Supporting rehabilitation of ADHD children with serious games and enhancement of inhibition mechanisms

The Attention Deficit–Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a behavior-related disorder, already present in children in pre-scholar and scholar age, that mainly includes hyperactivity, lacks in attention skills, impulsivity (delay aversion). While several approaches have been studied and developed for modelling and facing the various aspects of ADHD, the Dual Pathway Model (DPM), by Sonuga-Barke, is an evidence-based model that synthetizes in the cognitive and motivational paths the key dysfunctions, the inhibitory and delay aversion ones. In this paper is presented the development of a prototype of a computer serious game, called Antonyms, based on the DPM model, that is aimed at promoting learning and autonomous management of impulsive behaviors and at inhibiting irrelevant thoughts in children with ADHD. The game is structured as a set of tasks, contextualized in a story, impelling the player to react in an inadequate and immediate way while the player, to win, has to enhance his/her own skills of self-regulation, waiting, reflecting upon a situation, finding a not-intuitive solution. Preliminary tests on a control group show that impulsivity and inattention are really addressed during gameplay.