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ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER (with or without Hyperactivity) - LEARNING CHALLENGES - BEHAVIOR PROBLEMS
What's wrong with me? Are these symptoms familiar to you?
 His teachers say he doesn't concentrate
Homework is a nightmare
He's not focused
She feels hopeless
His parents worry about his future
She's never been able to hold a job
He argues at home
She's angry and frustrated
She is worried about her future
She's wondering what is wrong
Right-brained learners: Some patients have what appears to be confusing symptoms. Wendy, for example, was getting good grades until middle school. She wasn't handing in her homework and the teachers were giving her "F's". But Wendy was a "right-brained" visual/spatial learner. Middle school lecture-style teaching and organizational demands proved to be a challenge. It was determined that Wendy would learn far better in a more experiential, hands-on, conceptual school environment, not one requiring memorization and auditory learning.
Is it really ADD? Alicia felt bored and restless both when she was a student and now in the workplace. She was unable to hold a job for very long and felt trapped. With a precise diagnosis it was determined Alicia had a unique learning "challenge" that was easily treated.
Disruptive behavior: Several of our patients have been very close to being placed in a "residential care" facility in order to control their behavior. When they first seek treatment, they tend to be angry, aggressive, oppositional and out of control. Evaluation often reveals brain imbalances which, when treated, turn out to normalize the behavior to an astonishing degree.
Attention / Hyperactivity / Learning / Behavior Treatments
Traditional Therapy:
It's a little known fact that about 40% of patients taking psychostimulants (e.g., Ritalin, Adderall, Dexedrine, etc.) have a mediocre or poor response. Even in patients who do very well on these medications, the majority of patients only take them for about 2 years. Then they quit and return to their old behavior patterns.
A small minority of patients, when given psychostimulants or certain antidepressants may even get worse, including becoming more aggressive, depressed and behaviorally acting out. If medication is going to be effective for these people, the temporal lobes of the brain may first need to be treated with a mood stabilizer (e.g., Depakote, Tegretol, Neurontin, etc.) before adding an antidepressant or psychostimulant.There are many kinds of attention and learning problems, and no two "brain signatures" are exactly the same. Advanced objective testing can help zero in on exactly what type of learning style or struggle may be causing the symptoms.
What kind of testing is done?
In addition to traditional methods of assessment, computerized brainwaves are tested for patterns
which may otherwise be undetected. A cap (like an old-time bathing cap) with sensors inside to collect brainwaves is placed on the head. This is known as Quantitative or Digital EEG. Various cognitive tasks are performed during testing. The data is then analyzed, processed and submitted to databases for comparison to an aged matched population. The testing is non-invasive and only collects brainwaves - no electricity is ever put into the brain.
EEG Neurofeedback - the little known therapy achieving astonishing results without drugs:
 This may be one of several treatment options, depending on the results of the Digital EEG testing. If applicable, and chosen as a treatment by the patient, this therapy consists of retraining the brainwaves back to a more normal pattern. The patient, with sensors on the scalp, sits in front of a computer screen. The sensors monitor the brain's electrical activity and transmit it to the computer. The brainwaves are converted into pictures - like an F14 Fighter Jet - and, for example, the patient has to fly the plane. This is accomplished through focus and concentration, without joysticks or control pads. When the brain initially masters the computer game, the training parameters are made more difficult. Throughout the training process the brain is challenged until it plateaus, thereby refocusing and reshaping the brainwaves into the desired patterns and improving the patient's symptoms. This learning process is no different then what the brain has to do when it first learns to ride a bicycle.
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