2.3. IAmHero
neurodevelopmental disorders, ADHD
SECONDARY
IamHero was created to bring to life an ambitious project in digital therapy aimed at innovating care processes for patients with neurodevelopmental disorders in pre-school, as well as those who are primary and secondary school age. The structure of the games was designed by Villa delle Ginestre’s multidisciplinary team in collaboration with the University of Naples Federico II (speech therapists, neuropsychomotricists, physiotherapists, neuropsychiatrists, neuropsychologists, phoniatrists, psychotherapists) in order to make the content easily accessible and understandable to the 5–12 age group. The IAmHero system is a serious game structured around activities that aim to implement cognitive-behavioural skills impaired in ADHD subjects. Among these, we included attention, planning, critical reasoning, visual perception, visuomotor skills, abstract reasoning, and language skills.In particular, three different activities were developed:Topological Categories:In this serious game, the child is immersed, thanks to a virtual reality viewer, in a scenario chosen from a classroom, a bedroom, or a garden in order to make the setting familiar and put the child at ease. Directional commands to be carried out in relation to topological categories (e.g., “Get the ball and put it under the desk”) are depicted on the screen and played as sound. The child is given the opportunity to move in the virtual space in relation to the instructions given and to grasp various objects with the help of the joystick built into the virtual reality viewer.In this way, visual-spatial orientation, motor coordination, planning, and selective auditory attention are stimulated in the child.Infinite Runner:This type of activity is carried out with the help of a motion sensing tool, which allows recognition of the child’s body pattern and movements in order to place the child in a virtual scenario in which the child will have to avoid obstacles and collect rewards. This is to stimulate behavioural inhibition and the ability to control and manage impulses as the child, due in part to the gamification and rewards system, will have to dodge certain obstacles and functionally direct their motor activation.Space Coding:This type of activity can be enjoyed either in VR or as mobile/tablet software. Puzzle-like tasks are proposed that will orient the child to reconstruct sequences or objects, either by manipulating tiles (fine motor skills) or by swiping them. This trains planning, visuospatial and constructive skills, as well as reasoning and problem-solving.The system also contains a platform for therapy session management. This platform consists of an application that allows the therapist to monitor the progress of sessions, assess the achievement of goals, and tailor therapy accordingly. The combined use of these elements allows the patient to enjoy an innovative therapy service, both in the clinic and at home.Regarding the instrumentation used, the type of hardware used was the Oculus Quest 2. Specifically, thanks to an integrated mirroring system (AirLink) and the use of a platform for loading games (Steam), the game was started from the therapist’s PC and projected directly into the virtual reality viewer. By doing so, the therapist was able to visualize in real-time what was happening in the viewer so that interactions could also be directed in a more hands-on and free manner.