Neural Feedback Training as Therapy for ADHD?

jamesh asks: "I asked Slashdot (anonymously) a while back about my daughter, who has been diagnosed with ADHD. The Ritalin has made a lot of difference but things are still not quite right, and she has developed various vocal tics (grunting, odd little noises, words and so forth... think Tourette's Syndrome, only not nearly as bad), which is one of the side effects of stimulant medication. She's now a lot less of an outcast and appears able to better interact with other kids, but we're still looking at alternate treatments. It may be the trendy new thing, but we've now started down the road of neural feedback therapy. Does anyone out there have any experience in this treatment? First hand 'I've tried it once and it changed/ruined my life' anecdotes would be great, but if you have a child, friend or acquaintance who has been through this treatment, it would be really useful to hear about their experiences." We also discussed ADHD treatments in another related Ask Slashdot but I don't see any mention of such a therapy in that discussion. Has anyone heard of studies or reports on patients of Neural Feedback Therapy?

"If you haven't heard of it, the idea is that by attaching sensors to the head, brainwaves can be measured, and by providing visual feedback, you can actually train your brain to regulate its activity. An ADHD person supposedly has a brain which isn't very good at keeping itself in 'concentration' mode. In a child, the feedback takes the form of a game or in the case of an infant, a pleasing pattern on the screen (an infant would probably be treated for sleep disorders, not ADHD, in case you were wondering). When the brainwaves are in the 'right' state, the game proceeds or the patterns get prettier. When the brainwaves are erratic, it all slows down.

Because it is a trendy new thing, it's been put forward as a possible treatment for many other things including sleeplessness, epilepsy and other disorders, but one of the better successes has been in the treatment of ADHD.

The whole thing sounds quite plausible, but it is also quite expensive. All of the stuff I've read has been either from the suppliers of the treatment, or from people trying to discredit it."

Comments

ADHD is not real.

[Xarius]

I don't believe in ADHD/ADD at all. Children are naturally naughty, curious, and full of energy. Why must Americans attempt to find something wrong with everyone, handing labels out willy-nilly.

At the end of the day "kids will be kids"--Yes, that is an actual saying folks. If you pump the little sods full of these sedatives or whatnot you are ruining the learning experience of a child, in respect to social rules.

A naughty child properly disciplined will grow up OK in most cases. A naughty child fed drugs will grow up to be one of the many idiots that populate the western world today.

Re:ADHD is not real.

[iron_weasel]

Why do they attempt to find something wrong?

Because they can get free money and welfare for it and make their lives easier. Not only will the child get it but the 'caregiver' also.

They also get to lay the blame for illness off on someone else instead of themselves and their dysfunctional family(if it even consists of the defintion of a family). Father, Mother , Children. Or more like Mother and optional sleeping partner and somebodies children , we're not sure.
Or Daddy and the slut of the day.

Re:ADHD is not real.

[PhoenixFlare]

I don't believe in ADHD/ADD at all. Children are naturally naughty, curious, and full of energy. Why must Americans attempt to find something wrong with everyone, handing labels out willy-nilly.

As someone that's suffered some mental health issues of his own, I can safely say you're full of it. Like it or not, some people DO have problems, and are "labled" correctly as having such. Often, it can be because something needs to be formally diagnosed before you can get certain treatment, extra help from the school system, etc.

At the end of the day "kids will be kids"--Yes, that is an actual saying folks. If you pump the little sods full of these sedatives or whatnot you are ruining the learning experience of a child, in respect to social rules.

As someone has already said, WRONG. One of the more common drugs, Ritalin (Methylphenidate), is actually a CNS stimulant.

Take your ill-informed attempts at US-bashing elsewhere, please. Judging by your other posts, you're not very good at it.

How about.

[DAldredge]

How about you spend time with her? I don't mean after school, I am talking about during the day. Teach her yourself if you have to. But, you won't, you are looking for a quick fix and damn what it does to your daughter. You appear to be more concerned with her IQ then you do her health. You describe what is happening to her as 'various vocal tics' but it could be more than that.

Feeding a 6 year old drugs that we are unsure how they work is not a good thing. Most of the great thinkers of the past 1000 years have/had some/all of the symptoms assosiated with ADHD.

ADHD is BS

[EmCeeHawking]

How did this make the frontpage of Slashdot? ADHD is a contrived "disorder" invented by psychologist quacks and pharmaceutical marketing geniuses.

ADHD is a formal way of describing a person who is too lazy or stupid to get his/her shit together.

I could say I expected more from Slashdot, but then again, I didn't really, especially after the "Multiple Chemical Sensitivity" BS article.

Re:Not a disease

[the_2nd_coming]

thats nice...I have ADD, my Sone has it, and I have to tell you, getting it treated is better than what you have to live through.

ADD kids suffer from Low self esteme, they are considered stupid by their peers and many end up self medicating either by smoking a lot, becoming alcoholics, caffine addicts, or they use drugs.

you are very ignorent about the consequences of this disorder, so your opinions on it matter little.