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For more information, see the sections below:
Overview
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In virtually every area of our lives, we are able to improve our performance when we get clear and immediate feedback about how we are doing. That is one of the key reasons why athletic performance has shown such dramatic improvements recently—sophisticated technology has enabled the athlete to gain a much greater degree of information about all aspects of physical performance, and this allows for sharpening of skills.
The same sort of technological sophistication now enables us to directly alter the functioning of our brains to improve performance. Neuroscience has shown repeatedly that the brain is capable of enormous change or plasticity; the brain is amazingly adaptable. Advanced EEG biofeedback technology provides instantaneous (real time) information to the brain about how it is functioning along with continuous hints or cues about how to make adjustments toward improved functioning. And repeated studies have shown that our brains are able to use this information to re-regulate its function.
Though the technology is quite complex, the training activity is simple, painless, and non-invasive. Sensors are placed on the scalp and EEG activity is transmitted to a computer. Auditory and visual feedback is provided instantly, so that you see and hear representations of your brain in action. The goal is to reduce or limit certain types of brainwaves and increase others. As your brain reorganizes itself based on this instantaneous information, it develops increased resilience and flexibility. 
Ordinarily, we cannot influence our brain's activity because we lack awareness of it. However, when you can see the changes in this activity on a computer screen a few thousandths of a second after they occur, you gain the ability to influence and change this activity. The mechanism of action is similar to every other form of learning or training. Neurofeedback is a form of training or exercise for the brain, assisted with a very sophisticated technology, and guided or directed by knowledge gained through the advances of neuroscience.
Neurofeedback (NFB) has been shown in numerous scientific studies to improve attention significantly, with improvements equivalent to that from stimulant medication. Follow up studies have shown that gains maintained 3, 5, and 10 years after the neurofeedback ended. Research has also documented effectiveness for reducing or eliminating seizures and for improving therapeutic outcomes for treatment of addictions and post traumatic stress disorder. Several studies show the effectiveness of neurofeedback in remediating effects of traumatic brain injury. Initial studies show promising results with learning disabilities, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, and autistic spectrum disorder. This same body of research has not reported lasting negative effects of the neurofeedback training.
Because the effectiveness of neurofeedback has not been conclusively established using the strictest standards for empirical validation, some professionals will consider it to be an experimental procedure. Unfortunately, many insurance companies do not cover neurofeedback.
At The NeuroDevelopment Center, our experience using neurofeedback has been positive. We are convinced that neurofeedback is a valuable option for many individuals, and can contribute to improved attention and emotional self-control and mood, decreased anxiety, tension, and perseveration, and improved overall self-regulation.
In order to assess the effectiveness of neurofeedback services, we gather considerable data before beginning the training and then repeat the assessment to measure degree of change. We use computerized tests of attention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity (Integrated Variables of Attention), parent and teacher report scales of executive function skills (BRIEF), parent reports of sensory processing (Sensory Profile), and parent and teacher reports of multiple dimensions of behavior (Conners). We also have parents or the adult trainees complete symptom change checklists after every session. So, we have a great deal of information to guide the neurofeedback training as it progresses and to objectively measure change.
For more information on scientific research on neurofeedback, click here.
To see how selected neurofeedback trainees have improved with neurofeedback, click here.
For desciptions by parents of their experiences with neurofeedback with their children, click here.
Sixteen Ways to Learn More About Neurofeedback
1. Read A Symphony in the Brain by Jim Robbins
2. Read Getting Rid of Ritalin by Castro and Hill
3. Read ADD: The 20 Hour Solution by Steinberg and Othmer
4. Call our receptionist at 401 351-7779, ext 100 to schedule a visit to observe training at our Center.
5. Talk to parents in our Center. Most will readily agree to tell you what they have observed.
6. Come with someone you know to observe training.
7. Read the articles in our waiting room on neurofeedback.
8. Read the scientific literature on neurofeedback. For a comprehensive listing of all published studies, click here.
9. Read Emerging Interventions, a special issue of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America devoted to neurofeedback with reviews of the scientific literature on neurofeedback written by the experts in the field. This journal was edited by Dr. Hirshberg.
