Millions of children around the globe are afflicted with conditions that can alter neuropsychological development, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), traumatic brain injury (TBI), cerebral malaria, and a host of other developmental and acquired diseases and disorders. Early assessment and intervention are critical in overcoming cognitive and developmental deficiencies and are increasingly becoming a standard of care in western countries. However, in resource-limited settings, children often do not have access to these essential evaluations due, in part, to lack of trained personnel and culturally or linguistically appropriate assessment tools. Creare, in collaboration with its clinical and research partners, proposes to develop a highly adaptable developmentally appropriate, computer administered repeatable assessment battery for children. This battery covers the major domains of neurocognitive and neurobehavioral function, and is also sensitive to the sometimes subtle effects of disease. The test battery is administered on a tablet computer that is low cost, highly mobile, and provides a very intuitive user interface for test administrators and children taking the test. In addition to neurocognitive tasks that cover major cognitive domains, the assessment battery includes a number of standardized, psychometrically sound questionnaires for parents or caregivers that gather developmentally-relevant functional behaviors. The test battery is designed to be widely applicable for school-aged children and includes tests of attention, executive function, processing speed, learning, and memory. Creare has assembled a world class team to develop and commercialize this innovation. Our system is made possible by algorithms and software that Creare has previously developed for smartphone and tablet-based neurocognitive testing and hearing screening as well as training, therapy, data sharing, and assessment. We have teamed with Dr. Betsy Kammerer, a developmental neuropsychologist at Boston Children's Hospital experienced in assessment of children in the context of disease in international settings (e.g., Kenya, Botswana, Peru). We have also partnered with Drs. Peter Isquith of Boston Children's Hospital and Gerard Gioia (affiliated with Children's National Health Systems), developmental neuropsychologists with expertise in assessment. Both have extensive experience in developing and publishing measures, both rating scale and computer-administered tests, that are sensitive to a variety of conditions and have been translated and adapted for multiple languages and cultures.
Early assessment is critical to developing interventions that minimize the impact of cognitive and developmental deficiencies for children suffering from a variety of conditions that affect neuropsychological function. The proposed adaptable, tablet-based assessment battery, which includes both rating scale and neurocognitive measures, will greatly increase access to essential pediatric assessment in all settings, including lower and middle income countries and underserved communities in resource-rich countries.
