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DOWN SYNDROME
What is Down Syndrome?
Down syndrome is a disorder first described 145 years ago. It is the most common identifiable cause of intellectual disability and accounts for almost one-third of cases (Wishart, 1993). It occurs equally in all races and has a general incidence of 1 in 800 births (Regezi, 1989).
Down Syndrome EEG Neurofeedback Treatment
We achieved a world first by applying neurofeedback therapy to individuals with Down Syndrome for the first time. The treatment was applied to 7 children aged 6 to 13 years.
The 75% success rate of neurofeedback therapy in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Learning Disabilities, and Impulse Disorder was considered, as the same problems were observed in children with Down Syndrome.
There were many published studies on ADHD and Learning Disabilities that have been proven. In addition, speech problems, stuttering, balance problems, and immune system issues were the main problems in the 7 children we studied.
When we examined the brainwaves of these 7 children, we observed very intense delta and theta waves. Neurofeedback therapy showed positive developments when it reduced the high levels of delta and theta waves, particularly in the brain regions responsible for speech, attention, concentration, learning, balance, and memory.
Positive Developments with Neurofeedback:
Children who used single-word expressions with a vocabulary of 2-3 words showed a noticeable increase in vocabulary to 20-30 words after the 20th session.
They began to form sentences by putting 2 or 3 words together, and their stuttering disappeared or significantly decreased.
Impulsive behaviors and hyperactivity disappeared.
Attention spans increased from an average of 1-2 minutes to 30 minutes.
Falls while walking or running, and balance problems disappeared.
These improvements in children, who underwent an average of 80 sessions, were observed through repeated family interviews, subjective tests conducted by our center, and repeated QEEG data bank recordings.
We announced the positive changes we created in these children, who have few options other than special education, to the whole world at the ESNR's annual scientific meeting held in Italy between February 19-21, 2003, and received great interest.
We presented our application results to world-renowned scientists from America and many European countries. We were the first to announce our success in applying the Neurofeedback method to this group to the whole world.
Furthermore, our study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Journal of Neurotherapy in 2007.
Surmeli T., & Ertem, A. (2007). EEG Neurofeedback Treatment of Patients with Down Syndrome, Journal of Neurotherapy, Volume 11, Page 63-68, Number 1.
The Effects of Neurofeedback Treatment in Down’s Syndrome. ESNR Conference, Udine, Italy 2003: