Reviews of Center for Attention Deficit and Learning Disorders (Psychologist)

Jose Valenzuela

professional boxer and I have been working with Dr. Silverman for a few months and I can already see a huge improvement in my skills . Such as speed and reflexes

David W

First of all, a little personal background: I am a 31 year-old professional in the financial industry who was diagnosed with ADD in third grade. I was prescribed various meds throughout my adolescence and they all made me feel like a zombie with no appetite. (The best kind of zombie, I suppose. But I digress.) As an adult, I had resigned myself to a life of scatterbrained-ness and frustrated romantic partners and coworkers as a result of the ADD behaviors. *Enter neurofeedback and Dr. Silverman* According to various studies (actually reading the studies on PubMed and not just the articles about the studies) neurofeedback has the efficacy rate of meds with none of the nasty side-effects and life-long amphetamine dependency (Big Pharma is a sham). I went into treatment knowing that there was a possibility it wouldn’t work for me. To my surprise and delight, it worked wonders. I can think more clearly, organize thoughts and regulate emotions better than I ever have. As for Dr. Silverman himself. He was very flexible with my work schedule, which was amazing. I work 9-6 and we were still able to come up with a schedule that worked for both of us. I appreciated that he cared enough to work with me although I’m sure my schedule was not convenient for him personally. He is friendly, though I wouldn’t expect any fluff from him. He is good at what he does and that’s what is important. He is very direct and while some people may not be used to that approach, I appreciated that he didn’t sugarcoat anything for me. I felt that he was very transparent about the treatment and the cost. My sessions were relatively short. Dr. Silverman would ask how I felt before each session and after to gauge the effects of the treatment. He would hook me up, let the treatment do its work, and then get me on with my day. He would modify the treatment depending on my reaction to the previous one, as sometimes we would try things that would over-stimulate parts of my brain. It’s a science and everyone’s brain is different so I expected there would be some fine-tuning along the way. Anyway, if you made it this far I applaud you. Thank Dr. Silverman for the treatment which helped me focus long enough to sit down and write this all out ;) I believe in neurofeedback and what Dr. Silverman does (and the peer-reviewed studies that show its efficacy). I hope if you’re an adult with ADD or a parent of a kid who does, you do yourself a favor and go see Dr. Silverman. He quite literally changed my life.

Stephanie Eastman

My 15-year-old (now 16 year old) son has a pretty extreme case of ADHD. Last summer we stopped his meds to have a brain map done, with the intention of doing Neurofeedback with Dr Sanford Silverman. Numerous practitioners now offer now Nerofeedback. HOWEVER Dr. Silverman is a psychologist who specializes in ADD and ADHD, who uses neurofeedback brain mapping and other technologies to help remap the ADHD brain. Prior to using these technologies he was already a doctor of psychology who understands and studied THE BRAIN. I believe he used to work in the school system as a psychologist with teenagers prior to opening this practice. At first we had his brain map and from the map the doctor can tell exactly what the behavioral characteristics were of my child (impulsive behavior)That gave me confidence. Then we started him Nerofeedback, a metronome, and one other technology for the back of the brain. In all of the reviews we read online on yelp, they said that you have to wait at least 10 sessions before you will see a difference. We saw a difference right away! And it continued to get better and better. It was unbelievable to us! He was doing so well that we signed up for a second set of 20 sessions. This time the doctor said that we probably didn’t need the metronome on the back of the brain therapy’s so we just did the Nuro feedback. Immediately almost our son regressed. We were so discouraged! The doctor, Dr. Sanford Silverman, in Scottsdale Arizona, was extremely motivated to find what would help our son. He tried a couple of different things and we eventually went back to putting the other technologies back in. Again, amazing results! My son is just about to finish up his 60th session. He has been off of medication since last May. We have had ZERO behavior problems (this has never happened in all of his years of education) at school and he has not been on medication the entire school year. It is nothing short of a miracle! If we had just gone to a regular Practitioner who does Nuro feedback we would’ve paid all that money and since they would lack the expertise of understanding the brain and the other technologies that showed such a great improvement in our son we would’ve walked away feeling like we had again spent a lot of money on something that didn’t work at all. Also, Dr. Silverman was competitively priced with everywhere else I checked. Even with chiropractor offices that were trying to sell Neurofeedback and brain mapping services. Dr. Sanford Silverman did his doctoral thesis on ADHD and really understood the needs of our son, and was determined to help him. He said that our son was a tough case. Over the Christmas break our son did not have any Nuro feedback sessions and was still doing great so we finished up his sessions moving his visits for down from two visits a week to just once per week. He continue to sustain the same benefits taking off a couple of weeks and then resuming it only one session Per week. After a few weeks however we noticed that he was regressing again. We don’t have him back on his fourth set of 20 sessions and again we are seeing great results. Nero feedback is said to be a permanent change in the brain. Every person is different and I know that our son is an intense case. I’m not sure how long it will take for these results to stick but for now they are replacing medication which is a miracle! We have confidence that eventually the changes being made in his brain will stick permanently. This has been absolutely life-changing for us! Not only for son but for our whole family. I have told a few other families about our experience. Two of them have also gone to Dr Silverman and have seen similar results as we have.

