Designing mobile games for improving self-esteem in children with ADHD

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.