Computerized test for Children (COTAPP)
Video and update: Nanda Rommelse, Associate Professor/Neuropsychologist at Radboudumc dep. Psychiatry / Karakter child and adolescent psychiatry university center / Donders Institute of Neuroscience, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
We received 11,137.57 euro!
Research goal: 11,000
Update June 2016
One of the projects we have funded, was further research into a computerized test (called the COTAPP). Based on scientifically proven methods, the test provides accurate insight into the cognitive abilities of a child within 30 to 40 minutes.
The test will improve the diagnosis and evaluation of ADHD treatment.
On the way
In October 2015 we started with enrolling the first children for normation purposes and we now tested 400 children. These children are tested at schools in different areas of the Netherlands, in order to have a reliable reflection of the Dutch population. Our goal is to test at least a thousand children between 6 and 12 years old.
Fortunately, teachers often see the relevance of the test and are therefore willing to contribute. With their help, it won’t be long before the COTAPP can be used to provide parents and teachers with information about the cognitive strengths and weaknesses of the child and can be used to make adjustments at school.
With the data we collected so far, the first output of the results is being made. Advanced calculations are made for each block and outcome, like speed, accuracy, ability to wait, working memory, sensitivity to reward and other variables. To read more about the COTAPP, go to www.cotapp.nl (in Dutch).
English:
In daily clinical practice only a limited number of children are being tested for cognitive abilities. These tests are costly because these assessments are almost always performed manually (with pen and paper) and therefore consume a lot ot time, (a few hours).
But the most prominent disadvantage is that it is not possible to accurately determine the presence of certain cognitive weaknesses in a child because only a limited number of childeren without ADHD have performed the test.
We have therefore developed a computerized test (COTAP), based on scientifically proven methods, which gives accurate insight in the cognitive abilities of a child within 30 to 40 minutes. The test will improve the diagnosis and evaluation of treatment of ADHD.
We need your support and donations to perform the COTAP test in 1.000 children from the general population. In this way we can reliably determine whether certain cognitive weaknesses are present in a child with (suspected) ADHD. This helps us deploy treatment that best suits the child.
Nederlands:
In de dagelijkse klinische praktijk worden maar weinig kinderen met ADHD op deze manier onderzocht. Omdat taken meestal handmatig worden afgenomen (papier en potlood) en slechts grove schattingen geven van functioneren, duurt de test langer en daardoor is het duur.
Nog ernstiger is dat bij de meeste testen niet goed kan worden bekeken of een kind met ADHD daadwerkelijk zwakker of sterker op een bepaald cognitief gebied is, omdat de test niet bij een voldoende aantal kinderen zonder ADHD is afgenomen.
We hebben daarom een computertest (COTAP) ontwikkeld, gebaseerd op wetenschappelijk getoetste methoden, die binnen 30 tot 40 minuten een compleet beeld geeft van de cognitieve mogelijkheden van een kind. De taak zal de diagnostiek en behandelevaluatie van ADHD verbeteren.
Met uw financiële steun wordt het mogelijk de test bij duizend kinderen in Nederland af te nemen. Hierdoor kunnen we betrouwbaar vaststellen of een kind met (het vermoeden van) ADHD inderdaad zwakker presteert op bepaalde gebieden, zodat we dit kind de best passende behandeling kunnen aanbieden.