Psychometrics /Executive Function in Preschool Children

描述(申请人提供)：执行功能(EF)指的是对思想和行为的自我调节。它与认知和社会发展的几个领域有关，EF缺陷在儿童自闭症和ADHD的障碍中被发现。然而，令人惊讶的是，人们对EF发展的规范进程和指导它的因素知之甚少。有关EF的科学研究和临床实践一直受到缺乏学龄前儿童EF的普遍和适当测量的阻碍。现有措施存在以下问题：缺乏普遍性、冗长且不利于儿童的协议、下限和天花板效应以及任务要求定义不明确。这项拟议的研究有三个主要目标。首先，将制定新的措施，并在30至60个月大的不同儿童群体中进行测试。这些措施是多层面的，简明扼要，并按年龄顺序排列。它们将被标准化和规范化，以便在多种环境中使用。第二，将进行纵向研究，以核实个别儿童的发展符合第一阶段概述的顺序。此外，这项设计将包括评估可能导致EF个体差异的因素，包括语言、象征性游戏和父母输入。 最后，在新获得的规范发展知识的基础上，将进行培训研究，以测试在任务中直接指导和从象征性游戏等其他技能中转移培训的有效性。这项研究将为更合理的干预策略奠定基础，以改善儿童的整体功能。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Executive functioning (EF) refers to self-regulation of thought and behavior. It has been implicated in several areas of cognitive and social development and deficits in EF are found in childhood disorders of autism and ADHD. Surprisingly little is known, however, about the normative course of EF development and the factors that guide it. Scientific inquiry and clinical practice pertaining to EF have been hampered by a lack of universal and appropriate measures of EF for preschool-age children. Existing measures suffer from a lack of generalizability, lengthy and non-child-friendly protocols, floor and ceiling effects, and ill-defined task demands. The proposed research has three major aims. First, new measures will be developed and tested with a diverse population of children from 30 to 60 months of age. The measures are multi-dimensional, brief, and sequenced to be age-appropriate. They will be standardized and normed for use in multiple settings. Second, longitudinal studies will be carried out to verify that individual children's development conforms to the sequence outlined in the first phase. As well, this design will include assessment of factors that might contribute to individual differences in EF including language, symbolic play, and parental input. Lastly, building on this newly acquired knowledge of normative development, training studies will be conducted to test the effectiveness of direct instruction in the tasks and training transfer from other skills such as symbolic play. This research will form the basis for more sound intervention strategies to improve children's overall functioning.