Doing neurofeedback with people under age 18 can be very different from brain-training adults. The following information may make your work go more smoothly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first step in neurofeedback is usually a Trainers\u2019 QEEG. However, I generally wouldn\u2019t even try to do an assessment on someone as young as five years old. Five or six or younger are ages whose brains are VERY immature and disorganized\u2013even the relatively functional ones\u2013so trying to identify patterns in them can be very frustrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, their ability to sit quietly even for 15-20 minutes is very limited. Instead, have the parents complete the Client Report. You can load that into the TQ8 without loading any EEG data, and it will still give you a plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the parents report that their child is very calm, and you believe you can gather accurate data, go ahead and do the assessment, but just do eyes-closed and eyes-open recordings. Perhaps you can also skip the 5th step of the assessment (Fp1 and Fp2, O1 and O2). That should give you enough information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you ARE able to conduct a full assessment for a young person, you may use the following for the task section of the brain map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
F3\/F4 is not a calculation task; it is a memory task: give him a series of numbers one second apart and have him repeat them<\/p>\n\n\n\n
C3\/C4 is actually the reading task: have him point to letters on a page as you name them or name them as you point to them<\/p>\n\n\n\n
P3\/P4 counting forward or backward (probably not in a 5-year-old)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
T5\/T6 You can repeat the story task here, listening for comprehension<\/p>\n\n\n\n
F7\/F8 Say the numbers or letters aloud as you point to them<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keep in mind that in most cases, a child who\u2019s been diagnosed early is causing problems for the adults, which often means that they aren\u2019t controlling the impulses (emotional, social, physical or verbal) very well. Those are issues generally related to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the sensorimotor cortex (SMC) Train HEG and\/or C3 to C4 and you\u2019ll generally improve impulse control especially in kids who are 7-8 or older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a general rule, I very rarely do TQ8s even through about age eight, and I will not often do them under 10 years of age. If you start a TQ with a young person and find that it isn\u2019t going well, stop. Gather and process what information you have, along with a client report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With very young (less than 7 or 8 years) ADHD, any autistic spectrum, Tourette’s kids\u2013the ones who have precious little body control\u2013I usually just start with training up 12-15Hz (as a starting point, bringing the frequency down until we find \u201cSMR\u201d for that client) at C4, reducing 2-5 Hz. I do this for up to 10 sessions until we are seeing some ability to calm and still in the chair. Then an assessment can be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Training a 2-year-old is likely to be very difficult, as you can imagine. With electrodes, the chances are that, even if he is able to let you put them on his head, he\u2019ll sweep them off fairly quickly without thinking\u2013like you might brush away a fly. As for training EEG, the only thing I could suggest is a squash, since very little is known about what a two-year-old\u2019s brain SHOULD look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If it were me, I\u2019d start doing HEG. There\u2019s not much of a prefrontal in a 2-year-old, but the better it works\u2013no matter the age\u2013the better he\u2019s likely to be able to control his attention, impulses and emotional responses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If there is a very compelling reason to try training a brain that is so early in its development in a person so far from self-awareness as a two-year-old, the only way I know to do is is to have the child sit on the mother\u2019s lap in front of the screen. I\u2019m not sure there really IS an SMR for a kid that age, so a squash might be a good option. The brain comes online from back to front and right to left, so you might start in the parietals or at P4. You could try starting with a band down around 8-11 Hz in the sensory motor strip and see if you can get a relaxation response sliding the band down. However, you are working with a pretty difficult problem of age here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The truth is that if brain training could \u201ccure\u201d the terrible twos, the units would be FLYING off the shelves. Dream on! What you are dealing with now (and will be for the next 15-20 years) is development. It\u2019s what makes us ourselves. Generally from 2-3 years is a first flowering of independence. As for training, there\u2019s nothing to train. At two the prefrontal cortex is just a gleam in the cortical eye. There are no executive functions. Train yourself if you are the parent, or train the parent. Teach yourself the same thing your two-year-old is learning: don\u2019t sweat what you can\u2019t control. That\u2019s probably the best thing you can do for yourself and your child. People do train at four or five years old, and I\u2019ve done it a few times when situations seemed to demand at least that we try. Seven is a much better age to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HEG is a good choice for children. I use HEG literally with everyone, since I can\u2019t think of a good reason NOT to strengthen prefrontal capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the keys I\u2019ve always found to working with kids is to have them realize that they are actually controlling the screen with the way they pay attention. I like to start with HEG. With nIR I begin with the nIR AI design and start with the client just looking at the graph. In the beginning I ask them if they really believe they\u2019ll be able to make things happen on the screen just by how they pay attention, then we try. Most of them are amazed to realize that when they are really concentrating on a single point, the graph goes up. When they start thinking about something else, the graph goes down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most kids are some combination of Filtering and Processing. Problems with impulse control, emotional regulation, social regulation and (almost certainly, though they didn\u2019t mention it) distractibility are related to prefrontal function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Certainly training C3\/C4 or Cz\/A2\/g\/C4\/A2, inhibiting slow and fast frequencies and rewarding SMR (though this is unlikely to be anywhere near 12-15 Hz) are the most likely EEG approaches. For an 8-year-old, alpha peak is expected around 8 Hz instead of 10 Hz for adults., so SMR is probably closer to 9-12, though you\u2019ll likely have to adjust the band to find something calming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(For ADD) With young or very active children, I would start with SMR training and find the effective SMR frequency and do the assessment with adjusted frequency bands after there is some control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I like to explain to the kid (parents can be