Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders - Children's National Medical Center, Rockville, MD, USA.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2020 Aug;26(7):725-732. doi: 10.1017/S135561772000017X. Epub 2020 Mar 17.
Executive functions (EF) drive health and educational outcomes and therefore are increasingly common treatment targets. Most treatment trials rely on questionnaires to capture meaningful change because ecologically valid, pediatric performance-based EF tasks are lacking. The Executive Function Challenge Task (EFCT) is a standardized, treatment-sensitive, objective measure which assesses flexibility and planning in the context of provocative social interactions, making it a "hot" EF task.
We investigate the structure, reliability, and validity of the EFCT in youth with autism (Autism Spectrum Disorder; n = 129), or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with flexibility problems (n = 93), and typically developing (TD; n = 52) youth.
The EFCT can be coded reliably, has a two-factor structure (flexibility and planning), and adequate internal consistency and consistency across forms. Unlike a traditional performance-based EF task (verbal fluency), it shows significant correlations with parent-reported EF, indicating ecological validity. EFCT performance distinguishes youth with known EF problems from TD youth and is not significantly related to visual pattern recognition, or social communication/understanding in autistic children.
The EFCT demonstrates adequate reliability and validity and may provide developmentally appropriate, treatment-sensitive, and ecologically valid assessment of "hot" EF in youth. It can be administered in controlled settings by masked administrators.
执行功能（EF）驱动健康和教育成果，因此越来越成为常见的治疗目标。大多数治疗试验依赖于问卷来捕捉有意义的变化，因为缺乏生态有效的、针对儿童的基于表现的 EF 任务。执行功能挑战任务（EFCT）是一种标准化的、治疗敏感的、客观的衡量标准，它在挑衅性的社会互动背景下评估灵活性和计划能力，使其成为一项“热门”的 EF 任务。
我们调查了自闭症（自闭症谱系障碍；n = 129）或有灵活性问题的注意力缺陷多动障碍（n = 93）青年以及典型发育（TD；n = 52）青年中 EFCT 的结构、信度和效度。
EFCT 可以可靠地编码，具有两因素结构（灵活性和计划性），并且具有足够的内部一致性和形式一致性。与传统的基于表现的 EF 任务（语言流畅性）不同，它与父母报告的 EF 显著相关，表明具有生态有效性。EFCT 表现将有已知 EF 问题的青年与 TD 青年区分开来，与视觉模式识别或自闭症儿童的社会沟通/理解没有显著关系。
EFCT 表现出足够的信度和效度，可能为青年提供发展适当、治疗敏感和生态有效的“热门”EF 评估。它可以由蒙面管理员在受控环境中进行管理。
