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The COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant disruption to public school education particularly regarding the mode of instruction as it shifted from face-to-face to virtual. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of this rapid and major change on the socialization, academic achievement, and application of executive function skills of Gifted and Talented elementary school students as perceived by the parents/guardians and teachers of those students. The data for this mixed methods longitudinal study was collected via pre-and post-surveys and one-on-one interviews of parents/guardians and teachers of Gifted and Talented students in Cecil County, Maryland. Of the 12 conditions examined in this study only two returned statistically significant results pertaining to differences in perception. The perceptions of parents/guardians pertaining to academic achievement changed over time and the difference in perception of executive function skills between parents/guardians and teachers was significant on the post-survey. Parents/guardians indicated socialization to be their most important consideration while teachers indicated academic achievement. Both groups indicated executive function skills to be third in importance. Study results imply that during an emergency switch in mode of instruction the effect on socialization, academic achievement, and application executive function skills as perceived by parents/guardians and teachers does not change to an appreciable extent. The study did indicate that the absence of continued specific gifted and talented services was a concern for both parents/guardians and teachers. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

As children develop the abilities to engage in more sophisticated forms of play, play serves as a context in which children can practice and develop skills in various domains including adaptive behavior and executive functioning. StoryCarnival is a tool designed over 39 sessions at a preschool, working with two groups of 3-5-year-old children, with the goal of setting up a specific type of developmentally beneficial face-to-face sociodramatic play similar to Tools of the Mind using 1) e-book stories on which to base play 2) a play-planning tool and 3) a teleoperated voice agent to engage children during play. My dissertation is the result of five years of work aiming to explore StoryCarnival's potential utility in contexts other than the one it was originally designed within. My overarching goal is to identify and make adaptations to the StoryCarnival system to make it more accessible to a broader group of children, more usable by adult facilitators other than the research team who designed it and begin to assess its potential to support holistic skill development in multiple contexts. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

High school physical education (PE) class offerings are on the decline, despite research that shows PE can contribute to overall academic success. Several factors contribute to academic success, particularly executive function, which is an umbrella term for the different cognitive and mental skills crucial for learning, and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) which are skills people acquire and can use in school and later in life. The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives of PE on SEL and the impact of executive function in high school students. A mixed methods approach was used to collect executive function data and student interviews on a 9th grade PE class. An interpretive qualitative research approach guided the focus groups regarding SEL self-competencies in high school students for a unique student perspective of SEL. Executive function was assessed through the completion of a mobile flanker task that students took on school iPads at three time points in the school semester. A repeated measures ANOVA was used with SPSS statistical software to determine significance. Post hoc analysis with paired samples t-tests were done for significant values. Findings revealed students were able to give specific examples of SEL competencies they were introduced to during PE class as described through the focus groups that they were unable to do before. Executive function results uncovered that congruent reaction time (RT) trials yielded significant results. An assumption can be made that those students did improve in their general cognitive processing of information but not inhibitory control. Study findings can potentially be used to help reduce the marginalization of high school PE by demonstrating that PE with an emphasis on SEL can provide a more equitable and inclusive learning environment (James, 2011). [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Executive functions (EF) are important cognitive processing skills required for planning, reasoning, problem solving and self-monitoring. It is vital to various aspects of human development from behavioral, social-emotional to academic. There is an increasing interest in identifying and developing cognitive skills training interventions. Results have shown promising results using custom-designed games for cognitive skills training. Cognitive skills training games can enhance cognitive skills training performance and outcomes through motivating and engaging learners in repeated practice and progressive challenges. However, research focus on understanding the impact of game design on motivation and performance in custom-designed cognitive skills training games is limited. This study examined the impact of two specific game design elements (star system and motivational agent) in a cognitive skills training game on adolescents' intrinsic motivation and executive function skills. Four versions of Gwakkamole, a digital game designed to train inhibition skill, a specific subskill of executive function, were played by adolescents (aged 9-14; N = 103) for 20 minutes, (1) star system only, (2) motivational agent only, (3) star system and motivational agent, and (4) no star system and motivational agent. Three levels of transfer Game log data were used for measuring in-game performance. Two EF measures were administered before and after the interventions: the Flanker task (inhibition skill measure) and the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS) task (shifting skill measure) for understanding EF performances. Intrinsic Motivation Inventory was administered after the intervention for measuring intrinsic motivation. Controlling for pretest score, a significant higher in-game performance was found in the star system groups but no significant differences were found in executive functions performances. In addition, there were no significant differences in the level of intrinsic motivation across treatment conditions. These findings illustrate the potential of game design elements in improving game-based cognitive skills training outcomes. It provides a foundation for informing future research in designing and developing custom-designed cognitive skills training games. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Low mathematics achievement in the United States has led to the recent advances in the development and evaluation of Tier 2 mathematics interventions designed to close gaps in mathematics that exist at school entry and prevent these gaps from widening. Because Tier 2 mathematics interventions are generally effective for improving mathematics outcomes for most, but not all, at-risk students, recent research has been focused on understanding for whom these interventions are most effective by examining student-level variables that may impact intervention effectiveness. One cognitive variable of particular interest has been executive function (EF). Using extant data collected for the Fusion Efficacy Project (Clarke et al., 2015), this dissertation examined: (1) whether there was differential response to the Fusion, a Tier 2 small-group first-grade mathematics intervention program, as a function of pre-intervention EF, measured by the Head Toes Knees Shoulders (HTKS) Task and (2) whether these differential effects varied by group size. Participants included first-grade students (n = 459) within classrooms (n = 53) randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions (a small group of two or five students) or the business-as-usual control condition. Proximal and distal mathematics outcome measures were collected at pretest and posttest. Results of the moderation analyses indicated that, compared to the mathematics gains of students in the control condition, gains in mathematics of students in the intervention condition did not differ as a function of pre-intervention EF. However, moderation analyses did reveal a differential response based on group size for one of the four mathematics outcome measures, such that students with lower initial EF gained greater benefit from the intervention delivered in the smaller group (2:1) compared to the larger group (5:1). Results are discussed in the context of implications for future research and practice. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and executive function (EF) difficulties exhibit numerous symptoms that contribute to their struggles in school. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate and improve the academic experience for high school students with ADHD and EF deficits at Bayside High School. Participants and data collected in Cycle 1 consisted of students with ADHD and EF deficits and teachers who offered their insights about the experiences of high school students with ADHD. Action steps included a 6-week program which was designed, implemented, and evaluated in Cycle 2 to educate teachers on the diagnosis and symptoms of ADHD as well as EF deficits, then discuss and develop strategies for helping these students to develop academic independence. Findings included: high school students with ADHD and EF have difficulty choosing strategies to address their academic difficulties and teachers should set aside time during class to help them with this, participants believe education is needed about the different ways that ADHD and EF manifests itself so they can better understand how to work with these students, and students with ADHD respond better when teachers establish a supportive relationship. Implications for the organization included an infographic of strategies that were discussed or developed, a continuation of the professional development program for teachers at the research site, and sharing information about ADHD and EF in the classroom and on social media to educate readers and support students with ADHD and EF. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

An estimated 31,500,000 females have experienced at least one intimate partner violence (IPV) related traumatic brain injury (TBI), or IPV-TBI in their lifetime in the United States of America (USA) alone. Survivors often experience executive function (EF) impairments, resulting in numerous functional and psychological challenges. Despite this, there are currently no studies into EF interventions for IPV-TBI survivors available. Compensatory cognitive rehabilitation and EF coaching have shown positive outcomes for EF in TBI. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of an intervention, combining cognitive rehabilitation and EF coaching for female survivors of IPV-TBI with EF impairments. A multiple baseline single case experimental design (MB-SCED) was used. Two female participants (age M=51.5, range=44-59) completed the study. The independent variable was a four-week cognitive intervention, the dependent variables were everyday executive function, goal attainment, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Analysis revealed that the intervention may have benefits for EF goal attainment, self-reported EF and HRQoL. However, these should be interpreted with caution due to the study limitations. The study highlights the need for further clinical interventions and research for IPV-TBI survivors.

