People with Autism & Aspergers appear to be extremely over aroused which
is related to their sensory overload, hyper focus, and difficulty processing
the subtleties of relationships. In the most severe cases they are forced to
retreat into a trance-like world because their system is overloaded by
sounds, movements, and even physical touch.
These issues seem to respond best to neurotherapy that exercises slower
frequencies. This can teach them to slow down their excessive processing
speed so that they don’t feel so overwhelmed by the world. One of the first
things to improve can be observed in their social interactions, including
initiating conversations and their ability to better communicate their needs
and desires. Teenagers may begin exhibiting more teen-like opposition, which
could be mistaken as a negative side effect. This population also commonly
experiences a significant improvement from neurotherapy in their attention
and reasoning skills.
The term Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) includes the diagnoses of Autism,
Asperger’s Disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise
Specified. The primary deficit in ASD is impaired social communication. This
can stem from a poor ability to recognize social behaviors in others, a poor
ability to understand or interpret social behavior, a poor ability to
respond socially and/or a poor ability to form social attachments and
connections. Individuals on the Autism spectrum often have difficulty with
the give and take of social interactions. They are unable to recognize the
subtleties and nuances of social communication and to respond appropriately.
It is difficult for them to empathize with others or to understand their own
subjective and emotional experiences. These are things that people without
Autism do intuitively.
While helping individuals with ASD learn to improve their social and
communication skills, and their control over their behavior, is an important
part of their therapy, it can also help to work with their underlying
neurobiology through monitoring and helping them to change the electrical
activity of their brain, or their brain wave activity. The brain works
through an interaction of electrical and chemical activity that continuously
influence each other. The electrical signals in the brain get transmitted at
different speeds or frequencies. These frequencies help determine our mental
state at any moment. They range from very slow frequency activity in sleep
states, known as delta waves, to somewhat faster, but still slow activity in
semi-awake states, know as theta waves, to more relaxed but not outwardly
attentive states dominated by alpha waves, to more engaged and attentive
states characterized by beta wave activity. Parts of the brain that might be
inefficiently processing sensory information, or paying attention, or
deciding what is important to attend to or act on might be generating too
much slow activity or not enough beta activity, which would make the brain
process information inefficiently. This could possibly contribute to the
inefficient and ineffective way some individuals process social information
and fail to act on the most important signals coming from other people or
their own feelings. On the other hand, parts of the brain might be
over-aroused and need to calm down in order to efficiently process
information about one’s own feelings and from the outside world. These
individuals might need help reducing anxiety and that feeling of being
overwhelmed by reducing very fast brain wave activity and increasing slower
activity in certain parts of the brain.
Neurofeedback has been found to have the capability of reducing some of
major deficits in ASD by individually targeting specific areas of the brain
to increase or decrease its brain wave activity in certain frequency ranges.
One research study found improvements in sociability, communication, health
and sensory awareness after neurofeedback training by tailoring the
treatment to the individuals’ needs. More recently, brain mapping, or
quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) analyses of ASD individuals found
abnormal patterns of connectivity between parts of the cerebral cortex (the
outermost part of the brain). To perform any function, different parts of
the brain have to communicate with each other. It is presumed that this
happens when the electrical signals in different parts of the brain fire in
synchrony with each other. At the same time, different parts of the brain
have to remain somewhat independent from other regions because each region
of the brain has a different job to do. Therefore, we want the different
parts of our cortex coordinating to a certain degree, but also maintaining
their independence.
It has been found that, in ASD, parts of the frontal lobes are often not
independent enough; they are too connected. The frontal lobes are known as
the executive parts of the brain, because they are involved with
coordinating and integrating all the other parts of the brain through
processes such as attending, planning, organizing, inhibiting, delaying,
controlling our emotional responses, considering long-term consequences, and
considering alternative meanings of information and alternative courses of
action. It is important for parts of the frontal lobes to coordinate, but
not to be too rigid or inflexible. It has also been found that the frontal
lobes and areas in the back of the brain, such as the parietal lobes, are
often not coordinating enough. The parietal lobes are involved in processing
sensory information from the outside world and from the body. It is easy to
see why communication between the parietal and frontal lobes is so
important, as sensory and bodily information has to be interpreted and
reacted to in order for us to function properly and to be socially
successful. Neurofeedback that is based on adjusting the degree of
connectivity in different areas of the brain has been found to be
particularly powerful in reducing symptoms of Autism.
