Pediatrician Arif Wajid, M.D. became very frustrated with the limitations of medication. He was especially concerned for his patients with developmental delays, ADHD and autism. Not only did medication not help much, but he was troubled by potential side effects such as sleep and appetite problems.
“It bothered me to see the children in my care suffer not only from the condition they had but from the medicines I had available to prescribe for them,” said Arif, founder of Coconut Creek Pediatrics in Coconut Creek, Florida. “We give the kids medication for temporary relief and have to keep increasing the dosage. Then they get side effects.
“This way of treating their issues doesn’t work in the long-term,” he continued. “And I don’t think that every time a child is having challenges that they should be given medication.”
That philosophy was motivation enough to pique Arif’s curiosity when a local psychotherapist told him about neurofeedback and how helpful neurofeedback training can be for the types of children comprising much of his patient population.
Intrigued by the possibility of offering a non-medicine approach in his practice, Arif enrolled in Mike Cohen’s Neurofeedback 101 course.
In the course he learned about various types of neurofeedback, what neurofeedback can and cannot do, and was exposed to a variety of equipment and techniques. He also heard numerous case histories.
“I like Mike’s teaching style,” Arif said. “He’s very friendly and open-minded.”
At the end of the course, Arif was seriously considering adding neurofeedback to his practice.