Executive function (EF) skills are cognitive processes that include goal setting, organizing, prioritizing, flexibly shifting attention, accessing working memory, and self-monitoring behavior and progress (Meltzer, 2018). These skills are integral in promoting students' ability to self-regulate their learning, solve problems, and work independently. This study includes data collected from six students in a 5th-grade art class setting. An emphasis on building EF skills in early adolescent learners was applied in order to address diminished engagement, limited problem-solving skills, and lack of ownership. This study emphasizes the process of artistic creation and asks students to set a personal intention for each class to highlight the practice of planning and goal setting in art-making. Data for this study was collected through audio-recorded and transcribed individual and group interviews, written self-report rating scales, goal setting worksheets, and photographs of student work. Students were also asked to participate in metacognitive reflections at several stages of their design process to record changes in student disposition toward their ability and toward the importance of EF strategies to their work habits. These strategies were implemented and examined to determine how the introduction, utilization, and scaffolding of EF strategies could influence motivation, shape a growth mindset mentality, and help students begin self-regulating their learning in an elementary art class.

Despite a 100-year-old history and the existence of schools in nearly every country in the world, Waldorf education is a little known and poorly understood educational model that was developed in Europe by Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner. For many years it existed in the United States in the form of private schools. Few of their teachers or administrators were interested in the opinions of others regarding the effectiveness of their pedagogy. As Waldorf-inspired charter schools have grown across the U.S., there is a greater need to understand the system. The Waldorf curriculum was created by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner who was a contemporary of John Dewey and Maria Montessori, and who shared their belief in the advantages of active learning. Yet Steiner was unique among his contemporaries in his focus on an artistic approach to learning. Using interviews, observations, and student work, I identify the beliefs that Waldorf teachers hold around the idea of what it means to be a teacher and then describe the ways in which their beliefs influence the integration of the arts in the literacy curriculum. Interviews confirmed previous research asserting that the Waldorf pedagogy is understood by its teachers in a consistent way across wholly independent schools. All three teachers shared a common understanding of child development, as well as a wholistic view of teaching and learning. Their beliefs centered around three ideas: first, that each child develops at their own pace, second, that academic achievement is not superior to physical, social, or behavioral achievement, and third, that focusing on foundational skills in grades one through three was one of the most important ways they could affect academic achievement. The teachers saw it as their role to a) be a guide and authority who b) strove to "see" the students in front of them, and c) worked reflectively to improve themselves as teachers. Their beliefs in the wholistic nature of learning led them to approach teaching with an eye towards active experiences that focused strongly on the use of imagination to strengthen each child's connection to the academic content. Their learning of the letter B, for example, was not a simple explanation of its formation and sound. The students were introduced to a story that included 'B'utterflies and 'b'oots, which they drew into their books before proceeding to discover all the words that had a similar sound and practicing the writing of the letters. Individual growth is showcased through student work as it changed over time. The second study looked more deeply at the practices of the same teachers during a time of their teaching called "morning rhythmical work." Using mixed-methods design, I attempt to compare the executive function development of students in these private schools to other private schools in California. Specifically, I examine how the pedagogical practices that focus on movement, song, and playful teaching in these private schools might impact executive function development, as compared with other private schools throughout the United States. Using observations and interviews, I describe the ways in which Waldorf teachers integrate movement and games into their school day. Then I used data from the ECLS-K to compare the development of the private school Waldorf students to other matched students in private schools. Although there was much evidence to suggest that the activities the teachers are engaging in with their students do require executive function skill, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no evidence found in the second part of study two. Finally, study three used a quantitative, longitudinal, causal-comparative study design to examine the effectiveness of Waldorf education using annual state assessment scores for Waldorf-inspired charter school classrooms. This study addresses a gap in the literature as it relates to achievement among public school students in Waldorf-inspired classrooms, as compared to other non-Waldorf classrooms in grades three through eight. I found that by eighth grade students in Waldorf-inspired charter schools are performing similarly or better in ELA and math as compared to their non-Waldorf charter school and local public school comparison groups. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Anxiety in Children can develop into pervasive disorders in adulthood if not treated. Research shows dysfunctional Executive Function (EF) and anxiety are both shown to have a negative impact on math achievement in children and adolescents (Trezise & Reeve, 2018; Kalaycioglu, 2015; Owens, Stevenson, Hadwin & Norgate, 2012). Chung, Weyandt, and Swentosky (2014) found biological and neuropsychological support for EF as a unitary and multifaceted processor for regulating our emotional states as well as our daily procedures. Anderson's (2002) model of Executive Control System (ECS) allows the factors of EF to be examined usingM a developmental approach towards EF processes. He groups the EF skills into four domains: attentional control, cognitive flexibility, information processing and goal setting. The current study uses the factors inhibition, divided attention, verbal fluency, and planning to represent each domain, respectfully. We measured (n = 18) adolescent's EF skills, anxiety levels and math achievement by their scores from the DKEFs, BASC-2 and the BASC-3, the WIAT III and WJ IV- ACH, respectfully. With this small sample, the results suggest the EF domain attentional control via inhibition, as measured by the Color Work Interference Test (CWIT) from the DKEFs, mediated anxiety and math achievement. Future studies using a larger sample are necessary to replicate the current study's findings on the mediating relationship of EF between anxiety, and math achievement in adolescence due to the small sample size. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

There is a well-documented association between developmental language disorder (DLD) and executive function (EF) deficits. These co-occurring deficits pose risks to students' short- and long-term academic and social outcomes. In the United States, school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are tasked to ensure that students with DLD are able to achieve academic success, and though EF generally lies within their scope of practice, it remains unclear the extent to which SLPs are equipped to address these deficits. This dissertation consists of three related studies, the sum of which shall provide insight into the SLPs' services. The first of these studies, Chapter 2, offers a systematic literature review of the evidence supporting intervention for children with co-occurring deficits, as well as a synthesis of the guidance for SLPs addressing EF deficits in their services. I found a dearth of empirical studies for interventions targeting this population, though a relative abundance of practitioner papers provides a foundation of best practices for direct and indirect services. Chapter 3 presents the second study, an exploratory latent profile analysis of 167 Kindergarteners' receptive language, expressive language, and working memory (WM), as well as follow-up analyses of variance which examine children's average behavior ratings by profile. I identified a suitably-fitted three-profile model of language and WM, and I found that low-performing children, on average, were rated lower in social competence. Finally, Chapter 4 contains a mixed-methods analysis of school-based SLPs' interventions for children with EF deficits. Following an explanatory sequential design, I first surveyed 350 SLPs, then followed up with eight interviews designed to explain and contextualize the survey results. I found that most SLPs support EF deficits through indirect services or embedded strategies, though fewer provide direct intervention. However, direct intervention is feasible, and SLPs' knowledge and confidence about EFs influence their service provision. Overall, the findings of this dissertation support the notion that SLPs can be active and involved service providers, addressing EF deficits that are abundant in children with DLD, and which may otherwise hinder students' education. However, to optimize these services, the field of SLP requires further empirical intervention research and improved SLP preparation to ensure that SLPs can meet all the needs of students with co-occurring deficits. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

