The document describes a mobile application called Happy Kids that aims to help identify and improve behavioral issues in Sri Lankan children. It focuses on four common disorders: ADHD, learning disabilities, autism, and anxiety/depression. The app provides questionnaires, activities and games for children and parents. It uses the results to diagnose the child's condition and recommend suitable therapies to track their progress over time. The researchers found the app could accurately identify symptoms in 70% of cases compared to standard questionnaires. It aims to better support relationships between the child, family, doctors and teachers to help the child's mental health.

1. Happy Kids application for child behavioural
problems
H.B.C.M Kulatilaka, M.T Wickramarachchi, M.A.P.U. Thilakarathne, H.M.L.P. Wijethunga
Abstract -Nowadays, children are suffering from a lot of
behavioural psycho-social conditions such as a lack of
understanding and empathy from teachers,
administrators and their peers. The literature is replete
with evidence of such treatment leading to negative
student behaviour and the resultant poor performance.
Consistent with this, is the reality that the number of
students with special needs or learning difficulties has
been increasing rapidly. As the field of educational
psychology continues to evolve and the new knowledge
we acquire is internalized, the need for education of
children with emotional and behavioural disorders
should be apparent to every stakeholder within the Sri
Lankan educational system. The research is about,
providing an integrated computer aided cognitive
solution to identifying, and improve children with four
common disabilities in Sri Lanka Called Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Learning
Disability (LD), Autism and Depression and Anxiety.
Through a systematic application, it gives a solution to
build the relationship between child parent, psychiatrist
and the other related parties in order to work towards
child’s mental improvement. We are mainly study how
psychiatrist face these children in real world and how
children react to them when they conduct such sessions,
also we are following the procedure of Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition
[DSM -5]. In our application we will give various
activities to children and parents in order to get the
decision about child’s current mental status. As future
work we will try to integrate more disorders to our
solution.
Keywords: child phycology, Behavioural Disorder,
Behavioural problems
I. INTRODUCTION
Our research is about providing an integrated
computer aided cognitive solution to identifying, and
improve children with common disabilities in Sri
Lanka, such as Autism, learning disabilities in reading,
ADHD and childhood depression and anxiety. By
building this we are research about how our solution
helps to build the relationship between child parent,
psychiatrist and the other related parties in order to
work towards child’s mental improvement. We are
mainly study how psychiatrists face these children in
real world and how children react to them when they
conduct such sessions. In our application we will give
various activities to children and parents in order to get
the decision about child’s current mental status. As
future work we will try to integrate more disorders to
our solution.
Children who have difficulty with handwriting or in
learning to read and spell often visible problems such
as memory recall blocks, attention deficit, speech
delay, clumsiness, poor co-ordination and other health
problems is knows as Learning Disabilities. Nearly
30% of Sri Lankan children show learning difficulties.
Learning difficulties sometimes considered as a form
of an infirmity which needs therapy. ADHD is the
most common mental health disorder of childhood and
results in serious impairment across a variety of
domains. Childhood depression and anxiety is difficult
to distinguish. They often express their feelings
through behaviour. Depression and anxiety affects
child’s overall energy, mood, expressions of emotion
and behaviour. Conditions in Sri Lanka a significant
number of children are affected by childhood
depression and anxiety. Most of these cases are
undiagnosed and not receiving adequate treatment.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers to a group of
complex neurodevelopment disorders characterized
by repetitive and characteristic patterns of behaviour
and difficulties with social communication and
interaction.
With the growth of technology we saw that other
countries are using many health applications based on
children. So we went to few major hospitals in Sri
Lanka. They use Technology in the form of E-Health
Software Solutions. But there are no proper
application for diagnosis Child Phycology. Most of
therapies advices are done by clinics and medical
check-ups. Because, whether you’re seeing a therapist
for a 50-minute hour once a week, or you’re seeing
your primary care doctor every six months, those
people aren’t going to be with you when your child
suffer from behavioural problems. You need help time
to time and you need to channel the doctor and attend
clinical advice regularly. To overcome this we use
technology to do that by introducing an application.

2. Children go through stages, as their brains
develop .They are trying out different emotions and
ways of reacting to the world. As they get towards
puberty, children can become more defiant as they
start to be independent and separate psychologically
from parents and cares. And when the teen years
begin, many young people become moody, angry or
weepy and fight with parents can become a daily
occurrence and when they went schools their reaction
with teacher also occurs. Children with this condition
are aggressive all the time in a way that causes
problems.
