A first-year student at the local university contacted my husband early this fall, referred by his neurofeedback therapist in Toronto. He’d just gotten started on neurofeedback and desperately wanted to continue, but now he was too far away to go to appointments. He wanted to know if my husband could do the therapy for him.

My husband has probably as much neurofeedback training as most beginner practitioners out there. But he’s an IT guy, not a therapist. They talked the situation over for a few weeks, then decided that the student would just borrow the equipment and self-train.

Big question: Does self-training work?

In favor of its working was the fact that this student was an adult, very determined to succeed. His ADHD was in the way of getting his degree and moving ahead in life. He was willing to devote the time. Since we’d lent him a pile of very expensive and sophisticated equipment, we were also relieved that he was conscientious and careful.

But still, does it work?

Neurofeedback therapy takes a long time. For us, we found that 30 hours of therapy brought the busy brain (high beta anxiety waves) down – not gradually, but all at once. Another 30 hours suddenly improved the sensory motor rhythms (sensory processing issues). We went on to put in another 40 hours, but the improvements after that were more subtle. The delta-theta waves (zoning, lack of focus, sleepy brain) were the most stubborn. And even now, years later, we find that every three months, we need to do a few “tune-up” sessions.

ADHD is usually a problem of high delta-thetas and low betas (concentration waves). But this student’s initial assessment showed remarkably high busy brain waves. This suggested that a lot of his ADHD may be due to a shrill and constant panic signal rather than to a sleepy brain. If so, then this was good. In our experience, busy brain responds faster to neurofeedback than delta-theta.

For the first few weeks, the student was frustrated by the lack of results and called occasionally for support. But he checked in this week, since it was the agreed-upon due date for the equipment, and said he discovered that his ability to read and retain had suddenly improved. He was hoping this meant a break-through was imminent.

My husband let him keep the equipment over the Christmas holidays to keep training, make some appointments with his home neurofeedback therapist, and then check back in January.

There are few neurofeedback therapists out there, and many young people with Asperger’s, Tourette’s, ADHD, and anxiety disorders. Wouldn’t it be great if kids didn’t have to self-train?