Follow-Up Study of Learning-Disabled Children Treated with Neurofeedback or Placebo

Abstract

This report is a 2-year follow-up to a previous study describing positive behavioral changes and a spurt of EEG maturation with theta/alpha neurofeedback (NFB) training in a group of Learning Disabled (LD) children. In a control paired group, treated with placebo, behavioral changes were not observed and the smaller maturational EEG changes observed were easily explained by increased age. Two years later, the EEG maturational lag in Control Group children increased, reaching abnormally high theta Relative Power values; the absence of positive behavioral changes continued and the neurological diagnosis remained LD. In contrast, after 2 years EEG maturation did continue in children who belonged to the Experimental Group with previous neurofeedback training; this was accompanied by positive behavioral changes, which were reflected in remission of LD symptoms.

What is Neurofeedback: An Update

“…With regard to learning disabilities, Fernandez et al (2003) demonstrated in a placebocontrolled study that neurofeedback was an effective treatment, and the improvements were sustained on 2-year follow-up (Becerra et al, 2006). An additional report by Fernandez (Fernandez et al, 2007) on 16 children with learning disabilities documented significant EEG changes 2 months after neurofeedback compared to a placebo-control group where there were no EEG changes, and 10 of 11 children in the neurofeedback treatment group showed objective changes in academic performance compared with one in five children in the placebo group.…”

“…It can be assumed that positive results from neurofeedback are due to a combination of expectancy (placebo) effects and effects specific to the neurofeedback treatment (Hammond, 2011;Perreau-Linck, Lessard, Levesque, & Beauregard, 2010), because placebo effects appear to be an active ingredient in virtually every therapeutic modality. We know, however, that there are improvements very specific to neurofeedback because there are several placebo-controlled studies that have demonstrated significant efficacious and specific effects beyond placebo influences in neurofeedback training (Raymond, Varney, et al, 2005), including with learning disabilities (Becerra et al, 2006;Fernandez et al, 2003), ADD=ADHD (deBeus & Kaiser, 2011;deNiet, 2011), anxiety (Raymond, Varney, et al, 2005), epilepsy (Lubar et al, 1981), sleep latency and declarative learning (Hoedlmoser et al, 2008), cognitive enhancement in the elderly (Angelakis et al, 2007), autism (Pineda et al, 2008), and depression (Choi et al, 2011), although one preliminary study did not find such effects (Lansbergen, van DongenBoomsma, Buitelaar, & Slaats-Willemse, 2010). Certainly animal studies (e.g., Sterman, 1973; also suggest that neurofeedback has therapeutic effects independent of placebo effects.…”

Mind–body interventions

“…Biofeedback is one of the few mind-body interventions that can potentially be blinded through the use of sham feedback. 45,46 Thus, placebo or expectancy effects which have a significant impact in many disorders are especially difficult to control for in mind-body clinical trials. 47,48 The potential benefit of a treatment in which the patient actively participates may be due to increased self-efficacy, the person's sense of ability to deal with a situation which, by itself, is associated with physiologic benefits.…”

The Use of EEG Biofeedback For Treating Specific Learning Difficulties in Children of Middle School Age

“…První studii zjišťující efektivitu metody na děti s poruchami učení publikovali Fernández et al (2003), kontrolované studie provedli Becerra et al (2006) a Fernández et al (2007. Děti absolvovaly terapie na EEG biofeedbacku v rozmezí 20-35 sezení.…”

“…Snížení pomalých frekvencí theta po 20 sezeních u experimentální skupiny potvrdila kontrolovaná studie (Fernández et al, 2003), která u kontrolní skupiny zhodnotila pouze snížení vln delta. Tyto výsledky byly potvrzeny i po dvou letech testování těchto dětí ve smyslu dalšího ubývání pomalých vln oproti kontrolní skupině, u které se nevyzrálost mozkové aktivity ještě prohloubila (Becerra et al, 2006). Na základě výsled-ků studií lze předpokládat dlouhodobé trvání navozených změn v mozkové aktivitě dětí.…”