About our study

The “Time Trekkers” study is part of a larger project conducted at King’s College London and is funded by the Simons Foundation for Autism Research (SFARI). Our aim is to develop a series of touch-screen games that reliably measure social, cognitive and emotional processes in children and young people of all ages and abilities.

Time Trekkers Version 0.1 currently includes 4 game-like assessment apps that measure social, cognitive and emotional processes in school-going children from 6-11 years. It features Theo, a young boy who has built a time machine that takes him to different eras around the globe. He introduces children to the dinosaur era, the pirate era, and the era of King’s and Queens.

Each game takes between 3 to 5 minutes and includes two versions:

1. Younger children or those with neurodevelopmental or learning difficulties can play the games with parental assistance;

2. Older children can play the games on their own.

• Dino-Go: measures children’s ability to inhibit a response

• Pirate attack: assesses children’s attention

• Treasure chests: measures children’s learning from rewards

• The Royal feast: measures children’s learning from social feedback

Our goal is to create for each child a profile of (relative) strengths and difficulties that in the future may help teachers or clinicians to assess his or her needs for support or therapies, and to make predictions about long-term development. Development of Time Trekkers started in January 2020 and is currently in the pilot phase. By taking part in the study, you and your child help us in refining those tasks. With your feedback, we hope to make them accessible and enjoyable to a more representative group of children.

Before taking part: please click the button below to read our Information Sheet

• Information Sheet