Computerized Eye-tracking Attention Training for Children With Special Needs

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Children with special needs (e.g. autistic spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) are found to have sustained attention problems. Several behavioral interventions have been carried out in the past to improve this situation. However, these interventions are often involved a high administration cost. Recently, researchers have been focusing on training the eye gaze fixation using the eye-tracking training games, as some of the research studies reported a correlation between atypical eye gaze patterns with poor sustained attention. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a computerized eye-tracking attention training. Two batches of 48 primary school students will be recruited from email and the subject pool of the Department of Psychology of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Participants are dividedly randomly and equally into either intervention or control group. Participants in both groups will undergo pre- and post-assessments measuring the executive function and attention before and after the intervention, respectively. However, there will be eight eye-tracking training sessions for the intervention group, but only the assessments are received in the control group. It is hypothesized that after the training, the performance of the training games and assessments will improve, indicated by increasing accuracy rates, as well as the reaction time of the tasks. The results would provide important information on the value of computerized eye gaze training and would guide the direction of interventions that target on improving the sustained attention and impulse control of children with special needs.

Official Title
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Computerized Eye-tracking Attention Training for Children With Special Needs

Conditions
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ADHD, ASD, Learning Disorders

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Computerized training program
* Other: Placebo


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: a total of 96 primary school children (aged between 6 to 12 years) with special needs, defined by psychological disorders such as ASD, ADHD, ADD, and Dyslexia Exclusion Criteria: Children with mental retardation will be excluded

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 6 Years
Maximum Age: 12 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Treatment
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Experimental Group<br>A computerized eye -tracking program training the eye gaze fixation with the target to improve impulse control and sustained attention of children with special needs | Other: Computerized training program<br>* Eye-gaze fixation computer based training program<br>|
| Placebo Comparator: Control Group<br>Computerized program | Other: Placebo<br>* Pac-Man, Zookeeper, Tetris<br>* Other names: Computerized program;|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention Test (Cognitive Test) | flanker inhibitory control and attention test to assess their attention | through study completion, an average of 2 year | 
| Dimensional Change Card Sort Test (Psychological Test Battery) | the Dimensional Change Card Sort Test to measure executive function | through study completion, an average of 2 year | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Sustained attention, Impulse control, Eye-tracking, Special needs, Computerized training