neurofeedback

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Has anyone had any experiences with neurofeedback for aspies? I'm considering it for my 15 year old son, before we resort to drugs to help him with extreme social anxiety and a lack of ability to get things done. Here in Southern California there is a clinic called the Drake Institute that reports success, they put on a great seminar and really sound sincere. It is also very expensive and inconvienient (about 2 houurs away, and they require up to three visists a week). Any info would be appreciated.

If you don't mind my asking, what do you hope to accomplish with this treatment? Are you hoping it will cure the AS, or simply help your son deal with it? In my personal experience, the cure approach seems to negate the person it seeks to cure, while trying to work with the AS is the healthier approach, IMO. I don't know a lot about neurofeedback, but I would suggest you find out a lot more before trying it, to avoid frustration.

While it's natural and usually helpful to try and find strategies to help our kids out with some of the hurdles their AS presents, especially the anxiety problems, sensory issues, and of course social dysfunctions.

Sadly, there are also lots of folks out there just waiting to take your money based on your honest desire to help your child. Some of these people seem at times to be affiliated with reputable organizations. Either way you should do plenty of research - find out about clinical trials, research, find out what's been written in the medical journals on it (if anything at all). Even though many parents will not use many "approved" interventions, if something doesn't even appear on the medical journals horizon I'd be very concerned.

Here's a synopsis:

Neurofeedback (EEG Biofeedback)


Neurofeedback (EEG Biofeedback) is a therapy in which a person is connected to an electroencephalograph (EEG), an electronic monitoring device that measures and monitors brain activity with sensing devices (electrodes) placed on the individual's scalp. Energy flow in the brain is picked up by these electrodes and is then displayed to an observer in graphic form as waves on a computer monitor. These so-called "brainwaves" are simultaneously converted to a video format and are displayed as an element in a video game on a second monitor that is visible directly opposite the seated patient. As the patient views the monitor, she is told simply to notice how to 'play the game' and to do as well as she can. Any time the patient's brain activity strikes a normal rhythm or range, progress in the game will occur; changes in the desired direction will be reflected on the screen (by points, colors, music, etc.).
In this way, through operant conditioning (i.e., rehearsal and positive feedback), the patient automatically learns to regulate her brain energy. This regulation in turn is reflected in progressively more normal brainwaves outside the game setting. With sufficient training, natural rhythm brain activity is entrained. This more continuously regulates central nervous system (CNS) activity throughout the body and in turn affects all downstream CNS-linked systems (temperature, heart rate, respiration, etc.).

Athough there is anecdotal evidence that biofeedback for CFS can be helpful for some individuals, there don't seem to be any clinical trials which support this idea at present.

Thank you for the replies, and I hope to get more replies , hopefully from people who have tried the therapy. I know there must have been a few!
To answer your question, I do not want to change my son, I like him fine the way he is. I do want him to be able to take a place in society that includes speaking with people, right now he can't order a pizza by phone. I don't want to resort to drug tharapy, that would seem to imply that he has a disease that needs curing, I see the neorofeedback as more of a therapy.
I now realize that I have Asperger's, although not as pronounced as my son. As a teenager I drank very heavily and used drugs as an attempt to feel normal or just feel something. Needless to say it didn't work. Reading the teen forum ws a terrifying lesson in that some aspies today are even more alienated than I remember being, and I am desparate to do something to ease the way for my kid.
I will be careflul

I have not tried it either but read about it for ADHD treatment. I even thought about building my own system or buying one. Here is a website to build your own:

http://openeeg.sourceforge.net/doc/

I have seen a few user report they tried it for ADHD on another forum site(for ADHD)
though nobody gave it great reviews. I think its expensive like a minium of 50 sessions at $100 each(that might buy a life time supply of meds if you bought an annunity with that money)

Serious scientist consider it junk science . You can do a search on medline for real studies though experts will trash those studies as non-controlled.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/quer ... &DB=pubmed

Last edited by TheMachine1 on 22 Nov 2006, 7:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

My mother tried it with me. She thinks that it might have helped; I merely found it boring and pointless, as in my mind I never saw any correlation between "think the yellow bar down" and the yellow bar on the screen actually going down.

There's a lot of things where I think DIY is the way to go. EEG machines and neurofeedback I think I'd leave to what professionals there may be out there.

But the problem is the word "professional" used in the same sentence with
neurofeedback. Its not a legit treatment. Its for research purpose only. And in that
case its a perfect DIY project.

I just went through 20 sessions with my son and I did see improvement. He still needs to go back for another 20 sessions - but his doctor said that should be it. I saw improvements when I was consistent with it. I'm busy all the time and missed sessions here and there, but I still saw overall improvement with his frustration levels and his ability to actually have a real conversation with me here and there. He actually listened to me and got things from the car after two or three sessions. I'm waiting till we have a bit more money and then may complete the next twenty sessions (he may always want to have booster sessions every 3-12 months after the therapy is done).

I'm going to also try something called NAET - If there is success with this, I'll post.

Here's a link to my son's doctor (she was closer than Drake and he actually had his sessions with her and not some assistant). I chose her over Drake because she was more personable and patient with both my son and me .


http://www.neurofeedback-dribric.com/

Good Luck!

Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

I guess I'm just thinking DIY is great to try refinishing your kitchen cabinets say. But building a machine to play with your kids brain??

By "the professionals" I really meant I guess the ones who build the machines, etc.

Our son has made amazing strides in the last two years, with not much more than parental understanding and involvement. Maybe we're just lucky.

I tried it as an adult. It didn't help me. I also found it boring and pointless. Before spending more money, I'd ask your son if he found it useful. He's the only one who knows Often we see improvement from the outside, because it's what we WANT to see. In the end, my panic attacks were so bad that I couldn't leave the house, so I had to use meds (sadly). I still do. I don't think any drug can make your child more comfortable socially. I have a mood disorder on top of HFA/AS, and I take Paxil, which is for social phobia. While I don't get suicidal or depressed anymore, I am certainly not "social" or good with people. I do have friends that accept me for myself, but really don't care to socialize with groups or meet NEW people, Paxil or no Paxil. And Neurofeedback didn't help me with that either.

It seems that the neurofeedback isn't as successful in adults. I've heard alot about people having success with their children. I've even met an two different adult who cured their add and one of them had cured his cronic pain as well. It was through one of them that I found my doctor in Pasadena.

Has anyone tried the wheat-free, dair-free diet? Are there ways to alter it or do you have to cut it out completely?