there, but I always talk to the kid, not to them) that they will be making things move on the computer without their hands\u2013just with their brains. I tell them I will explain a little about their brains, so they can do better on the computer, then I explain a little about slow (daydreamy) waves and fast (concentration waves). I tell them both are good, but if their brain can\u2019t make the fast waves very well, then it doesn\u2019t help them in school as much as some other kids\u2019 brains help them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I always tell them that I can\u2019t change the way their brain makes those waves. Only one person can do that\u2013them! I tell them that kids who got very good at moving things on the computer with their brains also found that their brains helped them get their homework done faster, get seatwork done in class, get along better in birthday parties, etc. Whatever seems to motivate them (we\u2019ve already talked about what they like doing and what they find hard to do). Then I ask them what they think their brain makes: lots of slow or lots of fast. After they tell me, we go into the training room (usually with the family coming along.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There I explain about the electrodes, that they are like the joystick for their brain to be able to move things on the screen. When they are hooked up I open screen one, which is only a power spectrum. I show them where the slow waves are and where the fast waves are. We talk about whether their brain has a lot of slow or fast and how that might explain the things they find difficult. I may tell them, \u201cyou see: the problems you are having are not because you aren\u2019t smart, not because you are lazy or don\u2019t care. Your brain is not helping you do those things!\u201d I may tell them, \u201cyour brain is like a car. Intelligence would be the horsepower of the engine. But what we are working on is the transmission. You can have a very powerful engine, but if you only have first gear, you can\u2019t drive very well on the highway! When your brain works better in the other gears, you\u2019ll be able to show how smart you are in other ways, like at school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We go to screen 2 then: a single bar graph. I usually hook up at Cz (or with really wiggly kids, maybe at C4) and train to reduce 2-5 hz. That\u2019s what\u2019s showing in the bar graph. I watch it for maybe 10-15 seconds while they are watching it, and I note where are the low points that the brain reaches in its normal fluctuation. Then, when the graph is high, I put my finger alongside the bar graph at what is their normal point and say, \u201cbring the bar down to here just by paying attention.\u201d Nearly 100% of the clients do exactly that to the astonishment of their families and themselves. \u201cGood!\u201d I say, \u201cNow keep it there,\u201d but of course in a matter of seconds it pops back up to the higher end of their range. \u201cThat\u2019s the problem,\u201d I explain to them: \u201cIt\u2019s not that you can\u2019t pay attention; it\u2019s that you can\u2019t KEEP paying attention for very long. You listen to the teacher or start working on your homework, and then you are gone. The better you get at controlling the computer, the longer your brain will pay attention without you having to work so hard.\u201d Then we turn on the scoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I believe that the key to successful training is for the client to recognize\u2013to have that visceral \u201caha!\u201d moment\u2013that he or she is actually controlling what\u2019s on the screen with attention. That is an amazing discovery. In the first trial, I want them to see that there is a state they get into, however briefly, that causes them to score more points, to make the bar go down below the target, and that when they lose that state, they lose the control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I usually have them play 3 games (1-2 minutes each). Could be just trying to score points looking at the bar graph, could be pacman. I like to keep it simple. I do NOT believe in trying to seduce a kid into training with false promises that this will be like playing video games, popping them onto puzzles or Inner Tube or DVD training the first time I see them\u2013or even early in training. Because I have seen it happen too many times that a kid who has only the bargraphs or a fast trend object (sometimes even the power spectrum) can spend several sessions just figuring out how they are doing what they are doing and getting better at it. Even then, I like to use the games as a reward. After they have scored (for example) 200 points, then they can play Inner Tube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s very important how you start kids off. The more you promise entertainment, the more bored they are likely to get. It\u2019s great if a kid is willing to do NF because he likes watching a particular DVD, but eventually it\u2019s not hard to figure out that you could be watching that DVD without the electrodes. If the training results are happening, which they may be, then that\u2019s fine. But if the kid is just watching the DVD\u2019s but the things we want to change via NF aren\u2019t really showing much improvement, then what is the benefit of not having to fight him\/her to do something which is essentially not achieving anything?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of the first session, I always tell kids two things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTell me: was I doing any work here today? I was just sitting here watching you. And was your family doing any work? They were cheering when you scored all those points. How about the computer? Was that doing any work? It was just showing what your brain was doing. Who was the only one here who was doing any work? It was you! And so when you get better and better at controlling the screen, and your homework is getting done faster and your grades are getting better, only one person gets to take credit for that. And that\u2019s YOU! Because YOU were the one who did it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I also tell them, \u201cYou know what I want you to do? When you see your friends at school tomorrow, tell them, \u2018you know what I did yesterday? I practiced changing the speed of electrical pulses in my brain!\u2019 You know they are going to laugh and say, NO WAY! But you saw yourself doing it here today. Your family saw you and I saw you. And the better you get at controlling the screen, the better you will be at doing something that most people don\u2019t even believe is possible! It will be like a secret power you have, and you\u2019ll have it for the rest of your life!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for the problem of boredom\u2026well, if you think that the very best video-game options available in the NF universe can stand up to what is available to the kids in the rest of their world, you will be seriously disappointed. I make it clear from the very beginning with every client that NF is NOT entertainment. It is a means that empowers THEM to make their own brain work more effectively with the boring, routine tasks (the ones they have trouble focusing on), so they can get those done quickly and accurately and THEN have time for the really cool video games (or friends, or sports or music or whatever) that IS entertainment in their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n