A Hero's Journey': using codesign to develop a fine motor skills video game with and for children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD)

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), is a neurological disorder that among other things affects fine and gross motor coordination in around 5-6% of school-aged children worldwide. Despite research indicating the effectiveness of digital technology in supporting children with DCD, digital tools such as video games have not yet broken into mainstream DCD support. This project developed a video game-based support for children with DCD through a co-design process. This co-design process had two facets, firstly I worked with adult expert participants to develop ideas for how video games could be used as support for children with DCD, conducting a series of interviews with experts in supporting children with DCD, secondly I worked with 5 children with DCD to co-design key elements of a video game, including character, story and user interfaces, as a way to ensure that the developed game developed is not only effective but something that children with DCD would want to use and enjoy. Using this process, a game was developed to challenge and improve fine motor skills through a series of different interactions. The game was evaluated by 8 teachers, who reported that the game was effective, valuable and something they could use in schools.