Task utility and norms for the Preschool Executive Task Assessment (PETA)

Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 2005

Assessment of the overarching self-regulatory mechanisms, or executive functions, in any age group is challenging, in part due to the complexity of this domain, in part due to their dynamic essence, and in part due to the inextricable links between these central processes and the associated domain-specific processes, such as language, motor function, and attention, over which they preside. While much progress has been made in clinical assessment approaches for measuring executive functions in adults and to some extent in adolescents and school-aged children, the toolkit for the preschool evaluator remains sparse. The past decade, however, has seen a substantial increase in attention to executive functions in very young children from a developmental neuropsychological perspective. With this has come a necessity for better, more specific, and more internally valid performance measures, many of which are now described in the experimental literature. Few such tasks, however, have adequately demonstrated psychometric properties for clinical application. We present two performance tasks designed to tap selective aspects of executive function in preschoolers that are emerging from the experimental laboratory and hold promise of appropriate reliability and validity for the clinical laboratory. Performance tests alone, however, are insufficient to develop a comprehensive picture of a child's executive functioning. Thus, we present a rating scale of preschoolers' executive function in the everyday context, and advocate a model of executive function assessment that incorporates both controlled performance tasks that target specific aspects of executive function and parent/teacher ratings that target more global aspects of self-regulation in the everyday context.

2001

Executive functions are dif®cult to assess in preschool children, yet the preschool period is particularly important, both in the development of behavioral control and of the brain, particularly the prefrontal cortex. Several tasks were adapted from developmental and neuroscience literature and then administered to 98 preschool children (30-, 36-, 42-, 48-and 60-month age groups). Executive function task performance was related largely to age group, but not to sex or intelligence. These tasks, then, were sensitive in this age range and may be useful to delineate distinct cognitive pro®les among preschool children with various neurological and developmental disorders.

INSTRUMENTS USED IN THE ASSESSMENT OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS IN PRESCHOOL (Atena Editora), 2022

INTRODUCTION: Executive functions (EF) have a regulatory role in human behavior, they develop throughout childhood and adolescence and when their development is not satisfactory, it may indicate developmental, learning or behavioral disorders. Therefore, the survey of EF investigation instruments in preschool children is important, mainly for the identification of dysfunctions and the development of early interventions. from 2019 to January 2020. Descriptors considered important for the proposed objectives were used, namely: neuropsychological assessment, instruments, executive functions, preschoolers.RESULTS: Trail Test for Preschoolers, followed by the Attention Cancellation Test, of the Columbia Mental Maturity Scale and the Stroop test. The average age of the children tested was 3 to 6 years and most of the articles aimed to correlate the results of the EF tests with learning disorders and cognitive development disorders. DISCUSSION: It was possible to notice that studies aimed at evaluating EF in preschool-age children are still scarce, especially empirical studies. It was also noted that the number of tests adapted and validated for this age group are small, which can make access and diagnosis of dysfunctions difficult, thus reducing the chances of early intervention.

Changes in executive functioning in the preschool years are recognized as playing a critical role in cognitive and social development, yet comprehensive data and recommendations about measurement of these changes are lacking. The performance of 602 preschool children on several executive function tasks was analyzed and reported as (a) age trends in performance and (b) task difficulty scales at 2, 3, 4, and 5 to 6 years of age. This analysis informs theories of executive function development and offers researchers an evidence-based guide to task selection and design.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 2002

In this review we outline some of the current issues surrounding the measurement of executive function (EF) in children. Beginning with the theoretical background to the concept of EF we then review the difficulties in measuring EF in adult populations, and argue that these ...

