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There Is A Video Game Approved By Doctors To Treat ADHD

The app-based game was developed in conjunction with neuroscientists

ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is an incredibly frustrating thing to deal with as a child. At it’s core it’s defined as an inability to focus – but there are a great many other things that are less obvious, but equally troubling.

I personally was diagnosed and treated for ADHD for effectively my entire school learning experience. It’s confusing coming to terms with why people get frustrated with you so easily – and extremely alienating realising you are missing straight-forward things that most other people identify as critical information.

Growing up, I learned to be mindful of what I was dealing with and leaned heavily on various medication offerings of the time. Eventually, I came to be frustrated with how the medication made me feel, and as I got older I chose to identify other methods to help me focus.

So, imagine my surprise when I found myself reading about how gaming can be used to help train your focus – with the express goal assisting folks with ADHD. It birthed a very warm feeling of hope towards how younger people nowadays can likely have a wildly different experience to my own.

Enter EndeavorRx, a game built as an ADHD treatment for kids aged 8-12.

The website for EndeavorRx states the following:

EndeavorRx is an ADHD treatment for kids aged 8-12. It’s delivered through an immersive video game experience on mobile devices.

Created by world-class neuroscientists and award-winning game designers, it targets areas of the brain that play a key role in attention function.

As an FDA-authorized medical device, EndeavorRx must be prescribed by a healthcare professional. It is not intended as a stand-alone therapeutic, nor is it a substitute for your child’s medication.

The amazing part of this is how the game is actually prescribed like any other medication. That amazes me, that a tool of this kind not only exists – but is carefully given to those that need it most. It’s medically approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the treatment of ADHD in children, which is astounding to me.

A racing game that is based around chasing, and capturing creatures? With some elements of world building and immediate problem solving? Part Pokémon and part endless runner – but still very unique too.

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The game has been cleverly designed to boost cognitive progressing – improving focus, and helping an individual deal with frustrations when faced with difficulty; something that many ADHD sufferers struggle with. The neuroscientists that worked on the game made sure to leverage the knowledge of game developers to best create an experience that targeted key areas of the brain that deal with attention functions, encouraging the player to multi-task while navigating courses, collecting targets, and avoiding obstacles. It sounds like a lot of things to do all at once – but this is the fundamental issue that people with ADHD find difficult.

I personally came to realise that my best practice to stay on task was to actually multi-task between a big task and a small one. The changing of attention between what I was doing kept each task fresh in my mind – a simple example would be tidying my garage as a whole, while also organising my work bench. Sweep the floor – organise the screw packets on my bench. Re-stack a hazardous pile of wood offcuts, then brush and sand a particularly rough corner of the work surface. Back and forth, progression on each – and accomplishing so much.

It’s amazing to see a similar practice being employed within interactive media to teach helpful habits to others.

There are also testimonial videos online, that strike a particular emotional cord within me – and again fills me with that warm hopeful feeling.

It’s really positive to see such a promising use of interactive media – particularly after years of vilification and sledging from those that may be less than inclined to accept that their can be genuine purpose behind such a medium.

Currently EndeavorRx is only available to citizens of the US who have a proper ADHD diagnosis, between the ages of 8-12. BUT! The program is going to be expanding – with sights set on Europe in the immediate future.

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Who thought that videogames could be so beneficial to our minds? Let us know in the comments or on our social media.

Written By Ash Wayling

Known throughout the interwebs simply as M0D3Rn, Ash is bad at video games. An old guard gamer who suffers from being generally opinionated, it comes as no surprise that he is both brutally loyal and yet, fiercely whimsical about all things electronic. On occasion will make a youtube video that actually gets views. Follow him on YouTube @Bad at Video Games

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