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Here’s a Fact: The brain regulates sleep. Specifically, delta brainwaves are responsible for the deepest levels of relaxation and restorative, healing sleep. Adequate production of delta waves helps us feel completely rejuvenated after we wake up from a good night’s sleep.

Many people will often turn to medications to help them sleep better. While these can help for a single night, the do not provide a long term solution or solve the underlying issue. Plus studies have shown that long term reliance on sleep medications have been linked to Alzheimer’s and dementia.

If irregular delta waves are affecting sleep, then it makes sense to try and target them directly. Only one option does this: neurofeedback. Neurofeedback is a computer based system that can help normalize all areas of the brain and help them function more efficiently.  Over time and multiple sessions, neurofeedback corrects these brainwaves so that the brain can regulate sleep better. The process is safe, non-invasive and can help you eliminate nighttime sleep medications for good. Best of all, sessions are fun: you watch a movie while the computer does all the work.

We invite you to learn more about neurofeedback and how it can help those having sleep issues. Our clinic in Fort Wayne offers neurofeedback and brain mapping services. Learn more about neurofeedback here:

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(from Healing Young Brains)

Parents should be aware of the early signs of autism.  Often when autism occurs in infancy, there is an unfolding of behaviors over time.  The child:

-May not appear to enjoy being cooed to or sung to

-May not babble

-May not enjoy being lifted or swung

-May not make eye contact or play peek-a-boo

-May not climb and explore

-May not ask or show interest by pointing

-May not use words

-May not show interest in others

-May not pretend or imitate

-May not play with toys as toys, for example, rolling a car or stacking blocks and not just holding or mouthing it

-May begin highly repetitive behaviors, such as repeating a word or phrase continuously, or repeating a body movement

“In many ways, autism is the condition that most epitomizes a dysregulation disorder.  Varying toxic loads affect different regulatory mechanisms in the brain differently.  Children with autism may share any of a number of symptoms, but there is no disorder in the DSM-IV that has such an array of differences.  Even in identical twins with autism, it is not unusual for them to have different behaviors and neurological deficits.  Both have toxic burdens, but the toxic substances may differ and their tissue uptake in the brain may differ.

Children in the autistic spectrum are more likely to have certain other dysregulation disorders, such as seizures.  Seizure is the first disorder that the developer of neurofeedback, Dr. Barry Sterman, treated.  He started treating the brain’s regulatory centers with neurofeedback more than forty years ago, and his work has been replicated over and over with the same high level of success.

Risk factors for a child developing autism include problems surrounding labor and delivery, such as a breech position or a pre-term delivery.  These problems also increase the risk of other dys-regulation disorders, including ADHD and learning disability.

The disruptions present in the brains of autistic children are in the regulatory centers.  Neuropsychologist Dr. Rob Coben has studied the brainwave activity of autistic children extensively.  Dr. Coben’s research findings reveal that the brains of children with autism have areas that have too much electrical connectivity and other areas that are too loosely connected.  Too much leads to decreased resilience and reduced ability to reorganize itself, and too little decreases the communication necessary to organize by reducing the numbers and intricacies of the interfaces.

What is important about Dr. Coben’s work is that it does not only identify how the brains of autistic children differ from other children’s, it also helps us form strategies for how to improve their brains.

After treatment, some of our patients have told us that the experience of their condition was one of bewildering, unbearable over-stimulation.  In many children, this no doubt what produces the avoidance of touch, unresponsiveness, irrational fears or inability to exhibit fear, or the need for sameness and marked difficulty with any changes.  In such a state of overwhelming and intolerable stimulation, the behaviors these children exhibit make perfect sense.

Some children are able to focus intensively on a single thing to help reduce stimulation.  This likely is a reason some children will spin or rock for long periods of time. Parents and clinicians call this type of repetitive behavior “stimming”, for self-stimulation, but the repetitive behaviors may be more for overall stimulation reduction.

