Should Your Child Try Neurofeedback for ADHD?

Neurofeedback or EEG biofeedback is a brain-training treatment. It helps boost attention span in children with ADHD. Whether neurofeedback is effective or not depends on who you ask. However, some parents with children who have ADHD feel it is worth the money.

 

What Does Neurofeedback Involve?

Neurofeedback involves the use of EEG sensors to map your child’s brain. Using a helmet that resembles that used on a bike, the doctor will place the EEG sensors on your child’s head. They are safe, painless, and do not go into the child’s scalp or head. He or she is then asked to play a video game that they control with their brain.

 

The game could be that of a fish swimming in the ocean. Your child is then asked to help the fish swim through the ocean as other creatures swim by. The more they concentrate on the game and the fish swimming, the more they get rewarded. The word could be a song that plays or a power-up where the fish swims deeper into the ocean.

 

Whatever the reward, your child learns with time how it feels to concentrate. At the same time, their brain is being retrained, creating new neural pathways. As they learn this new behavior, they gain more control over the ADHD symptoms.

 

Cost

Several studies involving a total of 250 children show that neurofeedback is very promising in the treatment of ADHD. This brain training does not happen in one session. The standard number of sessions is 30 to 40, each taking about 40 minutes. This means several weekly visits for several months. But when this treatment works, your child will learn how to harness his or her brain waves and control them.

 

Getting the recommended number of treatments is expensive, and you may have to pay out of your pocket. This is because insurance companies may not cover it. However, your psychologist may give you information on how you can get coverage. This will help you cover the cost.

 

Benefits

Giving medication to your young children for ADHD may be very hard as a parent. It may leave you with feelings of guilt and hopelessness as you see them suffering. Neurofeedback is a non-intrusive, drug-free treatment. It teaches your children’s brain how to form those neuronal connections needed to perform tasks that need attention.

 

Improvements in Attention and Focus

Children who have gone through this treatment can deal with impulsiveness. They learn how to focus and concentrate as their brain forms new neuronal connections. This results in improvements in attentiveness even six months after the treatment sessions were over.

 

Non-Intrusive and Drug-Free

This treatment is not intrusive, and there is no use of drugs. Even if your child is on medication, they can continue. The EEG sensors only receive feedback; they do not feed any data into your child’s brain. The brain learns on its own and forms new neural pathways.


 

For more information on Neurofeedback for ADHD, contact Bagnell Brain Center at our office in Pinecrest, Florida. You can call (305) 889-7488 today to schedule an appointment.

​​​​​​​

​​​​​​​