Attention and self-regulation training, alongside remedial therapy, for dyslexia, dyspraxia or dyscalculia, from age 5, in Brétigny-sur-Orge, near Paris.
Specific learning difficulties (“troubles dys” in French), also called specific language and learning disorders, are thought to affect around 8% of children in each age group, according to the French National Authority for Health (HAS). They are not due to a lack of intelligence or a lack of effort:
Reading, writing or calculating then takes a great deal of energy. This leads to marked fatigue, attention difficulties at the end of the day, a gradual loss of self-esteem and sometimes school-related anxiety. Specific learning difficulties persist into adulthood and often occur together or alongside ADHD.
Neurofeedback does not teach reading, writing or counting. That remains the role of school and of remedial therapy: speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and psychomotor therapy (a French profession that works on motor skills and body awareness). Neurofeedback plays a supporting role, working on the resources that learning depends on. It is a non-invasive, drug-free form of training: brain activity is recorded while the child plays or watches a film, and real-time feedback helps them stay in the target state, for example sustained attention without strain. This self-regulation builds up session after session. Biofeedback is added to this: breathing and cardiac coherence (heart coherence breathing) to approach homework and tests more calmly, and muscle tension measurement (EMG) when writing makes the hand or shoulders tense up.
Step 1
An in-depth initial interview that takes into account any assessments already carried out (speech and language, psychomotor, neuropsychological), questionnaires (attention with the SNAP-IV, sleep with the SDSC, anxiety, and a posture questionnaire, particularly useful in dyspraxia) and a quantitative EEG (qEEG) compared with a normative database. Find out more about the programme or how the qEEG assessment works.
Step 2
A personalised protocol of swLORETA Z-score neurofeedback (19-channel) or two-channel neurofeedback, combined with biofeedback. Its targets (attention, arousal level, brain regions involved in language) are chosen on the basis of the assessment. One-hour sessions, once or twice a week, fitted around remedial therapy appointments.
Step 3
Changes are assessed objectively using a mid-point qEEG assessment compared with the initial one, repeat questionnaires and, with your consent, feedback from the speech and language therapist or teacher. This helps us adjust the next steps.
The data mainly concern dyslexia. In a small randomised trial published in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, Breteler et al. (2010) followed 19 children with dyslexia who were all receiving academic support; 10 of them also received neurofeedback designed on the basis of their quantitative EEG. This group made clear progress in spelling, but not in reading, and the authors suggest an effect mediated by attention.
A recent systematic review of 12 studies (López-Zamora et al., Annals of Dyslexia, 2026) concludes that neurofeedback alone has no demonstrated significant benefit for reading and that the protocols studied are too heterogeneous to draw firm conclusions. The authors point out that the reference interventions are educational, with neurofeedback being studied as a possible complement.
In France, the HAS guide on the care pathway for children with specific language and learning disorders (2018) does not mention neurofeedback. It describes a stepped, coordinated pathway combining medical diagnosis, remedial therapy by specialist professionals and teaching adjustments.
A child with specific learning difficulties has to work harder than others, so preserving their energy matters as much as the training. Enough sleep, short breaks during homework, limited screens in the evening and recognising their successes help them keep going over time. Parent coaching gives you pointers for helping with work at home. With your consent, we liaise with the speech and language therapist, psychomotor therapist, occupational therapist and school team, particularly around the PAP (personalised support plan for learning disorders). The Élan Minds app, coming soon, will be for children, parents and teachers, to help continue this work day to day.
When attention is the main issue, see also our page on neurofeedback and ADHD; if school-related anxiety is the main concern, see anxiety and stress; and for difficult nights, see sleep problems.
Children from age 5, teenagers and adults with dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia or another diagnosed specific learning disorder, or whose learning difficulties persist despite the help provided. If there is no diagnosis, we first refer you to the child’s doctor, who can request the necessary assessments (speech and language, psychomotor, neuropsychological).
No. Remedial therapy and medical follow-up remain the foundation of support for specific learning difficulties. Neurofeedback is added alongside them to work on attention, fatigue and stress management. If medication is being taken, only the doctor can decide to change or stop it.
Studies have not demonstrated a benefit of neurofeedback alone on reading. One study observed progress in spelling when it was combined with academic support. Our aim is to support the resources that make learning less effortful.
Allow around thirty one-hour sessions on average, once or twice a week: the qEEG assessment, about fifteen sessions, a mid-point assessment, then about fifteen more sessions. We plan the schedule with you so as not to overload your child.