Dr. David Grodberg, medical director of the Yale Child Study Center and creator of digital health startup MindNest Health, was amazed by all the advancements for behavioral learning, but wanted to solve the problem of barriers getting in the way of providing these innovations to children
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Dr. David Grodberg, medical director of the Yale Child Study Center and creator of digital health startup MindNest Health, was amazed by all the advancements for behavioral learning, but wanted to solve the problem of barriers getting in the way of providing these innovations to children.
According to Grodberg, parents are typically on long waitlists to get applied behavior analysis (ABA) services for their children, and when services are available, they are in-person between a provider and the child.
“The parents aren’t really involved too much, learning the strategies that they can use all day long when they’re with the child,” Grodberg said.
MindNest Health is a brand new technology to teach parents, grandparents and other caregivers to care for children with behavioral issues. Grodberg describes the digital parent-training program as “bite-sized” animated lessons that only take about 15 to 20 minutes per day. Once launched, the parents or caregivers will help the child perform each lesson provided.
For example, Grodberg talks about a lesson on turn-taking. The child is taught how to take turns using a toy or playing a game in order to prompt social and communication skills.
At the end of the lesson, parents have the option to speak with a coach, who will look over the lesson and provide real-time feedback.
Grodberg emphasizes this is not a replacement for ABA therapy, but another helpful tool.
Investor interest
MindNest Health uses the same behavioral interventions that are practiced by experts at academic centers. Its technology can help with treating pediatric autism, tantrums, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety, Grodberg said.
According to the seven-employee company, early intervention is important for children with disorders such as autism and ADHD. Studies show kids should receive early intervention before reaching preschool while the brain is still forming, so they have a better chance to develop to their full potential.
Lauren Belliveau, CEO of MindNest Health, said there is a significant need for the program.
“There is nothing out there focusing on the same amount of clinical expertise and effort to help the caregivers,” she said. “The way the American Academy of Pediatrics looks at autism and other behavioral conditions in terms of the protocols, one of the critical steps is parent training. We know that the physicians consider parent training to be a critical component of these conditions and yet the tools out there are pretty archaic. They’re either photocopies of pamphlets that pediatricians hand out to parents or a book you get at Barnes & Noble, but there’s nothing exclusively out there that is for the parents and caregivers.”
MindNest’s technology has attracted investor interest.
In April 2020, the company raised $300,000 in seed financing from the NeuroNetworks Fund and Connecticut Innovations, the state’s quasi-public venture arm. NeuroNetworks is a venture fund that emphasizes investing in treatments to help with autism, epilepsy and schizophrenia. Previously MindNest received $30,000 from another CI bioscience investment program.
With the seed financing, the company was able to take its prototype and make a scalable platform that is HIPPA compliant and translatable into 78 languages, and create an artificial intelligence component to help coach parents and caregivers.
People working in centers that teach ABA believe this technology could help them tremendously.
“What we ask families to do is not always manageable,” said Abigail Dunn, the clinical integrity officer for InBloom Autism Services, which has offices in Hamden and East Hartford. “So if there is something like this application for those families outside of our [therapy] time … I can definitely see the benefits for a learner to continue their learning.”
The initial launch of the platform will provide coaching for autism, ADHD, anxiety and tantrums. Grodberg said he believes the technology will be available for doctors to use as a training tool within the next month.
In the future Grodberg wants to integrate the platform and use it to help children cope with the behavioral health aspect of diseases like diabetes and asthma, he said.
