Neurofeedback is a highly promising emerging therapy for the autism spectrum. At issue here is a tool for the direct training of brain function, one that has already shown itself highly effective in addressing a wide range of “mental health” concerns. As has been the case for other therapies, its application to the autism spectrum has been complicated by the inherent complexity of the condition we confront. In the following, we recapitulate the development of neurofeedback for the autism spectrum and give some guidance to both therapists and parents with regard to the choices open to them.
Our own work with the autism spectrum using neurofeedback goes back some twenty-five years. In those early days of the field, the principal application of neurofeedback was to Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but the very same procedures were clearly also helpful for a variety of other issues. So it came naturally to want to try these methods also with children on the autism spectrum. These early attempts were just as likely to make things worse as they were to make things better, so we quickly placed a virtual fence around autism and decided we did not know enough to venture there. Some years later, a few practitioners in our network reported some good results with newer techniques, so the door was once again opened to working with the autism spectrum.
Last May, Science Magazine featured a review of a recent study of human health going back some 10,000 years. Surprisingly, perhaps, our state of health has been declining generally over the last 3,000 years, coinciding essentially with the broad adoption of agriculture. The trends are not subtle, apparently. Statures have shrunk, and there was an increase in skeletal lesions, tuberculosis, and leprosy. People started living closer together, and in more intimate contact with livestock—the formula for increases in contagion in general, and of animal-to-human viral transfer in particular.
The Prevention Option
Monday, November 23rd, 2009The same holds true for pedophiles. By the time they are apprehended, they have typically already offended against a large number of children. Serial killers are typically also caught only after many years of violence. Again, a pattern needs to be detected before a serial killer can even be hypothesized. Financial skullduggery is usually discovered only after many years, or it reveals itself when it collapses of its own internal contradictions. Of course we find some satisfaction in the prosecution of these criminals, but in the larger scheme of things the remedy is unavailing if justice arrives so late upon the scene. How might things be otherwise?
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Posted in Application of Neurofeedback, Commentary, Disregulation, Efficacy, Neurofeedback | 3 Comments »