View clinical trials related to Executive Dysfunction.
Filter by:Executive function (EF) skills are a set of essential cognitive abilities that enable individuals to demonstrate their knowledge and talents, effectively complete tasks and navigate social interactions through flexible regulation of their thinking, behavior and emotions. EF is strongly linked to academic readiness and long-term educational outcomes. Children's EF is impacted by poverty-related experiences and is also impaired in the increasing number of children with developmental and emotional disabilities. Interventions targeting EF skills hold particular promise for improving children's educational trajectories by leveraging brain plasticity in the preschool period. We will directly target EF skills in preschoolers with poor EF. This project will address a key source of the achievement gap by meeting the needs of children at the highest risk, those who: 1) show early signs of EF impairment; 2) live in low-income communities and 3) are at risk for developmental and emotional disabilities (DD/ED). The intervention is a downward extension of Unstuck and On Target for elementary school (UOT; Cannon, Kenworthy, Alexander, Werner, & Anthony, 2018), an EF intervention shown to be effective at increasing children's learning behaviors, as delivered by school staff. The research team will partner with key stakeholders to revise and iteratively refine UOT-P through a development trial, utilizing participant, teacher and parent feedback. The results of this trial will be leveraged to enable the team to apply for future federal funding for a randomized comparative effectiveness trial (NIH, Institute of Educational Sciences, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute).
This project explores the association between learning and cognitive flexibility by testing whether a cognitive behavioral intervention designed to improve flexibility in ASD changes learning and associated neural activation using model-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (m-fMRI). The study proposes that variability in learning mechanisms is associated with behavioral flexibility and explains differences in adaptive and treatment outcomes. The study employs a longitudinal case-controlled design in 60 14-18 year old youth with ASD at 3 time-points 8 months apart, each including m-fMRI during learning and behavioral measurement of executive and adaptive function. Aim 1 tests the hypothesis that individual variation in learning biases and their neural correlates predicts behavioral flexibility and is stable over time. Aim 2 tests plasticity of learning mechanisms induced by a cognitive-behavioral intervention for flexibility. Aim 3 tests hypothesis about intervention-induced plasticity of neural functional connectivity.
Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a behavioural and neurodevelopmental disorder that can affect behavioural, emotional, academic, social, and cognitive functions and is not age-appropriate. The prevalence of ADHD among school children is reported to be 3%-11%. Children with ADHD have difficulties paying attention to details, concentrating, completing tasks and following instructions, among other social and academic challenges. In children with ADHD, insufficient activity in the prefrontal regions of the brain has been evidenced, which is linked to executive function skills. Such children have difficulties in performing executive functions that require a high level of cognitive skills, such as self-control and regulation, as well as sequencing and planning tasks. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5) addresses executive dysfunction as a characteristic of ADHD. At the same time, 45%-70% of these children show problems in motor skills. Motor problems associated with ADHD, such as manual dexterity, bilateral coordination, and postural balance, can lead to difficulty in everyday living tasks, such as eating and writing, as well as social adaptability, academic skills, and peer interactions. For this reason, motor skill problems along with symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, should be addressed as part of the treatment strategy. ADHD has an impact on a child's independence for daily activities. As a result, child-specific occupational therapy approaches are critical for the sensory, motor, and cognitive areas that affect children's occupational performance in basic and instrumental activities of daily living, participation, rest and sleep, play, and leisure.
Although many children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) make significant progress in learning and their cognitive skills improve with applied behavior analysis (ABA), there are a significant number of children who show an absence or a plateau in various skills. Deficits in executive functioning are likely to be involved in many of these cognitive and learning disabilities due to poor functioning of the prefrontal cortex. Currently, the use of biological methods for improving learning and cognition is largely unexplored in research and practice. The aim of this study is to use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in combination with ABA to improve the acquisition of educational programs for students with ASD. tDCS is a low-level electrical neurostimulation and is most effective when used in combination with an active training or teaching, facilitating the neuronal circuits used for that task. tDCS has been used for various indications over a couple of decades and has been shown to be very safe and has been well-tolerated by children with ASD. The mechanism of tDCS is not clear, however animal studies show that tDCS can stimulate the flow of calcium ions through channels in the astrocytes, activating them, and facilitating their role in synapse formation and therefore learning.
From the change in self-regulation, memory is inhibited, allowing individuals to suppress or ignore unwanted or outdated associations and thus help to filter information relevant to dietary goals from irrelevant information. Provoking changes in neuroplasticity and cortical excitability contribute to the regulation of neural activity. Both could be modified by applying direct electrical current to the sensorimotor cortex, with polarity/current-dependent results, and their effect would last for hours after the end of stimulation. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), translated into Portuguese as Estimulação Transcraniana por Corrente Contínua (ETCC) is a neuromodulating tool in which a low-intensity electrical current is applied to the scalp to modulate neuronal activity.
This study will test the effectiveness of a school-based cognitive behavioral executive function (EF) intervention, Unstuck & On Target High School (UOT:HS), for transition-age youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). UOT:HS was designed to be embedded in high schools and delivered by school staff to improve generalization of skills, increase access to mental health care, and fill a gap in evidence-based approaches to support postsecondary transition. UOT:HS targets flexibility and planning skills and focuses on key functions needed for adult success across 25, 1-hour lessons. School staff will be trained to deliver UOT:HS, study staff will provide ongoing check-ins, and parents will be offered home extensions for each lesson and two trainings to generalize skills to the home environment. Behavioral and parent-report data will be collected prior to intervention, post-intervention, and at 4-to-6-month follow-up.
The aim of the study was to investigate the different effects of exercise types on inhibitory control in children with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder.
Objective: To determine the efficacy of computer-based cognitive training(CBCT) in patients with stroke in the community settings. Study Design: Single-blinded prospective, pre-test/post-test randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted in 2 groups of participants that receiving training in community settings. Treatment groups will attend individualized CBCT programme using CogniPlus® while control group will continue attend conventional treatment as usual (TAU). Assessment on the means difference in assessing functions will be done after the study. Samples: 100 patients with stroke will be recruited from the community, using a sampling frame of selected diagnosis and homogeneity. Expected Findings: Find out the training effects of selected CBCT on EF and daily functioning in patients with stroke
Ventilated pediatric patients are frequently over-sedated and the majority suffer from delirium, a form of acute brain dysfunction that is an independent predictor of increased risk of dying, length of stay, and costs. Universally prescribed sedative medications-the GABA-ergic benzodiazepines-worsen this brain organ dysfunction and independently prolong duration of ventilation and ICU stay, and the available alternative sedation regimen using dexmedetomidine, an alpha-2 agonist, has been shown to be superior to benzodiazepines in adults, and may mechanistically impact outcomes through positive effects on innate immunity, bacterial clearance, apoptosis, cognition and delirium. The mini-MENDS trial will compare dexmedetomidine and midazolam, and determine the best sedative medication to reduce delirium and improve duration of ventilation, and functional, psychiatric, and cognitive recovery in our most vulnerable patients-survivors of pediatric critical illness.
Executive Function Training is a cognitive training approach that specifically trains executive functioning for people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. The current study compares full executive function training to computerized training alone and to strategy monitoring alone.