This ability to focus to the exclusion of all else may be productive and can result in remarkable degrees of knowledge or skills in the area or subject of focus.  It appears that when parts of the brain are not functioning, other areas are more likely to develop beyond usual limits.  Children with such skills may be highly artistic or musically or mathematically gifted, or have prodigious memories in a specific subject, such as trains, seashells, or,like Sean, Mars.  They tend to do or think about little else aside from their subject of interest.  When these children are treated with neurofeedback, the artistic, musical, and mathematically skilled continue to develop their talents while becoming increasingly well rounded in their lives.  In the children with a singular interest, the encyclopedic knowledge tends to fade as they develop other interests and make friends.”

More vital, cutting edge information on helping improve the function of autistic families.  From Healing Young Brains:

“The DSM-IV criteria are useful in organizing our thinking about diagnosing autism, but they do not cover the physiological disturbances commonly seen that reveal autism to be a medical disorder.  These may be deficits in speech and sensory, motor, cognitive, and autonomic nervous system functioning.  As a physician, I cannot explain how a psychosocial disorder could produce, for instance, deficits such as abnormal reflexes, poor visual skills, and poor coordination.

We believe it is clear that autism is the result of injury due to toxicity.  The brain, when subjected to repeated insults, can experience destabilization of its fine-tuning and sophisticated regulatory mechanisms.  Young brains are even more vulnerable since their regulatory mechanisms are in a state of development.  Genetics certainly play a role in determining vulnerability to toxic insults, but playing a role is very different from cause and effect.

The idea that toxicity is the major factor in autism matches the clinical experience well.  Toxic conditions damage brains, but toxins can be removed and behaviors changed.  Virtually any rational efforts at supporting the brain, gastrointestinal tract, and liver with nutrition and/or detoxifying treatments almost always result in unambiguous clinical improvements in a significant number of children.  With the addition of neurofeedback, even greater improvements are realized.  We see these same improvements in most of the children who have a stronger genetic vulnerability.  The degree of improvement varies.  Some have a noticeable decrease in the severity of symptoms or behaviors.  Others show new and more appropriate behavior and begin to use words again, sleep at night, and/or show affection.  Some are cured.”

“It was easy to decide how to proceed with Sierra:  we did what she would allow.  She wouldn’t let us touch her head, so neurofeedback was initially out of the question.  Shawna reported that Sierra had experienced several ear infections treated with antibiotics.  The infections started at seven months of age, so Dr. Castro prescribed antifungal medication.  Shawna was able to disguise the antifungal powder in peanut butter, and administered suppositories to her.  When Sierra would allow it, she rubbed essential fatty acids, thiamine tetrahydrofurfuryl disulfide.  (TTFD), and glutathione into her skin, and she added Epsom salts to her bath.  Changes were slow at first, and occurred primarily in eating.  She started accepting different foods, and Shawna began to work the nutritional supplements we had discussed into Sierra’s diet.  Her screaming fits decreased over the first month, then disappeared in the fifth week of treatment.  Then she abruptly began saying words, sleeping five to seven hours at a time, and playing with toys, though she still went stiff if Shawna tried to cuddle her.”

“Certain toxins are implicated in autism, including microbial toxins, metals, synthetic chemicals, and electromagnetic fields.  These have been around for some time, so why has the number of children with autism erupted in the past decade?  There is credible evidence that we live in an increasingly toxic world–atmosphere, oceans, rivers, soils, and food supply.  We are straining the limits of tolerability.  Recent serious efforts to clean up our planet are just getting under way but are lagging at this point.

As many have said, children with autism are the canaries in the coal mine, the unmistakable signal that for those who are most vulnerable, the environment is becoming unsafe.”

Memory Protection Plan and Brain Brightening with neurofeedback.  You or someone you want to help can have a brain map QEEG and learn the neurological status and find out if the brain is still trainable.  Read the following on Dementia and Baby Boomers.  You can be proactive about your memory and optimize your mental health.  Schedule a brain map with Dr. Vicki by phoning 260.432.8777. 

