Date of Submission

Spring 2017

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Psychology

Project Advisor 1

Frank Scalzo

Abstract/Artist's Statement

The proposed study aims to test the efficacy of a therapeutic parent training program called Executive Skills Training (EST) on improving executive functioning (EF) in young children with ADHD. Additionally, the proposed study compares the effects of EST, the pharmacological treatment of Ritalin, and the combined treatment of EST and Ritalin on EF outcomes. In total, the experiment measures EF in 80 children ages 6-7 with combined type ADHD that are randomly assigned to one of four conditions: the EST group (N=20) receives EST via one or both parents(s)/guardian(s) as instructed by the EST program, the MED group (N=20) receives Ritalin as prescribed by a clinician, the MED+EST group (N=20) receives both parent-mediated therapeutic training and Ritalin, and the control group (CONT) (N=20) receives no treatment. The proposed study collects repeated measures of EF over time using responses to the Executive Skills Questionnaire for Children- Elementary Version (ESQC-EV) completed by parents(s)/guardian(s) and primary teachers of the child participants. Data is collected over three years, starting at the beginning of the children’s 1st grade of elementary school. The anticipated results exhibit significant improvement in EF post-treatment across all three groups that receive intervention. MED and EST groups do not differ significantly in EF scores post-intervention, indicating that the interventions are equally effective in improving EF. Predicted outcomes of combined treatment of EST + MED show the most robust improvement in EF post-treatment. These findings advocate the use of therapeutic training for treating ADHD in children.

Open Access Agreement

On-Campus only

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