College was already a stressful time for many individuals, and COVID has added another major stress to change college life, highlighting the importance of stress management skills and increased cognitive resilience. The goals of the current study included (1) comparing stress, executive functioning (EF), resilience, alcohol use, and school connectedness of students during the pandemic and normed data; (2) examining the relationship between resilience and stress; (3) investigating the effects of class standing, alcohol use, and stress on EF (self-report and performance-based measures) and resilience; (4) studying the interaction of class standing, alcohol use, and stress levels after the impact of an acute stressor on EF. Participants completed the Trail Making Test and Tower of London and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test-Computerized followed by the Cued Go/No-Go Task. Data was collected from college students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (n = 462). Current findings indicated that students reported significantly less problematic alcohol use, alcohol use to cope, premeditation, school connectedness, as well as more stress and planning abilities than students prior to the pandemic. When comparing association among the variables, self-reported and performance-based EF were associated with resilience and school connectedness measures. Lowerclassman college students who endorsed severe stress with high problematic drinking reported less impulsive behaviors (i.e., more premeditation) than upperclassman students who endorsed severe stress with high problematic drinking. Additionally, Lowerclassman students who endorsed low problematic drinking rated themselves as possessing greater resilience than upperclassman students with high problematic drinking group. Also, upperclassmen who endorsed problematic alcohol use and severe stress made fewer omission errors than the rest of the sample after the acute stressor was presented. The current results demonstrated the changes in students' experiences during the pandemic associated with more stress than in previous cohorts, emphasizing the importance of building resources to increase students' resilience and connectedness to campus. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Systematic Literature Review: Objective: Self-compassion is associated with greater well-being and happiness and reduced symptoms of psychological distress. Negative self-compassion such as self-criticism, has the opposite effect. Having higher self-compassion involves the use of a range of emotion regulation strategies, including aspects of cognitive and attentional control. Executive function (EF) describe skills involved in these ‘higher order’ or supervisory cognitive processes such as the ability to shift attention, inhibit automatic responses and use working memory (WM). Research to date has shown that interventions either self-compassion or EF skills can result in improvements to the other. To explore the association between these two variables, this systematic review collated studies that measured the relationship between EF and self-compassion, self-criticism and self-blame. Method: Studies that measured self-compassion, self-criticism or self-blame, and assessed EF skills in adults, were selected from a number of databases, both multidisciplinary and subject-specific, prior to 1st April 2020. The search strategy provided 183 results,128 after duplicates were removed. Full text screening of 39 studies led to the inclusion of seven papers for this review. Results: Results provided partial support for the association of WM with self-criticism, but no confirmed support for the association of self-compassion, self-criticism or self-blame with other aspects of EF. Results were not conclusive due to the lack of quality research. Conclusions: There is scant support at present for the association of levels of self-compassion, self-criticism or self-blame, with EF skills, however there is also little quality support for the lack of a relationship between them. Further research would be needed to address what appears to be a gap in the evidence base. Empirical Paper: Objective: PTSD is known to cause significant impairments to social interactions and general functioning. It is associated with poor self-image and low levels of self-compassion. Cognitive difficulties associated with the disorder include deficiencies in levels of executive function (EF). Low self-compassion and poor EF skills are suggested to be involved in the maintenance of PTSD. Despite this, little is known about the association between self-compassion and EF, and still less of their combined role in PTSD. To address this gap, the association of trait and state levels of self-compassion, with EF skills was investigated in a population who had experienced traumatic events. Methods: Fifty-two adults (M=33.71 years; SD = 17.01) participated in the study. Of this, 33 met a current diagnosis of PTSD (26 women, 7 men) and 19 had symptoms below the diagnostic threshold (13 women, 6 men). The participants completed measures of trait self-compassion, PTSD symptoms and a self-report EF measure before completing Trails and Stroop tests to assess specific attention switching and inhibition skills. State levels of self-compassion were measured before and after listening to a recording of a self-compassion induction. Results: Findings showed that (1) state levels of self-compassion increased significantly following the induction, but the degree of change was not predictable from the other factors, (2) PTSD symptom severity was predicted independently and significantly by both the trait measure of self-compassion and the self-report measure of EF, furthermore (3) levels of trait self-compassion were associated to, and predicted by, self-report measures of EF. Conclusion: The study did not confirm any factors that could predict change in levels of state self-compassion; however, it demonstrated that PTSD symptoms were associated with both EF and self-compassion, increasing support for interventions to target these areas. In addition, the association of EF skills to levels of self-compassion increases our understanding of the role of cognitive functions in supporting well-being.

Executive functions are high level cognitive mechanisms that manage everyday thinking and behaviour. Miyake et al’s (2000) model separates executive function into three fundamental elements: shifting, inhibition and updating. Initially, a Systematic Review examined twenty-two papers. Most studies reported poorer executive function in obese individuals in clinical settings but there was a lack of work in community populations. Study One examined the relationship between executive function and weight in 315 community–based individuals who completed a cognitive test battery testing shifting (Local-Global task), inhibition (Stroop task), updating (Keep-Track task), and a complex task (Random Number Generator). Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated according to standard World Health Organisation (WHO) criteria. Self-reported depression, demographic and clinical variables were obtained. Quantile regressions, ANOVA and correlations revealed clear differences between the BMI categories across the cognitive tests with underperformance on tests of inhibition, shifting and updating in both obese class III and underweight categories. Study Two examined the relationship between the performance-based cognitive tests employed in Study One and the self-report Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-A), to aid understanding of how deficits may impact individuals in their everyday life. A separate cohort of 400 community participants were recruited. Using quantile regression analysis, Study One results were not fully replicated in Study Two. Some limited differences were noted, with overweight and obese individuals underperforming in updating tasks in comparison to normal weight and underweight individuals. No associations between the BRIEF-A and cognitive tests were observed. To conclude, there is some evidence to suggest that there is a link between weight and executive function but there were inconsistencies between the studies. The discussion highlights the need for further work to examine the reasons for these inconsistent effects.

This study was designed to investigate the frequency with which students identified as having a Specific Learning Disability (SLD) and a Specific Learning Disability (SLD) combined with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are further assessed for deficits of executive function and working memory. Data were collected and analyzed from 13 high schools and nine other campuses in a large urban North Texas School District providing special education services. The total participants for this study included 747. The total number of SLD eligible participants was 701. The total number of SLD combined with ADHD eligible participants was 46. Data analysis determined a total of 151 SLD participants were assessed using extended or supplementary working memory tests. The SLD combined with ADHD participants administered the extended or supplementary working memory test totaled seven. Assessing in-depth cognitively can provide information specific to the student's learning style, whether planning and organizing is a strength or weakness as well as other executive function deficits. Psychoeducational evaluators, educators, administrators, and parents who are interested in this topic of research will benefit from this research study. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Executive functions (EF) are a collection of cognitive domains governing task initiation, motor planning, attention, and goal-oriented action. Difficulties with EF have marked impacts on adaptive living skills, learning outcomes, and quality of life for people with cognitive and psychosocial disabilities, as well as the broader population. While there is considerable research interest in EF training intervention for disabled school-aged children and other disabled populations, very few studies explore metacognitive intervention for people with cognitive disabilities. Metacognition comprises conscious beliefs and strategies around task management and goal setting. Metacognitive awareness has been shown to mediate effects of executive function on self-regulated learning, and metacognitive interventions have shown promise in general education, military training, and medical practice. Using principles of ability-based design, role-fluidity, and agent-based modeling, this dissertation work explores the features and conditions essential to metacognitive intervention for autistic people and people with ADHD. The researcher uses a Critical Disability Studies lens to evaluate testimonials of executive function experiences from autistic adults and children. These insights inform the design of a system that allows the researcher to investigate the efficacy and transferability of explicit metacognitive strategy instruction for undergraduate students of all neurotypes. The researcher developed a VR toolkit for real-time measurement of executive function and metacognitive strategy development that can be adapted for any context. This system's output was found to be statistically comparable to traditional measures of executive function. The researcher found supporting evidence that explicit instructional material explaining executive function and metacognition in relation to problem-solving experiences influenced participant self-concept and awareness of personal traits and cognitive processes. This dissertation work is grounded in critical understandings of the onto-epistemology of disabled embodiment and agency. The researcher demonstrates a critique of technological interventionism through the development of a technological intervention designed with applied theories of Crip Technoscience, Diffraction, Phenomenology, and Digital Embodiment. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Stuttering and ADHD are often considered 'comorbid' because different types of symptoms and processing issues occur in, for example, fluency, attention and working memory. This thesis addresses whether or not these shared factors signify fundamental similarities between stuttering and ADHD that distinguish them from typical controls. This is done in two main ways: First, a comparison is made of details of performance on attention capabilities using a range of behavioural and physiological measures in various test environments, including Web and VR approaches; Second, modelling analyses are conducted that compare networks representing participants' performance across groups. Using the Load Theory of Attention methodology (Chapter 2), which addresses how to focus attention and ignore distractions up to a point where load exceeds perceptual capacity, it was observed that the performance of participants who stutter was significantly lower from the performance of controls in the auditory selective and divided attention tasks. The results showed that tasks in which attention demands enhanced were effective in detecting limitations in audio processing by PWS. Extending the task in the visual, audio and audio-visual domains in a virtual reality environment in people who stutter, (PWS) as well as people with ADHD (PWADHD) it was found that while audio was more affected in PWS, audio and audio-visual domains were affected in PWADHD. Lastly, Network Models (NMs) from the measures examined showed that comorbidity between PWS and PWADHD is limited. For better clinical assessments of attention, fluency and working memory problems, a Linear Mixed Model (LMM) was included in chapter 3 to understand if gender imbalance affected the results of PWS, PWADHD and controls in a selective attention task. LMM correctly determined that the gender imbalance did not affect the participants performance and PWS performed significantly worse from PWADHD showing that the groups were not comorbid and PWS is impaired in selective attention tasks. Further investigations were made in chapter 4 on PWS, PWADHD and controls in which data collected was extended to behavioural as well as physiological measures in a selective attention task implemented in a Virtual Reality (VR) environment. Although both PWS and PWADHD differed from controls with lower performance on the task, impulsive behaviours were only present in PWADHD (higher NOF) while inattentiveness was observed only in PWS (lower FD, higher theta activity). The architecture of NMs was different between PWS and PWADHD in task performance confirming again that comorbidity between groups is overstated while the frontal cortex is impaired in both groups as shown by NMs from EEG measures. While previous chapters showed that selective and divided attention tasks in Executive Function (EF) can correctly assess attention problems in PWS, chapters 5, 6 and 7 aimed at understanding which attention type in EF is impaired in PWADHD and can correctly assess attention problems in this group. An extensive investigation was made from 10 VR tasks that drew upon different attention types on behavioural measures and responses from questionnaires (chapter 5), eye measures (chapter 6) and brain activity (chapter 7). PWADHD were compared to controls on all the measures. NMs showed that sustained attention tasks in all domains and switched attention task only in the visual domain assessed ADHD traits in PWADHD on the measures examined. Furthermore, prefrontal cortex was impaired as shown from NMs in EEG measures. Finally, NMs were compared between controls, PWADHD and PWS in chapter 8 on cognitive factors including attention, fluency and working memory. NMs confirmed previous findings that the comorbidity of symptoms of both disorders is overstated. NM architecture between controls and PWADHD was similar, but both differed from PWS. Working memory was a strong factor that affected attention in all groups but the way it affected attention differed between PWS and PWADHD.

