"Definitely Not Autism", Neurofeedback and The Listening Program

A few months ago, our son 'lost' his diagnosis, that is to say that he no longer meets the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder. I'm not sure why, but after hearing so many heartbreaking things over the years, even though I believed it, you always want to hear someone else say this. As if somehow it might be wrong, and he might still have it.

Anyway, part of the recommendations from the first psychologist we saw was to look into neurofeedback as a way of 'cleaning things up', and he recommended another local psychologist that does this. So, after finishing up a final run of "The Listening Program" (which I will discuss further down), I made an appointment.

Yay! Happy to report that she also doesn't see any way that he meets the criteria for diagnosis with ASD. So, that's good. He is indeed recovered. Officially.

There are still a few areas that he has some differences, or quirks though, which is where we will go next.

Onto neurofeedback. Our new provider couples it with cognitive behavioural therapy and other various therapeutic activities and what a fascinating approach it is.
For the first time we see brain activity in our son. He is lower in areas he should be higher, and higher in areas he should be lower, which contributes to hyperactivity and impulse control, and anxiety issues. I am excited to see where this can help him.

I will definitely update as we go on this.

Now, "The Listening Program". We've done this several times over the years, since our son has been small. I can now, with certainty say that it hasn't helped at all. I was lucky enough to have been given a copy of the discs by a friend years ago, and I've done the program several times to check if it was effective. We never saw anything with our son when he was smaller, so I held off doing it again until he was a little older, in the hope that when he was older, he might benefit more if he were mindfully listening to it. And no. Nothing. I have heard (although don't directly know) people say it has helped, but, not our son. I will be passing on our discs to someone else in the hope that it might help their child.