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RecruitingNCT07552909Updated Sep 8, 2026

A Random Controlled Trial of Home-based Digital Therapy for Treating ADHD in Children

An interventional study of Home-based digital therapy with brain-controlled games in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), sponsored by Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. Recruiting at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 7 Years to 11 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-08.

Sponsored by Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Registered 4 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Aug 2025, registered Dec 2025).
  • Started Aug 2025; still recruiting 1 year 2 months later.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
146
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
7 Years to 11 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Explore the interventional effects of neurofeedback games on school-aged children with mild to moderate ADHD, with the aim of providing evidence-based new methods for intervening in the core symptoms of ADHD in children.

Read the detailed description
  1. Research Title

    A Randomized Controlled Study on the Efficacy of Home-Based Digital Therapy with Brain-Controlled Games for School-Aged Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

  2. Research Objective

    To explore the efficacy of brain-controlled games as an intervention for school-aged children with mild to moderate ADHD, with the aim of providing a new evidence-based method to intervene in the core symptoms of ADHD.

  3. Study Design

    Randomized Controlled Study.

  4. Total Cases
  5. Case Selection

    Inclusion Criteria: Children aged 7 years, 0 months to 11 years, 11 months who are diagnosed by a physician with at least the rank of attending physician in pediatric psychiatry as meeting the diagnostic criteria for ADHD according to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition), have a full-scale Wechsler IQ higher than 85, and are outpatient children with ADHD who have not received any intervention (newly diagnosed within the last month or have not taken medication for at least 4 weeks). Informed consent will be obtained from the patient/guardian and from participants aged 8 years and older.

  6. Exclusion Criteria

    Exclusion criteria include:

    1. Auditory or visual diseases or disorders.
    2. Inability to use the software, such as color blindness, or hand function defects or disabilities.
    3. Comorbidities with other neurodevelopmental disorders such as oppositional defiant disorder, autism spectrum disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, Tourette's syndrome, etc.
    4. Patients with other mental illnesses such as organic mental disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or depressive disorders.
    5. Attention deficit disorder caused by organic diseases of the nervous system or other organic diseases.
    6. Previous history of ineffective regular ADHD medication as prescribed by a doctor.
    7. Past or present game addiction.
    8. Previous similar brain-controlled game interventions like Neurotest.
    9. Previous physical therapy such as magnetic stimulation.
  7. Treatment Protocol

    Home-based digital therapy with ADHD brain-controlled games.

  8. Efficacy Assessment

    Primary Outcome Measure: ADHD SNAP-IV subscale scores (Inattention/Hyperactivity-Impulsivity).

    Secondary Outcome Measure: Executive Function (BRIEF) questionnaire scores.

  9. Statistical Methods

The differences in evaluation results between the intervention group and the control group will be analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance from a general linear model. Missing data will be handled using the Last Observation Carried Forward (LOCF) method. The study will control for inter-group bias through measures such as random assignment, consistent training of evaluators, and blind evaluation where the evaluators are unaware of the subjects' treatment status.

02

Conditions studied

  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Keywords

  • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
  • Randomized Controlled
  • Digital Brain-controlled
03

In context

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity

1,817 studies on the registry are indexed under Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; 296 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 146 is above the median of 71 across 1,437 interventional studies indexed under Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity.

Browse Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity studies →

Lead sponsor

Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine is the lead sponsor of 225 studies on the registry; 55 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
7 Years to 11 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Children aged 7 years 0 months to 11 years 11 months
  • Clinical diagnosis of ADHD made by a child psychiatrist at the attending level or above
  • Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) above 85
  • Children who have been diagnosed with ADHD but have not received any intervention (newly diagnosed within the last month or not having taken medication for at least 4 weeks)
  • must be obtained from the patient/guardian and from participants

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Auditory or visual illness or disorder
  • Inability to use software (e.g., color blindness, impaired hand function, or disability)
  • Comorbid oppositional defiant disorder, autism spectrum disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, tic disorders, or other neurodevelopmental disorders
  • Other mental illnesses such as organic mental disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or depressive disorders
  • Attention deficit disorder caused by organic neurological diseases or other organic diseases
  • Previous regular ADHD medication use as prescribed by a doctor, but without efficacy
  • Past or present gaming addiction
  • Previous neurofeedback-like "brain control game" interventions
  • Previous physical therapy such as magnetic stimulation.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
146 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • No intervention
    control group

    Control group: Participants will receive standard clinical care, with treatment strategies determined by the clinician based on their clinical experience, professional knowledge, and the specific condition of the school-aged child with ADHD. This includes outpatient guidance and ADHD health education from the doctor. No study-specific interventions will be applied during this period, and participants will be followed up at predetermined time points.