Executive function (EF) is a term used to describe the processes responsible for purposeful, goal-directed behavior and has been described as the "air traffic controller" or "CEO" of the brain. EFs are an important factor in overall quality of life, including school and job success. EFs are measured predominately through two different methods, performance-based measures and rating scales. Both measurement types are used in both clinical and research applications; however, they correlate poorly with each other, indicating they are measuring different constructs or different aspects of the same construct. Given the importance of academic achievement in children's lives, the functional outcomes of academics provide a reasonable gauge of the impact EF. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the assessment of two EF components (working memory and inhibition) in relationship to the academic achievement of elementary students in three subjects (reading, mathematics, and science). Both studies completed in this dissertation used the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 (ECLS-K:2011) database, a nationally representative sample sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics. The first study focused on working memory in third-grade students. Students were administered a performance-based measure of working memory (a numbers reversed task), as well as academic assessments. The students' parent and teacher completed a working memory rating. The second study focused on inhibition in fourth and fifth grade students. Students were administered a performance-based inhibition measure (a flanker task) and academic assessments. Teachers completed an inhibitory control rating and an attentional focus rating. Both studies examined the relationships between the relevant performance-based measure and the ratings, as well as their relationship to academic achievement. Minimal to strong correlations were found across the two studies. Working memory and inhibition were both found to be correlated with academic achievement; however, the strength of the correlation varied by academic subject and assessment method. The performance-based measure correlated more strongly with academics than did the ratings across both studies. Mathematics achievement had the strongest correlation with both the working memory and the inhibition performance-based measures as compared to reading and science achievement. Ability of the EF measures to predict academic achievement and strengths/limitations of all measures are discussed. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Between the ages of four- to six-years-old, children show remarkable improvements in executive functioning (EF). This thesis aimed to determine which factors contribute to the neurocognitive development of two types of EF, namely, visual working memory (VWM) and inhibitory control (IC). Home-based longitudinal assessments of behaviour, brain function (using functional near-infrared spectroscopy - fNIRS), and academic success were collected across two consecutive years. Chapters 2 and 4 examined which key factors contribute to individual differences in pre-schoolers' VWM and IC and their neural correlates. Children were categorised into high-performing (HP) and low-performing (LP) groups based on their performance. Chapter 2 found that LPs compared to HPs, increasingly activated the left frontal and bilateral parietal cortices when their VWM capacity was challenged. Further, activation in the left parietal cortex partially mediated the association between parent-reported stressful life events and VWM performance. Chapter 4 found that LPs increasingly activated the bilateral frontal and parietal cortices when their inhibitory processes were strained. Chapters 3 and 5 examined the longitudinal development of VWM and IC and their neural correlates, and how the developmental trajectories of these functions differ by the schooling experience. Further, the extent to which schooling-related changes in EF could predict academic outcomes over time was investigated. Chapter 3 found that children who attended one year of schooling (P1) improved more in VWM than children who stayed in kindergarten (KG). Additionally, P1 children who began the year with greater VWM skills gained more in vocabulary across the school year. Chapter 5 found that P1 children, compared to KG children, showed a greater change over time in activation related to more efficient response monitoring in the bilateral frontal cortex. Further, the change in the left frontal activation difference showed a positive trend with mathematical ability. The novel research presented in this thesis broadens our understanding of individual differences in EF and underlying brain function. Further, these findings reveal how the schooling environment shapes the neurocognitive development of EF which has important implications for academic success.

Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) have been found to exhibit significant atypicalities in most executive functions (EFs), such as working memory (WM), cognitive flexibility/shifting, inhibition, self-regulation and attention. However, to date there has been limited research into the relative strengths and weaknesses in their EF profiles. Moreover, EFs in DS have received very little attention in the Kuwaiti research context, despite the need for greater support and resources for those with DS in non-Western countries. There is broad agreement in the research literature, however, that WM is one of the more affected EFs in children and adolescents with DS. This thesis therefore set out to investigate EF profiles in, and WM support for, children and adolescents with DS, through two interlinked studies. Study 1 was a systematic review of EF research in DS. Relevant databases were searched for studies that were published prior to January 2020, involving children and adolescents with DS, comparing their EFs with various comparison populations. Fifty-five studies were included in the final review. The results revealed that, in general, all EFs are atypically developed in individuals with DS. WM appeared to be the most challenged EF, particularly verbal (though not necessarily visuospatial) WM, and emotional control appeared to be the least atypical, relative to controls. Furthermore, there are significantly fewer studies focusing solely on adolescents than on children or mixed-age samples, and even fewer that compare the EF performance of children and adolescents. There are also no studies that draw comparisons between different tools measuring the same EF in the same samples, to ascertain whether different results are gained from different measures. Finally, studies use a variety of comparison approaches, including mental age and chronological age matching, or normative data. They also involve a range of different comparison groups, allowing only tentative conclusions to be drawn from current research. In study 2 an intervention that aimed to support teachers in Kuwait to use different strategies in the classroom that could encourage the development of WM in children and adolescents with DS, was devised, conducted and evaluated. The aim of this study was to explore the effectiveness of the WM intervention on teachers' knowledge surrounding WM, their use of WM strategies in the classroom and on cognitive, behavioural, and academic outcomes for children and adolescents with DS. Study 2 involved 31 children and adolescents with DS (aged 7 to 16 years) and 28 literacy and numeracy teachers from specialist units in 4 mainstream primaries schools. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design, involving 2 groups of teachers: an experimental group (enrolled on the WM intervention) and an active control group (enrolled on a positive behaviour support intervention). Outcomes were assessed using a range of measures to test EF, WM, and challenging and social behaviour. Teachers' knowledge of WM was also evaluated to examine the effectiveness of the intervention, and the experimental group was also observed to explore any difference on their use of WM strategies, pre- and post intervention. Teachers' perspectives on the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention process were also gathered, using focus groups. Results showed that the WM in the experimental group significantly improved from pre-intervention to follow-up compared to the control group. In contrast, the control group had significantly lower incidence of challenging behaviour and an increase in prosocial behaviour compared to the experimental group at follow-up. There was no significant difference on academic achievement in literacy and numeracy outcomes between the two groups at follow-up. Moreover, teachers' knowledge about WM was found to improve significantly in the experimental group compared to the control group, and the use of WM strategies significantly improved from pre- to post-intervention in the experimental group. Overall, the systematic review in study 1 provides a novel contribution to understanding EFs in the DS population, revealing that WM is the EF that those with DS struggle with the most. These findings indicate the necessity of effective interventions to address and improve this EF in children and adolescents with DS. Furthermore, the systematic review revealed significant gaps in current understanding and research knowledge of executive functioning more generally in DS: for example, a need for further studies focusing solely on WM functioning in groups of children and adolescents with DS, especially studies that compare a range of measures to test WM functioning. Moreover, the relative strengths of emotional control in those with DS should be further explored. The findings from study 2 established the effectiveness of the WM intervention aimed at teachers - a novel approach in Kuwait - in the short-term, although the long-term efficacy of the intervention is unknown. Therefore, it would be beneficial to conduct a longer-term follow-up assessment in the future. Additionally, it may be helpful in future studies to conduct an intervention to improve WM at home, so there is a consistency of approach between home and school. The results of these studies therefore have practical implications for teachers, given the finding that when teachers employ strategies to boost WM, the WM functioning of children and adolescents with DS is improved. Helping teachers to become experts in a range of EF support strategies may also lead them to interact differently with children and adolescents with DS, which could improve students' abilities in other areas (such as other cognitive function or social behaviour). Importantly, the study also altered teachers' understanding of, and attitudes towards, the learning capabilities of individuals with DS, with important implications for reducing cognitive difficulties in children with DS in Kuwait.