     Dementia takes 15 to 20 years to develop and begins with MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment.)  It begins in the 30s and 40s.  By 80-85 over 50% of Americans are demented.  Dementia may be an accelerated form of brain aging (Mondrego, 2007.)  By age 65  1/100 people will have symptoms of dementia (confusion, severe forgetfulness, and an inability to manage on their own.)  By 75  it is 1/10   and 1/2  by age 85.  Mild Cognitive Impairment is a mild or moderate cognitive impairment that is a heterogenous disorder (affects different people in different ways.)  Some turn into Alzheimers, some stay mildly impaired and some reverse.

     High blood pressure has been linked to dementia.  Insulin resistance has been linked to dementia.  How many people with insulin/blood sugar problems do you know?  The British Journal of Nutrition  says Astaxanthin supplementation may help dementia.  Over 100 million people in the US are prescribed benzodiazepines for anxiety and insomnia.  This class of drugs has been linked to a 50% greater chance of developing dementia.  Dementia is from the loss of brain cells.  It takes 20 to 30 years and begins in your 30s.  Dementia is accelerated by head trauma.  The best predictor of low T is head trauma.

     Dementia is now being called Type 3 Diabetes.  Hormones that may contribute to cognitive decline:  androstenedione, calcitonin, DHEA, DHEA-5, Erythropoletin, Estriol, Estrone, HGH, Hydroxcycortisol/aldosterone, IGF, incretin, Insulin, melatonin, parathyroid hormone, pregnenolone, progesterone, testosterone, T3 and T4, it D2 and D3, oxytocin and DDAVP.

     Cole and Frautschy out of UCLA found both curcumin and DHA each reversed cognitive deficits in laboratory animals.  Cournal et al., in 2006 in Neurology found there is a relationship between BMI and cognitive function in healthy middle-aged men and women.  The higher the BMI, the lower the word recall.  The study involved 2,223 people.  Mayo Clinic in the Archives of Neurology in 2006 found Celiac Disease was associated with cognitive impairment.

Neurofeedback is a quick, noninvasive, cost-effective treatment for a wide variety of disorders that affect not only children, but also adults.  So without years of medical treatment, talking pills, or managing difficult diets, without months or even years of traditional therapy or behavior modification, we can successfully treat disorders like autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, and emotional/behavioral problems.  In this book, we give you a number of case studies on a variety of disorders, but here are two cases from our practice that show neurofeedback in action.

     Seth, nine years old, was failing every thir-grade subject and had not friends.  His mother gave him a birthday party and only two children showed up.  Seth had been on Ritalin for several months.  Not only did the medication not seem to make any difference, every afternoon he would become more difficult and irritable (Ritalin rebound).  We started neurofeedback treatment in the late spring and continued it through the summer.  Although Seth had to repeat the third grade, his grades jumped to the B range and he cultivated “lots of friends”.  Eight years after treatment, his parents report he is doing very well academically and socially.

     Carolyn was a quiet, shy, sad-looking child.  She was failing the sixth grade, was mildly oppositional and “stubborn” at home, and she had only one close friend.  She was not diagnosed with ADHD but should have been.  She also suffered from a chronic low-grade depression.  In this case, we could not distinguish which came first, the depression or the inability to attend.  We saw both symptoms as well as others as part of a cluster of problems.  In just twelve weeks of neurofeedback, Carolyn’s sad personality began to brighten, her grades improved, she stopped writing gloomy poetry, and she started developing new friends.  It took a lot more training, but the palpable sadness began to lift after a few sessions.

     These are just two cases out of hundreds we have treated.  There were no medications, no major dietary changes, no endless behavior modification or psychotherapy–just neurofeedback.  Neurofeedback is a simple treatment that generally involves two sessions a week.  The patient is connected to a specialized EEG (electroencephalogram) computer system.  By watching a monitor, the patient can see what his or her brainwaves are doing through training can learn to change dysregulate brainwaves to more functional and flexible brainwave frequencies.  The feedback is presented in the form of a sophisticated brainwave-oriented game.  The treatment is easy, quick, and not costly.  It involves no pain or discomfort–just watching a computer game or movie with your brain.

