detect and diagnose mental health problems, particularly depression.
One of Thymia’s games has the user try to memorize moving objects, while the other is with cards and also tests their memory.
In addition to the patient’s performance in the game, the application also monitors and evaluates their comments and facial expressions, and accesses the camera and microphone of their computer or mobile phone.
Thymia was launched by Emilia Molimpakis, who holds a PhD in Linguistics, Cognitive Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology from University College London (UCL).
He runs the company with the co-founder, Stefano Goria, who has a doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of Turin.
Goria says the app “gathers and mines biomarkers that are relevant to understanding symptoms of depression… in a useful and engaging way.”
Both Akili and Thymia say their apps should be used in addition to existing doctor-directed screening and treatment, not as a replacement.
British adolescent psychologist Angela Karanja agrees.
“While these are effective inventions, should be used in conjunction with currently existing (patient assessment) questionnaires, whose reliability and validity have been tested and accepted, as well as the contributions of doctors, and also together with other treatments, not in isolation. Karanja says.
British psychologist Lee Chambers says that while the use of such video games in the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of mental health conditions is still in the early stages, it appears to have “potential”.
“Participating in a game has the ability to remove aspects of the feeling that we are being tested and measured,” he says.
“These types of mental health games have the ability to broaden access and track variations in the baseline data they collect over time. Given this, it has the potential to be an early indicator and show patterns in a way that we currently don’t have access to,” he maintains. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