Rusty Edwards

Great attentiveness to clients and patients. I went there and Dr. Silverman was excellent! It changed and helped me more than I can describe! So thankful. Awesome

Jessica van oostrom

Dr. Silverman is very dedicated to his patients. Our son has improved in only a few sessions. He is calmer, more talkative and his grades are up. Dr. Silverman is very flexible with scheduling appointments with weekends and evenings available. Thank you so much for what you have done for him.

John Law

Best Dr. i ever have seen. Very pleasent personality and extremly competent in evaluation and treatment. I'm an adult and he was able to help me even though I still suffer from ADHD.

Erin McCracken

My daughter and I both struggle with attention and anxiety issues. We found Dr Silverman while looking for a professional who offers non-medical options for these struggles. Dr Silverman conducted brain maps on both my daughter and I and designed a personalized treatment program for us both. I can honestly say that I feel a significant difference personally in my overall well-being as well as increased concentration in my daughter. I highly recommend Dr Silverman for anyone looking for options for mental health and wellness.

Kristy Shinozuka Smith

Dr. Silverman is so knowledgeable with what he does. My son has ADHD and is also very defiant, after 20 treatments he made so much of a turnaround. He was pleasant to be with and listened to instruction without mouthing back to me. He had even gotten along better with his friends. I highly recommended anyone who is interested in this form of treatment to try it. It sure beat any of his medications he was on. Thank you again Dr. Silverman it’s a pleasure working with you.

Michelle Wipperfurth

I was very skeptical about trying this again, we had a TERRIBLE experience at another clinic and my son hated it!!!! He was very reluctant, as was I, to try again. I am glad we did. My son has had very good results from him sessions and he is enjoying them. He comments after every session about how he feels and the results he experiencing. I too have seen positive changes. Dr. Silverman is very easy to talk to, if you have a concern or a question he always takes the time to sit down one on one and talk through options to try or adjustments to make. For all the ADHD kiddos out there that have schools calling home all the time complaining about this that and the other thing - this is a great assistance to remediate those calls!

anthony cruz

My name is David Benavidez I am a professional boxer and I have been working with Dr. Silverman for a couple months and I can already see a huge improvement in my skills . I am more alert my reflexes are faster and on point and i also feel my timing way better in my boxing skills . I strongly recommend everyone go see Dr .Silverman if you want to improve your game in any sport or just in overall focus or improvements in thinking

David Barber

It's very clear that Dr. Silverman is extremely passionate about his work and wants the most optimum results. My daughter is textbook ADD (not ADHD), I'd place her moderate/severe in her symptoms. My wife and I home schooled her during kindergarten year, knowing she wouldn't survive school with how distracted she always was. We KNEW she had the skills to read books, but she literally couldn't read a single page in a level 1 book without getting distracted. After 3 treatments she was able to read a level 1 book independently, start to finish for the first time. We recently finished our 40 sessions (45 minutes each session) which took about 8 months to complete. The symptoms are greatly improved. She's not changed as a person, but she has so much more ability to focus and more confidence in the things she does. We have her in a rigorous school and she has struggled a little at first but is still able to keep up. It costs a lot of money for neurofeedback and may seem a lot of money up front, but in the long term we are preventing medications and related Dr. visits in addition to investing in our child's success - it's well worth the investment. I'd recommend anyone struggling with a child that has ADD/ADHD to consult Dr. Silverman as he has done an exceptional job with our daughter. I'm very happy with the results.

J. F. Brown

I am a 66 year old adult who was diagnosed with ADD in 1998. I received treatment from highly credentialed psychiatrists and medical doctors with medications which were counter productive with side effects. After many years of suffering with ADD problems and challenges, I decided to pursue alternative treatments and began seeing Dr. Silverman. As a result, I have had two brain maps with neurofeedback training and other programs such as Interactive Metronome, heart rate variability training and EMDR. Dr. Silverman has addressed my issues in a variety of ways with very successful results that have continued to date. My wife notices a great positive change. I am able to focus my attention for much longer sustained periods of time. I can maintain my attention and concentration to read for hours as a result of this training.

Master Michael

Very interesting and pleasant experience with Dr. Silverman and his services. My son and I both have some attention issues, and we decided to do the treatments together. I have noticed an impact on both of us in our ability to focus, and process inputs from various experiences. The sessions are not invasive, we get in and out. The setting is professional and clean, and the methods are truly unlike any I have experienced. I would recommend Dr. Silverman and his services to anyone, adult or child, looking for help on attention issues without pharmacological treatment. For me professionally, I have seen a difference. For my son, personally, I have seen a difference.

