EEG Assessment and Treatment For Autistic Spectrum Disorders
EEG Assessment and Treatment For Autistic Spectrum Disorders
As the Medical Director for Healing Solutions, I am always on the lookout for new treatments and therapies that I can employ to help our patients. In particularly, over the last 5 years has kept my attention, but I’ve been hesitant to fully endorse. That was until 3 months ago, when a few key studies and conversations with great physicians took place.
The therapy is called neurofeedback coupled with quantitative electroencephalogram (QEEG). QEEG is the diagnostic tool for the therapy of neurofeedback, where the brain becomes “retrained” to function properly. QEEG allow us to determine and detect seizure activity (a recent study has shown that up to 46% of children on the autistic spectrum have seizures), assess regions of the brain for dysfunction and can provide useful information regarding neural connectivity (many children on the spectrum have abnormal neuronal connectivity where the neurons are not associated in the correct form).
Once this “brain mapping” procedure is accomplished, neurofeedback takes over, which helps train and exercise the brain to normalize the detected abnormalities. It is a safe treatment, non-invasive and tolerated well with most children.
A few case studies have been published citing improvements through neurofeedback that caught my attention. In one case a 26% reduction was noted in the child’s autistic symptoms and another with a 40% reduction with in just 4 months of treatment. Most recently though the largest series of cases yet of children with autism (110 children were analyzed) receiving neurofeedback, published in 2009 by Dr. Coben, showed that on average a 60% reduction of symptoms were obtained over a 6-8 month period.
The biggest concern I had with neurofeedback was the user’s ability. Neurofeedback can depend very heavily on the attending and comprehending skills of the user – which we all know can be seriously lacking in many of our autistic children. That was until recently when I was introduced to a neurofeedback program specifically designed to meet that challenge and I’m happy to announce that starting in October Healing Solutions Pediatric Centers will be providing neurofeedback in our clinic through a trained professional Dr. Steve Rondeau.
I am truly excited about this therapy and want to make sure those who are interested can gain access to wonderful new treatment. So for the month of August, anyone interested in neurofeedback can call in and we’ll provide a free neurofeedback consultation with Dr. Rondeau. In this consultation he’ll be able to determine if your child is indicated for this therapy and will outline a basic program and what benefits you could expect.
Neurofeedfback is not just for Autism; he has had great success with children diagnosed with ADHD, Anxiety, Depression and much much more. So remember, for the month of August you can meet with him free to have your child evaluated for neurofeedback, just call our office and mention August’s newsletter to get your free neurofeedback evaluation with Dr. Steve Rondeau.
References:
- Coben, R et al. (2009) Efficacy of connectivity guided neurofeedback for ASD. Journal of neurotherapy. 13 (1).81
- Chan, A et al. (2007) Quantitative electroencephalography profiles for children with ASD. Neuropsychology. 21,74-81