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Review
. 2022 Nov 1:13:991699.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.991699. eCollection 2022.

Assessment of executive functions in school-aged children: A narrative review

Sofiane Souissi  1   2 , Karim Chamari  1   3 , Tarek Bellaj  4
Affiliations
Review

Assessment of executive functions in school-aged children: A narrative review

Sofiane Souissi et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Introduction: In the past three decades, there has been increasing interest in assessing children's Executive Functions (EF). However, studies on the conceptualization and operationalization of this construct are incongruent and guidance for clinicians and researchers aiming to assess EF is insufficient due to measurement variability.

Aims: The purpose of this article was to examine current theories and models of EF in children, identify their assessment instruments, issues, and challenges, and discuss their impact on children's cognitive, behavioral, social and/or emotional development.

Methods: This narrative review reflected on English and French scholarly articles on EF assessment in children. References were identified through searches of PubMed, Medline, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and APA PsychNet throughout the last two decades up to June 2022.

Results: There are commonalities despite divergence in the definition and operationalization of EF. Assessment of EF requires psychometric tests as well as rating scales that must be integrated and interpreted considering the child's biological makeup, environmental background, and cultural specificities.

Conclusion: Current EF theories, assessment tools, issues, and challenges were discussed in addition to the impact of their components' dysfunctions on children's development. Further studies should be conducted to develop new measurement methods and technologies to improve the ecological and ethological validity of youth assessment, treatment, and interventions.

Keywords: cognitive development; evaluation; executive control; pediatric; real-world functioning.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The Developmental Integrative Framework of EF (Garon et al., 2008). Adapted from “Applying an integrative framework of executive function to preschoolers with specific language impairment”, by Kapa et al., 2017, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 60(8), p. 2171.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Structure of Executive Processes Based on Diamond’s Proposal Diamond (2013). Reproduced with permission from the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 64 © 2013 by Annual Reviews, http://www.annualreviews.org.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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