Experiences of Parents and of their Children with ADHD who have undergone Neurotherapy

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a lifelong neurological impairment of unknown etiology with features of inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Children who present with ADHD may suffer immensely with this disorder in that it affects their home life, social life, and academics. Parents and siblings may also suffer, experiencing agitation from the child's ADHD symptoms. Neurotherapy has demonstrated to be efficacious in treating children presenting with ADHD. Neurotherapy is a type of biofeedback that operantly modifies brain waves to a more optimal state. It is known that medication therapy may cause significant side effects for children, whereas neurotherapy is a noninvasive choice for children who present with ADHD. Neurotherapy is a self-regulatory intervention, shown to optimize the brainwave state and reduce ADHD symptoms. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate the experiences of parents of children who present with ADHD and the children's experiences after undergoing neurotherapy. A phenomenological study may convey information to other parents for their children who present with ADHD. This design was chosen, rather than a quantitative design, to capture the experiences of these participants. There were 10 parent participants and 10 children participants in this study. Neurotherapy clinicians referred a purposive sampling of participants based on specific criteria. Vivid descriptions were provided by parents and their children presenting with ADHD who were treated with neurotherapy. Data were collected through structured guided interviews. Key themes and issues were identified, aggregated, and organized manually. Interpretations and relationships were drawn from the findings. Key results demonstrated the positive reactions of parents and of their children who have undergone neurotherapy. Neurotherapy appeared to have had a profound and positive effect on the symptomatology of ADHD. Implications of the findings can be used to enrich information from prior neurotherapy studies in clarifying its utility in treating children presenting with ADHD. However, further research is needed to corroborate this study. Specific recommendations for future studies include replicating this phenomenological study with a larger number of parent-child participants.