So their relationship with close parties is very
imperative. We figure out a weakness that most health
application based on children used in nowadays do not
focus the relationship with the close parties to child
they only give their priority to child or parents. But in
our application we are trying to building relationship
not only between children but also with Doctor,
parent, teachers and other close parties to the child.
When we discuss with some psychiatrist we figure out
that providing education and advice (psycho
education) to patients and their families is often seen
as an important early step in the treatment. Each and
individual treatment are doing by therapy. Therapy is
a treatment option that can help to reduce these
behaviours.
Most of child based phycology application based on
one or two health diseases and only identify whether
the child is suffering from particular disease. To
overcome with this we are tracking four diseases
because these behavioural problems shared some
common symptoms and particular child can suffer
from one or more diseases.
II. LITERATURE SURVEY
Child psychology, if we speak more broadly
developmental psychology is an area of study not just
about studying children, it’s about how you and me
came to be like this, study about past is a great oracle
of future. Even though there are many applications
around the world which try to identify different child
mental disorders, in Sri Lanka it is less likely to be
contact with the technology and according to the
literature survey done all the diagnosis information
and patient personal information maintain on a manual
ledger. A child cannot contact the psychiatrist alone,
so all the closely related parties such as parents,
teachers, and even may be child’s friends need to visit
the psychiatrist. Though it is time consuming yet very
important to the child because those facts given the by
those related parties is playing a major role determine
the behavioural issue/s.
In Sri Lanka as well as most of the countries use the
Differential Diagnosis technique to determine the
mental disorder. Differential diagnosis is the bread and
butter of psychiatrists. Most parents do not come to the
clinic and say that ―My child has a major mental
disorder (Some do actually). In other mental health
diagnoses applications mostly do is isolates one
disorder and try to determine whether particular
person who uses it has the pre-programmed disorder.
But when it comes to child phycology is not like
diagnosing one disorder, it is like diagnosing several
out of several ( For example when diagnosing a child
we cannot directly assume that particular child has this
illness its rather like child has symptoms related to ten
different disorders). Following are some of the related
researches on child challenging behaviours, will
survey about the papers from the abstract along with
what we are try to do with our research.
Computer Assisted Instruction in Reading for Students
with Learning Disabilities [1]
The essential skill of reading, including decoding and
comprehension, has not been learned by all. The
number of children identified with learning disabilities
continues to increase in the United States. Of the
identified children, the majority are identified in the
area of reading. Educators continue to search for
interventions to improve students' reading skills. One
format that has provided promise for students with
Learning Disabilities (LD) is computer assisted
instruction (CAI). To evaluate the extent to which this
promise has been realized, this literature review was
conducted. A methodical search of the literature on
CAI in reading interventions for students with learning
disabilities yielded 17 studies. The studies were
evaluated by type of computer instruction (drill and
practice, strategy, and simulation) and type of reading
intervention (pre-reading, word recognition,
vocabulary/ language, and comprehension/higher
order thinking skills). Results indicate that most CAI
programs in reading for this population employ drill
and practice procedures, followed by strategy
instruction, then simulation. The area of reading
intervention focus was evenly split between word
recognition and reading comprehension, followed by
language/vocabulary, then pre-reading skills
instruction. In many studies CAI was found to be a
medium in which children improved reading skills.
Those studies demonstrating significant differences
favouring a CAI reading intervention, employed

3. effective teaching practices. Several characteristics of
effective practices using CAI are highlighted here.
Implications for future research employing CAI for
students with disabilities in reading are presented.
Use of a Computerized Decision Aid for ADHD
Diagnosis [2]
To determine if implementing attention-
deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis and
treatment guidelines in a clinical decision support
system would result in better care, including higher
rates of adherence to clinical care guidelines. We
conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial in
which we compared diagnosis and management of
ADHD in 6- to 12-year-olds after implementation of a
computer decision support system in 4 practices.
Eighty-four charts were reviewed. In the control
group, the use of structured diagnostic assessments
dropped from 50% in the baseline period to 38% in the
intervention period. In the intervention group,
however, it rose from 60% to 81%. This difference
was statistically significant, even after controlling for
age, gender, and race (odds ratio of structured
diagnostic assessment in intervention group versus
control group = 8.0, 95% confidence interval 1.6–
40.6). Significant differences were also seen in the
number of ADHD core symptoms noted at the time of
diagnosis. Our study was not powered to detect
changes in care and management, but the percent of
patients whohad documented medication adjustments,
mental health referrals, and visits to mental health
specialists were higher in the intervention group than
the control. The introduction of a clinical decision
support module resulted in higher quality of care with
respect to ADHD diagnosis including a prospect for
higher quality of ADHD management in children.
