Children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are attributed with impulsive behavior, excessive activity and inattention. These symptoms are typical of ADHD and are responsible for the school failure and social problems suffered by children. In order to help them, the TDAH Trainer, a mobile application aimed at boosting their cognitive capacity through a series of exercises of a playful nature, was created.
The TCT Method (Tajima Cognitive Training) tries to develop a daily cognitive training focusing on improving cognitive areas and without being perceived by the user as an exercise or therapy, but rather as a game.
It is an application for Apple and Android tablets or cell phones aimed at children with ADHD, ages 4 to 12. Users can use the app on its own, or as part of a controlled therapy. The most therapeutic part, so to speak, is the one that consists of a daily mode, where 3 exercises are selected to be performed daily. In the free mode, the child can choose from 14 different cognitive “games”. In this way, cognitive training is possible at any time and place of the day.
Fun and motivation
One of the main problems that arises in people with cognitive impairment is often the lack of consistency when performing tasks that require sustained mental effort. The TCT Method generates an increase in motivation in patients compared to other traditional stimulation methods. By improving motivation and being conceived as a playful exercise, constancy in the performance of the exercises is improved.
Nowadays, all children interact easily with new technologies and in the case of children with ADHD they tend to avoid those cognitive tasks that require mental effort, so that improving motivation and being conceived by the child as a “video game” improves the constancy in the performance of cognitive exercises. At the same time, children’s eagerness to excel, through individualized records, and scores based on their own results and on percentiles of other users can increase the child’s motivation.
A complementary therapy
ADHD Trainer is intended as a therapeutic tool to support and complement any other pharmacological or psychotherapeutic treatment for ADHD. Parents should know that ADHD treatment should be carried out by a professional in the field, and that pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment are the cornerstones of this disorder.
Cognitive stimulation is a common measure for cognitive rehabilitation used in neurological and psychiatric conditions with the aim of recovering, normalizing and improving cognitive functioning and, although it is aimed at those people who have some cognitive impairment, this type of training can benefit anyone else, provided that it is customized to each case.