Problems With Executive Dysfunction? Find Out More Here

Post Reply New Topic

Okay, here seems to be the basic article that's on a lot of the various sites described Executive Dysfunction:

http://bsnpta.org/geeklog/public_html// ... c_Overview

In particular, you may want to scroll down to the section that starts with "Working Memory and EDF."

Plus, another more concrete way of understanding this, would be to look here: http://thiswayoflife.org/ef.html

This is a guy on the spectrum who has figured out many good ways for dealing with this.

I had no idea that I could explain so many of my problematic behaviors on this. It's like being diagnosed with AS all over again! lol

I was diagnosed with Executive Dysfunction back in 2004. Before ASD and ADHD diagnosis. While I agree with the article in general if you have clinical significant ED some of those 'helps' might not be feasible because you don't have enough executive to to do that even. That is sort of where I am unfortunately. The ritalin comment is measleading because that can help ADHD but specifically very little of the executive function and definitely not working memory area. Besides as we know stimulants can wear off and me like some other ASD don't respond to stimulants at all or they make you drowsy.

Right now I'm on 100mg of strattera but that is not really helping the executive. I'm hoping that aricept and memantine might be the answer so I can then do the type of things that are described in that article. There isn't nearly enough research on the subject yet unfortunately.

Many people with ED are misdiagnosed with or masked by problems with reading and writing/dyslexia/specific learning disabilities.

The test I took that diagnosed my ED took all day and is probably the most comprehensive test I've experienced to do with neurophychology. Very tiring too.

I am battling with with the powers that be in order to get a neurophysological study especially as I have other cognitive problems that compound my executive. I will get it or die trying.

Well, I've noticed since getting on Adderall that I at least can think about the idea of getting stuff done, and sometimes it actually happens; which is about 80% increase from before.

But I think the checklists are really good ideas. There have been so many times that I have gotten halfway through a week and suddenly though to myself, "When was the last time that I showered?" And not have been able to remember.

That and doing day to day things like checking my voice mail and checking my mailbox. Or taking out the trash. Or putting up my coat when I get back from somewhere.

Maybe they would work to some extent. The physician disagrees and the psychologist thinks it might do something. But Like I said I didn't respond to stimulants. I've been on strattera for months but on 100mg for some weeks. I really noticing really subtle difference, it is hard to say yet whether it is actually an improvement. It is in areas difficult to pin point but not in the executive side of things enough.

One bit of information I got from the psychologist guy that was quite useful in understanding the problem was this idea of filters. There are several levels that filter out noise information and these can be dysfunctional. So by the time you get to the computational stage your brain hasn't identified the right bits of information it needs. On the very first level you have your basic inputs, which consist largely of your senses. People with ED may have difficulty with taking in too much information to discern. Every single noise, every bit of visual information, etc.

That is why is good idea to have interventions that might work for you such as noise cancelling headphones and also other things like rhythmical 'self stimulatory' seem to help a little too.

Strangely enough, I do respond to them; which is odd, since pain killers have such a stimulating effect on me.

My problems seem to be more cognitive; in that, I have problems doing tasks because I can't figure out where to start, so sometimes i just give up and don't do anything . . . which makes it worse and so on. Plus, there is the problem of remembering to do the task to begin with in the first place.

Tell me about it. Like remembering to take your medication in the first place.

Oh my problems are cognitive alright, I'm saying you might not be aware how much your environment plays on that.

Well, I think the only place I have noticed any statistically significant difference with others are:

initiate
inhibit
emotional
complete

Even on those, I don't think it is THAT different. I USED to be a bit more emotional, but I didn't inhibit that as much. I used to be better with completing also. To come to think of it, I used to be better with initiating. It is almost like everything went in reverse, except for inhibiting. 8-(

i am an awesome procrastinator

Oh okay, I get you.

I've mostly got the medication one down, since having implemented a strict routine for the past couple of years. I take it before I go to bed and I write it down in a journal. The journal is right beside my bed, so I always see it. Well, all but a couple of times. And then I ended up remembering it after turning out the light in those cases. Then, in the morning, as soon as I get up, I take my adderall.

0_equals_true - my son has been taking 60 mg. of Strattera, and he seems to be doing great with bringing home books, writing down assignments, and fairly good with bringing home homework. But bringing home homework and really understanding what it is that he should be DOING on the homework -- now, that's a whole different problem. He often comes home not truly knowing what it is that he should be studying on tests. So the Strattera doesn't seem to help with these issues at all. Is that kind of what you deal with?

The strattera seems to help more with social skills than with executive dysfunction problems.

lastcrazyhorn, you mentioned taking adderall -- which is the next medication we are thinking of trying with our son, since I read about so many people on this forum who are taking it. Does the adderall help with executive dysfunction problems? And while helping those problems, does it hinder social skills situations?