     Autism and ADHD are certainly the disorders of public note in the last decade.  Because these two disorders are so often talked about in the media, everyone acts as tthough they are expert in the field.  Children who are quiet and socially unattached are at risk for being diagnosed with autism or Asperger’s disorder.  A child who misbehaves, is rambunctious, acts bored, or underachieves in school is now at risk of being diagnosed with ADHD.  The vast majority of these children are quickly placed on medications by well-meaning clinicians.  These two disorders are very real and must be treated.  Our concern is that professionals–rather than family, friends, or teachers–need to make these diagnoses.  If these children are not treated, we end up with adults who procrastinate, are disorganized, or who have problems that interfere with living a normal, productive life.  Countless adults have come to our clinics, self-diagnosed with a disorder, wanting medications.  In many cases, they are correct about the diagnosis.  Rather than offering them medications, however, we offer neurofeedback as well as help with emotional problems.”  From Healing Young Brains by Eduardo Castro, M.D. and Robert Hill, Ph.D.

     A copy of this book is given families of our neurofeedback patients as they want to know more about how we achieve the improvement without drugs.  Research shows the improvements last over 30 years and the average IQ goes up over 10 points.

Now we have a really exciting story to tell you.  It is a story of heartbreak and hope, of people devastated by a multitude of disorders finding happiness and success, a story of brave and dedicated professionals swimming against the tide of conventional wisdom.

     In this book, we address the basics of neurofeedback and approach a wide variety of disorders being treated with this non-pharmaceutical training program.  Autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, and emotional disorders are discussed in many different contexts.  Practically everyone in America has heard of most of these childhood disorders and they are often the topic of conversation among concerned moms and dads.  What most people know about these disorders, however, they learned from ninety-second TV reports and hearsay.  There are even professionals who know only a minimal amount of scientific information about many of these disorders.  It is not that they are disinterested or uncaring, but there is a whole different body of literature about each disorder, and with everything else they have to know, it gets overwhelming.  For many very busy physicians, the SIMPLE solution is to place the child on a medication that is reported to help.  For example, Ritalin stimulates the disinterested, lethargic child, and through what appears to be a paradoxical process, slows down the hyperactive child.  So, the problem is solved and everyone is happy.  It is just not that easy.  Drugs have side effects and they generally focus on only one symptom.

     Autism is not only a problem of social engagement, just as ADHD is not only a problem of inattention in the classroom.  Depression is not only a problem of feeling a little down, just as sleep disturbance is not only a nighttime problem.  These are all problems that fall in clusters of problems that can only be described as serious, and they may well be the first manifestation of lifelong problems of disengagement with the world around them and children with ADHD have a higher probability of developing aggressive, violent, and antisocial behavior.  ADHD children are more likely to use drugs and alcohol when compared to children without ADHD.  In all the disorders we cover in this book, the children affected have a higher likelihood of exhibiting poor school performance, thereby ending up with less education than nonaffected children.  In dealing with childhood disorders, we can now project the consequences in later life.   When these disorders are carried into adulthood, we see more failed marriages, less job success, more auto accidents, rockier personal relationships, and trouble with the legal system.  We know scientifically that most of our medications do not fix these childhood disorders.

     Inappropriate brainwave activity is at the core of most of these problems.  In ADHD, for example, the dominant brainwave is a slow-frequency brainwave.  Ritalin is a stimulant medication that speeds up the brain.  It is, however, only a temporary treatment.  Remove the stimulant and the brain slows down again.  Not only does Ritalin not fix the problem, it also has side effects, and we do not know the consequences of long-term use.  The same is true of most medications prescribed for these childhood disorders.  As long as the patient is on the medication, some improvement is noticed; but if the medication is discontinued, there is a high probability of a return to the former state.

