It has taken me a while to blog about our experiences of undertaking Neurofeedback for our boy. The whole thing has been huge, from all the research and deliberating it took to get there, the fundraising and immense support from our community. I got actual hate mail. People looked at me like I’m crazy (nothing new there then). My mother and I have fallen out over it. But most importantly… We have our Zephyr back! The REAL Zeph we knew was in there and got glimpses of sometimes. Which is basically miraculous and unbelievable.

I think pictures say it better than words really. Here’s Zeph BEFORE Neurofeedback. Often stressed, high anxiety, extreme aggression:

The Neurofeedback
We took Zephyr each day for 12 days over the Easter holidays to the Brainworks clinic in Bristol. It was phenomenal to see how it worked. He was hooked up to a computer via electrodes on his head and he could control a video game by his brainwaves.

When he kept the targeted areas of his brain regulated, he won the game. You could see that when he got too stressed or excited the game would grind to a halt. He would get it going again by breathing deeply and relaxing. We saw our son transform over 12 days.

Every day he totally zonked out on the drive home and then slept good long nights, so it was clearly hard work.

This is him just after Neurofeedback for 12 days:

Life after Neuro
Literally from the first day back at school Zephyr has been able to just get ready in the morning like a normal kid! He has been engaging so beautifully with school and his teachers noticed a difference. Anyone who has known Zeph for some time has been blown away by how much calmer, able to make eye contact and communicate he has been. In his words:
“I no longer hear ‘you are the worst kid in the world’ when an adult speaks to me.”
We were blown away by getting our boy back. He started singing and spontaneously doing yoga poses! After years of sitting through his Special Time with him kicking and swearing at me… he started ASKING me for Special Time and wanting to play cars or traintracks.

He would play sweetly with his sister for hours. The aggressive meltdowns continued weekly (rather than multiple times a day) and are very infrequent now. He was sleeping like a dream. This photo fills my heart. Here is is on his 8th birthday, hosting the first proper birthday party he have ever been able to handle. He LOVED running about the woods with his tribe of friends.

We are currently fundraising for Zeph to get another round of Neurofeedback, if you can help please go here