Looked at from the perspective of brain behavior, the most obvious shortcoming in autism lies at the level of integration of function. Moreover, this deficit is not uniform across functional domains but rather afflicts particularly our emotional core that allows us to function in socially connected ways.

In this condition, there may be nothing in the causal chain beyond the witnessing of a highly traumatizing event. Yet the lingering physiological consequences can devastate the rest of that person’s life. In this case, we have no choice but to trace all these adverse consequences back to the original event, and all we have to work with is functional connectivity (which is demonstrably altered). There had been no physical injury, after all. Everything that occurred in that trauma experience lay in the functional domain at the outset. Very clearly, then, deficits in functional connectivity are quite sufficient to wreak all kinds of havoc with our physiology, and that is what also happens in the autistic spectrum.

The significance of this observation is that by addressing functional connectivity in autism directly, we are not only helping with the consequences of other biomedical deficits, we are also remediating an important element in the causal chain of dysfunction in its own right. This helps to make the case that neurofeedback and brain training should be an early intervention in the autistic spectrum. Given what we now know, we believe that it should be the very first thing undertaken by any family whose child is suspected of starting to exhibit autistic features. Families already involved in other therapies should consider folding neurofeedback in early as a high priority.

What happens in a neurofeedback training, and how is it done?
The traditional approach of Neurofeedback just characterizes the deviations in functional connectivity and targets those in training. The deviations are numerous, however, and one still needs a guiding principle to determine the appropriate order in which they should be addressed. And then one runs into the usual conundrum that some approaches help and others don’t.

We find it most appropriate to move the child’s brain out of emergency mode as the first order of business. “Calm the stressed and agitated nervous system” is the operative principle. This can be done relatively straightforwardly with essentially any autistic child, irrespective of level of functionality or of age. This strategy finds additional support in our work with people with PTSD, with traumatic brain injury and with dyslexic children. All three of these classes of problems will be started with the very same neurofeedback and brain training approach because the initial objective is common to them all: it is to move the nervous system to a calmer and more controlled place.

The basic process follows these steps, always with the analysis of the EEG in real time:

1. Initially we record an EEG while the child performs a 4-minute test that involves six different intellectual functions, which offers 24 different aspects of this EEG reading.
2. After the analysis of this reading we choose (or draws) an optical-acoustic stimulus program that will start the training itself for 12 minutes. This equipment implements certain frequencies directly into the brain.
3. It is again performed the 4 minute test (step 1 above).
4. Now with three EEG readings available for analysis we prepare activities to be done with the help of optical-acoustic stimulus. In some cases the activities will be of pure neurofeedback (computer games controlled by brain waves). In other cases, the activities will be the ones of the child’s day-to-day life.

When any result is noted?
Functional improvements are observed within the first 12 minutes, simply by virtue of this change of state in which the nervous system functions.

Comparing the image above with the former, it is easy to see that the activity of the cerebral hemispheres has begun to come into balance. The reduction of stress between the hemispheres is a sine qua non condition for any progress that one wants to achieve. Unlike the usual neurofeedback where the person is expected to reach this state by itself – when the computer then offers a reward in some kind of game or sound – the Brainwave implements frequencies and the desired balance directly into the brain.

The child’s brain realizes that the information presented in training is important and leads to a better state. Because the brain is presented with this experience, he wants to remain in this state. The children that follow the computer screen will notice that the information presented on the screen in some way actually mirrors its own activity. It cannot help but be intrigued to see its own activity mirrored back to it in this fashion, and so it becomes engaged in the process. Once the brain is thus entrained into the experience, then of course the child readily goes along for the journey. One can even think of this as guided meditation for the autistic brain. It clearly relishes the experience, and those dreaded electrodes are long forgotten by the child. With the practice of training the brain will assimilate the new habits and functional improvements will continue to emerge while others are consolidated.

Why do children learn?
The optical-acoustic stimulus offered by Brainwave serves as an appeal to the mechanisms by which the brain keeps its own balance of timing and frequency. It takes the brain out of its undesirable state, invoking thus their own resources to the task of restoring the regulation. In this image we have the EEG from the same child, 15 days later

Some rewards reinforce to the brain that the new state must be learned:

1. Relaxation and brain balance
   After many months, often years, living with the brain in constant high activity and stress, for the first time the child can reach, with the help of the Brainwave, a state of relaxation and balance. This reward is per se enough to promote learning.
2. Emotional Relationship
   It is usual that after the first training session, offered the opportunity, the child presents an emotional relationship with their parents never presented before. We explained above that affect regulation is intimately coupled to stress regulation. Regulating the one influences the other and vice versa. In fact, we have chosen to target the emotional circuitry as the most direct way of training stress regulation, taking advantage of this relationship.
3. Progressive cerebral Stability
   The brain becomes progressively more stable as new skills accumulate over the next training. In general, the child will deal with her life in a more peaceful and balanced way and it will be presented to her a full learning program to develop her new brain state and capabilities.

More specifically, this training can be very helpful for children whose autistic presentation is further complicated by a seizure disorder. In fact, epilepsy was the first clinical indication for which efficacy of EEG feedback was proved in animal and human subject research, so the focus on seizure susceptibility is appropriate. The story is consistent throughout: moving the child to better-regulated states helps brain stability, and so does the renormalization of connectivity relationships. Control of seizures then may open the door for enhanced cognitive function. We will have kindled a virtuous cycle in which every specific advance also promotes the overall objective of enhanced functionality.

If everything goes as expected, the agenda organized by Alphalearning gradually proliferates in terms of targeting and progresses on many fronts. Reading and Math skills join athletic and artistic abilities offering a range of possibilities for the child’s emotional development. Every feature of autistic behavioral presentation can be selectively targeted one after another. This is typically done in an order that emulates our original developmental sequence.

At this point the family already have a good deal of knowledge to keep the training at home with their own Brainwave, with ongoing remote supervision from the Alphalearning International. There is no obvious endpoint to the training, as the increasingly competent brain just continues to develop new competencies. Somehow our society needs to assure that every autistic child has the opportunity to expand his mental horizons with neurofeedback.

Finishing
In addition to the entry of autistic child in a world of emotional relationships and the reduction or elimination of several other symptoms related to autism spectrum, a number of other demands can be achieved with the brain training and neurofeedback. Problems related to the functioning and brain self-regulation, as the solution of dyslexia and ADHD, increased academic or artistic performance, solution to the disorders resulting from problems at birth and Fibromyalgia can be corrected within days or weeks, although the permanence of training guided by Alphalearning should last for longer.

After the course the customer relies on the ongoing remote supervision from the Alphalearning International for as long as necessary to master EEGs readings and operate with confidence the neurofeedback and optical-acoustic stimulus software. In addition, an agenda that fully develop a child (autistic or not) will take years of your life and we are keen to monitor the implementation of these goals.

Please contact us and schedule an interview to answer your questions and schedule your course.

Assessment-Guided Neurofeedback for Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Neurofeedback improves Executive Functioning in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Long-term effects of neurofeedback treatment in autism