A game app for tracking focus may help students with ADHD finish their reading

The study

1. 01

   Who took part

   Four students with ADHD, aged 11 or 12, took part at a public middle school in the northeastern United States. Three were boys and one was a girl.

2. 02

   What they did

   Students read a novel they chose after school for 50 minutes, three days a week, for 18 to 31 sessions. In some phases, every five minutes a buzzer prompted them to log on a game app whether they had stayed on task. They earned points for each stretch they logged. In the other phases they worked as usual.

3. 03

   What happened

   Three of the four students more often wrote a response in each stretch and finished all four responses during the app phases. Only one student clearly stayed on the book more. Students found the approach easy to use and acceptable, and there was no other group to compare with.

What the study found

1. No comparisonFocus

   Only one of four students clearly stayed on the book more while using the app.

   • Action: Track your progressused
   • Rule: Get a reminderused
   • Rule: Make it enjoyableused
   • Rule: Reward yourself right afterused

   Very small study of one group of 4 middle-school students with ADHD · no comparison group · behaviour was recorded · ⚠ numbers unreliable

2. No comparisonFocus

   Three of four students more often wrote a response in each stretch while using the app.

   • Action: Track your progressused
   • Rule: Get a reminderused
   • Rule: Make it enjoyableused
   • Rule: Reward yourself right afterused

   Very small study of one group of 4 middle-school students with ADHD · no comparison group · behaviour was recorded · ⚠ numbers unreliable

3. No comparisonGoals

   Three of four students finished all four reading responses while using the app.

   • Action: Track your progressused
   • Rule: Get a reminderused
   • Rule: Make it enjoyableused
   • Rule: Reward yourself right afterused

   Very small study of one group of 4 middle-school students with ADHD · no comparison group · behaviour was recorded · ⚠ numbers unreliable

4. No comparisonGoals

   Three of four students more often wrote at least one of the four response types while using the app.

   • Action: Track your progressused
   • Rule: Get a reminderused
   • Rule: Make it enjoyableused
   • Rule: Reward yourself right afterused

   Very small study of one group of 4 middle-school students with ADHD · no comparison group · behaviour was recorded · ⚠ numbers unreliable

Source