Could playing a video game improve your child's ADHD symptoms? That's the promise fueling a surge in digital therapeutics and other emerging tech tools designed to help individuals manage their ADHD. Virtual reality games with stimuli to punch or avoid. Video games requiring problem-solving strategies to save the galaxy from a meteor storm. A to-do app designed to help kids follow routines.

A new video game is just what the doctor ordered, at least for some kids. For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a prescription video game. Now, physicians may prescribe Akili Interactive's EndeavorRx, formerly known as Project EVO, to children between the ages of 8 and 12 who struggle with ADHD. The game challenges users to dodge obstacles and collect targets as they navigate icy winter wonderlands and lava rivers, guided by aliens who zip around on flying saucers. The developers say the game stimulates neural systems that are intrinsic to attention function.