Abstract
There are a growing number of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Research has shown that these children process information quite differently from others. A lot of ADHD-diagnosed children (especially inattentive type ADHD) are more of a visual learner, easily distracted, struggle to follow instructions, are easily forgetful and more importantly have low self-esteem. Parents are often overwhelmed by the amount of information they receive on how to handle their child’s symptoms and learning style. In this project, we propose a novel way to increase the self-esteem of ADHD-diagnosed children through use of computer games. We came up with a set of design principles that can be applied to any game to make it suitable for ADHD children, especially with the aim of increasing their self-esteem. Our game design was applied to an existing open-source mobile game (GLtron). The results of a pilot study showed that users enjoyed playing the game and found it valuable for increasing players’ self-esteem.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Marcus Williams, Abdolhossein Sarrafzadeh and David de Vivar for their contributions during the earlier stages of this project. They would also like to thank Adrian Blok for implementing the modified version of the mobile game. This research is funded by Unitec Faculty Research Committee.
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Baghaei, N., Casey, J., Ahmad, Y., Liang, HN., Yu, Z. (2016). Designing Mobile Games for Improving Self-esteem in Children with ADHD. In: Li, Y., et al. State-of-the-Art and Future Directions of Smart Learning. Lecture Notes in Educational Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-868-7_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-868-7_6
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