Symptoms of “Executive Dysfunction”

These are the kinds of things that make living with or working with an ADHD child challenging.

lack of foresight (unable to predict consequences for his/her behaviour)
poor hindsight (“Johnny, how many times do I have to tell you to . . . )
live for the minute (the future and past do not exist)
poor organization (unable to “get it together” in A.M.)
trouble returning to a task (“Johnny, you never complete anything”)
poor sense of time (“Johnny, you can’t spend 1 hour on the first 2 questions”)
time moves too slowly (“Are we almost there?”)
poor self talk (“Johnny, what were you thinking)
poor sense of self awareness (answer to above question – “I don’t have a clue”)
poor internalization and generalization of rules (“Why do I have to tell you the same thing over and over”)
poor reading of social clues (“Johnny, can’t you see that the other children think that’s weird”)
inconsistent work and behaviour (“Johnny, if you could do it well yesterday, why is today so horrible”)
trouble with transitions (“Johnny, why do you curse at me when I’m just calling you for dinner”)
hyper focused at times (“When Johnny is on the computer, I can’t get him off”)
poor frustration tolerance (“Johnny, it’s no big deal. Just get over it”)
frequently overwhelmed (“Stop, stop, I can’t stand it”)
angry (quickly and frequently)
push away those trying to help
over reacting (but it’s really over feeling)
inflexible, explosive reactions
thrill seeking behaviours
trouble paying attention to others
trouble making and keeping friends
sense of failure to achieve goals