and particularly attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (adhd). psychosocial treatment addresses the many facets of executive difficulties, and as the name suggests, covers academic, occupational and social deficits. psychosocial treatment facilitates marked improvements in major symptoms of executive dysfunction such as time management, organization and self-esteem. one kind of psychosocial treatment has been found to be particularly helpful, behavioral parent training (bpt). behavioral parent training (bpt) helps parents learn, through the help of a trained mental health professional, how to help their child behave better. this outlines proper use of reward and punishment with the child, mostly using methods of positive and negative reinforcement rather than punishment. for example, taking away a positive reinforcement such as praise, as opposed to adding a punishment. psychosocial treatments are effective for adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (adhd) as well. one study shows that there are a number of useful psychosocial interventions that help adults with adhd live better lives too. these included mindfulness training, cognitive based behavioral therapy, as well as education to help the participants recognize problem behaviors in their lives. cognitive-behavioral therapy and group rehabilitation cognitive-behavioural therapy (cbt) is a frequently suggested treatment for executive dysfunction, but has shown limited effectiveness. however, a study of cbt in a group rehabilitation setting showed a significant increase in positive treatment outcome compared with individual therapy. patients' self-reported symptoms on 16 different adhd/executive-related items were reduced following the treatment period. treatment for patients with acquired brain injury the use of auditory stimuli has been examined in the treatment of dysexecutive syndrome. the presentation of auditory stimuli causes an interruption in current activity, which appears to aid in preventing "goal neglect" by increasing the patients' ability to monitor time and focus on goals. given such stimuli, subjects no longer performed below their age group average iq. patients with acquired brain injury have also been exposed to goal management training (gmt). gmt skills are associated with paper-and-pencil tasks that are suitable for patients having difficulty setting goals. from these studies there has been support for the effectiveness of gmt and the treatment of executive dysfunction due to abi. developmental context an understanding of how executive dysfunction shapes development has implications how we conceptualize executive functions and their role in shaping the individual. disorders affecting children such as adhd, along with oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, high functioning autism, and tourette's syndrome have all been suggested to involve executive functioning deficits. the main focus of current research has been on working memory, planning, set shifting, inhibition, and fluency. this research suggests that differences exist between typically functioning, matched controls, and clinical groups, on measures of executive functioning. some research has suggested a link between a child's abilities to gain information about the world around them and having the ability to override emotions in order to behave appropriately. one study required children to perform a task from a series of psychological tests, with their performance used as a measure of executive function. the tests included assessments of: executive functions (self-regulation, monitoring, attention, flexibility in thinking), language, sensorimotor, visuospatial, and learning, in addition to social perception. the findings suggested that the development of theory of mind in younger children is linked to executive control abilities with development impaired in individuals who exhibit signs of executive dysfunction. both adhd and obesity are complicated disorders and each produces a large impact on an individual's social well-being. this being both a physical and psychological disorder has reinforced that obese individuals with adhd need more treatment time (with associated costs), and are at a higher risk of developing physical and emotional complications. the cognitive ability to develop a comprehensive self-construct and the ability to demonstrate capable emotion regulation is a core deficit observed in people with adhd and is linked to deficits in executive function. overall, low executive functioning seen in individuals with adhd has been correlated with tendencies to overeat, as well as with emotional eating. this particular interest in the relationship between adhd and obesity is rarely clinically assessed and may deserve more attention in future research. it has been made known that young children with behavioral problems show poor verbal ability and executive functions. the exact distinction between parenting style and the importance of family structure on child development is still somewhat unclear. however, in infancy and early childhood, parenting is among the most critical external influences on child reactivity. in mahoney's study of maternal communication, results indicated that the way mothers interacted with their children accounted for almost 25% of variability in children's rate of development. every child is unique, making parenting an emotional challenge that should be most closely related to the child's level of emotional self-regulation (persistence, frustration and compliance). a promising approach that is currently being investigated amid intellectually disabled children and their parents is responsive teaching. responsive teaching is an early intervention curriculum designed to address the cognitive, language, and social needs of young children with developmental problems. based on the principle of "active learning", responsive teaching is a method that is currently being applauded as adaptable for individual caregivers, children and their combined needs the effect of parenting styles on the development of children is an important area of research that seems to be forever ongoing and altering. there is no doubt that there is a prominent link between parental interaction and child development but the best child-rearing technique continues to vary amongst experts. evolutionary perspective the prefrontal lobe controls two related executive functioning domains. the first is mediation of abilities involved in planning, problem solving, and understanding information, as well as engaging in working memory processes and controlled attention. in this sense, the prefrontal lobe is involved with dealing with basic, everyday situations, especially those involving metacognitive functions. the second domain involves the ability to fulfill biological needs through the coordination of cognition and emotions which are both associated with the frontal and prefrontal areas. from an evolutionary perspective, it has been hypothesized that the executive system may have evolved to serve several adaptive