The research behind Starday
While building Starday I read a lot of the research on kids with ADHD and kids on the autism spectrum — and on rewards and habits more generally. These are the studies that shaped how the app works, with what each one found and what it changed. I’m a parent, not a clinician; if you are making decisions about your own child, talk to your doctor.
By Tanya Aulachynskaya · Updated 2026-10-26.
ADHD
Behavioral inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions: constructing a unifying theory of ADHD
Barkley RA. Psychological Bulletin, 1997.
Barkley’s influential theory describes ADHD as, at its core, a difficulty with inhibition that knocks on to working memory, self-talk and the sense of time. Behaviour ends up driven by what is in front of the child right now, not by plans held in mind or consequences far in the future. His practical advice follows from that: put the information where the task happens, and make the consequences come sooner.
In Starday: the routine is on your child’s own screen as a short list of quests, so the next step is always visible instead of held in memory.
Psychological heterogeneity in AD/HD — a dual pathway model of behaviour and cognition
Sonuga-Barke EJS. Behavioural Brain Research, 2002.
Proposes two routes into ADHD: problems with executive control, and a motivational style called delay aversion — a strong preference for a small reward now over a bigger one later, and a dislike of waiting itself. For many kids with ADHD, the gap between doing something and getting something for it is the problem.
In Starday: stars land the moment a task is checked off, with no approval step that makes your child wait for a parent.
Clinical Practice Guideline for the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of ADHD in Children and Adolescents
Wolraich ML et al. Pediatrics, 2019.
The American Academy of Pediatrics guideline covers ages 4 to 18. For preschoolers, behavioural approaches come first: parent training in behaviour management and behavioural support in the classroom. For older children, it recommends medication alongside behavioural treatment. The techniques parents are taught — clear routines, specific praise, small rewards given consistently — are the everyday part of that treatment.
In Starday: it is a tool for exactly those everyday techniques: a consistent routine and consistent rewards. It is not a treatment, and it doesn’t replace one.
Attention Deficit–Hyperactivity Disorder and Month of School Enrollment
Layton TJ, Barnett ML, Hicks TR, Jena AB. New England Journal of Medicine, 2018.
In US states with a 1 September school cut-off, children born in August — the youngest in their class — were diagnosed with ADHD at about 85 per 10,000, against about 64 per 10,000 for September-born children. Normal immaturity in the youngest children can look like a disorder when they are compared with classmates almost a year older.
In Starday: task packs are set by age (4–6, 7–9, 10–12, 13–16) rather than school year, so a younger child gets a routine sized for them.
Autism spectrum
Evaluating Visual Activity Schedules as Evidence-Based Practice for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Knight V, Sartini E, Spriggs AD. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2015.
A review of studies from 1993 to 2013 on visual activity schedules — a sequence of pictures or words showing the steps of an activity. Of 31 studies that met the criteria, 16 were of acceptable quality, and the authors concluded visual schedules can be considered an evidence-based practice for people with autism, especially combined with systematic teaching.
In Starday: each routine is a visual sequence of steps with an emoji for every task, in the same order every day.
Evidence-Based Practices for Children, Youth, and Young Adults with Autism
Steinbrenner JR et al. National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice, 2020. Summarised in Hume K et al., Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2021.
A systematic review of autism intervention research published between 1990 and 2017, identifying 28 practices with clear evidence. Visual supports, reinforcement, prompting and breaking tasks into small steps (task analysis) are all on the list. The journal summary is open access.
In Starday: routines are built from small, specific tasks — “brush teeth”, not “get ready” — and finishing each one is reinforced straight away with stars.
Rewards and habits
A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation
Deci EL, Koestner R, Ryan RM. Psychological Bulletin, 1999.
Across 128 experiments, expected tangible rewards reduced people’s intrinsic interest in tasks they already found interesting. The effect matters for things a child enjoys for their own sake; it is much less of a concern for chores and routines that few children find rewarding in themselves.
In Starday: stars are meant for routines and chores, not for things your child already loves, and the rewards are yours to set and fade out over time.
How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world
Lally P, van Jaarsveld CHM, Potts HWW, Wardle J. European Journal of Social Psychology, 2010.
Ninety-six adults picked a new daily behaviour and tracked how automatic it felt. It took a median of 66 days to reach automaticity, with a huge range — from 18 to 254 days. Missing a single day didn’t derail the process.
In Starday: routines repeat on a schedule rather than being one-off tasks, so the same behaviour comes up at the same time every day — which is what habits are built from.
These summaries are my own reading of the research, for parents. They are not medical advice. If you are worried about your child, talk to your doctor.