The 'Child ViReal Support' intervention program is offered free of charge as a social service of the Department of Psychology of the University of Crete to children aged 9-12 years old with an ADHD diagnosis and their parents.
It consists of a group psychoeducation program for parents and an individualized intervention program for children.
The parents' group psychoeducation program consists of 8 weekly group sessions of 1.5 hours/session, where parents are expected to be trained and gain knowledge on key elements regarding:
It consists of a group psychoeducation program for parents and an individualized intervention program for children.
The parents' group psychoeducation program consists of 8 weekly group sessions of 1.5 hours/session, where parents are expected to be trained and gain knowledge on key elements regarding:
- the attention deficits presented by their children and how these may affect their daily life in emotional, behavioral and social domains, as well as in the interactions within the family aiming at a better understanding of their children's difficulties and ways of supporting them
- effective ways of managing children's behaviors and difficulties aiming at the enhancement of desirable and reduction of undesirable behaviors, as well as the enhancement of children's psychosocial adjustment and learning support
- anxiety/stress management techniques that parents can use for the reduction of parenting stress that are likely to experience in their daily lives.
The children's individualized intervention program consists of 16 weekly individualized sessions delivered by a licensed school psychologist. During these sessions, the child is expected to be trained in techniques based on the cognitive-behavioral approach (cognitive-behavioral therapy, CBT) aiming at:
- the enhancement and improvement of children's cognitive and behavioral skills
- the enhancement and improvement of emotional self-regulation skills
- In addition, during these sessions, children receive training in the cognitive function of attention using the innovative virtual reality technology (Virtual Reality, VR) which, in recent years, has begun to be used in intervention programs for children with ADHD with particularly encouraging results in improving attention.