Tuesday, 01 December 2009

• Neurotherapy as a Treatment For Autism

  From: Dr. Chun Wong
  

  Canadian neurotherapist Paul Swingle will be the first to admit that his methods of treatment for Autism are often criticized. Many claim that there are no dependable studies that prove his neurotherapy sessions work.  Melanie Lewis of Harrogate, England is a firm believer in Swingle’s treatment and she says her son is proof of its effectiveness.

  When Melanie’s son, Martin was three years old, she and her husband began to worry about him. His speech was delayed, he lacked coordination and was unable to focus on any one thing for too long. He soon began to have seizures and visited doctor after doctor who would simply give him more medication and send them on their way.

  At 8 1/2 years old, Martin began having a different kind of seizure.  Melanie took him to several different doctors and neurologists who gave negative prognosis and their answers were to up his dosages on his medication. Melanie says, “It was a time of fairly major disillusionment in the medical system.”

  Melanie, a doctor and her husband, previously a doctor, now a lawyer have always taken a “proactive” approach to their son’s condition. They tried everything from modifying his diet to horse-back riding to having him take Ritalin and anti-seizure medication. None of these things seemed to help, at least not dramatically.  
  

  It was across the world that Melanie would soon locate Paul Swingle, a psychologist from Vancouver. She says she was browsing around the internet and came across Swingle’s website. The neurotherapy that he specializes in made sense to Melanie and this convinced her to fly halfway across the world to try to find a successful treatment for her son.

  Having surfaced in the 70’s, neurotherapy was introduced to treat a variety of disorder’s including attention deficit disorder, autism, epilepsy and addiction. It has also been used as treatment for stoke victims.

  Swingle describes neurotherapy treatment as involving normalizing, modifying and optimizing brain functioning.  He goes on to say that “We find areas [of the brain] that are not functioning efficiently.” Then neurotherapeutic exercises are introduced to stimulate the non-functioning areas.The idea is similar to physical exercises that enhance muscles.

  The first step in the neurotherapy treatment is an initial analysis which includes the measurement of brainwaves. An electroencephalograph (EEG) is used to determine which brain waves are excessive and which are under or dysfunctional. This information is then used to give feedback to the patient and they can then learn how to regulate their brain waves to achieve successful relief from symptoms.
  

  Swingle says that “self-regulation” of brain activity can be compared to using Yoga and meditation to reach complete relaxed states, focusing on the power of the mind. He says this can mind control also be achieved using neurotherapy exercises.
  

  What exercises are used to reach the point of regulation? Swingle explains in his book, Biofeedback for the Brain:  How Neurotherapy Effectively Treats Depression, ADHD, Autism and More that “A brain-controlled Pac-Man game is often a popular and effective reward. Using rewards of sounds and game-like computer images that provide information about successful brain regulation allows the person to learn what concentration feels like and, better yet, how to sustain that mental state.”

  Melanie admits that she was a bit nervous about flying across the world to have her son take part in a treatment that she hardly knew anything about - but the changes she has seen have made her a believer.  Within 5 days, Melanie claims Martin was off of the Ritalin that he had been on since he was 2 years old. He hasn’t had any since.  Though he still does take anti-seizure medication, his dosage has been cut in half since he began neurotherapy. Melanie also reports that she has seen drastic changes in Martin’s behavior, social skills and cognitive function.

  As mentioned, neurotherapy has its critics.  On QuackWatch.com, along with Facilitated Communication which we discussed a few weeks ago, Neurotherapy is listed as a method of treatment that “should be avoided. ” Although documented cases of success exist, ” a comprehensive review has concluded that none of these claims is supported by well-designed studies.”

  Despite this, Melanie explains that being a parent of a child who has diagnosed disorders you will try anything to help them. Neurotherapy has worked for her son and she’s happy for this.

  Neurotherapy sessions with Swingle cost about $105 per session.  It is also worth mentioning that this method is traditionally only used with high-functioning autistic children in an attempt to correct dysfunctional brain-wave patterns.

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