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EEG Biofeedback for Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder

Siegfried Othmer, Ph.D., and Susan F. Othmer, B.A.
October, 1992

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Long-term Changes with EEG Training
Some months after the completion of EEG training, we did followup with the parents of the children in the study group. We assigned a + for every category where they said significant progress was still being observed. We assigned a -for every category where there was a residual problem. And we assigned ++ for those categories where the change was of striking and major proportions. Then we added up all the pluses and minuses. The results are shown in Figure 4. The most significant improvement was seen in self-esteem. That wasn't even a category which we asked parents about. It is something that they brought up themselves. And it was the most common finding. The children are now prouder of who they are. They recognize that they are in better charge of themselves. They feel better about themselves because they have reason to, and because they did this for themselves!

Figure 4

Figure 4. Followup evaluation by parents six to nine months after completion of EEG training.
Positive scores indicate improvement; negative scores residual problem areas.

The data also show that sleep problems improved, and headache syndromes were remediated. We arbitrarily divided the categories into two groups in Figure 4. Group B shows categories where there were significant residual problems. These include academic skills deficits and behavior problems. Even though EEG training has brought these children to a new level in terms of ability and self-control, several still can benefit from educational therapy or tutoring to deal with academic lags. With regard to behavior, it is clear that more is needed than simply EEG training. Many of the children are in difficult family situations, and they may benefit from complementary family therapy. Nevertheless, EEG training appears to deal with the neurological dimension of many learning and behavior problems, which lays the basis for success of conventional therapeutic modalities. The parental assessments were also confirmed as children showed improvements in their grades.

SUMMARY
If we take a bird's eye view of all that we have said, a coherent picture emerges: Many problems of young children--of learning, of behavior, of attention--may be due to immaturity or inadequacy of the brain in controlling or regulating itself. The deficits are functional in nature, although they clearly have their basis in some (usually elusive) organic flaw. In particular, the problems do not generally lie in a failure of the child's will! If we now train the brain to order its own function, a large variety of symptoms may be expected to resolve themselves. This finding is profoundly hopeful and humane, because the more deviant the child's behavior, the more likely it is that we are dealing with a disordered brain, not with a willfully obstreperous child. Biofeedback empowers him to deal with these problems with his own resources, and with a minimum of frustration.

The view presented here differs somewhat from the conventional one. This is because the "real world" requires black and white answers for something that is actually many shades of grey. The pediatrician has to decide whether to medicate: yes or no. The insurance company has to have a diagnosis: yes or no. The school district has to decide on special services to the child: yes or no. So everyone involved has to act as if matters were black and white. Also the impression is given when a diagnosis is made that there is something relentless and immutable about it. It says to the child, "this is who you are". Our success with biofeedback demonstrates that children need not be the perpetual victims of their diagnoses. There is a lot they can do for themselves. By the same token, biofeedback can also be helpful to those who don't meet arbitrary criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD or specific learning disabilities, but are nonetheless struggling with real deficits.