Voicelessness and Emotional Survival > Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board
Continued healing
Gaining Strength:
Twoapenny - that's encouraging. I have no doubt I will get there soon enough. Thanks for the encouragement.
Gaining Strength:
Almost 2 weeks ago, I travelled 1000 miles to take my adolescent son to see a specialist, a neurologist/psychiatrist who is using break through technologies clinically. I have learned so much about my child's brain and his difficulties, seen his emotional and academic struggles in terms of neurological expressions, literally seen them displayed via qEEG signals and then shifting via neurofeedback techniques.
I have learned so much about him and about me through these past 9 days of diagnostics and treatment.
For days, the doctors have been using qEEG to watch the brain function in real time while simultaneously training my child to make shifts in various brain waves. These shifts activate certain areas and deactivate others. Today, the two doctors moved to the most debilitating area. They gave my son a video game to play. In order to activate the game, to move a rocket through a tube either hitting or avoiding specific targets, they monitored emissions of specific brainwaves. When my son was unable to complete the task within a specified time his frustration escalated. The goal was for him to simultaneously slow the lambic center while activating the prefrontal cortex or executive function.
After several attempts he was finally successful. Of all the successes he has had in these two weeks this is the most important. Though this is just the beginning I have such hope that he can become functional. As I watched today, I understood in a way that has eluded me his entire life, how his brain and it's disregulation have truly crippled him. But I am able to relate so clearly to his struggles and I see my own mirrored closely to his. His entire life, in school but also in extracurricular and social settings he has been disregarded, shunned, and rejected. Worst of all is the moralizing done by teachers and the educational system in general. In essence children who can sit still and be quiet and follow rules are good and those who don't are bad. So he has been told over and over and over again that he is "bad". Even at his young age it has taken a toll, such a heavy toll.
This doctor is using a number a therapies which we can continue at home. They are all fascinating to me and to learn how they work on his brain is fascinating. Plus, some of the techniques I have used on myself in the past are ones he supports. But one of the most interesting is the therapeutic value of a balance board. It stimulates both sides of the brain at once. The very first day I could see the left side of his brain lit up while the right side hardly engaged at all. A significant therapy is a breathing technique or exercise. I'm sure there is a name for it but essentially you cross your arms and pinch your ear lobes. You hold your left earlobe with your right thumb and forefinger and vice versa, while you breath in through your nose as you bend your knees. Then standing up as you exhale orally. I have no idea how this works but it seems to.
Hopalong:
Everything Tupp said.
And with a hug, and love, and comfort.
((((((((((((GS))))))))))))))) and her beautiful boy, who will one day be a man of wisdom.
love,
Hops
Twoapenny:
--- Quote from: Gaining Strength on March 17, 2016, 02:59:08 PM ---Almost 2 weeks ago, I travelled 1000 miles to take my adolescent son to see a specialist, a neurologist/psychiatrist who is using break through technologies clinically. I have learned so much about my child's brain and his difficulties, seen his emotional and academic struggles in terms of neurological expressions, literally seen them displayed via qEEG signals and then shifting via neurofeedback techniques.
I have learned so much about him and about me through these past 9 days of diagnostics and treatment.
For days, the doctors have been using qEEG to watch the brain function in real time while simultaneously training my child to make shifts in various brain waves. These shifts activate certain areas and deactivate others. Today, the two doctors moved to the most debilitating area. They gave my son a video game to play. In order to activate the game, to move a rocket through a tube either hitting or avoiding specific targets, they monitored emissions of specific brainwaves. When my son was unable to complete the task within a specified time his frustration escalated. The goal was for him to simultaneously slow the lambic center while activating the prefrontal cortex or executive function.
After several attempts he was finally successful. Of all the successes he has had in these two weeks this is the most important. Though this is just the beginning I have such hope that he can become functional. As I watched today, I understood in a way that has eluded me his entire life, how his brain and it's disregulation have truly crippled him. But I am able to relate so clearly to his struggles and I see my own mirrored closely to his. His entire life, in school but also in extracurricular and social settings he has been disregarded, shunned, and rejected. Worst of all is the moralizing done by teachers and the educational system in general. In essence children who can sit still and be quiet and follow rules are good and those who don't are bad. So he has been told over and over and over again that he is "bad". Even at his young age it has taken a toll, such a heavy toll.
This doctor is using a number a therapies which we can continue at home. They are all fascinating to me and to learn how they work on his brain is fascinating. Plus, some of the techniques I have used on myself in the past are ones he supports. But one of the most interesting is the therapeutic value of a balance board. It stimulates both sides of the brain at once. The very first day I could see the left side of his brain lit up while the right side hardly engaged at all. A significant therapy is a breathing technique or exercise. I'm sure there is a name for it but essentially you cross your arms and pinch your ear lobes. You hold your left earlobe with your right thumb and forefinger and vice versa, while you breath in through your nose as you bend your knees. Then standing up as you exhale orally. I have no idea how this works but it seems to.
--- End quote ---
Oh GS, this brought a tear to my eye, your boy sounds so much like mine! Those early years were just hellish, I found doctors, health visitors, paediatricians, social workers, all these people that work with kids, either useless or destructive, so determined to blame either myself or my son for his situation. Such, such, such a relief to read that these doctors are helping; like you, I've found learning about the brain and central nervous system so helpful in understanding my boy and helping him. I really want to work now on getting other people to see past his early presentation when he meets someone; he's such a kind hearted, sweet souled boy but you have to get to know him well enough for him to be comfortable before that really starts to shine through. He makes me laugh so much, and after a good year or so of real teenage "keep away from me, don't touch me, don't sit near me" I've had a couple of really nice hugs over the weekend. So, so glad to read your boy is getting this help and how lucky he is to have you on his side.
((((((((((((((((((((GS and son )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Gaining Strength:
Tear tracks, thank you so much.
It was fascinating watching his daily sessions for so many reasons. But one unexpected boost was that I saw myself mirrored in his brain. I could see before me a mirror of what I have been experiencing and I understood in a new way what he is suffering and what I have experienced lifelong - a brain stuck in dis regulation.
I saw how he gets paralyzed, why it is almost impossible for him to do his school work. I could see how his right hemisphere was under active while the Alpha waves emitted from the left were surging resulting in his prefrontal cortex, executive function nonfunctional.
I saw how small bits of frustration ignite his lim in system while the front of his brain sits inactivE. Small irritants have an extreme reaction in his brain and he is not able to override it. Though through the neurofeedback session he did..
But I understood how the paralysis that I have written about here for years, is a manifestation of my brain dysregulation. I have hope that I will be able to overcome my broken brain as well but at least I finally have an answer to that question that has p,aged me all my life, "What is wrong with me?"
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