Our neurofeedback therapy services help to improve speech, behaviour and other characteristics, without changing the person. Neurofeedback improves the quality of life of individuals living with autism and other impactful conditions.
We provide neurofeedback therapy in our Acacia Ridge, Brisbane practice.
Neurofeedback therapy can help children and adults with a diagnosis of autism and other conditions to develop new brainwave patterns. It has been shown to be particularly effective in 75% of cases.1 At Footsteps, we personalise neurofeedback to the individual.
In neurofeedback therapy, sensors are used to record brain activity. This is then interpreted in real-time by a computer that provides visual, and audio feedback aimed at reinforcing positive brain activities. Over time, those sensory “rewards” train the brain to create new “habits” or pathways.
Brain cells communicate with each other by producing electrical pulses. This complex process produces brainwaves. By recording brainwaves, we are able to see how much brain activity is happening when we think, feel, and behave in different ways.
Brainwaves change according to how you are feeling or what you are doing. For example, your brainwaves are slower when you are relaxed or sleeping, and they are faster when you are alert and concentrating.
During neurofeedback sessions, one or more sensors are placed on a person’s scalp and/or ear lobes. The sensors are attached to an EEG machine, which shows the person’s brainwaves on a computer screen as lines and graphs, or translated into a simple video game.
For example, the game might show a car driving or a ball rising and falling with speed changing depending on the brainwaves.
The individual is asked to interact with these graphic representations. As desirable brain activity increases, the video game moves faster or the ball rises, while undesirable brain activity slows the ball down. This in turn supports the individual to gradually develop new brain patterns.
Neurofeedback is a short-term treatment program with long-term effects.
The number of sessions that each person needs to achieve their desired goals varies but, a person may begin with 2 or more sessions a week, and gradually reduce the frequency of sessions over time.
Around 30 – 40 sessions are usually needed for the brain to develop new beneficial patterns.
In the 1960s Dr Joseph Kamiya from the University of Chicago successfully trained people to control their brainwaves. Around the same time, Barry Sterman at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) found that neurofeedback could help his clients with epilepsy.
Neurofeedback has been used to support people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) since the 1980s. Since the late 1990s, it has been used to support children with autism.
1 Arns et al. 2012
2 This is shown in the multi-centre, placebo controlled study by Strehl et al. 2017
3 Arns et al. 2012