Parent's experience with ADHD
The following case vignette is from Australia, where
reporter Mimi Kwa
covered the story of a rageful young child who received neurofeedback
training with Dr. Moshe Perl in Melbourne. This story appeared on
the program
A Current Affair on October 8, 2002.
Coping with a child who suffers Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD) often leaves parents feeling helpless and hopeless. But a
natural,
non-invasive treatment offers new hope in the form of a simple computer
game. ACA meets one family who have observed the benefits first-hand.
Today, Kane Loveday is your typical 12-year-old. It's
hard to believe only
four years ago, Kane was putting his mother, Lauren, through hell.
"He was abusive, he used to hit me and punch
me and kick me and bite me … I
didn't know what to do with him," she says.
Kane's ADHD was out of control. Even his sister Kara
was afraid of him.
But, after years of violent outbursts, relief has
finally been found in a
computer game. It's a system called Neurofeedback, where Kane's
brainwaves
are represented as different coloured spaceships.
According to clinical psychologist Dr Moshe Perl,
electrodes on Kane's head
sense when he's relaxed and focused, and as a result, the green
spaceship
speeds up, overtaking other spaceships that show when he's tired
or tense.
Kane's mother, Lauren, explains the rationale.
"Of course what he wants to do is to get the
rockets to go fast, so he
teaches himself to really slow down," she says.
Following the success of the treatment, Kane's family
hardly recognise him.
"Excellent, absolutely excellent and it's been
long-term. He's lost, I would
say, all of his violence. He's not aggressive. He's a happy, happy
child
now," Lauren says.
And looking back, Kane also realises he's become a
different person.
"I can't believe I was like that …
Even if I tried I don't think I'd be able
to do it [again]," he says.
After 60 Neurofeedback sessions, Dr Perl says Kane's
attention span has
improved dramatically. In fact, his scores have doubled.
"Maybe one in 10,000 children would have scored
as poorly as he did. Now,
he's completely average in that area and at the same time he focuses
better," says Dr Perl.
While Kane is still weening himself off the ADHD drug
Ritalin, it is only
through the donations from the local parish that the Lovedays could
afford
the $2600 price tag for the Neurofeedback treatment.
"I know it's expensive but it's safe, it's less
invasive, it's better than
any chemicals, even natural therapies. You know, we tried the diets
and all
kinds of things," says mum Lauren.
Dr Perl says the treatment has an 85 percent success
rate with ADHD. The
system, however, has also proven effective in treating other disorders.
"It works for anxiety; it works for depression;
it works for mood
disturbances and it works for panic. I've used it successfully for
chronic
pain, headaches and migraine," says Dr Perl.
For Lauren Loveday, Kane's positive outcome has literally
changed their
lives.
"Anything's worth a try and it was either that
or give the child up and I
couldn't cope with that," she says.
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