The capacity to resist temptations, think outside the box, mentally work with information, and make plans, referred to as executive function (EF), has fascinated developmental psychologists over the past few decades. The development of EF appears to be susceptible to environmental input and underpins a range of important outcomes, including but not limited to school readiness and academic learning. Unfortunately, the evidence is based almost exclusively on studies conducted in Western countries, with cross-cultural research being largely restricted in developmental scope to the preschool and early primary school years. Capitalising upon a large-scale study of 9- to 16-year-olds and their parents living in Hong Kong (n = 371; Mage = 12.21 years, SD = 0.99) and England (n = 487; Mage = 11.91 years, SD = 0.93), this thesis sought to extend the existing literature by recruiting a comparison group from mainland China (n = 453; Mage = 11.89 years, SD = 0.87) and by applying a latent variable modelling approach to examine (i) cultural contrasts in, (ii) correlates of, and (iii) consequences of EF in late childhood and adolescence. Both children and parents completed four computerised tests of EF (providing measures of inhibition, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and planning). Children also completed a short questionnaire booklet and a battery of tasks designed to measure numeracy, literacy, and general intelligence. To evaluate the role of mind-mindedness (defined as parents' propensity to view their children as mental agents; e.g., Meins, 2013) in non-Western countries, 118 Chinese parents provided a 5-minute speech sample. The validity of applying the computerised EF-task battery in different cultural settings has been strengthened by tests of measurement invariance. Consistent with previous reports (e.g., Ellefson et al., 2017), the East Asian advantage in EF was developmentally persistent. Latent factor means were substantially lower for British children than their peers from either mainland China or Hong Kong, with a significant but smaller contrast between the latter two groups. In the mainland China site, self-reported computer use was unrelated to individual differences in children's performance on online tests of EF, indicating that the observed between-country differences are unlikely to simply reflect peripheral effects of task modality. Particularly novel, variation in children's EF accounted for the links between parental provision of structure and academic achievement in the Chinese sample on the one hand, and between parental autonomy support and academic achievement in the British sample on the other hand, suggesting that the relative salience of distinct aspects of parenting is culturally specific. Expanding a growing body of research into the sources of the learning gap between East Asia and the West, the current study revealed that contrasts in children's EF and use of self-regulated learning strategies contributed to cross-cultural differences in academic achievement. Lastly, Chinese parents' mind-mindedness (but not positivity) showed unique associations with children's numeracy and literacy above and beyond both parent EF and child EF. Path analyses demonstrated that mind-mindedness served as a mechanism by which socioeconomic status shaped maths performance. The findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications for scholars and educational professionals.

The study reported in this dissertation aimed at exploring relations between parental factors - parenting and maternal executive function (EF) - and preschool children's EF in the South Korean context (the Republic of Korea; Korea hereafter). Specifically, it investigated the replication in the Korean context of existing findings in Western cultures on the link between parenting and child EF. In addition, the present study explored parental aspects that have rarely been linked to child EF: 1) the relation of parental verbal input to child EF, 2) simultaneous relations of parenting and maternal EF to child EF, and 3) mediating roles played by parenting in the maternal EF-child EF link. Ten kindergartens located in different districts (middle- to upper-middle class households) in Seoul, Korea hosted the present study, and data were collected from a total of 92 mother-child dyads who volunteered to take part. The children were aged between 3 and 5 years, with 97 per cent of them being 4 years old, and they were reported not to have experienced developmental issues. The mothers were biological parents of child participants. Both the mothers and children performed on age-appropriate EF tasks. Three types of parenting dimensions were focused on in two contexts of mother-child interactions: maternal contingency and intrusiveness in a problem-solving context and maternal verbal input during a mother-child reminiscing conversation. Maternal verbal input was operationalized to consist of four constructs: maternal elaboration, semantic connection (maternal utterances that are semantically connected with the child's utterances), maternal mental-state references, and connected mental-state references (maternal mental-state references that are semantically connected with the child's utterances). As such, a total of 14 maternal traits during the two mother-child interactions were examined for their relations to the development of child EF. Mother-child interactions were videotaped for later analysis. As a result, 184 five-minute video clips were obtained and analysed by adopting a quantitative approach. Results showed that the positive relation between maternal contingency and child EF was successfully replicated in the Korean context. In addition, maternal connected mental-state references, particularly emotion references, were found as a significant factor explaining child EF, above and beyond three covariates of child EF (child age, child verbal ability and maternal educational attainment). However, maternal intrusiveness was found not to be significantly related to child EF in the Korean context. Next, the analysis of the simultaneous relations of maternal factors to child EF showed that maternal contingency accounted for unique variance in child EF more than any other parenting variables involved in the present study. In addition to maternal contingency, maternal EF (i.e., maternal shifting as measured by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task) and maternal connected mental-state references were found to significantly account for unique variance in child EF. Finally, it was found that the maternal EF-child EF link was not explained by parenting behaviours explored in the present study. Instead, maternal contingency was found to mediate the link between child verbal ability and child EF and the link between maternal educational attainment and child EF. While the above mentioned results were the main findings of the present study, the difference in the results should be addressed between when using the whole sample (N=92 dyads) and only 4-year-olds (N=89 dyads). Child's age was found to account for less unique variance in child EF when using only 4-year-olds. In addition, the significant link between maternal EF and child EF when using the data from the whole sample became insignificant when using the data from only 4-year-olds. These findings are discussed in terms of universal or culture-specific links between maternal EF, parenting behaviours and child EF, adding to the literature by presenting the first empirical evidence on this research field in a non-Western context.