10. Surf the web. Two excellent sites: www.eegspectrum.com, and www.eeginfo.com.
11. Read the section on neurofeedback in Sears and Thompson, The A.D.D. Book
12. Ask as many questions of our staff as you like.
13. Read Re-training the Brain: Using Neurofeedback to Help Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders, an article by Dr. Hirshberg which first appeared in the May-June 2004 issue of the Autism Asperger’s Digest, a 52-page bimonthly magazine on autism spectrum disorders published by Future Horizons, Inc.
14. Read the special issue of Clinical Electroencephalography devoted to neurofeedback, published in 2000.
15. Come to the Center to watch our NOVA videotape on neurofeedback.
16. Attend a public presentation on neurofeedback by Dr. Hirshberg.
Presentations on neurofeedback
PRESENTATIONS AT THE NEURODEVELOPMENT CENTER IN OUR PROVIDENCE AND CAMBRIDGE FACILITIES
“EEG Biofeedback Brain Training: A Scientifically Supported Alternative for Problems with Attention, Anxiety, Mood, Learning & Behavior”
In this multi-media presentation, Dr. Hirshberg will provide an overview of what brain science has to tell us about difficulties with attention, mood, anxiety, social development, and learning, and illustrate with examples how brain mapping clearly reveals the underlying brain problems. He will then explain how to get to the root of these problems by directly training the brain toward improved function through EEG biofeedback. After an explanation of how EEG biofeedback works, Dr. Hirshberg will review the research on its effectiveness for ADHD, anxiety, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, autism spectrum disorders, learning disabilities, and depression, and provide several case examples of how EEG biofeedback has improved function in patients seen at the NeuroDevelopment Center.
This presentation has been designed to provide you with all the information you need to make a well-informed decision about neurofeedback. The presentation begins at 7:00 and lasts for 90 minutes. There will be ample time for questions at the end.
This presentation is given in the multi-media center in our facility in Providence as well as in the conference room in our Cambridge, MA center. For specific dates, see the NDC events calendar.
If you plan to attend one of these presentations, please call the reception desk at the NeuroDevelopment Center at 401 351-7779 to reserve a seat. Please feel free to invite others to join you who may know someone with brain-based difficulties.
Our Providence facility is located in Suite 210 of the West Exchange Center. The most convenient access to our office is from Cedar Street, through an entrance off of the courtyard to the right of 55 Cedar Street. The entrance to our suite is to your right as you face the main building entrance underneath the green canopy with the West Exchange Center sign.
If you are using a GPS navigation system to locate our facility, please enter the address as 55 Cedar Street, Providence. (Do not use our postal address, since that brings you to the wrong side f the building!)
Parking for visitors to the Center is directly next to the building, on the east side of the building. It is gated and marked for "Visitor Parking". This lot closes for new entries at 5:00, although you can exit after 5:00 if already parked there. After 5:00, parking is available along Cedar Street.
Our Camridge, Massachusetts office is located in Suite 220, 1 Bow Street, in Harvard Square.
The surrounding streets offer metered parking for 25 cents per 15 minutes for up to two hours. Most afternoons, people will be able to find a parking spot. Late afternoon and early evening, on street parking becomes scarcer. Parking is available at these two parking garages:
Holyoke Center Parking
1950 Massachusetts Avenue
$10 for the first hour, after 5 PM, $14 maximum
Harvard Square Parking Garage
1 Eliot Street
$8 for the first hour, after 5 PM, $15 maximum
Click here for directions to the center.
PRESENTATIONS IN OTHER VENUES
In the coming months, Dr. Hirshberg is presenting in many venues around southern New England. The dates and titles can be found on our NDC events calendar.
Video presentations
Online videos describing neurofeedback is available by clicking on the titles below:
* AVM video on EEG Biofeedback
* CBS video on EEG Biofeedback
* Australian News Show - ADHD and Neurofeedback
* Using Videogames for Neurofeedback for ADHD
To find a provider near you
If you do not live nearby to either our Providence, RI or Cambridge, MA facilities and you are looking for a neurofeedback provider in your area, you can consult several provider lists:
www.eegspectrum.com/Providers/
www.isnr.org/newsplus/isnrlist.htm
www.resourcenter.net/Scripts/4Disapi6.dll/4DCGI/resctr/search.html?
www.smartbraingames.com/providers.asp