Kris

OMG!
Thank you LastCrazyHorn, for that super link re EDF.
WOW etc. I'd read the anti clutter one before, and it just seemed like obvious stuff in a way. I think because at least half of it seems to be about spatial org and I'm actually pretty good at that , if a little anal and over-conscious about it!!
But TIME. I knew I had something. I knew I "procrastinated" and "never finished anything" and "always did things at last minute" and then only if absolutely HAD to do them, and "start so many things and then ...stop, for some reason", and this has been driving me MAD.
And to read a sentence like "future blind"; OMG OMG OMG. That's me, as if there is almost nothing beyond next week. Planning and organising the holiday we went on , camping, hotels, ferry etc, for three weeks this last summer, first holiday in years, first organised holiday ever virtually, was immense . Several times in run up to it was afraid would bottle out, not follow through. On other hand was aware that if hadn't booked and reserved with hefty deposits so many parts of the hol, would indeed have bottled out on several occasions.
Only ever been on meds for anxiety and depression, and counselling for the same, so don't think will be in a doctors office in near future, but what else is there? Cos yes this is major problem preventing me from doing most things lasting more than a day or two.
Sometimes it's totally stupid, like literally forgetting had exam for certificate in something fully prepared for ( if only cos was German Language paper, and my mother IS german and my german language proficient as result)! !
Bloody hell.

Only three days ago I posted in Film and TV thread forum my hunch that the film "Sunshine" was excellent metaphor for the creative process, and I just wished I'd had such a greatteam of "functions" rooting for me, and not just the dreamer/visionary fighting it out with the saboteur/perfectionist fatalist, with no captain, or tech support or navigationist, no etc etc etc to keep me going to the last minute.

I used to blame my parents strict following of Dr. Spock-style timed-feeds for my alienation from timing; for my inability to connect with , or imagine a connection between my actions and thoughts and anything actually happening. The most important thing in the world for first months of existence ( breastfeeding, ) just happened regardless of anything I did.
Who knows, it may be because of being AS that this regime was particularly catastrophic. It "set" cognitive structures:
............. " Timing is NOT MY business." ! !

Stattera is an NRI, which is an anti-depressant class of drugs. On the molecular level whether something is classed as an anti-depressant or not is irrelevant. It is used in ADHD and in depression trials it was not showed to be particularly effective. However that doesn’t mean it won’t ever help with anxiety or depression necessarily. Also when a child has ADHD that has an impact on how they will react to their peers. Just having that weight of the shoulders can make it easier for them to take each situation as it comes at least in theory. So that might explain the social side.

I would say if the Strattera is doing something then don't go onto a stimulant drug without some consideration because while they can work quite well at that start it is common knowledge that they tend to wear off. If your son has got a leg up with Strattera I would focus now on the non drug interventions. Don't wait till he is 25. All of these drugs have not been around long enough to know what the lasting benefit is, if any. Also you need to asses the effectiveness of the invention and don't be afraid to be critical of the methods if it isn't working. I had dyslexia help but it was not effective because most of what I had was in fact ED not dyslexia. This is a very new area; anyone who claims to be a so called expert without being honest about the limitations of what is understood isn’t worth their salt.

Well it is not such simple question to answer but, yes I've experienced that too. It is not so much that I wouldn't be able to grasp a subject, the load will have a knock on effect on the performance overall and you hit a brick wall and when you cross it you cannot take in any more information and your mental health begins to deteriorate. People with ED are havening to work that much harder to do the same tasks. The filter example is an apt one. Ideally you want to have exactly what you need to do the job, not less and not more. To do (1+2) you need to know you are adding two numbers together and you need to have the numbers 1 and 2 . However if what you get for your working memory is (+ spanner - 1 % bicycle) you have failed to filter out irrelevant information and you are missing a key bit of information. This is a basic idea of a working memory failure. Working memory failure doesn’t mean a failure in the working memory. Working memory, if you believe in the concept is essentially ‘virtual’. It doesn’t have a specific or fixed part of the brain that it is attributed to. Problems with working memory are thought to be in the frontal lobe aka ‘executive function’. This doesn’t necessarily have to be the case though. Different parts of the brain do different things and there are many more steps to a particular task that you would take for granted. If a part of the brain is not involved in autonomous or peripheral function, chances are it is involved in cognition. That includes walking down the road while chewing gum.

They say the best way to teach, according to some Cambridge researchers, is do 8 minute lessons and then do some exercise for 10 minutes, then repeat the same lesson. There is school that took up this model and the overall grades went up. It makes for some odd lessons. One thing I did not like with this was all the bells. That’s because I do not like the sound of the school bells anyway.

It does. It allows me to make it to the first step of tasks as long as I don't think about it too much. And then when I get going with tasks, I can keep on them. I'm also able to clean a bit better; as in some of the time as opposed to none of the time.

And my social skills are about the same either way. Actually, I take that back, I'm a bit more alert during conversations and don't walk away in the middle of so many of them.



Hah! I'm glad it was so much help for you. I felt the same way upon reading about it. Suddenly the light went on and I heard a loud "DING;" much like when I found out about Asperger's Syndrome.