This study examined the relationship between executive function and externalizing behaviors within a student population that was assessed for special education services. Executive function was measured by using the Comprehensive Executive Function Inventory (CEFI). Externalizing behaviors and school problems was measured using the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Third Edition (BASC-3). Four separate structural equation models were produced and analyzed to examine this relationship. The results from this study indicate that there is a significant direct effect from executive function on externalizing behaviors and school problems, such that higher scores in executive function yielded lower externalizing behavior and school problems scores. Differences in average full scale CEFI scores were noted between types of special education placements and between various groupings of students in regards to what category they qualified in. The data indicates programs that facilitated more environmental supports and services had students with lower full scale CEFI scores, while students that qualified under Other Health Impairment and Emotional Disturbance shared comorbid features with other distinct processing deficits. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of executive function (EF) skills (i.e., working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition) in supporting the development of reading fluency in elementary school students with dyslexia. Participants were 47 students (i.e., second to sixth grade) attending a private school in the Mid-South region of the United States that provides an intensive day-treatment program for students diagnosed with dyslexia. Latent Growth Curve Modeling (LGCM) was used to explore the concurrent and predictive relation between EF and oral reading fluency across a school year. Overall, results from the study indicated that executive function skills (i.e., working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition) did not significantly predict growth in reading fluency scores across the school year, and only inhibition emerged as a significant predictor for baseline reading fluency scores in the fall. More surprisingly, initial reading scores at the beginning of the school year did not predict the amount of growth across the fall or spring semesters. Given the potential impact of methodological limitations (i.e., sample size, collapsing data across grades, and not accounting for potential covariates) on these results, conclusions from this study should be drawn with caution. However, this study illuminates the need for additional research on the complex relation between executive function and reading fluency. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Background Children who are cared for away from their biological families represent a highly vulnerable population where early childhood trauma, abuse, and neglect are highly prevalent. As technology and theory have advanced it has now been recognised that traumatic experiences in early life can lead to a variety of neurodevelopmental differences, deficits, and delays. Importantly, executive function - a set of cognitive abilities which allow individuals to plan, monitor and adjust their behaviour in order to interact with their environment effectively - has been shown to be particularly sensitive to the impact of traumatic experiences in youth. The core skills in executive function are recognised as cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control, skills which have been evidenced to be significantly reduced in children and young people in care, even in comparison with other traumatised youth. However, the specific mechanisms and variables which influence this vulnerability for children within the care system have yet to be understood. Aims This thesis therefore aims to explore the combined impact of trauma and experience of alternative care on the development of executive function. This will include a systematic review of the evidence around executive function difficulties in children in alternative care, and two empirical articles, looking at the impact of an online training course for residential childcare workers which is focussed on the developmental impact of trauma on the executive function of children in care and how this can be supported. The two papers present the acceptability and feasibility of the course, as well as the effect of the course on knowledge gain and the attributions of staff towards challenging behaviour. Methods In Chapter One, a systematic search for papers relating to the executive function of children in care who have experienced trauma was conducted across eight bibliographic databases. Sixteen papers were quality assessed and their results were synthesised in a narrative format. Chapters Two, and Three, describe the development and evaluation of an online training course in executive function for residential workers working with children in care. In Chapter Two, the course is evaluated for acceptability, feasibility and its impact on knowledge gain. In Chapter Three, the course is evaluated for its impact on the attributions of residential childcare workers towards challenging behaviour. Results It was not possible to draw definitive conclusions from the systematic review due to heterogeneity in the papers included. However, the overall direction of results, indicate that children within the care system are not only highly vulnerable to executive functioning difficulties due to their early experiences, but that their specific experiences within the care system may further impact upon the development of these skills. The empirical papers demonstrated that online training around the neurodevelopmental impact of trauma on executive function was feasible and acceptable to residential support workers. The course significantly increased knowledge of executive function after completion and altered staff attributions towards challenging behaviour, by significantly reducing perceptions that the causes of challenging behaviour are internal to the child and within their control, and significantly increasing perceptions that the causes are global and stable across the child's life. Implications for clinical practice, future training, and ongoing research are discussed.

Some research has suggested that guided play (GP) is a better support type for children to learn, but other research has suggested direct instruction (DI) is better for teaching children physics. These research fields formed the basis of this study, in addition to also considering the role of executive function (EF) and metacognition (Mc) due to their potential links to physics task performance. This research was carried out with 38 3- and 4-year-olds over three time points (TP), six weeks apart. Children completed the same EF, Mc, and physics task at each time point, as well as a transfer ramps physics task at TP3. Children were split into one of two support type two groups to carry out the balance beam tasks: GP or DI. No significant links between EF and Mc were detected, and no role of EF or Mc in physics task performance was seen. A small association between Mc rate and strategies used was seen at one TP only. A significant difference in Mc behaviours displayed by each group during the balance beam task was found at each TP, due to GP scoring significantly higher than DI, but no significant difference in Mc interview scores was found. No significant link between GP's higher Mc rate scores and other measures was detected. There was a significant difference in balance beam performance between the groups at TP3, due to DI scoring significantly higher than GP. The results from the balance beam task did not significantly correlate with the transfer ramps task, suggesting support type did not have a strong transferable effect to another physics task. It was found that vocabulary was associated with EF and Mc interview scores, suggesting language was an important individual factor. The study has highlighted that young children's learning of balance beam concepts is complex, with individuals showing a variety of strategies to solve different balance beam problems. It provides support that DI could be a better support type for teaching children balance beam concepts. The data are discussed with reference to different theories and to the issues surrounding the small sample size and low statistical power, which are potentially impacting the conclusions that can be drawn.

Background: Self-injurious behaviours (SIB) occur at a high rate in autistic children with a co-occurring intellectual disability (ID). Delineating the individual characteristics which contribute to the observed differences in SIB emergence and outcomes will extend the operant model and inform proactive intervention strategies. The present study extended prior work, which has identified a role for reduced behavioural inhibition, through the direct measurement of executive function (EF) abilities in this population. Method: A developmentally-appropriate EF battery was administered remotely to 60 autistic children with ID (mean age = 10.22, range 5-15, 70% SIB, 14 girls). Questionnaire data on SIB, EF, and adaptive behaviour were collected. Analyses evaluated the relationship between the EF outcome measures and SIB, as well as the unique contribution of EF to the presence and severity of SIB. Results: SIB was moderately associated with a direct measure of updating and inhibition (r = - .28, p < .05), and caregiver-rated impulsivity (r = .41, p = .001) and overactivity (r = .33, p < .05). Impulsivity and overactivity were significant unique predictors of SIB (p < .05), over and above general cognitive ability. In an age-and-ability matched subset, children who displayed SIB were rated as significantly more impulsive on average than those who did not (g = .78). Conclusions: The results replicated previous findings of a robust relationship between caregiver-rated impulsivity and SIB. While no direct measure of EF significantly predicted SIB in this small pilot sample, the direction and magnitude of effects offer tentative support for a role of behavioural inhibition in the developmental course of SIB. Overall, the study supports the feasibility of remote EF assessment in this under-represented group.

While cochlear implants allow many infants to develop appropriate language skills, the ability of individual children to understand speech varies widely. Established evidence suggests that neurocognitive processes contribute to variable language outcome in paediatric cochlear implant (CI) recipients. The cross-sectional and longitudinal experiments reported in this thesis aimed to investigate the association between executive function (EF) and language performance in normal-hearing (NH) and deaf-implanted children, in addition to the ability of behavioural-EF evoked brain activation and correlates of fronto-temporal cortical connectivity to predict future EF and language outcome. Parent-reported EF skills were significantly associated with language performance in both NH children and paediatric CI users of preschool age. This relationship was significantly stronger in children with CIs compared with their NH peers. Behavioural EF task-evoked cortical activations, measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), were acquired from both cohorts of preschool aged children. Whilst performance on behavioural EF tasks was not associated with language ability, a significant correlation between the amplitude of EF task-evoked activation overlying left prefrontal regions and language performance was observed in NH participants. Interestingly, no association was found between parent-reported EF skills and performance on behavioural EF tasks. Phase Transfer Entropy (PTE) analysis was employed to estimate fNIRS correlates of fronto-temporal directed connectivity. Correlates of both top-down and bottom-up directed connectivity acquired from NH toddlers were able to significantly predict future EF performance, that was in turn associated with language outcome. Furthermore, correlates of bottom-up directed connectivity in NH infants and toddlers were able to directly predict language ability. The COVID-19 pandemic had an adverse effect on the recruitment of participants to experiments within this thesis. Furthermore, a small sample size for CI users prevented an examination of the association between fNIRS correlates of behavioural EF, cortical connectivity and language outcome in this cohort. However, the current results not only highlight the importance of higher-order top-down processes in language development, but they also support the current theory that such EF mechanisms are potentially more influential in deaf individuals. Furthermore, these findings demonstrate the potential of fNIRS as a brain-imaging tool that is uniquely well-suited for use in cochlear implantation. Future applications of this technology could help explain individual variability in CI outcome and to deliver intervention, such as EF rehabilitation strategies, where required at an earlier stage in a child's life. In March 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic induced a mandatory pause in cochlear implantation procedures across the United Kingdom. To minimise the period of auditory deprivation in pre-lingually deaf children, a collaborative project was performed in which novel Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) options were evaluated. The recommendations from this project led to the safe restart of cochlear implantation procedures at the National Health Service (NHS) Hospital Trust affiliated with the primary research site and continue to support the national and international delivery of CI services throughout COVID-19.

