9 year old Ethan Myers was pronounced brain dead after a car accident in 2002. After awaking from a coma a month later, doctors said he would never eat on his own again, walk or talk. But now, due to therapy which has included a neurofeedback based video game system, Myers can once again open his right hand, which had become paralyzed, and has "caught up with his peers in school and even read a speech to a large group of students."

"I'm doing the exact same things as them. I'm getting buddies and stuff," said Myers, who had relearned to walk and was reading at a second-grade level before his video game therapy began in May 2004.

"I couldn't remember where I put stuff and now I can. I remember school stuff and people's names," he said in a telephone interview from his family's home in Colorado.

Part of Myers' therapy includes what is known as the CyberLearning Smart BrainGames system, which is used to treat brain injuries, ADHD, and learning disabilities. It's compatible with the Playstation 1 and 2, as well as the Xbox. Users wear a helmet while playing which measures brain waves, and relays that information back to the system which in turn affects the controller. If the player's brain waves drop out of the target range, the controls become harder to operate, incouraging him to maintain focus. Racing games are said to work best with the system; when the player isn't staying alert, the car becomes harder to steer and accelerate. The system is based on NASA technology that trained pilots to stay alert during long flights and calm during emergencies.

It's not a system that can simply be taken home and used whenever like a normal console, though. Margaret MacDonald, a San Jose doctor specializing in neurofeedback therapy, says that patients need to work with a trained professional to ensure they are reinforcing the right brain wave activity. "This isn't something you can just play with...You could train the wrong thing and cause someone to become more anxious and irritable," she said.

Source: Cnet