CBT in a nutshell: thoughts, emotions, and behaviors interact. Emotions are the most difficult to change intentionally. By changing a behavior or thought, the hope is negative emotional state is reduced.
So if a person learns to recognize negative thoughts and replace them with more positive ones, the body/brain can calm down and be more effective.
Person learns relaxation techniques (combination of cognitive and behavioral) and feels less stress, more able to access rational thoughts/strategies.
The homework interventions for EF deficits are behavioral. Person uses strategies leading to increased self-efficacy, more positive emotional state results.
There's nothing magical about using a counselor, but for some people it's helpful to have an objective listener to help with insight into processes. Most tuned-in parents "do CBT" with their children all the time, naturally, but we can't really be objective.
As an aside: we may try the caffeine experiment in this house, over the summer. I have a son with pretty severe EF deficits and also anxiety. He has a really hard time with stimulant medications. They help with impulsivity and sustained attention, but do nothing for organizational problems, and the side effects are very not fun. I wouldn't choose this route unless you are seeing pathology.
