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.