This study examined the effects of executive function intervention on the academic performance of students in three kindergarten through eighth-grade schools. The study evaluated MAP (Measurement of Academic Progress) results prior to and after the implementation of the executive function strategies and interventions. The study compared the responses of classroom teachers on an implementation survey to determine the fidelity to the program and collect their opinions about the efficacy of the intervention program and its ability to impact student academic achievement. The outcomes of this study impact the further refinement of the intervention program and provide data to confirm the positive influence of executive function interventions on academic achievement. The results of this study reflect the application of a mixed-methods, quasi-experimental research design. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Decline in cognitive abilities is a predominant feature of cognitive ageing and neuropathological conditions, which is attributed to the decline of executive functions (EFs). Four EFs are suggested to be particularly important, dual-tasking (DT), inhibition, shifting, and working memory (WM) updating. As part of the research completed in this thesis, two studies sought to determine the age-associated trajectory of decline of these abilities as this has not been extensively researched. An initial literature review (Chapter 2) evaluated how these abilities have previously been examined in cognitively healthy and pathological impaired older adults. A cross-sectional behavioural study (Chapter 3) conducted between young and older adults where each EF was assessed with a pair of tasks, showed age-associated decline in some measures. Results further demonstrated that inhibition, shifting, and updating declined at a comparable high rate, whereas DT declined independently at a lower rate. A following correlation analysis (Chapter 4) between task pair measures of each EF in both age groups, found a significant positive correlation in DT in the older adults. Confirmatory factor analysis (Chapter 4) of these task measures revealed the older adults showed a better common EF factor loading than the young adults. Furthermore, correlation loading analysis between the EFs showed a weakly correlated four-factor model in the young adults, and three- and two-factor models in the older adults, indicating age-related structural change of EFs due to dedifferentiation (Koen & Rugg, 2019; La Fleur et al., 2018). Lastly, a voxel-based morphometry study (Chapter 6), using secondary imaging data from the OASIS-3 database (LaMontagne et al., 2019) of participants ranging from cognitive healthy to advance Alzheimer's disease, identified substantial atrophy in the medial temporal lobes but not in the prefrontal cortex, the region primarily associated with EF processing. Nevertheless, atrophy in midbrain structures which are important for EF processing seemed to be associated with performance in the EF tasks employed. The findings of this thesis illustrate that cognitive ageing is not a unitary process, therefore, further research into how the trajectory of the four EFs differs in neuropathological conditions would aid in understanding cognitive impairment greatly.

The role of parents in the formation of cognitive and social emotional skills in early childhood (EC) has been a focus of study within the history of developmental science. This study explores the relationship between three parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative and permissive) and child performance in three tasks measuring components of executive function (EF): cognitive flexibility (CF), inhibitory control (IC), and sustained attention (SA) within the context of a large parenting intervention trial in Chile. Results: This study provides consistent evidence that an authoritative parenting style is positively associated with child CF, IC, but not SA. Also, I report evidence that authoritarian attitudes at baseline are positively associated with performance in the CF task at follow-up and with CF progress between both time measures. In contrast, permissive attitudes were inconsistently associated with EF, where associations were only seen in the follow-up. I found poor evidence that a parenting intervention improved child EF. However, the associations observed in the context of an instrumental variable (IV) analysis where I modelled change in parenting through the intervention (not just being allocated to the intervention), showings that the change in authoritative parenting was associated with EF on the treated population. I conclude that it is possible that authoritarian, as well as authoritative attitudes, under different circumstances, might protect EF development during EC in low-income families in Chile. This protective effect would possibly be driven by common dimensions of structure, demandingness and discipline related with both types of parenting.

The United States faces high demand for science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) professionals and a scarce supply of individuals who pursue STEM careers, especially minority populations in the U.S with proficiency in a language other than English. The primary goal of this research was to determine the impact of use of Spanish in the home and direct cognitive assessments (executive function) on student achievement in mathematics and science during the fall of kindergarten, spring kindergarten, fall and spring of first grade, and fall of second grade. Parallel process longitudinal growth modeling was used to examine mathematics and science trajectories over time in a large cohort of students while simultaneously investigating tangential issues affecting change in achievement over time. Several analyses were employed in this study with the goals of: (1) Examining the growth of mathematics or science scores in isolation employing a univariate analysis model within the PPLGM, (2) Revealing the joint associations between growth factors capturing mathematics and science achievement employing an unconditional multivariate analysis and (3) Examining the effect of time-varying covariates as predictors of mathematics achievement scores at each year by employing a conditional multivariate analysis. Structural equation modeling (SEM) served as the analytic framework for conducting all analyses. This study used variables from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Cohort 2011 sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, demyelinating disease which affects neurons in the central nervous system. Symptoms of MS include difficulties with mobility, gait, bowel and bladder dysfunction, fatigue and cognition. People with MS (PwMS) are often diagnosed in their 30s and 40s and up to 80% become unemployed within 10 years of being diagnosed. This results in a negative impact on quality of life. Levels of physical disability do not fully account for the impact of the disease on employment outcomes. In fact, approximately 45% of people with low levels of physical disability are unemployed. It is likely that the impact of 'invisible' symptoms of MS, such as cognition, can explain this discrepancy. Evidence suggests that cognition is also a mediating factor between physical disabilities and unemployment. Since unemployment can have a detrimental impact to quality of life, it is important to ensure that people with MS remain employed for as long as they desire.

Executive function (EF) comprises a series of interrelated cognitive and self-regulatory skills which are required in nearly every facet of everyday life, particularly in novel circumstances. EF skills begin developing from birth and continue to grow well into adulthood but are most crucial for children as they are associated with academic and life success as well as mental and physical health. There is now strong evidence that these skills can be trained through targeted intervention in a diverse range of approaches, such as computer games, physical activity, and social play settings. This thesis presents the process of the design and evaluation of an active EF-training game (BrainQuest) for smart-phones, in participation with end-users: a group of 11-12-year-old children from a local Primary School. The design process placed emphasis on creating an engaging user experience, a phenomenon which has eluded many serious games, by building upon motivational game design theory and satisfying end-user requirements. However, in the pursuit of promoting particular executive functions: working memory; inhibitory control; planning and strategizing, the design integrated aspects of a cognitive assessment while also utilizing a range of alternative approaches for training EF, including physical activity and social play. Following an iterative design process which included many single session prototype evaluations, a mixed methods evaluation was undertaken during a 5-week study with twenty-eight 11-12-year-old school children. The study gathered exploratory qualitative and quantitative evidence regarding the game’s potential benefits which was evaluated by triangulating a range of data sources: multi-observer observations notes, interviews with children and teachers, game performance data and logs, and cognitive assessment outcomes. The analysis describes the statistical relationships between game and executive function ability, before exploring user experiences and evidence of cognitive challenge during gameplay through a series of triangulated case studies and general whole-class observations. The analysis presents the game to be engaging and enjoyable throughout the study and, for most children, able to generate a sustainable challenge. Though there were initial difficulties in understanding the complex game rules and technology, the game became increasingly usable and learnable for the target user group and created opportunities for goal setting. It also encouraged feelings of pride and self-confidence as well as facilitating positive social interactions and requiring regulation of emotion, which are considered to be pathways to developing executive functions (Diamond, 2012). There was also promising initial evidence that the game’s variable difficulty level system was able to challenge executive functions: planning and strategizing, working memory, and inhibitory control. Most notably, the game appeared to support improvements in strategizing ability by demanding increasing strategic complexity in response to evolving and increasingly difficult task demands. Supporting BrainQuest’s cognitive challenge, several statistical relationships emerged between executive function ability and game performance measures. However, the game’s ability to significantly improve cognitive outcomes could not yet be concluded. Nevertheless, these findings have implications for both the future design and evaluation practices undertaken by cognitive training researchers. From a design perspective, less credence should be paid to simply gamifying cognitive assessments while greater emphasis should be placed on integration of formal game design and motivational theories. With regards to evaluation, researchers should understand the importance of establishing first whether CTGs can remain engaging over time as well as the feasibility of their challenge to cognitive functions.

