From the desk of Bruce D. Forman, PhD, psychologist

Hello my friend:

If you’re reading this I have a hunch it’s because you or your child has a problem with attention deficits, or someone else thinks so. You’ve probably struggled to find a solution to problems like poor concentration, distraction, disorganization, difficulty getting started on projects, or maybe difficulty finishing projects.

You may have even been troubled by forgetting important details, poor reading comprehension, or getting bored too easily. Perhaps you’ve been discouraged because you couldn’t find a solution. Well, you’ve come to the right place.

Now there’s a proven program that helps children, teenagers, and even adults with attention problems… without medication.

It’s called Cogmed Working Memory Training. Training for 30 to 45 minutes a day, five days a week can bring incredible results for a number of ADHD symptoms in just five weeks. And the best part is that this affordable program can be done at home so you don’t have to schedule appointments, get stuck in traffic, or sit around in a waiting room.

Before I tell you more about this program I want to give you a little background on how I concluded that this cutting edge technology really does what it claims to do and with lasting results.

You see, at one time I was a university professor and I’ve been practicing psychology for over three decades. Much of my work has been with people suffering from ADHD symptoms. It was a natural for me since I have ADHD myself and I can readily relate to my clients’ dilemmas and frustrations because I’ve had the same kinds of experiences.

Until recently there were very few interventions available to assist someone with attentional problems. The best known and most widely used method is medication. I’m not against medicine. I even take Ritalin myself.

I’ve heard a variety of concerns and worries expressed by parents and by clients themselves about treatment options. Even when medications were effective I still heard concerns voiced about their safety. I looked at the research literature that had been compiled over half a century and was impressed by the quality and the shear amount of work that’s been done.

There was a very clear trend that had been replicated over dozens of studies that indicated that stimulant medication was effective in alleviating the primary symptoms of ADHD in the majority of cases. The risk of long term side effects or problems stemming from the medications was actually very low.

Medication works but it’s not a complete treatment

And although medication appears to be helpful I was left with the conclusion that medication was not the answer. It was only a piece of the puzzle.

I discovered in my work with clients that medicine did not help in some instances, even when it was taken exactly as prescribed. I also learned that dosages had to be changed periodically in order to remain useful in managing symptoms.

And then if that didn’t work the medicine had to be changed to a different one. And sometimes other medicines had to be added so the client was taking two or three different drugs at the same time.

It became clear that even when the medicines worked the benefits were limited. Parents complained that their child might pay attention better at school, but the kid’s room was still messy or the closet looked like “who did it and ran?”

Or the child wouldn’t eat lunch because the medicine reduced appetite and the child lost weight. Or if the child eats only a little lunch he gets cranky and unruly after school because of low blood sugar and doing homework is a nightmare.

And no matter how effective the results, there was usually a problem with compliance. It’s unusual for medicines to always be taken as the doctor prescribes. Heck, I keep a bottle of my pills in my desk drawer and often forget to take it. When I talked to kids and parents I ended up with the impression that no one really liked having to take medicine.

Oh, they liked the results they got. They just didn’t like the idea of having to take medicine. I think it’s because of human nature; nobody likes being told what to do or that they must do something.

When someone was referred to me with suspected attentional problems my job was to make or confirm a diagnosis and then refer the family to a psychiatrist for medication. It could take up to two months for them to get an appointment with a psychiatrist. So I’d refer them back to their family doctor or pediatrician. Then when they came back to see me we made sure the medication was working the way it was supposed to work.

If there were behavior problems with a young child I worked with parents to help them to set up rules and rewards and consequences. For older kids, teens, and adults we might do some supportive counseling or even get into targeted psychotherapy to address specific problems using what’s known as cognitive behavior therapy, or CBT, and sometimes also hypnosis.

I always felt we were not doing enough and searched for other methods that could make home, school work, and social life just a little better. If we could just tweak things a bit maybe that would be a difference that made all the difference.

A few years ago I looked at an approach to biofeedback called neurofeedback and got very excited. I thought this might be just what was needed to help clients with attentional problems. I read up on the methodology and even attended a few days of training to learn more about the theory and how the procedures worked.

Neurofeedback involves the use of computers and sensors that are attached to the head to gauge brain waves. It works by training the brain to produce certain kinds of electrical activity in those areas that are associated with increasing attention. These tend to be located in the frontal and parietal lobes. The results are very fascinating, from a scientific standpoint. But the application to real life was a little disappointing.

As it turned out, the researchers found that it took nine months to a year for there to be a meaningful impact on school work or patterns of behavior. And that required neurofeedback sessions to be held two or three times a week.

