Game system aims to slow the advance of dementia

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Naperville Sun

By JASON DUARTE For The Sun



When Naperville resident Jim McArdle began having trouble with his usual crossword puzzles and became frustrated with them, he went to see a doctor.

The 81-year-old was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease more than Last month, his son Jim E. McArdle of North Aurora entered a Father's Day online contest and won something that could help his father sort out life's other puzzles.

The system, called Dakim Brain Fitness, operates more like a game than a test, but tests both short- and long-term memory and operates in real time, adjusting the difficulty level based on each of the user's answers. The easy-to-use, touch-screen system aims to slow the advance of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. It hit the market in June.

The Dakim Brain Fitness System was created by inventor and CEO Dan Michel after he helped his father struggle through 13 years of Alzheimer's. During this time, Michel realized there is a therapeutic and emotional value in mental stimulation and came up with the system.

"It's based on standardized neurological tests," said Dakim representative Erika Schmit. "It tracks your success, and at the end of a session, you can see what your score is; long-term versus short-term."

As the elder McArdle answered the system's questions in his dining room, they would either get harder as he answered correctly, or easier if he answered incorrectly. This is what's known as "real time," Schmit said.