Using Immersive Virtual Reality gaming to support children with ADHD diagnoses

Overview

Growing up with ADHD myself, I know how difficult it can be to attend traditional classroom education. Often that leads to unequal chances for those affected. I believe instead of trying to change children, we should much rather attempt to accommodate their unique learning needs. With my research, I am trying to explore alternative ways of learning that do provide us with the flexibility to customize learning while giving each child the space and time to learn.

People

Meike Belter

Aims

I am looking into how we can use immersive Virtual Reality gaming to support children with ADHD diagnoses in e.g. hyperactivity, inattentiveness, and also executive functioning.

Audience

Children 7-12 years old.

Project execution

I am creating my immersive VR game in Unity, developing on an Oculus headset. My research follows an iterative prototype testing process. That means I will be testing my game on usability and user experience as I develop it. This testing will be done with the target group directly, meaning children aged 7-12.

Challenges

It is difficult to work with and recruit children as they are classified as high-risk participants. 

Outcomes

The expected outcome is a better understanding of the specific needs of children with ADHD in a formal learning setting, and how these can be translated into immersive games. Design principles will be derived from this that will help practitioners and researchers who are looking into alternative ways of learning for this target group, too.