That would be OK if showing up regularly didn’t really matter that much. After all how many people can keep up that kind of routine for nearly a year? But regular participation in the training sessions is essential. And the quality of the results varies from one neurofeedback therapist to another depending on their technical expertise.

Then there’s the cost of training. Neurofeedback requires the intervention of a highly trained and skilled neurofeedback therapist, so the cost of treatment can cost $75 to $150 per session.

If the average is around $100 per treatment and the client goes twice a week for at least six months…. Well you do the math. OUCH! That really starts to add up. You’ve spent over $5000 and the protocol hasn’t even been fully completed.

That didn’t deter me. I recommended neurofeedback to parents because I wanted to make sure we do everything we can to assist clients get the most benefits that are available. For the handful who could afford neurofeedback and who were sufficiently motivated to attend treatment on a regular basis some success was indeed noted. The information I got from my clients was so-so. Yes there was some improvement, but no, it wasn’t as good and they hoped it would be.

Cogmed: A Program That Really Works

So I kept looking. Then I discovered Cogmed Working Memory Training. I was put on to this by David Rabiner, PhD, Senior Research Scientist at Duke University Medical Center who publishes a newsletter for professionals who work with ADHD clients. As a scientist he takes a cautious approach. He had quite a few complimentary things to say about Cogmed and so I decided to take a closer look. But don't take my word for it, check it out yourself by clicking HERE

Torkel Klingberg, MD, PhD, Professor of Neuropediatrics at the highly respected Karolinska Institute in Stockholm has been studying working memory for several years. He and his team of researchers have made some astounding discoveries that have led to some important conclusions.

First, they emphasize that Working Memory is a key executive function for many cognitive tasks, such as planning, remembering, problem solving and reasoning. When people have difficulty keeping information “online” so to speak, even for just a few seconds, they have trouble paying attention to what’s going on and what to do next. The researchers discovered that people with ADHD, as well as a number of other conditions, such as learning disability, show documented significant insufficiency in Working Memory.

Professor Klingberg studied the physiological basis for Working Memory and its limitations in the brain. It was previously thought that Working Memory was a fixed attribute. But when he and his colleagues started to develop and test methods to improve Working Memory they found that this capacity could be modified and improved.

Just like the neurofeedback researchers, they found that the brain is trainable and it can be trained in significant ways that can make a difference to the individual.

Working Memory can be improved with specific training

It just so happens that Working Memory is a cognitive skill and it can improve with practice. But not just any practice will do. It has to be a certain kind of practice that challenges and refines the skill, even as it gets better.

And finally, after years of painstaking research, Professor Klingberg came to the conclusion that improving Working Memory is associated with reducing many ADHD symptoms and enhancing a number of functions that are problematic to people with ADHD and other learning disorders.

Then they developed a computer-based game that’s fun. The software program, called RoboMemo, has been used in Sweden and other European countries for the past six years. It has been tested with thousands of clients with excellent results.

The program itself involves five training sessions per week. Each session lasts about 30 minutes. The entire program can be completed in five weeks. At the end of training the studies show and 80% rate of improvement in Working Memory, impulse control, and complex reasoning. In addition, three months after training was completed 90% of the training benefits remained. In other words, it really works.

80% of the clients significantly improved with Cogmed; 90% of gains remained after three months

These incredible results are now available outside of Sweden. Because of the cutting edge technology Cogmed’s proven strategies are available to you. The state of the art software allows clients to complete training from the comfort of their homes – no matter where, supported by a training aide and a coach, taking advantage of technical staff support at the home office in Sweden.

You don’t have to come to an office. All that’s needed is a computer with 150 MB of RAM, CD ROM, internet access, Pentium II or above, a sound card, and speakers or headphones. Most families’ home computers are more than adequate to do the job.

And the cost to receive these benefits is remarkably affordable. They are much less than neurofeedback and are on par with the cost of tutoring and psychotherapy.

Want to learn more? Look at the rest of the pages on this website. Then send me an email. Or better yet, call me. My office number is 954-384-2154. Call NOW for a FREE telephone consultation to decide if Cogmed Working Memory Training is right for you or your child. If I’m not busy I pick up the phone. Otherwise it rolls over to voicemail and you can leave me a message. I’ll get you all the information you need to make an informed choice and answer all of your questions. There’s No cost, No risk, and No obligation.

Do it now, before you forget.

Bruce D. Forman, PhD

P.S. Be sure to ask for my guide for managing ADHD where I explain about the interventions needed for comprehensive treatment. It’s completely FREE, it’s yours just for asking. Click here for FREE ADHD Guide.