     There is, however, a different kind of hope for children with these pervasive and destructive disorders.  It is neurofeedback.  Neurofeedback is a sophisticated form of biofeedback that actually trains the brain to normalize the brainwaves and make them flexible and adaptable to situational needs.  It can do on a more permanent basis what most medications can only do for a few hours, and there are no lasting negative side effects as there are with medications.

     Drs. Kelsey are trained in recognizing different brain patterns and in how to help the brain regulate itself in a normal, healthy way.  Limited appointments are available. Call to reserve your time.

Neurofeedback helps regulate clusters of symptoms.  From Healing Young Brains.  Robert Hill, Ph.D., Eduardo castro, M.D.

     “Early in the development f neurofeeback, several practitioners proposed the idea of global dysregulation.  The idea behind his theory is that if brainwaves are dysregulated, there is a strong likelihood of a cluster of symptoms rather than just a single problem.  This made sense because seldom will you find anyone with just one symptom related to any disorder.  For example, a child with ADHD is likely to have sleep problems, low self-esteem, depression, and perhaps angry outbursts.  Another child with the same diagnosis may show generalized irritability, defiance toward authority, and perhaps a tic disorder, and so there is usually a cluster of symptoms, not just a single problem.  Practitioners observed that when they started to regulate the ADHD brain, other symptoms began to disappear.  For example, not only did the child become more focused, but sleep also improved, tics disappeared, and the child became much easier to work with.  In addition, therapists noticed that self-esteem improved, attitude brightened, and depression dissolved.  We observed that symptoms in the cluster improved in practically every disorder we treated with neurofeedback.  This reinforced the idea of global dysregulation and that various symptoms cluster with other problems; when you regulate one symptom, the others improve.

     Allopathic medicine generally focuses on the primary complaint and tries to ameliorate the single problem with a treatment modality such as medication.  Medications, however successful, generally carry unwanted side effects.  Often a patient will have one drug to treat a single problem and two other drugs to treat the side effects of the first drug.  Neurofeedback, on the other hand, seldom, if ever, has unwanted side effecs.  In fact, the effects of neurofeedback are generally the amelioration of additional symptoms in the cluster.  If the training session does cause an unwanted side effect such as a headache or a sleepless night, it can be remedied in a single neurofeedback session.  Many physicians we work with complain that their patients come in with a laundry list of problems; how do you treat five or ten problems at once?  In neurofeedback, we expect multiple symptoms with every problem and so this is not a concern.  We target the primary problem while charting the other problems in the cluster, knowing that we are addressing more than a single symptom.  We recognize that symptoms cluster rater than come in one nice little package with one single complaint.”

   This book is about rescuing children from pervasive and devastating disorders that affect millions of young people.  Problems like autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and even depression can have lifetime consequences.  The simple truth is that when we rescue the child, we save the adult.  We have seen countless adults who have bemoaned the fact that they did not get the needed help when they were younger, as a consequence, their adult lives have been in some way handicapped by what are now very treatable disorders.  When we wrote Getting Rid of Ritalin, we were excited to tell the story of how  brainwave training program (all over the world were being helped by a nonpharmaceutical brainwave training program (neurofeedback).  Neurofeedback, or brainwave biofeedback, offered hope for millions of children and adults with ADHD.  We knew that brainwave training would meet with skepticism from some medical practitioners, so we wanted to get the message out to families everywhere.  Since that time, neurofeedback has grown by leaps and bounds.  Practitioners all over the world have been trained to help individuals with a number of problems.  Psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists, social workers, and counselors in many countries have added neurofeedback to their treatment regimens.

     Since we wrote the first book, exciting things have happened in the field.  There have been new studies on autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, dyslexia, depression, anxiety, and other disorders.  We are now able to treat Tourette’s syndrome and a wider variety of behavioral problems.  People with sleep disorders and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) are seen in neurofeedback clinics on a daily basis, as are people seeking performance enhancement programs.”