Neurofeedback for Autism | Sugar Land Teen & Family Counseling

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Neurofeedback for Autism Spectrum:
Sugar Land, TX

Research Supported Approach in Trauma Therapy & PTSD Therapy

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Neurofeedback for Autism Spectrum in Sugar Land, TX

Have you watched as your teen or young adult has attempted to make friends but simply doesn't have the social skills to connect?

Have you been searching for the best ways to support your teen or young adult who is on the autism spectrum?

Does your teen or young adult require structure and routine and when it is thrown off, they become angry, frustrated, or upset?

Does your teen or young adult seem to struggle with empathy? You know they care but they have a difficult time expressing that care.

Does your teen or young adult struggle with sensory issues?

When you have a child, teen, or young adult on the "spectrum", it can be really hard as a parent. We just want our kids to fit in, make friends, and be happy. It hurts when they have trouble with this.

And it's hard to see how this affects our child. They want to fit in, they try their best, but find that their skills and understanding may be lacking.

It's also tough to know exactly where your child stands on the "spectrum". But knowing can help us figure out the best way to support them. And as parents of kids on the spectrum, we want nothing more than to be able to help.

Neurofeedback for teens and young adult who are on the autism spectrum is an approach supported by research and shown to be effective. At Sugar Land Teen & Family Counseling, we have seen neurofeedback produce moderate to significant gains in many who participate in neurofeedback for autism.

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What Are the Signs of Autism Spectrum in Teens & Young Adults?

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More often than not, autism spectrum is identified during the early years of childhood. It can be identified in later years however including during the teen and young adult years.

The number of kids, teenagers, and young adults being diagnosed with autism spectrum has gone up a lot in recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used to say 1 out of 150 kids had autism. In 2018, that number was 1 out of 44.

People have lots of ideas about why this increase is happening, but we still don't know for sure. We're not sure what's causing it or how to stop it from happening. But for now, there are different ways to help that are effective and work well.

Even though every teen or young adult with autism is different, there are some common signs that show up in people with autism. Some teens or young adults may have a few while other have many of these signs.

Symptoms of autism from the Mayo Clinic can include:

Difficulty in Communication & Social Interactions

Fails to respond to their name or appears not to hear you,

Resists physical interactions,

Prefers to play alone, and retreats into their own inner world,

Difficulty in making and/or maintaining eye contact,

Lacks facial expressions,

Difficulty in starting a conversation or maintain conversations,

Singsong voice when speaking or robot-like speech,

Doesn't seem to understand simple questions or directions,

Doesn't express emotions and appears unaware of others' feelings,

May be passive, aggressive, or disruptive in social interactions, and

Difficulty understanding nonverbal social cues like facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, etc.

Atypical Patterns of Behavior You May Notice

Rocks back and forth, spins around, or flaps their hands,

Makes strict routines or rituals and gets really upset if anything changes,

Has trouble with moving their body smoothly and might seem a bit clumsy,

Gets bothered by light, touch, or sounds, or they might not feel pain or temperature like others,

Gets super into one thing or activity and really focuses on it, and/or

Likes certain foods a lot or can be picky about how food feels.

Approaches in Autism Therapy

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Just like any emotional or behavior issues, autism spectrum disorders (ASD) start in the brain. There are different therapies for autism that are considered "bottom up" methods.

Autism spectrum disorders are complex brain challenges that often need different ways to help. Below are the "bottom up" methods and approximate effective rates and how well they work, according to our research:

Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) with a 90% success rate.

Play Therapy with 58% success rate,

Relationship Development Intervention (RDI),
- (according to a research article, RDI is a promising approach with more research needed)

Speech Therapy,
- (According to Healthline, success rates vary depending on the type of speech issue).

Equine Therapy,
- (According to a study from the Department of Occupational Therapy at Colorado State University, Equine Therapy shows promising results but further research is needed).

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with a 78% success rate,

Music Therapy,
- (According to the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Music Therapy for Autism is a promising however they suggest more research is needed), and

Sensory Integration,
- (According to a study by the Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, while sensory integration therapy has had some success, more research is needed).

Neurofeedback at Sugar Land Teen & Family Counseling has shown around an 85% success rate based on what client's report, when it comes to making moderate to significant improvements in autism.

Neurofeedback can work really well in reducing symptoms and making everyday life, social interactions, and other things better. It's called a "top down" way of doing therapy for autism.

So, what's the deal with "bottom up" and "top down" ways of helping with autism, and why does it matter?

Let's compare two effective methods: the "bottom up" therapy called Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and the "top down" therapy called neurofeedback for autism, to understand the difference.

Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA): A Bottom Up Approach in Therapy for Autism Spectrum

Many therapies for autism, like Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), can really help make the symptoms of autism better.

Applied Behavioral Analysis is made to do a few things:

Make social skills better,

Improve how someone talks and understands others,

Get better at taking care of oneself,

Teach how to work well with others,

Reduce bad behaviors,

Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is known as a "bottom up" way to treat autism symptoms. A therapist who knows ABA learns about the specific problems and struggles a child, teenager, or young adult with autism is having.

