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CONTEMPORARY THEORIES OF ADHD
BarkleyÕs 4 types of executive function:
3.
Self-Regulation of Affect, Motivation and Arousal, in which ADHD children are missing the mentally represented forms of information that typically serve as Òthe drive in absence of external reward that fuels the individualÕs persistence in cross-temporal behaviors and thereby bridges the delay to the
future reinforcerÓ (Barkley, 1999, p. 309). This results in a lesser ability for ADHD children to create positive emotional states through
self-talk and imagery in the face of frustrating or
disappointing events. Since the internalization of
emotional processing is delayed, outward or public expressions are manifest in ADHD children.
4. Reconstitution,
in which the recombining of informational units of behavior is
deficient in ADHD children, leading to difficulties with
the syntactical relations involved in temporal
sequencing, e.g., if-then relationships.