Gaming may help kids with ADHD

May 08, 2017 06:00 am

Video games might help improve attention skills in children with sensory disorders, an experiment suggests.

Researchers focused on 38 children with sensory processing dysfunction, a condition that can make them sensitive to things like the feel of a tag inside a shirt.

After four weeks of the children playing games designed to help those with sensory problems, researchers found a significant improvement in attention skills among a subset of 20 children with sensory issues who also had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

"Children with sensory processing dysfunction have differences in the way their brains are wired," said senior study author, Dr Elysa Marco, of the University of California San Francisco.

"We think there are differences in not only the wiring for sensory modulation, but also for 'cognitive control', which includes the ability to sustain attention even in the face of distraction."

- REUTERS