Psychological Assessment, 2010

In this study, the authors examined the psychometric properties and criterion validity of a newly developed battery of tasks that were designed to assess executive function (EF) abilities in early childhood. The battery was included in the 36-month assessment of the Family Life Project (FLP), a prospective longitudinal study of 1,292 children oversampled from low-income and African American families. Ninety-one percent of children were able to complete 1 or more of the tasks. Psychometric analyses were used to test the dimensionality of each task, evaluate the item and task properties, test the dimensionality of the task battery, and evaluate the criterion validity of the battery with multi-informant measures of attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptomatology and child performance on two subtests of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence. Results indicated that the tasks were successful in measuring interindividual differences in child EF ability, that task scores were most informative about ability level for children in the low to moderate range of ability, that children's performance across the entire battery was adequately summarized by a single factor, and that individual differences on the EF battery were related to ADHD symptomatology and intelligence in expected ways. Results are discussed with respect to the importance of developing psychometrically sound, scalable instruments that facilitate the measurement of interindividual differences in intraindividual change of EF across the early childhood period.

OTJR: Occupation, Participation and Health

Children use executive function (EF) skills within everyday occupations; however, EF poses a difficult and complex construct to measure. Currently, many measures of EF lack applicability to daily life, or ecological validity. The aim of this scoping review was to examine two aspects of ecological validity across measures, assessments, and tasks of EF in children. A scoping review of 355 peer-reviewed articles published between 1996 and 2016 was performed. Searching revealed 43 articles addressing the ecological validity of EF measures for children and 40 measures addressing ecological validity. An increasing number of articles address ecological validity of EF measures. Future research should address the interplay between context and EF performance. In addition, research should begin recognizing the importance of parental involvement in assessments, as well as ways to capture the EF strengths of children.

2020

Introduction. The Executive Functions (EFs), namely inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility, are fundamental cognitive processes for human adaptation. This study aimed to early detect EFs' disorders in a preschool pediatric population by means of BAFE and to highlight the importance of an early intervention in children at risk of EFs' disorders. Methods: In a cross-sectional, observational study carried out in four public nursery schools in the city of Salerno (Italy), 212 children (106 males), aged between 36 and 72 months, were evaluated by means of BAFE battery (Battery for the Assessment of Executive Functions), which consisted of four tests (Card Sort, Strooplike day-night task, Pattern-making, Spin the pots), and, the BRIEF-P (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version), which is an indirect test that consists of a questionnaire including 63 items to be filled in by parents/caregivers. Results: BAFE test showed pathological scores in about 16.5% of children, at least in one task. Executive functions were worse in males, and in children with a history of "speech therapy" and "complicated pregnancy". Only 1.4% of children were detected as pathological at BRIEF-P questionnaire. No significant correlation was found between pathological scores in BAFE and both parents and teachers BRIEF-P tests. Conclusions: In preschool non selected children, the direct test (BAFE) detected more executive function deficits than the indirect questionnaire (BRIEF-P) by parents and teachers.

Research suggests that executive function (EF) may distinguish between children who are well- or ill-prepared for kindergarten; however, little is known about the test–retest reliability of measures of EF for children. We aimed to establish a battery of EF measures that are sensitive to both development and individual differences across the preschool period using Conflict and Delay subtests that had a cool (abstract) or hot (extrinsic reward) focus. Results from 151 children in three age groups (2.5, 3.5, and 4.5 years) suggested acceptable same-day test–retest reliability on all but Delay–Cool subtasks. These findings will inform appropriate measurement selection and development for future studies.

Developmental Neuropsychology, 2005

During the past decade there has been increasing interest in aspects of the broad construct of executive function (EF) in childhood. This construct, which has long been linked to cortical networks involving prefrontal cortex (PFC; e.g., Luria, 1973), includes a number of cognitive processes that are integral to the emerging self-regulation of behavior and developing social and cognitive competence in young children. These cognitive processes include the maintenance of information in working memory, the inhibition of prepotent responding, and the appropriate shifting and sustaining of attention for the purposes of goal-directed action. Interest in the early development of EF has grown in part because of research showing that the development of EF, like the development of PFC, is particularly rapid during early childhood (for reviews, see Diamond, 2002; Zelazo & Müller, 2002) and in part because of research indicating that EF is implicated in a variety of developmental disorders and early developing psychopathologies (e.g.,