Neurofeedback

As a psychologist who is a mother of an ADHD 9-year old, I’d love to be able to tell you neurofeedback worked. The truth is that we don’t know if it works or not. Most research in neurofeedback has very small samples size and lacks randomization and control groups. Most of the success stories are anecdotal. Why there was progress in one case and not another is unclear. In other words, the research does not meet the gold standard of research in sciences. Another problem is that there is a big split in the neurofeedback world between those who believe specific brain sites should be trained vs. those who believe more global training should be done. These two research types almost come to blows in conference meetings.

I’ve had several clients who paid $5,000 to $10,000 dollars to have their children go through complete neurotraining (often 40 to 80 sessions) with almost no change at all. I had one who believe the child got good control over temper but not good control of attention and focus.

I think within 5 years or so we’ll start to get some answers. If money is not an issue, you can give it a try. It’s still quite pricey. If interested in the approach, you might try to get your child into a university research project so he/she can get the training for free.

Let me know if you have any further questions.