Blog - Page 2 of 3 - The NeuroDevelopment Center

12:20 pm 12:20 pm

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Neurofeedback Tale: Off Meds, On Target, Learning, and Happy

ADHD + ADD, Anxiety, Family, Learning Disabilities

Neurofeedback Tale: Off Meds, On Target, Learning, and Happy

By Laurence Hirshberg|2016-12-05T15:46:27-05:00November 18th, 2013|Categories: ADHD + ADD, Anxiety, Family, Learning Disabilities|0 Comments

"A trajectory of small miracles" Cam's mom tell us the story of her son's growth and improvement with neurofeedback for his ADHD and other symptoms. The story is long, but well worth the time: "Cam’s neurofeedback has yielded a cascade of successes. Thanks to his sessions, Cam experiences things more fully, is starting to grow into himself with more ease, and expresses himself better. A trajectory of small miracles you could say. Cam's complexities We had pursued a number of [...]

2:19 pm 2:19 pm

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Understanding your child (with Aspergers) makes all the difference

Autism Spectrum, Family, NDC Tips

Understanding your child (with Aspergers) makes all the difference

By Laurence Hirshberg|2016-12-05T14:40:00-05:00August 21st, 2013|Categories: Autism Spectrum, Family, NDC Tips|0 Comments

A small moment on the beach tells a big and important story about Aspergers parenting: Bella's meltdowns and the message Mom got Bella's mom came for her first visit quite desperate. Bella was prone to severe emotional outbursts and aggressive behavior, especially when she was upset. These outbursts occurred at home, in the community, at school. In front of everyone. Mom knew something was wrong. Something she did not entirely understand. But everyone, including family members, friends, educators, and professionals told her [...]

4:16 pm 4:16 pm

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Do you have your thoughts, or do your thoughts have you?

Autism Spectrum, Depression, NDC Tips, Neuroscience, Uncategorized

Do you have your thoughts, or do your thoughts have you?

By Laurence Hirshberg|2016-12-05T13:28:39-05:00August 12th, 2013|Categories: Autism Spectrum, Depression, NDC Tips, Neuroscience, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Help! I'm stuck. At one time or another, this has probably happened to you: you get mentally stuck. Unable to move on. Locked in a repetitive mental loop. Ruminations, repetitive thoughts, "stuck" ideas, automatic thoughts: this experience is common to several different kinds of suffering. Your thoughts have you, instead of you having them. It feels as though you can't stop thinking about something. This is common to obsessive compulsive disorder, autism spectrum disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, depression (for many [...]

10:27 am 10:27 am

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Stimming Demystified

Autism Spectrum, NDC Tips

Stimming Demystified

By Laurence Hirshberg|2016-12-05T16:49:00-05:00July 31st, 2013|Categories: Autism Spectrum, NDC Tips|0 Comments

Most children on the spectrum engage in repetitive movements like rocking, bouncing or hand flapping. Stimming, as these movements are commonly known, is a key feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). As an autistic adult, I've noticed that parents are often curious and sometimes concerned about their child's stimming. Why does it happen? What does it mean? Why does it get worse at times? Why Do We Stim? Stimming happens for many reasons. I stim when I'm anxious. I stim [...]

12:10 pm 12:10 pm

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New Neurofeedback Partnership: fMRI and EEG

Neuroscience

New Neurofeedback Partnership: fMRI and EEG

By Laurence Hirshberg|2016-11-01T15:04:08-04:00July 17th, 2013|Categories: Neuroscience|0 Comments

Functional magnetic resonance imaging is one of the most technologically advanced forms of brain imaging. It is capable of measuring very accurately throughout the brain changes in blood oxygenation, and therefore changes in brain activity and connectivity. This tool has become one of the leading edges of brain science. Unfortunately, it requires a huge and hugely expensive piece of equipment. In basic research, fMRI is increasingly studied as a means to provide immediate feedback to allow people to learn to [...]

2:16 pm 2:16 pm

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Autistic behavior makes perfect sense

Autism Spectrum, NDC Tips

Autistic behavior makes perfect sense

By Laurence Hirshberg|2016-11-01T15:04:51-04:00June 17th, 2013|Categories: Autism Spectrum, NDC Tips|0 Comments

People with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have difficulties smoothly and consistently processing information. Information from the senses about the properties of things, language information, information about the social world, emotional information, and also information from the body and self and what is going on there. People with autism especially have difficulty with understanding the big picture, putting all the pieces of information together so that it hangs together and makes sense. They get the bits of information, but the bits [...]

8:38 pm 8:38 pm

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Shrink Tricks: Become an expert conversationalist in 6 easy steps.

Autism Spectrum, Learning Disabilities, NDC Tips

Shrink Tricks: Become an expert conversationalist in 6 easy steps.

By Laurence Hirshberg|2016-11-01T15:05:51-04:00May 25th, 2013|Categories: Autism Spectrum, Learning Disabilities, NDC Tips|0 Comments

Many teens and adults with Autism spectrum disorders or Aspergers or Non-verbal learning disability avoid conversations out of fear that they won’t know what to say. This fear usually is based on lots of experience. They may try a few stock scripted questions, but those rarely get you very far. After all, few conversations are sustained over topics such as the weather or your favorite movie or book, despite what your social skills instructor told you. Scripting just doesn't work very [...]

6:31 pm 6:31 pm

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Train self control to win the “marshmallow test”

ADHD + ADD, Family, NDC Tips, Neuroscience

Train self control to win the “marshmallow test”

By Laurence Hirshberg|2016-12-16T18:13:23-05:00May 20th, 2013|Categories: ADHD + ADD, Family, NDC Tips, Neuroscience|0 Comments

A landmark study: Can preschoolers wait? A study done by psychologist Walter Mischel at Stanford in the sixties has long been a classic. But it takes on dramatically increased significance with the growth of our understanding of brain plasticity in the last two decades of neuroscience. In this study, preschoolers were seen in a small room with their mothers. The experimenter put a marshmallow on the table and told the child he can eat it right away. Or, if the child [...]

12:16 pm 12:16 pm

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Sunshine helps to prevent ADHD

ADHD + ADD, Family, NDC Tips

Sunshine helps to prevent ADHD

By Laurence Hirshberg|2017-01-05T10:09:51-05:00May 15th, 2013|Categories: ADHD + ADD, Family, NDC Tips|0 Comments

A new study has shown a link between the prevalence of ADHD and solar intensity (SI) in the US and nine countries abroad. Using three datasets (across 49 U.S. states and across 9 non-U.S. countries) a relationship between sunlight intensity and ADHD prevalence was found. These results suggest that exposure to lots of sunshine has a preventative effect: Sunshine may help to prevent ADHD. A big effectThis "Sunshine Effect" was not a small factor. It explained 34%–57% of the variance in ADHD prevalence. This [...]

11:10 am 11:10 am

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Helping your stormy, anxious child

Anxiety, Family, NDC Tips

Helping your stormy, anxious child

By Laurence Hirshberg|2016-11-01T15:08:50-04:00May 10th, 2013|Categories: Anxiety, Family, NDC Tips|0 Comments

Imagine this: It starts to storm outside. The thunder is loud. It is shaking your home. It's bothering you. So you go outside and say in a calm but authoritative voice: “Stop that.” But the storm continues anyhow. So you say more firmly, “Stop that right now. Just stop.” The storm ignores you again. It continues to storm. You are getting angry now! You say in a very loud voice: “I said stop that right now. I mean it: No more. This ends now.” When [...]