Amanda was diagnosed in October 1993, shortly before her 6th birthday, with a sarcoma in the right ear canal. Chemotherapy and radiation followed excision, resulting in a brain herniation in the temporal-parietal area . In October 1994 metastasies to the left frontal lobe led to more surgery, chemotherapy and radiation to the whole brain, followed by a bone marrow transplant in May of 1995. These treatments left Amanda completely blind for one year, which was followed by severe visual, hearing and cognitive problems once her vision partially returned. Amanda began having partial complex seizures in 2002. (An EEG revealed, “bilateral symmetrical slowing consistent with a diffused encephalopathy commonly seen with CNS radiotherapy”.)

When EEG neurofeedback treatment began in 2004 she was functioning at the third to fourth-grade level. Visual problems included no depth of field, the inability to perceive movement more than a few feet from her, and limited visual discrimation, especially in open areas. She had very limited short-term memory making social interaction difficult. Amanda became easily confused and agitated in social situations.

After the first treatment Amanda’s EEG tracing showed a dramatic positive response. She was quite confused immediately afterward. After a 45-minute nap she was “seeing things she hadn’t seen in the last 9 years, reading traffic signs across 6 lanes of traffic, and even noticing that a car that was broken down on the side of the road was not moving!” These were remarkable because she had previously been unable to discriminate moving vs. stationary objects more than a foot or two away. The effect lasted about 5 hours.

After the second treatment, one week later, Amanda was again confused, napped in the car, but began accurately pointing out objects and flowers by name as we drove along Wisconsin Avenue in heavy traffic. This time the visual effect lasted all week and included a difficult discrimination in which she was able to “see” a glass door that had decals on it. In the past she would have walked into the door. She also easily did a Special Olympics routine that she has been having great difficulty with for a long time. During the Special Olympics gymnastics meet she was able, for the first time, to walk among the pieces of equipment without needing to be led to prevent her from harm.

Amanda has also surprised her parents by choosing different restaurants and even to eat foods she usually avoided. Along with improved verbal fluency, improvement in cognitive functioning was vividly illustrated when Amanda independently did a homework assignment that required reading skills that she had not been able to do in the past!

”Amanda has been doing great since her treatment on Tuesday (4-30-04). She is no longer falling asleep every time she gets relaxed, but she is also having no problem falling asleep at bed time. She had one seizure Tuesday afternoon at 4:30 and has not had any since. She continues to be mentally alert and her visual discrimination continues to be good”.

After 6 treatments Amanda’s vision has improved so much that she is now able to see the pins at the end of a bowling alley. Before this she just threw the ball down the alley unable to see if the ball hit anything or not. She was able to learn a flip turn in swimming practice and was able to follow her mother over rocks and trees on a steep climb down a river bank because she was able to follow closely by putting her feet where her mother’s feet had been, something she had not been able to do for over 8 years!!

With the exception of one week, following the 10th treatment during which the neurofeedback was applied over one of the surgery sites, functional gains have been steady. Amanda has continued to improve in her ability to physically maneuver in difficult situations such as the Special Olympics sporting events, and to be more flexible emotionally if she does not perform well. She is now able to make jewelry by stringing beads, a task that requires visual and motor coordination.

BWB © 2010