Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
Child Neuropsychol. 2021 Aug;27(6):709-717. doi: 10.1080/09297049.2021.1888905. Epub 2021 Mar 9.
Research has shown that executive function (EF) skills are associated with resilience in preschoolers experiencing risk and adversity, but these studies have typically relied on large batteries of tasks to measure children's EF skills. There is a need for brief, reliable EF assessments that can be used in the field with diverse young children. The current study assessed the validity and test-retest reliability of two tablet-based EF tasks from the NIH Toolbox: The Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) and the Flanker Inhibitory Control and Attention Test, each with a developmental extension (Dext) that is triggered when a child struggles with the standardized versions. Dext versions include easier levels intended to improve task accessibility for younger and disadvantaged children. Eighty-six preschoolers residing in emergency housing participated in two study sessions about one week apart, completing tablet-based DCCS-Dext and Flanker-Dext tasks, along with a table-top EF task (Peg-Tapping) and measures of vocabulary and numeracy. The majority of participants triggered the Dext portion of the DCCS and almost half triggered the Dext portion of the Flanker, underscoring the need for extensions of the Toolbox EF tasks to lower the floor of these measures. The Dext EF measures were positively associated with Peg-Tapping, after controlling for age and vocabulary, indicating construct validity. They were also correlated with math achievement, suggesting criterion validity. DCCS-Dext and Flanker-Dext showed moderate test-retest reliability after one week. Together, these findings demonstrate the value of developmental extensions for assessing EF skills among children experiencing risk and adversity.
研究表明，执行功能（EF）技能与经历风险和逆境的学龄前儿童的适应力有关，但这些研究通常依赖于大量任务来衡量儿童的 EF 技能。需要有简短、可靠的 EF 评估方法，可以在不同的幼儿中在现场使用。本研究评估了 NIH 工具包中两种基于平板电脑的 EF 任务的有效性和重测信度：维度变化卡片分类（DCCS）和侧抑制抑制控制和注意力测试，每个任务都有一个发展扩展（Dext），当儿童在标准化版本中遇到困难时，就会触发扩展。Dext 版本包括更简单的级别，旨在提高年幼和处境不利儿童的任务可访问性。86 名学龄前儿童居住在紧急住房中，大约一周进行两次研究会议，完成基于平板电脑的 DCCS-Dext 和 Flanker-Dext 任务，以及一项基于桌面的 EF 任务（钉塔）以及词汇和算术能力的测量。大多数参与者触发了 DCCS 的 Dext 部分，几乎一半的参与者触发了 Flanker 的 Dext 部分，这突出表明需要扩展工具包 EF 任务以降低这些措施的下限。在控制年龄和词汇量后，Dext EF 测量值与 Peg-Tapping 呈正相关，表明具有结构有效性。它们还与数学成绩相关，表明具有标准有效性。经过一周后，DCCS-Dext 和 Flanker-Dext 显示出中等的重测信度。综上所述，这些发现表明发展扩展对于评估经历风险和逆境的儿童的 EF 技能具有价值。
