Remote neurofeedback

Neurofeedback is a great intervention for those who have easy access to clinical services, but what if you live in a regional or remote area that doesn't have a clinical neurofeedback service? Or perhaps you have a family member who is unable to access services for other reasons. Neuro Development Services has addressed this important issue by offering a remote service in which neurofeedback can occur in your own home under our direct supervision, using the internet to monitor progress. Small groups may also be interested in establishing a remote neurofeedback set-up in their school or local community centre. In fact, this service can occur wherever it works for the group concerned. Flexibility is the key!

Mark Darling, director of Neuro Development Services, has been offering remote home-based neurofeedback services since 2003 and school-based services since 2004. A system has been established whereby families or individuals come to our clinic on the Sunshine Coast for up to a week. During that time initial assessments and evaluation of EEG brainwave activity are conducted and a tailor-made treatment plan is devised. Initial neurofeedback sessions are then conducted in the clinic and parents or other support persons are trained in the basics of how to run a neurofeedback session at home; including the essentials of where to place the electrodes, how to know you're getting a good signal and how to run the neurofeedback software. Once back at home parents or the designated support persons continue to run the neurofeedback sessions. Session results and feedback about progress are e-mailed back to our clinic and any treatment protocol adjustments are made and can be e-mailed back to the home-based neurofeedback computer as necessary.

The initial school neurofeedback pilot project was conducted at Hervey Bay Special School with six autistic students ascertained as ASD Level 6, the highest level of support required within the Queensland education system. All appropriate assessments were provided on site at the school, with tailor-made neurofeedback protocols being developed for each student. Protocols were e-mailed to the school for downloading onto the neurofeedback computer. Following each session, EEG data and session results were e-mailed back to the clinic for evaluation and protocol adjustment as necessary. Full clinical and technical support was provided and neurofeedback sessions formed part of each student's Individual Education Profile (IEP).

A system of independent direct observation of behaviour in the classroom was established for each of the students. Pre-determined autistic behaviours were observed and quantified at pre-determined windows of time each day. The result was that across the first 28 neurofeedback sessions (less than one school term) autistic behaviour in the classroom setting reduced by 64% for the students involved in the study. Improvements were also reported in the areas of sleep, mood, speech, academic performance, attention, memory, and social skills; as well as reductions in anger, aggression, seizures, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. The two students who had epilepsy both stopped having seizures, while two non-verbal students both began speaking a few words.

The neurofeedback program at Hervey Bay Special School won a Commonwealth Award for Outstanding National Achievement in School Improvement and was a regional winner of the Courier-Mail Showcase Award for Excellence in Innovation. This pilot project has formed the basis of Mark's PhD research which is examining the efficacy of neurofeedback as a school-based intervention for a larger group of students with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. It is expected that neurofeedback may well take its place as a much needed resource within the education system.

In an effort to further streamline the remote neurofeedback process and create an easier, more pleasant experience for families, schools and other groups, Neuro Development Services has developed the NeuroTrack remote neurofeedback system. NeuroTrack is a web-based remote neurofeedback monitoring service that enables clients to to fill in an on-line checklist that has been tailored specifically to their needs and upload the checklist and the associated neurofeedback session file (EEG or HEG) direct to their password protected storage area. The clinician is then able to replay the completed neurofeedback session and review the associated symptom checklist and graph of progress. Any necessary protocol adjustments can then be made in an informed way and clients can be provided with newly adjusted protocols as required. This is an exciting new development and we look forward to offering it to our clients in regional and remote areas.