adhd or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder can be a concerning mental health issue for kids as well as affect the adults while its very important to be on the lookout for warning signs and symptoms at the earliest onset researchers have now developed a novel technique using a smartphoneapp to help people and caregivers for adhd help accurately identify symptoms related to intellectual disbility and other related signs the most common genetic causes of intellectual disability are down syndrome and fragile x syndromethe goal said the researchers at university of californiadavis health in the us is to track symptoms related to executive function often associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder adhd using the new smartphone app called ibehaviorits a really smart use of a ubiquitous technology and it could make a huge difference in the accuracy of measurement in clinical trials said david hessl a professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at uc davis mind institutehessl was awarded a twoyear 431000 grant from the national institutes of health nih for the projectthe study will focus on children and young adults with intellectual disabilitythe majority of clinical trials focused on people with intellectual disability have relied on parent or caregiver questionnaires much like traditional paper and pencil rating scales said hesslthat means families have to remember over a fairly long period of time sometimes weeks what their childs behaviour was likethe app uses what we call an ecological momentary assessment where a parent or teacher observes the child or young adult and provides ratings of behaviour much closer to the time the behaviour occurred hessl addedfamilies will be trained in how to use the app and what behaviour to look forthe app will send a text when its time for them to start observing their child or young adult theyll observe for two hours then theyll get another text that its time to record what they observedtheyll record information about aggression and irritability hyperactivity and impulsivity attention problems anxietyrelated behaviour and avoidance and more likely daily classroom teachers may also be asked to take partthere is currently no treatment for fragile x syndrome there are only treatments for symptomsthe researchers are hopeful that this app will improve the assessment of a childs behaviour before during and after treatment as well improve the assessment of potential targeted treatments