I want to be honest about how bad it was. By the time James was 9, we had tried two medications. One made him cry without knowing why. We stopped both. His teacher was kind but her notes home were weekly. He could not sit for four minutes. Every homework attempt ended in something being thrown. Not by him at us, by all of us at the walls.

A school teacher mentioned neurofeedback therapy. I was skeptical. I am a nurse. I wanted evidence, not hope.

The first few sessions were unremarkable. He sat, he played the game on the screen, we drove home. Around session 8 I noticed he had fallen asleep before 9pm without a fight. Session 11, his teacher sent a message at 7pm: 'Whatever you're doing, keep doing it. He waited today. He raised his hand.' I sat in my car and cried for ten minutes.

By session 20 he was doing homework at the kitchen table without being asked. By session 28 his rating scale scores had moved from crisis range into manageable. He still has ADHD. He will always have ADHD. But the version of him that was trapped behind all that noise, we can reach him now. He can reach himself. I did not expect to feel this grateful."

James's mother, 14 weeks, 28 sessions, no medication change