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Who is behind Teselora

Teselora is a small, independent project. This page explains who runs it, where the exercises come from and what the site is not.

Who is behind it

I am Sandor Farkas, a software developer and father, and I run this site. As a family we were looking for short exercises that work without a screen, fit into a few minutes and need no preparation. What we found were mostly long lists or material for professionals. That is why the Teselora exercises exist.

I do not work in occupational therapy, medicine or psychology. Teselora is a parent project without ads. 10 exercises are completely free.

Teselora also includes an app for family routines: you plan routines as cards, your child collects points and trades them for rewards. Version 1.0 is free, without ads and without in-app purchases.

Where the exercises come from

The idea for the exercises with templates came from a purchased exercise course. I did not have the course videos. I worked out the descriptions and rules from the underlying principles and checked them against the occupational therapy and research sources linked below. They are therefore my own assessment, not instructions from the course. I designed the printable templates myself from scratch, they do not come from the course.

On top of that there are bonus exercises without templates. These are well-known games such as “Simon Says”, “I Packed My Suitcase” or cross crawls in a marching rhythm. Their sources are in the list below.

What the site is not

Teselora is not a therapy and does not diagnose anything. It does not replace occupational therapy, your pediatrician or professional advice. The exercises are play, practice and time together. I do not promise any effect on ADHD.

If you are worried about your child, talk to your pediatrician. They can refer you to a specialist or a child development center. Many countries also have parent associations for ADHD that offer advice and support groups.

Sources

The texts on this website are based on these studies and professional sources. The studies look at movement and attention training in general, not at these exact exercises. The professional sources at the end of the list describe the principles behind the exercises with templates. They do not show that these exercises have an effect.

  1. Diamond & Lee (2011), ScienceOverview of programs that improve executive functions in children aged 4 to 12.
  2. Diamond & Ling (2016), Developmental Cognitive NeuroscienceWhat can be said about training executive functions and where the limits are.
  3. Song et al. (2023), PLOS OneMeta-analysis on exercise and executive functions in children with ADHD.
  4. Zhu et al. (2023), Frontiers in Public HealthNetwork meta-analysis comparing types of exercise in children with ADHD.
  5. Li et al. (2023), Frontiers in PhysiologyMeta-analysis on exercise and attention in school-age children with ADHD.
  6. Cortese et al. (2015), JAACAPMeta-analysis on cognitive training for ADHD, with small effects in everyday life.
  7. Westwood et al. (2023), Molecular PsychiatryMeta-analysis on computerized training for ADHD.
  8. Schmitt et al. (2015), Early Childhood Research QuarterlyCircle games with stop rules for preschool children in the US.
  9. Willoughby et al. (2021)The same game program in Kenya, where it showed no measurable effect.
  10. Hyatt (2007), Remedial and Special EducationReview of “Brain Gym”: no solid evidence for its claims about the brain hemispheres.
  11. Blank et al. (2019), Developmental Medicine & Child NeurologyInternational recommendations on developmental coordination disorder (DCD).
  12. AWMF S3-Leitlinie ADHS (2018)German guideline on ADHD, currently under revision.
  13. Robert Koch-Institut (2018), Journal of Health MonitoringHow often ADHD is diagnosed in children and adolescents in Germany (KiGGS wave 2).
  14. Eirich et al. (2022), JAMA PsychiatryMeta-analysis on screen time and behavior in children up to age 12.
  15. BIÖG, kindergesundheit-info.deScreen time recommendations by age from Germany's Federal Institute of Public Health.
  16. Your Therapy Source: Crossing Midline ExercisesOccupational therapy blog with crossing the midline exercises.
  17. Growing Hands-On Kids: Crossing Midline ExercisesOccupational therapy blog with movement games across the body's midline.
  18. Occupational Therapy Helping Children (2022): What is Bilateral CoordinationOccupational therapy page on bilateral coordination: both hands at once, taking turns or with different roles.
  19. The OT Toolbox: Visual Motor SkillsOccupational therapy page on eye-hand coordination, including following with the eyes.
  20. The OT Toolbox (2023): What is Visual Memory?Occupational therapy page on visual memory: remembering and reproducing sequences, positions and patterns.
  21. The OT Toolbox (2014): Visual ScanningOccupational therapy page on scanning with the eyes in order, line by line.
  22. The OT Toolbox (2022): Visual DiscriminationOccupational therapy page on telling shapes apart by color, size and orientation.
  23. The OT Toolbox (2024): Why we Need to Support Directional Concepts in OTOccupational therapy page on directions such as up, down, left and right, practiced through movement.
  24. di Cesare et al. (2023), Innovations in Clinical NeuroscienceDescribes cancellation tasks: finding and marking target symbols among others, as a test of selective attention.
  25. Diamond (2013), Annual Review of PsychologyReview of executive functions: inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility.
  26. Wang et al. (2024), ChildrenExplains inhibition tasks in children, including the Stroop principle: naming a color while holding back the obvious answer.
  27. McClelland et al. (2019), Frontiers in PsychologyPreschool movement games where colors stand for actions, with stop and opposite rules.
  28. Obradović et al. (2021), Developmental PsychobiologyStudy with school children on slow, deep breathing to calm down. It only measured short-term body signals.

How Teselora is funded

Teselora shows no ads. 10 exercises on this website are completely free, with instructions and a sheet to print. For all others the first step is free.

Income comes from the printable pack, a PDF with all sheets and extra material. I sell it myself, payment is handled by the payment provider Stripe. The money goes to me as the operator.

How the site handles data

The site sets no cookies when you visit and only measures visits anonymously without cookies. There is only a cookie for buyers of the printable pack after they sign in. Nobody needs to sign in for the exercises. If you pick a language in the switcher, only your browser remembers that choice. Everything else is in the privacy policy.

Contact

Found a mistake, know a better source or have an idea for an exercise? Write to me at hello@teselora.com. Please do not send any health information about your child.