Brian Renner

Dr. Silverman is great. He has some great tools and programs that have allowed me to tap into my brain's potential. The real-time feedback is especially helpful because with enough sessions, I was able to begin controlling my attention when I started to see it drifting off. It's like working out, the more you do it, the better you get and the stronger your brain becomes.

Premel Patel

Made an appointment for my son to have his testing updated for college. I had 2 reports from Boston that were older. My son saw Dr. Silverman about 2 years ago for a quick visit and testing to confirm he still had ADHD. At max the visit and testing lasted an hour. During the visit he was constantly trying to sell us his programs. After the quick testing he said “yup he still has ADHD” but you should come in Saturday morning for 1 hour more of testing. To make a long story short we paid short of $800, did not receive any of his testing results and the letter for the school was so short it included just the minimum information they required. He could have given us that letter after the initial visit since he said that my son still had ADHD. There was nothing in that letter that warranted that price tag. He took advantage of the fact that we needed that letter for college. He is a greedy person taking advantage of parents and their children!

Todd Fullmer

We had our 18 year old son do an initial evaluation and then several neurofeedback treatments under the care of Dr. Silverman. Dr. Silverman was informative and encouraging at first. As our son went for additional treatments, he told us of less and less interaction with the doctor. Our son would tell us that "Dr. Silverman just puts me in front of a monitor and at the end of the session, asks me for payment." When we asked for feedback on our son's progress, we were told that he was doing fine, but that we would need "several more treatments." Our son was becoming more and more disengaged which we brought to the doctor's attention. I asked if we could meet and be shown clinical evidence of any progress that had been made. My wife then went with our son, spoke with Dr. Silverman for a short period of time and was not given any information of substance. It became apparent to us that Dr. Silverman was first concerned about "payment" and second about our son. The final straw was when our son missed an appointment that my wife and I hadn't known of. Dr. Silverman called me and proceeded to chastise me for our son's absence. I apologized for the inconvenience but explained that I knew nothing of the appointment. Dr. Silverman continued to speak to me in a very condescending and disrespectful manner. I then realized that this was the same person that I was trusting my son's emotional health to. There are several competent and compassionate practitioners out there, but we found out that Dr. Silverman wasn't one of them. My wife and I are both nurses so patient care and advocacy is very important to us. Don't waste your time or money with Dr. Silverman, you can do much better for yourself or family member.

Amanda SteinGhhjkjjggvggg

I knew something was up with my son as soon as he was born. At 3 years of age he had a diagnosis of moderate autism, which all of his teachers were shocked because he was so high functioning. Both my husband and I have been diagnosed with ADHD, so you can imagine how worried I was with an autism diagnosis at age 3! He has a hard time concentrating, he never looked people in the eyes, he didn’t understand personal space and had many behavioral issues. I came to terms with the fact that he never wanted to chat after school and that he was withdrawn from people. But, I was at my wits end when he turned 5 and the behavior was very alarming. He was spitting on people and being a bully. His teachers constantly complained that he couldn’t sit still or focus on his work. He was always trying to be the class clown which was causing him to get in a ton of trouble at school. So what did they do? They put him with the principal for recess (what a terrible idea!). He was just more energized and acting out. Then his friends started not wanting to hang out and that just broke my heart, because he is a sweet and loving boy. I started googling autism and ADHD and came across Dr. Silverman. I called him and he got my son in right away. We don’t have insurance, but I didn’t care, Inwas willing to try anything. My husband was a huge critic too, but I knew I had to try neurofeedback after I read Dr. Silverman’s reviews, so I felt compelled to tell my story. My 7 year old is like a different person! As soon as he gets into the car he tells me about his day. He’s no longer getting in trouble and it’s been months since he’s missed recess due to inappropriate behavior. He plays games with the family and his friends have started hanging out again. We also had a ton of eating/Sensory issues and he ate steak and chicken for the first time in his life! He’s trying new things often and expressing himself after. Yes it’s expensive and yes, maybe Dr. Silverman doesn’t have the best bed side manner in a first impression, but I think he’s amazing! I can tell that he cares about how my son is doing. I will continue these sessions and can’t rave enough on what a change I’ve seen in my son. Thank you Dr. Silverman!!

G Smith

Our son is 10 years old and was diagnosed with ADHD last year. We did not want to put him on medication, so we researched other forms of therapy/treatment and found Dr. Silverman. He administered the Brain Mapping and discussed the results with us, explained how the process worked and we started immediately. We saw subtle changes/results almost immediately and are very pleased with the progress our son continues to make. Our insurance does not cover his therapy and we have a 50 mile round trip each visit, but the results are worth the time, travel and cost. Our son is more relaxed, can focus on things he couldn’t sit still for previously, enjoys reading and is able to comprehend and retain the information he has read, he is more introspective, he smiles more and is more thoughtful in everything he does. School has become something he looks forward to now. Our experience with The Center for Attention Deficit & Learning Disorders has been nothing but positive!