An Intervention for Children With Disorders of Executive Functions

Abstract

This article describes a cognitive-behavioral approach to teaching metacognitive executive thinking strategies to children with disorders of executive function. The intervention is based on the notion that some children with disorders of executive function have disorders of higher level language, which predispose them to the executive impairments. It is proposed that teaching and reinforcing metacognitive thinking strategies may help advance verbal mediation of complex tasks and self-regulation of behavior. Despite the growing literature on developmental executive disorders, little has been written about interventions that may enable the children to acquire some of the requisite adaptive skills. The ideas expressed herein should be considered an invitation for the initiation of empirical studies of intervention and outcome effects.