Future work will examine how to further develop the
ADHD module and add support for other chronic
conditions.
Effects of a Computer-Based Intervention Program on
the Communicative Functions of Children with
Autism [3]
This study investigated the use of computer-based
intervention for enhancing communication functions
of children with autism. The software program was
developed based on daily life activities in the areas of
play, food, and hygiene. The following variables were
investigated: delayed echolalia, immediate echolalia,
irrelevant speech, relevant speech, and communicative
initiations. Multiple-baseline design across settings
was used to examine the effects of the exposure of five
children with autism to activities in a structured and
controlled simulated environment on the
communication manifested in their natural
environment. Results indicated that after exposure to
the simulations, all children produced fewer sentences
with delayed and irrelevant speech. Most of the
children engaged in fewer sentences involving
immediate echolalia and increased the number of
communication intentions and the amount of relevant
speech they produced. Results indicated that after
practicing in a controlled and structured setting that
provided the children with opportunities to interact in
play, food, and hygiene activities, the children were
able to transfer their knowledge to the natural
classroom environment. Implications and future
research directions are discussed.
Computer-Assisted Cognitive Therapy for Depression
and Anxiety [4]
The aim of this investigation was to compare the
efficacy of computer assisted cognitive therapy
against standard cognitive therapy and a control group
without treatment for outpatients with nonpsychotic
major depressive disorder. Medication-free
participants (N=45) with major depressive disorder
were randomly assigned to cognitive therapy (N=15),
computer-assisted cognitive therapy (N=15), or a wait
list (N=15). Both active treatments consisted of nine
sessions over 8 weeks. Therapist time was reduced
after the first visit for computer-assisted cognitive
therapy, with 25-minute sessions rather than 50-
minute sessions. Assessments were completed pre-
treatment, after 4 and 8 weeks of therapy, and 3 and 6
months post treatment. Computer-assisted cognitive
therapy and standard cognitive therapy were superior
to the wait list control group for treatment of
depression and did not differ from each other on the
primary outcome variables. Improvement in
depression for both computer-assisted cognitive
therapy and standard cognitive therapy was
maintained at the 3- and 6-month follow-up
evaluations. Computer-assisted cognitive therapy had
more robust effects, relative to being wait-listed, than
standard cognitive therapy in reducing measures of
cognitive distortion and in improving knowledge
about cognitive therapy. Conclusions: A multimedia,
computer assisted form of cognitive therapy with
reduced therapist contact was as efficacious as
standard cognitive therapy. Computer assisted therapy
could decrease costs and improve access to cognitive
therapy for depression and anxiety.
III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Happy Kids system is mainly focuses to identify child
behavioural disorders and provide much more
practical and efficient solution for all children who
have Learning Disabilities, ADHD, Autism, and

4. Childhood Depression and Anxiety to improve their
physical and psychological activities and also the
behaviour patterns.
We have created both Standalone application and Web
application. Standalone application can be used by the
Child, Parent, Teacher and other related parties. In
here, we are providing questionnaires and various
activities for child, parents, teachers, and other related
parties to identify Child Disorders. As well as child
has to play some activities like games and the results
obtained from those activities are used for his/her
diagnose. According to the overall result gain from all
the mentioned activities the percentage level which the
child is having the disorder is detected. Then our
application can identify the suitable therapy for child
with the aid of the percentage level. Then the child and
also the parent, teachers and sometimes other related
parties also have to follow a series of activities or
therapies. And all the details and the results of the
therapies given to the child are saved in the database.
Those result will be populated using a cognitive
algorithms based on the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition [DSM -5], If
Doctor wants to check child’s improvement, he can
check through the web application which is another
part of our application. Apart from identifying and
provide therapies we are focusing on building the
relationship among child, parents, related parties and
the psychiatrist, therefor we will study how computer
aided diagnosis and therapy tool helps the psychiatrist
and the parents to take the decisions and improve child
mental health on a progressive manner.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
From this project, the result achieved for parent
questionaries’ testing we identify 70% were tally with
general questionaries’ given in clinics. When a child is
redoing the same game we identify 65% improvement
after few weeks. So using our application core
symptoms can be identify by 70%.
Testing performed to measure the accuracy of the
implementation. Unit testing is initiated at the very
beginning of the system implementation and
performed up to System Testing. While the
implementation process going on several testing
methods can be performed such as retests, regression
tests, performance tests (Black Box Testing and White
Box Testing techniques) etc. . . The testing has been
performed according to the main modules in the
application. Only several test cases are included here
to show that the main functionalities are working as
expected.