In neurofeedback treatment for ASD, we monitor the individual’s brain wave
state or EEG in a comfortable and painless way while the individual sits in
a comfortable chair and “plays” a video game-like exercise which is
controlled by his or her brain wave activity. For example, the exercise can
be set up so when the individual’s brain wave activity shows that he or she
is increasing beta activity and inhibiting theta, or another form of slow
wave activity, the individual earns points in the “game” and the action on
the screen advances. Or, when two parts of the cortex are firing in
synchrony with each other or, on the other hand, firing more independently,
whichever we are trying to accomplish, the individual will succeed at the
game. When the brain wave activity gets out of the desired pattern, the
action in the game stops, and the brain then has to find a way to get back
into the desired pattern to earn more points. The brain does this
unconsciously through the individual attending to the visual and auditory
feedback that is provided when succeeding at the game. This is like exercise
for the brain, and the brain learns to produce this pattern on its own.
Of course, no treatment works for everyone and there is always a potential
risk of unwanted effects in any form of treatment. That is why we encourage
you to discuss this treatment with someone knowledgeable about the
scientific studies and the clinical applications of neurofeedback so you can
make an informed choice for yourself or your child.
Research Papers and Case Studies
by Siegfried and Susan F. Othmer
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.
by Darling M.
Neurofeedback is an intervention that is showing a lot of promise for people diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). While other childhood behaviour disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have been in the neurofeedback limelight for some years, it would appear that ASD is about to have its day in the sun. Recent research is showing that children with ASD are responding very well to both electroencephalographic (EEG) and haemoencephalographic (HEG) neurofeedback. Furthermore, our own research indicates that neurofeedback can be an effective schoolbased intervention for children in the autistic spectrum.
by Coben R Ph.D. and Padolsky I Ph.D.
In recent years, Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has shown a dramatic increase in prevalence. A review of prevalence survey research for ASD (identified by DSM-IV criteria for Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified) across the United States and the United Kingdom reported rates of ASD substantially increased from prior surveys indicating 5 to 10 per 10,000 children to as high as 50 to 80 per 10,000 (equivalent to a range of 1 in 200 to 1 in 125 children with ASD) (Blaxill, 2004).
by Coben R, Clarke AR, Hudspeth W, Barry RJ
These results suggest dysfunctional integration of frontal and posterior brain regions in autistics along with a pattern of neural underconnectivity. This is consistent with other EEG, MRI and fMRI research suggesting that neural connectivity anomalies are a major deficit leading to autistic symptomatology.
by Sichel AG, Fehmi LG, Goldstein DM
This article looks at the experience of Frankie, an autistic 8 and 1/2 year old boy. He was diagnosed mildly autistic by several specialists. One specialist claimed he was brain damaged and "autistic-like" and that there was no hope for improvement. At Frankie's mother's request, neurotherapy diagnosis and treatment was begun. After 31 sessions, Frankie showed Positive changes in all the diagnostic dimensions defining autism in DSM-111-P, This has profound implications for treatment in a field with few low-risk alternatives.
by Jarusiewicz B Ph.D.
The efficacy of Neurofeedback training was evaluated in 12 children in the autistic spectrum with matched controls, based on established training protocols for other conditions with similar symptoms. Twenty-four autistic children were divided into two groups, matched by sex, age, and disorder severity. One group received Neurofeedback training and the second acted as a control group.
by Cowan J Ph.D.
About 8-9 years ago I reported the case history of an eight-year-old autistic girl (triply diagnosed as high-functioning autistic) who came to me for training at the Winter Brain Meeting. She was so non-communicative that she would hide under the couch.
by Thompson L Ph.D. and Thompson M M.D.
Three brief case histories on the scale of primarily organic to primarily psychologically based social-behavioral disorders are described. All three children and their families, previous to coming for neurofeedback, had had very considerable intervention both from the school system and from other clinical resources. All previous efforts from other clinical resources had minimal benefit.