CONDITIONS | MY STRUGGLING KIDS

Neurofeedback for Emotional Regulation in Children, Los Angeles & Pasadena

Emotional regulation is an important developmental process in children. This stage of life is what sets children up to be able to control their behavior and emotions at older ages. For some children, though, they struggle with emotional regulation.

At Vital Brain Health, we provide optimal support to help your child learn emotional regulation. We work with you to develop a plan that can help your child succeed.

AT A GLANCE

Neurofeedback is a drug-free, non-invasive brain-training method. At Vital Brain Health, we start with qEEG brain mapping, then use real-time feedback to help the regions involved in emotional regulation communicate more effectively, so children in Los Angeles and Pasadena can better steady their emotions and reduce outbursts.

What Is Emotional Regulation?

Emotional regulation is the ability for kids to regulate and control their emotions. Normally, children learn these skills as they age and as their parents guide them. However, some children, for various reasons, will struggle with emotional regulation.

At Vital Brain Health, we are dedicated to providing the support children need to succeed. We avoid unnecessary medications and surgeries with our approach while still providing you optimal care.

If your child is struggling with emotion regulation, schedule an appointment today. Our staff is ready to work with you to help your child thrive.

What symptoms are associated with emotional dysregulation?

Red branching network on black background, resembling interconnected lines and nodes.

Understanding the risk factors associated with emotional dysregulation can help you get your child the support they need to succeed. Problems with emotional regulation often result from one of a variety of factors:

Emotional regulation symptoms vary in type and severity. Our evaluation can help clarify what your child is experiencing and guide next steps. Symptoms that would likely benefit from an evaluation include:

Becoming easily frustrated

Mood swings

Impulsiveness

Prone to tantrums or outbursts

Emotional regulation is a skill some children struggle to build on their own. With qEEG-guided neurofeedback, our team helps your child’s brain learn to self-regulate, drug-free and without surgery.

Common Risk Factors Associated with Emotional Regulation Problems

Abuse

Any form of abuse can have a severe impact on a child’s ability to regulate their emotions and develop coping mechanisms for emotional regulation.

Related Conditions

Anxiety, depression, and other related conditions can cause issues with emotional regulation.

Head Injuries

Head injuries and traumatic brain injuries can cause changes in the brain that can cause emotional regulation challenges.

Because worry and big emotions so often travel together, our clinicians took a close look at whether neurofeedback helps a child with anxiety, written in plain language for parents weighing their options.

If you are wondering about the timeline, we also explain how long neurofeedback takes to work so you know what to expect before your child’s first session.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can you help my child with emotional regulation challenges?

Yes. We start by understanding your child rather than the label. A 3D qEEG brain map shows us how the systems that generate and calm emotion are communicating, and that map becomes the blueprint for a personalized, medication-free training plan. Families can train in our Pasadena office or from home through our nationwide remote programs.
Q: How can you help my child with emotional regulation challenges?

Rather than focusing on the label itself, we look at how the brain is functioning beneath it. Children with emotional regulation challenges may share the same condition but still have very different underlying brain patterns. Through brain mapping and neurofeedback, we identify which systems may be overactive, underactive, or not efficiently communicating, and then design a personalized training plan to support more balanced and coordinated brain function over time.
Q: How do you approach neurofeedback training for children with emotional regulation challenges?

Sessions are designed to feel more like screen time than homework. Your child relaxes while sensors read their brain activity, and their favorite show responds in real time as their brain practices calmer, more coordinated patterns — a bit like tuning walkie-talkies to a shared channel so the brain’s regions can work together. (That’s an intentional oversimplification for the sake of clarity; the brain is wonderfully more complex.) A typical session runs 15–30 minutes, in our office or at home with remote equipment under our team’s guidance.
Q: How many sessions does emotional regulation support usually take?

There is no one-size-fits-all number, because training is individualized from your child’s qEEG brain map. Many training plans run in the range of 30 to 40 sessions over several months, and the exact plan comes from the initial evaluation, where we review the brain map and goals together.
Q: Can training be done remotely?
Q: Is neurofeedback safe? Are there side effects?

Neurofeedback is non-invasive and drug-free. Nothing enters the brain during a session; the sensors only read brain activity while the training rewards healthier communication patterns. Some people notice temporary tiredness after early sessions, much like the feeling after a new kind of exercise, and this typically fades as training continues.

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REFERENCES

1. Ros, Tomas, et al. “Consensus on the Reporting and Experimental Design of Clinical and Cognitive-Behavioural Neurofeedback Studies (CRED-nf Checklist).” Brain, vol. 143, no. 6, 2020, pp. 1674-1685.
2. Micoulaud-Franchi, Jean-Arthur, et al. “Electroencephalographic Neurofeedback: Level of Evidence in Mental and Brain Disorders and Suggestions for Good Clinical Practice.” Neurophysiologie Clinique, vol. 45, no. 6, 2015, pp. 423-433.
3. Vernon, David J. “Can Neurofeedback Training Enhance Performance? An Evaluation of the Evidence with Implications for Future Research.” Applied Psychology, vol. 54, no. 3, 2005, pp. 385-404.