  • Experimental
    Intervention group

    For children in the intervention group, the entire training process will be completed at home. Each training session will last for 30 minutes, and a total of 30 sessions will be completed within 2 months of enrollment. All training frequency and duration will be presented in a quantifiable format.

    Device: Home-based digital therapy with brain-controlled games

Interventions

  • DeviceHome-based digital therapy with brain-controlled games

    Home-based brain-controlled training for children with ADHD is completed in a home environment. The training session lasts for 30 minutes daily, with a total of 30 sessions to be completed within a 2-month period. All training frequency and duration are presented in a quantifiable format. The training process incorporates engaging game elements. AI technology is used to provide real-time monitoring and difficulty adjustments, ensuring that each child's training intensity and content are personalized and optimized based on their individual needs. Eye-tracking technology is integrated into the game training to further enhance the training effects on visual attention and cognitive control, making the training more comprehensive and multi-faceted.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Inattention

    Assess using the Inattention subscale scores from the parent version of the Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham-IV (SNAP-IV) 47-item Rating Scale. The Inattention subscale consists of the first 9 items of the parent version of the 47-item SNAP-IV scale, directly corresponding to the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for inattentive symptoms. Each item is rated on a 4-point Likert scale: 0 (not at all), 1 (just a little), 2 (quite a bit), and 3 (very much). The subscale score is calculated as the mean of items 1-9 (range 0-3). Higher scores indicate greater symptom severity. Based on established clinical norms (Swanson, 2001), a mean score of ≥ 1.67 is defined as the threshold for a "positive" symptomatic response (clinical significance) for Inattention. Previous studies have demonstrated that this subscale possesses exceptional psychometric properties, with internal consistency (Cronbach's α) reported as high as 0.95 in recent clinical evaluations (Enemuo et al., 2022; Hall et al., 2020).

    Time frame: The first week after the intervention

  2. Hyperactivity-Impulsivity

    Assess using the Hyperactivity-Impulsivity subscale scores from the parent version of the SNAP-IV questionnaire. The Hyperactivity-Impulsivity subscale consists of items 10-18 of the parent version of the 47-item SNAP-IV scale, corresponding to the DSM-5 criteria for hyperactive and impulsive symptoms. Each item is rated on a 4-point Likert scale: 0 (not at all), 1 (just a little), 2 (quite a bit), and 3 (very much).The subscale score is calculated as the mean of items 10-18 (range 0-3). Higher scores reflect increased severity of hyperactivity and impulsivity. According to standardized norms, a mean score of ≥ 1.50 is used as the cut-off point to determine a "positive" symptomatic status (clinical significance) for Hyperactivity-Impulsivity. Extensive psychometric evaluations have reported exceptional reliability for this subscale, with a Cronbach's α coefficient reported as high as 0.92 to 0.94 in clinical samples (Bussing et al., 2008; Hall et al., 2020).

    Time frame: The first week after the intervention

Secondary outcomes

  1. executive function

    Executive function will be assessed using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF; Gioia et al., 2000). The Parent-Report form consists of 86 items rated on a 3-point Likert scale(1 = Never, 2 = Sometimes, 3 = Often). The inventory yields two primary indexes: the Behavioral Regulation Index (BRI: Inhibit, Shift, Emotional Control) and the Metacognition Index (MI: Working Memory, Plan, Organize, Monitor), which combine into the Global Executive Composite (GEC). Raw scores will be converted into standardized T-scores (M=50,SD=10) using age- and gender-appropriate norms. Higher T-scores reflect greater dysfunction, with T≥65 indicating clinical significance. The BRIEF is a well-validated instrument; according to the technical manual and prior clinical studies (Gioia et al., 2000; Donders et al., 2002), the Cronbach's α for the GEC exceeds 0.90, ensuring robust reliability for evaluating intervention efficacy.

    Time frame: The first week after the intervention

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • Weiping Xia
    Shanghai, Shanghai Municipality 200092, China
    Recruiting
    • Weiping Xia, PhD · Contactsummertree20@163.com · +86021-25076686
    • · Contactsummertree20@163.com
    • Yiting Wu, Master · Principal investigator
    • Jingjun Liu, Master · Principal investigator
    • Meihui Qiu, Master · Principal investigator
    • Sixun Zou, Master · Principal investigator
    • Xuan Cao, Master · Principal investigator
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 8, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07552909
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Apr 27, 2026
Start date
Aug 24, 2025
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2026 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2026 (estimated)
Last update
Sep 8, 2026

Study contacts

Weiping Xia, PhD
Contact
summertree20@163.com
+8613761137709
Yiting Wu, Master
Contact
estherwyt@163.com
+8618201750534
Weiping Xia, PhD
study director · Department of Clinical Psychology, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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