Author: Victoria Ibric, MD Ph.D

Since 1993, after taking the Neurofeedback course with Siegfried and Sue
Othmer, I became the co-director of the EEG Biofeedback section at the
Biofeedback Institute of Los Angeles, under Dr. Marjorie Toomim’s supervision.
My initial work was with Neurocybernetics (NC) and I reported many successful
outcomes using this instrument. After four years of working in the
Neurofeedback field, I purchased my first ROSHI instrument, developed by
Charles Davis of ROSHI Corp. Now, in my practice, I use both Neurocybernetics
and ROSHI instruments.

I have found the Neurocybernetics system to be very useful for the intake
and for the training of certain patients who are encouraged by rewards and
who are able to stay alert with training. When the NC training reaches a
plateau or the patient becomes frustrated, I switch them to ROSHI. (NC is
hard work for the brain in deficit; and may be very easy and not as effective
with the over-achiever. Over-efforting, which is a frequent problem, can be
tiring and frequently frustrating for a client.) NC training is done with
eyes open. When eyes close due to sleepiness without prompting, training
becomes less efficient. (more…)

Author: Susan Shor Fehmi, M.S.W.

In recent years the subject of coherence and synchrony has come to the
forefront in neurofeedback circles, leaving people confused about the
difference between the two and wondering whether it is good or bad to have
coherent or synchronous brain waves. As many of you know, Les Fehmi has
been talking about the value of on-off phase synchrony training coupled with
Open Focus training for almost thirty years. This is a training protocol
that makes up a sizeable portion of our Princeton Biofeedback Centre
practice.

Coherence applies to brain waves that maintain a consistent relationship
with each other. Phase synchrony applies to a particular kind of
coherence, one in which brain waves of a specific frequency peak and trough
at the same time. When they peak and trough perfectly in time they are said
to be phase synchronous. Brain synchrony can be trained locally at one site,
or globally over the whole head. (more…)

Author: Darien C. Small

We are going to be participating in the upcoming Conference in Irvine, Alternatives for Special Kids, May 8-11. Darien Small, the organizer, was motivated to launch the first of these annual conferences last year in Boston because of his own experience as the father of a child with special needs. After the modest start, this year Darien is bringing together a large variety of resources for these children under one roof, with a wide spectrum of speakers. It should be a nice hothouse environment for them all. Sue and I are both giving presentations, and we will be participating in a number of workshops throughout the period. There will also be an exhibit area, where we will feature not only conventional neurofeedback but also Roshi II and HEG. We will of course also be promoting the practitioner network.

Darien’s most remarkable achievement has been the procurement of funding support for his conference. He is therefore able to offer scholarships for attendance. These scholarships may be particularly appropriate for those clinicians who are in dual roles both as neurofeedback practitioners and as parents of special-needs kids. We encourage attendance by any practitioner who is working with this population. Families are welcome at this conference. About 60% of attendees are expected to be families, and 40% professionals. Families bring their special needs kids, and these get to acquaint themselves as well with the available technologies. Attending families are typically well connected with support networks at home, having been commissioned as scouts to take the message back. So attendance may also be a way for you to build your practice. (more…)

It has been clear for some time that a small percentage of people react badly to alpha-theta training. They may feel overly sedated, depressed or have increased pain after training. This appears to be a physiological effect in which they end up in a less functional brain state. It is different from the possible psychological effect of revisiting and working through past traumas. My response until now has been to train beta/SMR first to stabilize the control of physiological state and to keep training beta/SMR after alpha-theta sessions as needed for people with this sensitivity.

I have tried to figure out who these folks are and how to identify them before we get them into trouble. It is not so simple as looking at arousal level as indicated by the appropriate beta/SMR reward frequency. There is no obvious vulnerability in very high or low arousal individuals. There does seem to be some increased likelihood of a negative response in people with instability of brain states, which results in symptoms such as migraine, fibromyalgia, panic attacks and seizures. But this is not always a problem in such individuals. These negative effects have intrigued me for some while because I feel unpleasantly sedated when I train with a standard alpha-theta protocol. I am clearly missing the wonderful calming and clearing effects that people generally report with alpha training. (more…)

Today I was involved in another hearing before an
Administrative Law Judge regarding Regional Center funding for a child with
autism. It was, once again, surreal. The “fair” hearing is held
after Regional Center denial of funding for neurofeedback. The parents decided
to press their demands, and they invited us to help make their case. Since the
parents had already experienced five training sessions with their child, they
came armed with lots of reports of progress. I came with my Power Point presentation
on autism, and also armed with all the relevant books: (more…)

Wednesday, – pre-setup at AAPB.
Siegfried Othmer and I caught our flight yesterday from Los Angeles to the AAPB conference here in Jacksonville Florida. This after Siegfried just got back from Cleveland the day before. Today was the rough switch into east coast time for me, but it was worth the price, because what we had in store for us was Thought Tech’s official unveiling of their new Procomp amplifier, the Infinity.

Thought Tech had arranged a special briefing for those of us who are going to be representing this product, as well as a meeting oriented more for clinicians that have played a special role in advising Thought Tech on their developments. I arrived to find Toby from Thought Technology and a small group of other tech guys like myself, some of whom I knew, and several were new faces. The LCD projector was running on the screen in the front of the room with some moving graphics. And all along one wall of the room was glass, overlooking the river that runs right out front of our hotel, with the very bright sun reflecting in on us–a delightful distraction that also serves to reset the circadian rhythms. It took me a moment to realize that the product I was seeing on the LCD projector at the front of the room was in fact the new Procomp Infinity. I had heard that it had been completely redesigned, along with a new look. I guess my wild imagination had envisioned something a little more space-age. But it sure is different from the old Procomp+. (more…)