Hi, I don't read in this forum much, but I post in the TOS forum regularly. Sorry to crash but I saw this thread and have relevant experience, happy to share it...

I put my (then) 12yo daughter into neurofeedback. She was newly diagnosed at the time (hit major wall in 7th grade leading to evaluation and dx)

She has fairly severe add...and more of a hyperactive brain than one that has trouble turning on. (kind of like Dr Amen's ring of fire type) We did quantitavtive EEG testing at the neurofeedback clinic she went to which is where I got this interpretation of her brain activity. And yes people will argue that quantitative EEG is not accurate enough to be used as a measure so I only offer it up for what it is: a quantitative EEG that may or may not be meaningful.

That being said, we attended on the order of 60 neurofeedback sessions. THe dr in charge thought that my daughter would require about 40 more when we stopped. We quit because we were going 3-4 days a week and it was very time consuming due to the travel involved, my daughter hated it, and I eventually lost the fight to ge ther to go. She was having very good results with COncerta, so we tabled it.

In any case, I just wanted to offer up my thoughts and observations. We personally knew three other families trying this technique with kids of various ages. (SO we almost make up a small study? lol) Also, my daughter and I were working with the only known local psychiatrist who believed that neurofeedback was a viable treatment for ADD.

I personally found the following:

1. Neurofeedback did help my daughter. She currently takes 72mg/day of Concerta, on neurofeedback she only required 54. Perhaps we could have brought it down more if we had finished, but I don't know.

2. The effects of the Neurofeedback wore off slowly and I think they were basically gone after about 6 months.

The other families I know have had similar results, and the psychiatrist and pediatrician both echoed that they had seen the same thing happen with others.

So, depends on what you want out of it- it is not a miracle cure, but is can be helpful. And if the Dr. that runs your neurofeedback clinic tells you that you do it once (well, that first batch of 60-100 visits, anyhow) and it lasts forever, don't believe him or her, expect to have follow visits to maintain the progress.

I think if I had a younger child or one that did not respond well to meds I would have stuck with it. As it was, my daughter (now 14) is doing very well- her ability to do schoolwork, make friends, deal with pressure, stay organized, etc, has really gotten so so so so much better that I am not inclined to change what we are doing which is basically behavior mod, regular counseling, and Concerta.

hope I have been helpful to someone out there.

please feel free to PM me if you have specific questions


Johanna