Evaluation of neurofeedback therapy in children with mathematic disorder in third-grade elementary school

Because of the importance of learning disorders، and neurofeedback which is a relatively new method of treatment، the present study examined the effect of this method on treatment of learning disorders.

In this study، 28 third grade of primary school children according to psychiatric interview and academic records، mathematic scale، diagnosed learning disability were studied. One group (N = 14) received neurofeedback treatment and the other group (N = 14) was conducted with non- real neurofeedback treatment (sham). A total of 20 sessions took place for each child، and each session lasted 30 minutes for 10-12 weeks. Neurofeedback condition was as same as the sham group، except in the EEG activity which was not from patient. Both groups were matched for age، education، IQ، gender and severity of mathematics disorder.

In comparison of the experimental and sham groups، the intervention effect was different between two groups and statistically significant (P<0. 05)، and in three times mesurment، the difference was significant (P<0. 01). Trend of changes in variable that was measured in three times، was linear (P<0. 05). The difference between pre-test and post-test was significant in boy´s group، but the difference was not significant for the girls.

The intervention effect in experimental group showed effective and it was maintained for one year after the treatment (P<0. 01). The difference was significant only in males.