Video Game Promotes Better Attention Skills in Some Children with Sensory Processing Dysfunction

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After four weeks of playing a video game, seven of the 20 children with sensory processing dysfunction who also met criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder showed a marked improvement in attention. Photo courtesy of Akili Interactive LabsA video game under development as a medical device boosts attention in some children with sensory processing dysfunction, or SPD, a condition that can make the sound of a vacuum, or contact with a clothing tag intolerable for young sufferers.

In a study published April 5 in PLOS ONE, researchers at UC San Francisco measured the impact of a “digital intervention” on attention among 38 children with the disorder and compared them with 25 typically developing counterparts, matched by age and gender.

The researchers found that 20 of the children with sensory processing dysfunction also met criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), using parent reports. These children exhibited reduced midline frontal theta activity, a neural measure of attention revealed through the examination of brain wave patterns.

After playing the video game for four weeks, this group of children showed improvements in attention. Seven of the 20 (one third) showed such marked improvements that they no longer met research criteria for ADHD. Significantly, parent-reported improvements were noted nine months after the intervention.

‘First Step in Personalizing Care’

“To varying degrees, all children with sensory processing dysfunction struggle to properly modulate sensory information,” said senior author Elysa Marco, MD, director of the UCSF Sensory Neurodevelopment and Autism Program, and associate professor in the UCSF departments of neurology, psychiatry and pediatrics.

“A subset of children with sensory processing dysfunction show challenges involving cognitive control, which includes sustained attention, selective attention and goal management. These challenges act as an additional impediment in their daily lives and suggest an important avenue for treatment,” she said. “This is our first step in personalizing care for these children and we’re excited to be approaching ...

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