Information sheet for parents

You are being invited to participate in this project because we are seeking to enrol typically developing children from different socio-economic areas between the ages of 6 and 11 years to participate in this study. We have distributed these information sheets through different online channels, including the King’s biweekly circular or charity pages.

What will happen if I take part?
If you choose to take part in the project you will be asked to download our app with different cognitive games. Your child will then play tablet tasks/ games, which consist of animated cartoons or short scenarios acted out by child actors. Although these tasks are game-like, they were designed to measure children’s attention, memory, processing of emotions or understanding of social situations. Playing all the games will not take longer then 40-50 minutes. We might ask your child to play these games again in 2-4 weeks. The participation will be done remotely i.e. after playing the games, the data will be collected through the application. As part of participation you will be asked to provide basic demographic information about your child. We may also ask you to fill in a short questionnaire about your child’s behaviour.

Do I have to take part?

Participation is completely voluntary. You should only take part if you want to and choosing not to take part will not disadvantage you in anyway. Once you have read the information sheet, please contact us if you have any questions that will help you make a decision about taking part. If you decide to take part, we will ask you to sign a consent form, which is embedded within the online survey.

What are the possible risks of taking part?

There are no known risks associated with the tasks that your child will be carrying out. However, if you or your child do not enjoy the experience or prefer not to answer certain questions, you are welcome to stop participation at any given time.

What are the possible benefits of taking part?

There are no immediate benefits for you or your child to taking part. However, we hope this study will identify links between typical development, developmental outcomes and academic achievement. Findings from this project will help future research in the field. You will also enter a draw to win a prize.

Please download an information sheet suitable for yor child and read it together prior to using the app.

These are some examples of games your child will see while playing with the app.