purposes. the prefrontal lobe in humans has been associated both with metacognitive executive functions and emotional executive functions. theory and evidence suggest that the frontal lobes in other primates also mediate and regulate emotion, but do not demonstrate the metacognitive abilities that are demonstrated in humans. this uniqueness of the executive system to humans implies that there was also something unique about the environment of ancestral humans, which gave rise to the need for executive functions as adaptations to that environment. some examples of possible adaptive problems that would have been solved by the evolution of an executive system are: social exchange, imitation and observational learning, enhanced pedagogical understanding, tool construction and use, and effective communication. in a similar vein, some have argued that the unique metacognitive capabilities demonstrated by humans have arisen out of the development of a sophisticated language (symbolization) systems and culture. moreover, in a developmental context, it has been proposed that each executive function capability originated as a form of public behaviour directed at the external environment, but then became self-directed, and then finally, became private to the individual, over the course of the development of self-regulation. these shifts in function illustrate the evolutionarily salient strategy of maximizing longer-term social consequences over near-term ones, through the development of an internal control of behaviour. comorbidity flexibility problems are more likely to be related to anxiety, and metacognition problems are more likely to be related to depression. socio-cultural implications education in the classroom environment, children with executive dysfunction typically demonstrate skill deficits that can be categorized into two broad domains: a) self-regulatory skills; and b) goal-oriented skills. the table below is an adaptation of mcdougall's summary and provides an overview of specific executive function deficits that are commonly observed in a classroom environment. it also offers examples of how these deficits are likely to manifest in behaviour. self-regulatory skills often exhibit deficits in... manifestations in the classroom perception. awareness of something happening in the environment doesn't "see" what is happening; doesn't "hear" instructions modulation. awareness of the amount of effort needed to perform a task (successfully) commission of errors at easy levels and success at harder levels; indication that student thinks the task is "easy" then cannot do it correctly; performance improves once the student realized that the task is more difficult than originally thought sustained attention. ability to focus on a task or situation despite distractions, fatigue or boredom initiates the task, but doesn't continue to work steadily; easily distracted; fatigues easily; complains task is too long or too boring flexibility. ability to change focus, adapt to changing conditions or revise plans in the face of obstacles, new information or mistakes (can also be considered as "adaptability") slow to stop one activity and begin another after being instructed to do so; tendency to stay with one plan or strategy even after it is shown to be ineffective; rigid adherence to routines; refusal to consider new information working memory. ability to hold information in memory while performing complex tasks with information forgets instructions (especially if multi-step); frequently asks for information to be repeated; forgets books at home or at school; can not do mental arithmetic; difficulty making connections with previously learned information; difficulty with reading comprehension response inhibition. capacity to think before acting (deficits are often observed as "impulsivity") seems to act without thinking; frequently interrupts; talks out in class; often out of seat/away from desk; rough play gets out of control; doesn't consider consequences of actions emotional regulation. ability to modulate emotional responses temper outbursts; cries easily; very easily frustrated; very quick to anger; acts silly goal-oriented skills often exhibit deficits in... manifestations in the classroom planning. ability to list steps needed to reach a goal or complete a task doesn't know where to start when given large assignments; easily overwhelmed by task demands; difficulty developing a plan for long-term projects; problem-solving strategies are very limited and haphazard; starts working before adequately considering the demands of a task; difficulty listing steps required to complete a task organization. ability to arrange information or materials according to a system disorganized desk, binder, notebooks, etc.; loses books, papers, assignments, etc.; doesn't write down important information; difficulty retrieving information when needed time management. ability to comprehend how much time is available, or to estimate how long it will take to complete a task, and keep track of how much time has passed relative to the amount of the task completed very little work accomplished during a specified period of time; wasting time, then rushing to complete a task at the last minute; often late to class/assignments are often late; difficulty estimating how long it takes to do a task; limited awareness of the passage of time self-monitoring. ability to stand back and evaluate how you are doing (can also be thought of as "metacognitive" abilities) makes "careless" errors; does not check work before handing it in; does not stop to evaluate how things are going in the middle of a task or activity; thinks a task was well done, when in fact it was done poorly; thinks a task was poorly done, when in fact it was done well teachers play a crucial role in the implementation of strategies aimed at improving academic success and classroom functioning in individuals with executive dysfunction. in a classroom environment, the goal of intervention should ultimately be to apply external control, as needed (e.g. adapt the environment to suit the child, provide adult support) in an attempt to modify problem behaviours or supplement skill deficits. ultimately, executive function difficulties should not be attributed to negative personality traits or characteristics (e.g. laziness, lack of motivation, apathy, and stubbornness) as these attributions are neither useful nor accurate. several factors should be considered in the development of intervention strategies. these include, but are not limited to: developmental level of the child, comorbid disabilities, environmental changes, motivating factors, and coaching strategies. it is also recommended that strategies should take a proactive approach in managing behaviour or skill deficits (when possible), rather than adopt a reactive approach. for example, an awareness of where a student may have difficulty throughout the course of the day can aid the teacher in planning to avoid these situations or in planning to accommodate the needs of the student. people with executive dysfunction have a slower