Florida State University’s Children’s Learning Clinic has reached a milestone of serving 500 families with free ADHD evaluations, diagnoses, and treatments, offering novel approaches to address the growing public health concern.
Clinic Mission and Achievement
Since opening in 2015, the Children’s Learning Clinic at FSU’s Department of Psychology has provided gold-standard evaluations and treatments for children with ADHD and related disorders at no cost to families. The clinic director, Leah Singh, a licensed psychologist, describes the evaluations as ones that “specifically look for ADHD and cast a broad net to understand other issues that may be present.”
ADHD Prevalence
Nearly one in nine children between ages 3 and 17 in the U.S. have been diagnosed with ADHD, totaling more than 7 million overall. This number continues to rise according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children with ADHD have difficulties with executive function—the neurological activities supported by the prefrontal and frontal brain areas that help plan and guide behavior—because these brain regions are underdeveloped.
Treatment Approach
The clinic uses arcade-style video games that target brain functions associated with working memory to treat ADHD by strengthening the brain’s central executive system. As children play, they show improvements in learning, impulse control, planning, organizing, and emotion regulation. Clinic founder Michael Kofler, a licensed psychologist, states the goal is “treating the root cause of ADHD instead of its symptoms” and developing “effective and accessible non-medication options to help kids with ADHD thrive.”
Research Support and Resources
The CLC has received multiple grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, including a $9 million grant in 2022 to expand treatments for pediatric ADHD. The clinic’s work is supported by four full-time licensed psychologists, three faculty affiliates, and 13 staff members, doctoral students, and interns. The clinic also offers parent training classes to help families understand and manage children’s symptoms and improve advocacy for their child.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://news.fsu.edu/news/health-medicine/2026/02/26/fsus-childrens-learning-clinic-celebrates-providing-free-adhd-evaluations-treatments-to-500-families/