Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Neurofeedback for ADD - week 2 and hopeful

We decided to bite the financial bullet and try Neurofeedback, I don't want to jinx it but I am quite excited and cautiously optimistic about what I have seen so far! So much so, that we have decided to hold off on trying new meds(the first ADD meds worked well for 3 months and then stopped working completely while she was away at college).

I am going to describe it in case anyone else here is curious like I was for details:
Last summer when we first tried medication, the first thing my DD noticed was that while on the meds, she could quickly answer multiplication questions which she could never do before. After her first two sessions of NFT, she can do that again! We are doing 2 back-to-back sessions each visit with a 20 minute break in between since it's a long drive.

DD said she could feel her brain doing something active, sort of like a painless headache was the best she could describe it. On the drive home after sessions 1 & 2, I threw a bunch of multiplication questions at her and she rattled off the answers without hesitation. An hour later I threw out a double digit question out of the blue and she said "I guess it has worn off...no, wait..." and then she gave me the correct answer, after that she could again rattle off the answers quickly. She said when I threw the double digit question at her she felt her brain firing up again, the same feeling she had right after the session, and she was then able to once again pull the answers quickly. So it's like her brain is making new connections and strengthening them.

I am really intrigued, I got to watch a little bit of the first session and after completing a brain map, the therapist said he will be working out the executive function area (pre-frontal cortex?) first. She was hooked up to the computer and told to completely relax and with nothing but her mind make the yellow and blue bars that were gyrating up and down stay below the line at the middle of the screen, these bars were visual representations of her brainwaves at different frequencies, by learning to control them, she is teaching her brain to focus without frenzy. Once she got that down she moved onto cartoons for session 2: if she is focusing correctly, the cartoon is clear, when she stops, the cartoon goes dark. The cartoon is on a loop so in 1/2 hour she watched the same one 5 times, she said after 2 times it was boring but the therapist explained that this is also teaching her to be able stay focused even when something is not that interesting.

I asked a mom in the waiting room what she thought about it and she told me her son was nearing the end of his treatment (32 of 40 sessions) and it was like a miracle, he was a whole new kid. I didn't have the nerve to ask what he was in for, but I am going to assume ADHD. The kid was maybe 8-10 years old and he said he liked it, that he especially enjoyed the cartoons.

The therapist told me that from the brain map he could see too much activity during the relaxed state and they would work to remedy that. Of course I started worrying about him dumb-ing down her 142 VCI or PRI rather than speeding up the PSI and WMI to compensate for the 30-40 point gap. He said it's more about making more efficient nerve connections and learning to control when to transition from relaxed to heightened states and vice-versa.

He said one can usually expect to see:

-improved sleep after 10 sessions,
-a calming effect after 12 sessions,
-task completion after 20 sessions,
-overall much better functioning/self control after 30,
-normal functioning after 35 sessions.

I have read that for PDD-NOS or other spectrum issues it could take closer to 100 sessions and or could not be effective but he seemed to think this treatment also helps with those issues and he has been doing this for 16 years. He also uses this therapy on recovering addicts with great success, apparently it allows one to control OCD symptoms which tend to exacerbate addiction problems.

There is a Neurologist in Dallas that has been using this NFT to help people who suffer from seizures become seizure free.

It's quite exciting! If this works, I may go back to school and get trained/licensed to practice this so I can help people. Caution though: if you are considering NFT, make sure you go to someone who has had proper training, apparently anyone can buy the equipment and hang a shingle and I wouldn't want someone without serious experience and training to start messing with my neuro-connections!

DD will go back 3 times next week for 6 sessions which will bring her to 10, so theoretically, she could be sleeping soundly by next weekend!

Nik

SO interesting and exciting! Please keep us posted. I heard an interview with a local psychologist who has a clinic that sounds like something similar. He has the kids play video games and as long as they are focused the game remains challenging. If their focus wonders the games slow down. According to his website he also uses it for anxiety, ASD, SPD, LD's, etc. I have been curious but don't want to expose DD to anything unproven just to TRY to help her - know what I mean? I would love to read updates on how your DD is doing with it!

Update: DD finished her 10th session last Thursday and she has reported that she has noticed she is sleeping much better and she has had no nightmares recently..YAY! She is still able to quickly answer math facts and she seems to be calmer (not talking a mile a minute and staying on topic).


We were told that it will also work for her anxiety and PDD-NOS/ASD and if so, that would just be icing on the cake. In my research I found that while it may help with these issues ("possibly efficacious"), the studies thus far have all shown improvement for ADHD subjects with no negative side effects ("probably efficacious").

It appears that the only reason it is not yet covered by our health insurance is that none of the studies controlled for other treatment factors (i.e. the participants may have been going to counseling concurrently which may have impacted the degree of effectiveness). My DD has also started going to a Psychologist for CBT, I don't care if I never know which one helped the most as long as DD is seeing improvement!

Thanks for posting, Nik, this is really great to hear, especially since our DD seems to have symptoms of all of the above. If you get a chance, could you please post (or PM me) where you are or if you're comfortable the name of the practitioner? I would love to find something like this near us--but actually since we are on the East coast, and it seems like you're not, I guess it will still be awhile before we can try something like this.

I'm glad it's going well for your DD--continued good luck!

How did you find your practitioner Nik? I am very interested in neurofeedback for my ADHD DS11. Thanks for such a detailed description!

fwtxmom and dbat, I pm'd you

Thanks for posting this. I've seen ads for NFT in local parent/school magazines in our area and was curious to hear about it. Do you know how early can they start NFT? Do you know how they determine if NFT is warranted or not? How do they determine results or how many sessions are needed? Thanks.

I asked DD's therapist and he said the youngest he as seen had just turned 4 years old. He said at that age the treatment works much faster and less sessions are necessary due to how (plastic?) their brains are but for the same reason it may not have permanent results as it seems to on older patients. He said there have not been studies on the lasting effects for patients that young. I think they review the individual's case history and current difficulties to determine whether NFT could help. I think it is generally accepted that it helps with ADHD based on studies. Many believe it helps with other things too. I read that sports teams have been using it to gain a competitive edge by learning to control focus.

So far I can personally attest that it helps with sleep issues and quick recall of math facts...I will update if/when I can see anything else by way of significant change.

I am following this thread closely. Thank you, Nik for keeping us informed of your progress. It's fascinating; until you posted this, I had no idea this existed for ADD.

This seems like a pretty thorough review of the studies thus far on the efficacy of neurofeedback for ADHD/ADD:
http://www.hp-add.com/articles/neuromonstra.pdf
Given the consistent findings that subjects who had the neurofeedback therapy sustained the improved functioning as opposed to the non-neurofeedback groups who lost gains after a week of no medication...I can't believe this is not mainstream!