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Introduction: The development of reading and complex executive functions is fundamental for achieving social, academic, and professional success. So far, there is no single neuropsychological instrument that comprehensively assesses the domains of inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and reading comprehension. To assess executive functions related to reading, the "Assessment of Reading and Executive Functions" (AREF) was developed. In this study, we show initial evidence of validity and reliability for four subtests - Graphophonological-Semantic Flexibility, Inhibitory Control, Flexibility, and Working Memory., Methods: A total of 93 students from 4th to 9th grade, aged 8-14, in public ( n  = 61) and private ( n  = 32) schools were evaluated. Tasks from the AREF instrument, as well as measures of reading comprehension, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and intelligence, were administered. Correlations between AREF scores and the other measures were performed to assess external construct validity. Performance differences between school groups on AREF subtests were analyzed using ANOVA, t-test, and Mann-Whitney tests, and the internal consistency of the instrument's tasks was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient., Results: The scores of the AREF subtests demonstrated significant positive correlations with reading measures (ranging from 0.339 to 0.367) and executive functions (ranging from 0.209 to 0.396). Significant differences were found in the performance of some AREF tasks when comparing individuals from public and private schools, as well as between 4th and 5th graders compared to students in higher grades. The internal consistency of the tasks was low for Graphophonological-Semantic Flexibility (Cronbach's α = 0.566), moderate for Inhibitory Control and Flexibility (Cronbach's α = 0.768), and high for Working Memory (Cronbach's α = 0.881)., Discussion: The results provide initial evidence of construct validity and reliability for the AREF subtests. It is expected that this new neuropsychological test will contribute to the assessment of reading skills and executive functions, assisting in guiding clinical and educational interventions for individuals with and without neurodevelopmental disorders., Competing Interests: The AREF (ALEFE) is in negotiations for potential commercialization by the publisher AMPLA, which could, in the future, remunerate the researchers., (Copyright © 2024 de Oliveira, Vial-Martins, Pinto, Fonseca and Malloy-Diniz.)

Apollo & Rosetta is an Exergame developed for Inhibitory Control stimulation in Elementary School children. This works' goal has been to demonstrate the behavior of the difficulty curves planned for seven activities (minigames) ingame, as well as their correspondence with the variables collected during a pilot neuropsychological intervention. Seven students participated in the study and played the minigames 1528 times during the 3-month intervention. Each of the minigames had a difficulty curve computed with the goal of keeping the players in the state of Flow. The curves were designed in cycles which grow throughout levels (Normal Level) to a peak (Peak Level), followed by a rest period (Rest Level). The pilot study encompassed three different analyses: (1) Exploratory performance analysis with Spearman correlation, which indicated a positive and significant general correlation between performance and level difficulty; (2) Success exploratory analysis, which showed that as the stages progressed, the success rate increased, even if the level difficulty also increased; (3) Analysis of the factors which influenced performance, through Mixed Effects Logistic Regression and the Backward method. This analysis demonstrated that the odds ratio for overcoming challenges between Normal levels was 0.71 [0.59;0.86] times lower than Rest Level ( p -value = 0.000), whereas in Peak levels it was 0.62 [0.47;0.83] times lower than Rest level values ( p -value = 0.001). These data confirm the overall planned behavior of the difficulty curves., (Copyright © 2019 Mossmann, Cerqueira, Barbosa, Fonseca and Reategui.)

Despite the crucial role played by the executive functions (EF) to cognitive, emotional, and social development of children before and during school years, little attention has been given to construct and analyze the efficacy of programs that intend to develop them. The program of neuropsychological stimulation of cognition in students: emphasis on EF, or PENcE (an acronym from its original name in Portuguese, Programa de Estimulação Neuropsicológica da Cognição em Escolares: ênfase nas Funções Executivas ), is an early and preventive intervention program for school-aged children, and implemented at school three times a week for 5 months. The PENcE was structured in four modules, each focusing on a different executive component: organization and planning, inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. The objectives of this study were to verify the effectiveness of the PENcE among elementary school children and to investigate whether there are transfer effects to other executive, cognitive, and academic abilities. The sample consisted of 113 children attending 3rd or 4th grade at two public elementary schools. Eight classes participated in the study, divided into two groups: an experimental group (EG) (four classes; n = 64), which received the intervention, and a control group (CG) (four classes; n = 49), which continued their regular school activities. The EF and academic skills of both participant groups were evaluated before and after the intervention. The EG showed significantly greater improvements in inhibitory control, working memory, and abstract planning relative to the CG, with a small to medium effect size. There were transfer effects to other cognitive and academic abilities. These findings suggest the PENcE may be a useful method of improving EF and could benefit both school-aged children and education professionals.