The therapist, the teen or young adult, and the parents work together to make a plan that's supposed to help with those problems. Then they start doing this plan with the person who has autism.

When they keep practicing these new skills and get praised for doing better, something cool happens in the brain. The brain starts to change. It starts to notice the good things and makes new ways for doing stuff.

These new ways in the brain become habits that can stick even after the ABA therapy is done.

Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) uses information from the person and their parents about what's wrong. Then, they use ways that scientists know work to help with those problems. They use rewards and good feedback to help.

This way of doing therapy for autism (and the others we mentioned earlier) starts with the problems and goes up to the brain. They use rewards to make things better, starting at the bottom and going up to the top.

Neurofeedback for Autism Spectrum: A Top-Down Approach in Therapy for Autism Spectrum

Just like other autism therapy approaches, neurofeedback can help improve symptoms related to autism. However, with neurofeedback for autism, neurofeedback starts at the top (the brain) and begins from the start to train the brain to help improve the symptoms (the bottom).

Neurofeedback is a safe, comfortable, and non-invasive approach in autism therapy. Neurofeedback for autism records the brain's electrical signals through placing sensors on the child, teen, or young adults head.

This is done by placing a cap on the person's head and the cap looks like a swimmer's cap. Yet this cap has 16 sensors embedded into the cap that record the brain's performance.

The neurofeedback therapist then creates a 2D and 3D brain map of the person's brain performance. This is done by comparing the person's brain performance to a normative database of other brain maps. The normative database contains brain maps of other persons the same age and gender who are high performers and do not have autism spectrum challenges.

From this brain map, a training protocol is created and neurofeedback training for autism begins. With neurofeedback compared to other approaches in autism therapy, we look at the brain's performance and can identify the regions of the brain that are over/under performing that are causing the symptoms to present themselves.

Neurofeedback for Autism Therapy

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There isn't a single way that works for everyone when it comes to treating autism. It would be so much easier if there was one solution that could help all kids, teens, young adults, and their parents. But because autism affects each person in its own way, finding the right help can be a bit more complex.

Also, what counts as success for one person with autism might not be the same for another. Since the challenges of autism are different for each person, the therapist, the person with autism, and their parents will figure out what success means for them.

There are various methods to treat autism, like ABA therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), that work well or show promise. They have their own ways to reach the same goals as neurofeedback.

But there are important differences between these methods and neurofeedback:

What is Needed from the Teen or Young Adult in Top Up Autism Therapy Approaches

One important difference between "bottom down" ways of treating autism and neurofeedback is how much the child, teen, or young adult gets involved. In "bottom down" methods, the person who's getting the therapy needs to:

Want to do it,

Regularly work with the autism therapist in a useful way,

Understand what challenges they're facing and how those challenges affect their life,

Be motivated and ready to practice the skills they learn during therapy, and

Be willing to practice these skills even when not in therapy.

The success rates for "bottom down" methods can be anywhere from 58% to 90% (like with ABA therapy). How well "bottom down" methods work also depends a lot on how much the child, teen, or young adult and their parents take part in the therapy.

What is Needed from the Teen or Young Adult in Neurofeedback for Autism Therapy

With neurofeedback, the child, teen, or young adult just needs to:

Sit comfortably in a chair without moving around too much,

Watch a TV show or play a video game for about 30 to 40 minutes,

Try to stay relaxed during the neurofeedback training,

Get the right amount of sleep for their age, and

Avoid having too much caffeine on the day of the neurofeedback session.

Unlike some other methods, success in neurofeedback doesn't rely on how much the child, teen, young adult, or their parents do between the therapy sessions. All they need to do is show up for their sessions and follow the things we mentioned during the session.

Specifics of Neurofeedback for Teens & Young Adults

If you would like to take a deeper dive into the workings or neurofeedback, please see our Neurofeedback page. You can also contact us to schedule a consultation with our neurofeedback therapist.

Begin Neurofeedback for Autism Spectrum Today: Sugar Land Teen & Family Counseling

There are solutions and hope for your child, teenager, or young adult who might be having a hard time because of symptoms linked to autism or challenges related to the brain working differently.

Even though neurofeedback might not work for everyone, it's known to be very successful for many with autism or who are on the spectrum.

Neurofeedback is different from other ways of treating autism because it focuses on the part of the body where the symptoms start: the brain. This lets us make special training plans just for you, based on how your brain works. And we can start training you right away to make things better.

At Sugar Land Teen & Family Counseling, our neurofeedback therapist is Board Certified through the International Certification International Alliance (BCIA): Jason Drake, LCSW-S, BCN

We also have our office in Katy. Katy Teen & Family Counseling in located in Katy, TX, where we also specialize in teen, young adult, couples, and family counseling. We are conveniently located off ofI-10 and the 99-feeder road in Katy, TX.

If you believe your child, teen, or young adult could benefit from neurofeedback for autism and you would like to schedule an appointment, you can follow these three simple steps: