The Effect of Cognitive- Behavior Social Skills Training on Response Inhibition and Behavioral- Emotional Problems in Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common psychological disorders in children. ADHD is defined based on difficulties in attention, inhibition, impulsivity control, and activity level. Children with ADHD are unable to control their activities when they should limit them. They are overactive and they constantly move. They cannot be quite or play quietly, and they usually have restless hands and legs. Based on the research results, children with ADHD are faced with problems in important areas such as working memory and executive functions. These functions will allow the child to monitor his behavior and alter it accordingly. Often, the child’s difficulties in executive functions will emerge in all areas of academic, social and behavioral domains. Therefore, on the basis of reports by peers, parents and teachers report, children with ADHD have problems in communication with peers. As posited in the literature, these problems will continue from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. This is true for both sexes and in all types of ADHD. Generally, the understanding of social competence in children with ADHD depends on study of some developmental domains such as self-imagery, executive functions, and working memory. Various therapeutic approaches are provided due to the multiplicity and diversity of the problems in these children in different physical, psychological, educational, and social areas. Drug therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, and social skills training are some of these treatments. However, drug therapy alone cannot be effective in disrupted family functioning and children’s behavior problems, and it cannot resolve parental concerns, either. No drug can train children how to compensate for their aggressive and law- breaking behaviors. As one of the serious problems in students with ADHD is insufficiency in social skills, the purpose of the present research was to investigate the effect of cognitive- behavior social skills training on response inhibition and behavioral- emotional problems in students with ADHD.
This study is a quasi-experimental one with pre-test/post-test and a control group. The Study population consisted of all elementary school children with ADHD in Rasht-Iran in the school year 2016-2017. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 37 participants in conformity with the criteria put forward by fifth edition of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. The participants were assigned to experiment and control groups. To collect the data, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 1997) and Stroop test (Stroop, 1935) were used before and after training. The experiment group received 10 sessions of social skills group. Multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used to test the research hypotheses.
The results of multivariate analysis of covariance showed that cognitive- behavior social skills training significantly improved response inhibition and behavioral- emotional problems in the students with ADHD (P According to the findings of the research, cognitive- behavior social skills training is one of the most effective treatments to reduce impulsivity, attention deficit, anxiety and physical aggression in children with ADHD. Since cognitive- behavior social skills training is effective in reducing children’s externalizing behavior, this training program is recommended along with pharmacotherapy to be implemented to reduce behavior problems in children with ADHD.