In our project we have identified a lack of technology
usage in psychiatry area and from we have chosen the
area of child psychology, in this study we have mainly
focused on the Sri Lankan child mental health
problems and how responsible parties involve in find
the cure for the same issues. When considering
children mental disorders to identify and addressing it
is a very default task due to children are yet learning
how to communicate and they may not understand
how to explain what they are going through at the
moment, so according to Dr. Chamara on Ragama
medical faculty, he explained that they normally do
not diagnose the child to find a single symptom but to
identify many symptoms of the child so it may vary
from most of the cases 3 to 5 disorders of the same
child.
In the current scenario we have visited the Ragama
medical facility to get an understanding about how the
mentally disabled children are getting treated, in there
we have seen that most of the parents are bringing their
child and they have no clue of how to deal with the
condition and all of the seems to be depressed with it,
So there will be around 150 patients daily for the clinic
and the area is really crowded and seems unhealthy
physically as well as mentally to the both parent and
the child. Once the patient is getting diagnose to child
will be given various tasks such as matching cards,
send the order of the objects, identify pictures. They
don’t give a fixed time limit to do that assigned
particular tasks, mean while other patients are waiting
to get a chance to get diagnose of the illness. By this
time even though this is tough and unhealthy
environment, parties are really satisfying with the set
up as they all are adopt to the current setup. Also they
need to visit the premises time to time to get an
understanding about the progress of the child.

5. Meanwhile doctors will train the parent to address and
help children to develop at home as well.
In our application we have identified those pain points
and try to give an integrated solution to identify,
improve and provide necessary knowledge about the
current condition of the children. To get the basic
understanding we have done a Day in A Life of session
at Ragama Medical Faculty and also refer the
guidelines given on the DSM-V book as it seems the
hand book of diagnosing a mental illness. If we
analyse the statistics of the current situation.
[8] The “caseness” of individuals who reported
symptoms is decided on basis of severity, persistence
of symptoms or chronicity, level of distress, social
impairments and burden on others. Only 38.8% did not
report any symptoms at all. 47.6% reported must be
noted that as a nation we continue to search for and
find solutions for understanding impairments and
burden on others. Only 38.8% did not report any
symptoms at all. 47.6% reported must be noted that as
a nation we continue to search for and find solutions
for understanding and working with symptoms that
were intense in quality. 17.0% reported that symptoms
had lasted over a year.10.1% reported symptoms to
have been present for 6-12 months. 13.8% reported
duration of 1-5 months. Thus, for 27.1%, symptoms
were chronic.
V. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORKS
In conclusion, it must be noted that as a nation we
continue to search for and find solutions for
understanding and working with our children.
While there has not been a comprehensive theoretical
framework for the education of these children,
incorporating and combining existing treatment
models with measures of flexibility and creativity will
generate very positive outcomes.
This software system will be a both web based and
standalone System for the children who are having
behavioural disorders. The main objective of the
system is to map a phycology based research
(cognitive, volitional, and emotional) to a computer
based research using functional assessment. In
functional assessment we have figured out why your
child acts a certain way and variety of techniques to
understand what’s behind inappropriate behaviours.
.When comparing with other model that focuses on
child behaviour this application goes with real world
implementation and data which have been collected
through clinical and hospitals.
Since this is based on child phycology which is related
to mental conditions of a human being we can’t
grantee the system give you 100% perfect answer.
Therefore we are maintaining a separated web based
application under guidance of special doctors who are
related to psychology.
In the final analysis, the challenge is to get families,
educational psychologists special educators and
literacy specialists on board in order that the right
methods can be employed and the confidentiality of
the child is maintained. It is the family that will play
the pivotal role in helping to plan intervention
programmers including the goals and objectives for
the child. Their input will be enlisted in terms of
follow up and continuity both at home and school.
It’s tested out in the field and till its usefulness is
analysed. So the final outcome gives the best
experiences to user.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge Supervisor of
Research, Mr. Yasas Mallawarachchi and Dr.
Chamara and the staff of the Ragama Central Hospital
of Sri Lanka, for the valuable information provided by
them in their respective fields.
REFERENCES
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[2] (USE OF A COMPUTERIZED DECISION AID FOR
ADHD DIAGNOSIS:- AARON E. CARROLL, N.D.)
[3] (EFFECTS OF A COMPUTER-BASED INTERVENTION
PROGRAM ON THE -HETZRONI, N.D.)
[4] (COMPUTER-ASSISTED COGNITIVE THERAPY FOR
DEPRESSION: MAINTAINING EFFICACY WHILE
REDUCING THERAPIST TIME BY JESSE H. WRIGHT,
N.D.)

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