ADVERTORIAL
The American Psychiatric Association defines attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as “one of the most common health disorders, affecting approximately 5% to 10% of children in the United States".
ADHD is a neurobehavioral developmental disorder closely related to attention deficit disorder (ADD). The hallmarks of the syndrome of ADHD are inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, poor impulse control or impulsivity, and distractibility. Symptoms of this condition are expressed in multiple settings and across numerous functional domains. Boys are about three times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with it.
ADHD is currently considered to be a persistent and chronic condition for which no medical cure is available. ADHD is most commonly diagnosed in children. Methods of treatment usually involve some combination of medications, behaviour modifications, lifestyle changes, and counselling.
The most common symptoms of ADHD are inability to sustain attention, difficulty to concentrate and focus, short term memory slippage, problems organizing ideas, impulsivity, weak planning and execution. Many children find themselves limited by this disorder.
Timocco is dedicated to developing interactive PC games that help children to overcome disabilities in a playful and interactive way. The Timocco experience provides a safe, educational and empowering gaming environment for children, and a platform that encourages them to cope with everyday difficulties like physical or cognitive dysfunctions.
The software, which is available in two different editions for either home or professional use, provides a virtual world immersion experience, controlled by the child using sphere gloves that are tracked by a webcam connected to a PC.
Interactive motion games are noted for their ability to engage children and improve various learning skills, while keeping them entertained. Software engineers have created software that is specifically designed to improve attention and focus in children with ADD and ADHD. They address the most common and fundamental symptoms by helping to increase the child’s ability to retain focus.
Research shows that motion games can help improve concentration, attention and focus in children with ADHD and ADD. Therapists report that they integrate the game Timocco into therapy sessions for helping children retain focus and gain strategies for controlling impulsivity and distractibility. The fact that Timocco is an interactive motion game keeps a child engaged in the activity and highly motivated for practicing and learning.
Children with ADHD are highly concentrated while playing with Timocco. Using Timocco in a therapeutic setting shows that children with ADHD remain concentrated even after finishing the game. After a session with Growing with Timocco, it is easier for them to remain focused in a deductive activity, and remain seated and focused for a longer period of time.
Working with children with ADHD, Timocco allows the therapist to control the background of the gaming environment (static or dynamic), to define the numbers of stimuli, distractions and the intensity of the sound, in order to set the pace to suit the child’s ability. The child learns how to direct their attention towards the main and relevant stimuli and to be aware of his/her own body movements during the activity.
Growing with Timocco is the only existing interactive platform which meets the various needs of child development in today's environment. Timocco aids the development of children with a number of disorders including, cerebral palsy, ADHD, developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), as well as learning difficulties and problems with motor and cognitive skills.
Each game focuses on a different skill, such as the child's posture, bilateral coordination, cross-midline maturation, handeye-coordination, visual discrimination etc., while each activity can be adapted to the child's developmental stage, specific needs and their pace of progress.
Ignoring distractions is an important skill that Timocco aims to strengthen in children with attention deficit disorders. In the "Bubble Bath" game, for example, the child must ignore the red bubbles and pop the green and yellow ones. This way, the child learns to focus on the desired stimuli while ignoring distracting ones.
Split attentionOther activities, such as Timocco's Balloon Game, help the child utilise split attention. In this example, Timocco the monkey is floating in the air being carried by balloons, while the child's mission is to bring him down to the ground by popping the balloons one at a time. The child controls coloured pins, which he/she must use correctly in order to pop the blinking balloon. The child has to focus on the colours of the pins surrounding the balloons, be aware of the colour of the pins he/she is controlling, and use his/her hands accordingly.
Sarit Tresser B.A., M.Sc Occupational Therapy is Founder and Product Director of Timocco Ltd. Tresser earned a Degree in Computer Graphics and Web Design, which led her to focus on innovative technologies during her Master's Degree in Occupational Therapy. Tresser gained knowledge and experience in the field of child development and rehabilitation through her work as an occupational therapist.
During her academic and clinical work, as well as through her experience in using virtual technologies during the treatment of children with special needs, Tresser spotted the necessity for virtual games based on motion tracking technologies, that can be adapted to each individual child's and therapist's needs.
Growing with Timocco was developed under the guidance of therapists in the field of child development and was shown to increase children's motivation to practice cognitive and motor skills.
Professor Patrice L. (Tamar) Weiss, Ph.D, OT, Founding Director of the University of Haifa’s Laboratory for Innovations in Rehabilitation Technology:
“It is not often that I come across a product such as Timocco; an implementation of video capturing virtual reality, which so superbly meets the current needs of paediatric therapists. Until the release of Timocco, there was a lack of options that both allowed therapists to tailor the operation of virtual reality software to specific clinical needs, and was technically simple to operate, and inexpensive enough to be purchased for home and clinical use. Timocco meets all of these requirements and I have already begun to recommend its use as an intervention tool. I strongly believe that Timocco will result in a major improvement in paediatric health.”
Avinoam Nativ, President of NeuroGym Rehabilitation in Canada:
“It has become very clear in recent years that for movement to evolve and re-build, the brain requires training which is: A) voluntary B) intensive and C) speed-sensitive. Video-game technology in general is very effective in providing such training.”
Further information, visit: www.timocco.com