Neurofeedback Therapy May Benefit Kids with ADHD, Study Finds
A new study found that children with attention deficit disorder (ADHD) may benefit from getting a type of training during school hours that monitors their brain waves to help improve attention.
The research involved 104 elementary school children, from 19 public elementary schools in the greater Boston area, who were diagnosed with ADHD. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a brain-wave monitoring ("neurofeedback") group, a cognitive attention training group, and a "control" group.
Neurofeedback involves measuring and giving feedback on a child’s brain wave activity while the child "plays" or focuses on a computer game revolving around attention activities. The child is asked to try to focus every time feedback information indicates that attention is wavering, whereas cognitive training involves a computer program that engages students in games or activities that strengthen attention.
Students received three 45-minute sessions per week of either neurofeedback training or cognitive attention training, while the control group received no treatment. Six months later, the researchers followed up on the kids with parent questionnaires and classroom observations made by researchers who did not know which child had received which treatment.
The study team found that the kids who were given neurofeedback training made greater improvements in their ADHD symptoms, compared to the other two groups.
"They showed significant improvements in attention and executive function. This study suggests that neurofeedback works, and you can actually do it in schools," Steiner said. "The cognitive attention training group improved a little bit but not as much as the neurofeedback group, and not on as many scales," she added.
About 50 per cent of the children in the study were on a common ADHD medication at the start of the research. Six months later, the drug dosage remained the same among participants in the neurofeedback group, but the parents of the students in the cognitive training and control groups reported increased medication doses, which Steiner said is to be expected as a child matures.
Dr Caroline Martinez, an assistant clinical professor in the division of behavioural paediatrics at the Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital, in New York City, welcomed the research. "I have been following the field and I was encouraged that there was finally a well-controlled study on neurofeedback and ADHD," she said. "Prior studies have been inconclusive or not adequately controlled, and it was nice to have the benefit of being compared to a control group and the cognitive training group."
Martinez noted that she believes that neurofeedback for ADHD is not readily available.
The new findings were published in the journal Paediatrics.
Source of this article:
Kids with ADHD May Benefit From ’Brain Wave’ Training in School: Study
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