What are the Executive Functions and Are They Important in Selective Mutism and Childhood Anxiety

What are the Executive Functions and Are They Important in Selective Mutism and Childhood Anxiety Disorders?

The executive functions are seminal components in children’s development and adjustment. When thinking of child and adolescent disorders, most executive function investigations have focused on excessive behaviors such poor attention control, impulsivity, and aggression. However, the executive functions play a role in anxiety disorders as well. They are important in processing information on safety, in management of anxiety responses, and in coping with stressful situations. This presentation will discuss the role of the executive functions in anxiety disorders in general, their potential influence on selective mutism, and concerns about the full development of the executive functions when children have reduced social interactions and language use. Ways to enhance executive function development in socially anxious children will be suggested.

Presenter:
Psychologist, Richard Gallagher, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Child Study Center, NYU School of Medicine. He specializes in anxiety disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, and learning disorders. Dr. Gallagher is the Co-Director of the Selective Mutism Program at the Child Study Center of NYU Langone Health. He has been working with selective mutism since 1986 and started the first selective mutism program in the New York City area in 1997 at NYU. This program provides services in 3 locations in the NYC area and has expanded assessment and treatment throughout the states of New York and New Jersey through telehealth outlets. Dr. Gallagher has presented on selective mutism at national conventions and workshops since 2000. Dr. Gallagher has been a Co-Principal Investigator on NIMH grants investigating executive function deficits in children with ADHD and related disorders and how to overcome those deficits through training. He is co-author on numerous papers on childhood disorders. Dr. Gallagher is first author of the books: Organizational Skills Training for Children with ADHD: An Empirically-Supported Treatment and, for parents: The Organized Child and co-author of the Children’s Organizational Skills Scale. He has provided content to the Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Evening News, The New York Times, and Parents and has conducted many parent workshops.

This webinar is brought to you by the Selective Mutism Association and was made possible by a generous grant from the Gordon and Marilyn Macklin Foundation, Inc.