What is the blog about? Treating Adult A.D.D. through Neurofeedback Therapy.
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Tag Archives: Alternative Therapy for A.D.D/ADHD
My Experience with Brain Mapping: Paste, Sitting Still and Reflecting….
Hey Readers!
Good news: I get the results of my brain mapping this Saturday. YEAH!! This post will be about what the tests were like a few weeks ago….and how I believe I did as well as my prediction for what Doc will say.
As previously posted, I wish to try Neurofeedback therapy in order to be faster with work. My A.D.D makes me much slower.
First, the doctor tested my brain functioning and cognitive ability. The doctor then asked me a bunch of questions and had me do some tasks. In order to make this somewhat interesting I am going to list everything by category such as stick/oral instructions, comprehension questions, visual pattern intelligence test, computer test, and EEG (Electroencephalography).
Stick/Oral Instructions: The first thing Doc asked me to do was follow the stick he was holding with my eyes. That was easy. Next I had to watch Doc do three things with his hands and then I had to repeat the motions. That was hard. I couldn’t remember any of the motions. After that, I was asked to listen to a list of words and then repeat them. There were twenty to twenty-five words on the list. I could only repeat three to five items. That was embarrassing, although I wasn’t too surprised. Throughout my life, I have always had to ask for directions or important information to be repeated. Hence, I always had a note taker and tape recorder in college. I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget any important information. Yet in the working world, it looks a little weird having a tape recorder or asking my colleagues: “Hey, can I look at your notes from the meeting?”
Comprehension Questions: I was asked a lot of ‘why’ questions. Here is one example:
Questions: Why would a defendant ask to have a jury instead of a judge decide the verdict of the case?
My Answer: Because the defendant might have a better chance of an acquittal with twelve people vs. one.
When asked for another reason, I couldn’t think of another one. Honestly, I’m not sure if there is another good reason. However, the fact that there could be makes me question my intelligence. Of course, I was never that good with comprehension questions. Probably because I hear things differently. Here is an example of a lesson from my days in kindergarten days:
Teacher: President Lincoln is regarded as the second greatest president of our country.
What I heard: President Lincoln was the second president of our country.
When later asked who the second president of America was, I answered Abraham Lincoln. My classmates thought it was funny. My teacher didn’t. She thought I was acting stupid when in reality I just heard her wrong. This was one of the reasons I was very hesitant to volunteer answers in class throughout my education career.
Visual Pattern Intelligence Test: I had to complete certain patterns. The easy ones were like this: 
Then the pictures became more complicated:
I suck at patterns and puzzles. Probably why Geometry is my worse subject. It didn’t help that my mother was a mathematician. She would get very frustrated with me over my math homework because I couldn’t understand how to solve the math problems. I feel the visual test had to do more with visual skills vs. intelligence so I’m not very embarrassed by how I did with this test.
Computer Test to measure attention span: Doc had me look at a computer screen. There was a square in the middle of the screen. When Doc activated the software, the square would frequently move from the center of the screen to the top of the screen. I had to click on the mouse when the square reached the top of the screen. Needless to say, this task prevented me from looking anywhere but the screen. That was the point. The test was to measure my concentration level. The test took twenty minutes. It was only during the last five minutes that I found my mind thinking of other things. Doc said this meant I probably only have mild to moderate attention problems. No surprise there! As I have posted before, concentration hasn’t been a problem for me as an adult. The main issue has been my ability to finish work as quickly and efficiently as the rest of my peers. Still, it nice to know I aced at least one part of the battery of tests.
EEG (Electroencephalography): A nurse led me to a white room where I sat in a dentist type chair. She cleaned my scalp and covered my head with something that felt like tooth paste. Then the nurse put twenty seven white circle little wires on my head that looked like the ear plugs of my I-Pod. The picture below best shows what my head looked like:
Bubble Head!
It was hard (and painful) to get this gooey stuff out of my hair.
The wires were connected to a computer. My brain waves were monitored by a computer with my eyes shut and then wide open.
Bubble Head connected to computer
The nurse asked me to think of names that started with the letter “F.” Then she asked me to think of as many names as possible. Lastly, she showed me a piece paper which showed two separate patterns: 1,4,7 and AZ, BY, C_. I had to finish the pattern. The hardest part was I couldn’t refer back to the piece of paper.
Throughout the EEG (30-45 minutes), I was told not to move a muscle, not to blink or move a finger. I couldn’t do this at age six nor at age thirty. The longest I could stay still was for one minute. The nurse needed me to stay still for at least two minutes.
While she was redoing the test for the third time, I reflected on the last time I did an EEG test: the fall of 1987. After suspecting that I had some type of learning disability, my pediatrician recommended I go to New York to see Dr. Arthur Gold, Professor of Clinical Neurology and Pediatrics. The term “learning disabilities” was still rather new. The Americans with Disabilities Act was not introduced yet and most schools didn’t have accommodations for special education students. Dr. Gold was one of the few knowledgeable in the field of Learning Disabilities.
In 1987, the EEG sensors looked more like big black buttons. The nurse put hot glue on them and stuck them on my head. It hurt like hell. Then she told me to lie on the table and not to move. At age six, this was a huge problem. The nurse yelled at me for moving too much, and my father told her off.
Reflecting on this story finally allowed me to be still for two minutes. I was so relieved to be allowed to move around again and go home!
What is next: As I mentioned above, it has been almost a month since I have had the testing done. I finally get the results on Saturday. Doc will explain what parts of the brain are not functioning properly. We will discuss what type of brain mapping is appropriate for me.
I feel I have done poorly with most of the tests. While it embarrassing I will at least know what part of the brain isn’t working. Still, Doc warned me that if there is something wrong with the executive functioning part of the brain then there might not be much Neurofeedback therapy can do. Neurofeedback does great for concentration problems, but I don’t believe that is my issue. If Doc says that Neurofeedback therapy will not help, I’m not sure what else I can do to work more efficiently in the workplace. Neurofeed back feels like my only hope….
-Mary R. Shine
Pictures are from:
ADULT A.D.D /ADHD 