The present study examines instructional approaches and cognitive factors involved in elementary school children's thinking and learning the Control of Variables Strategy (CVS), a critical aspect of scientific reasoning. Previous research has identified several features related to effective instruction of CVS, including using a guided learning approach, the use of self-reflective questions, and learning in individual and group contexts. The current study examined the roles of procedural and conceptual instruction in learning CVS and investigated the role of executive function in the learning process. Additionally, this study examined how learning to identify variables is a part of the CVS process. In two studies (individual and classroom experiments), 139 third, fourth, and fifth grade students participated in hands-on and paper and pencil CVS learning activities and, in each study, were assigned to either a procedural instruction, conceptual instruction, or control (no instruction) group. Participants also completed a series of executive function tasks. The study was carried out with two parts--Study 1 used an individual context and Study 2 was carried out in a group setting. Results indicated that procedural and conceptual instruction were more effective than no instruction, and the ability to identify variables was identified as a key piece to the CVS process. Executive function predicted ability to identify variables and predicted success on CVS tasks. Developmental differences were present, in that older children outperformed younger children on CVS tasks, and that conceptual instruction was slightly more effective for older children. Some differences between individual and group instruction were found, with those in the individual context showing some advantage over the those in the group setting in learning CVS concepts. Conceptual implications about scientific thinking and practical implications in science education are discussed. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Engineering play is a new perspective on preschool education that views constructive play as an engineering design process that parallels the way engineers think and work when they develop engineered solutions to human problems (Bairaktarova, Evangelou, Bagiati, & Brophy, 2011). Early research from this perspective supports its use in framing play as a key learning context. However, no research to date has examined associations between engineering play and other factors linked with early school success, such as executive function, mathematical ability, and spatial ability. Additionally, more research is needed to further validate a new engineering play observational measure. This study had two main goals: (1) to gather early validity data on the engineering play measure as a potentially useful instrument for documenting the occurrence of children's engineering play behaviors in educational contexts, such as block play. This was done by testing the factor structure of the engineering play behaviors in this sample and their association with preschoolers' planning, a key aspect of the engineering design process; (2) to explore associations between preschoolers' engineering play and executive function, mathematical ability, and spatial ability. Participants included 110 preschoolers (62 girls; 48 boys; M = 58.47 months) from 10 classrooms in the Midwest United States coded for their frequency of engagement in each of the nine engineering play behaviors. A confirmatory factor analysis resulted in one engineering play factor including six of the engineering play behaviors. A series of marginal regression models revealed that the engineering play factor was significantly and positively associated with the spatial horizontal rotation transformation. However, engineering play was not significantly related to planning ability, executive function, informal mathematical abilities, or other spatial transformation skills. Follow-up analyses revealed significant positive associations between engineering play and planning, executive function, and geometry for only a subgroup of children (n = 27) who had individualized education program (IEP) status. This was the first of a series of studies planned to evaluate the potential of the engineering play perspective as a tool for understanding young children's development and learning across multiple developmental domains. Although most hypotheses regarding engineering play and cognitive skills were not supported, the study provided partial evidence for the reliability and validity of the engineering play observation measure. Future research should include larger sample sizes with more statistical power, continued refinement of the engineering play observation measure, examination of potential associations with specific early learning domains, including spatial ability and language, and more comparisons of engineering play between typically developing children and children with disabilities. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Background: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects approximately 5% of children. Children with ADHD symptoms are more likely to develop depression than children without ADHD symptoms. Cognitive, neurological, biological, social and psychological factors have been proposed to explain this comorbidity. Method: A systematic review and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials were conducted to investigate the impact of children taking ADHD medications on symptoms of anxiety and depression. The relationship between ADHD and depression symptoms, and potential moderating effect of executive function (EF), was explored in a large transdiagnostic cross-sectional sample of children struggling at school. Results: There was no significant effect of ADHD medications on symptoms of anxiety or depression in children and adolescents. In children struggling at school, there was no difference in ADHD symptoms or depression symptoms between children with and without an ADHD diagnosis. ADHD symptoms and EF deficits significantly, but independently, predicted depression symptoms in this sample. Conclusions: We highlight the importance of implementing standardised mental health outcome measurement in ADHD medication trials. We corroborate existing evidence that ADHD symptoms and EF are related to depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. Like some existing studies, we found no evidence that EF moderated the relationship between ADHD and depression symptoms; other cognitive and biopsychosocial factors may moderate this relationship. Our findings from a transdiagnostic sample of children support a continuum model of ADHD symptoms and burden, rather than the traditional discrete diagnostic category.

Background: Identifying shared and distinct Executive Function (EF) impairments in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at an early stage in development, may help inform aetiological theories and early interventions. However, there is lack of clarity around the pattern of EF impairments in early childhood, when both disorders are first emerging. Objectives: This systematic review aims to delineate early-childhood EF profiles by examining studies comparing the EF outcomes of children with and without ASD or ADHD. Methods: PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and PsycINFO were systematically searched in May 2020 and January 2021 to identify published, quantitative studies of global and specific EF (Inhibition, Cognitive Flexibility, Working Memory, Planning and Attentional Control), comparing children with a diagnosis of ASD or ADHD to children without ASD or ADHD (age range: 2-6 years). The Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist was used to evaluate study quality. The review was conducted in line with PRISMA guidelines. Results: A total of 29 empirical studies (10 ADHD and 19 ASD studies) met criteria for inclusion. EF profiles in preschool ASD were characterised by medium-large impairments in cognitive Shifting, and, in most cases, Inhibition; but findings with regards to Working Memory and Planning were mixed. There was no evidence of deficits in Attention shifting. There was also a lack of evidence of EF impairments in preschoolers under the age of four. ADHD studies consistently reported significant, medium-large Inhibition and Planning deficits, and in most cases Working Memory deficits. Shifting was impaired, but to a smaller degree compared to other EF domains, and only when assessed by informant report. Findings with regards to sustained Attention in ADHD were also mixed. Conclusions: Current evidence indicates overlap but also some specificity in EF impairments in preschool ASD and ADHD. There were differences in the degree to which individual domains were impaired, with Shifting more consistently impaired in ASD, and Inhibition, Working Memory and Planning in ADHD. Study findings were often contradictory, with informant-based measures revealing more robust EF impairments than laboratory-based tasks, and evidence of EF impairments mainly found in studies of older preschoolers.

Many people with acquired brain injury are affected by social cognition and executive function difficulties, including the perception, processing, and decision-making based on interpersonal information. This study sought to examine the effectiveness of an external prompt, content-free cueing, to support participants in their performance on a measure of social cognition, the Strange Stories Task, in a within-subjects design. Twenty-five participants had known social cognition difficulties and were recruited from a communal neurorehabilitation centre. In the experimental ‘strategy cue’ condition, participants were instructed to invoke an earlier brief training on perspective-taking. In the control ‘tally cue’ condition, participants were required to count the number of content-free cues on a piece of paper. Participants’ responses on the Strange Stories Task were not significantly more accurate, but they responded roughly 0.75s more quickly in the ‘strategy cue’ condition compared to the ‘tally cue’ condition. However, this was only the case when participants completed the ‘strategy cue’ condition after the ‘tally cue’ condition. Findings and clinical implications are discussed in the context of supporting people’s social cognition alongside executive function difficulties after acquired brain injury.

This thesis was submitted as partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctorate of Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) and comprises an empirical paper and a systematic review. The systematic review sought to understand the relationship of maternal depression and ADHD in the children of mothers who have experienced a period of depression, including during pregnancy. There are a variety of theories about how depression in mothers impacts upon rates of ADHD in children, some of which include shared genetic factors, changes in parenting practices, and an increase in other risk factors which may be related to an increased risk of ADHD, such as smoking during pregnancy. In order to assess the relationship between maternal depression and ADHD in children, the systematic review focussed upon longitudinal studies only. Three databases were used to collect the studies (Medline, Web of Science and PsychInfo), resulting in 1,223 studies being reviewed and fourteen articles being included in the review. Results indicated that a significant relationship between maternal depression and ADHD symptoms in children were reported in the majority of studies. This relationship was also significant when researchers took into account children’s early life temperament, or past ADHD symptoms. There were however several limitations of the studies reviewed including a bias towards wealthy westernised countries, limited consideration of the effect of fathers’ mental health on children and using measures of ADHD which were mainly completed by parents and may be less accurate. The empirical study looked at the relationship between executive function (a collection of brain processes which help us to think, plan, and problem solve) and symptoms of attention problems and hyperactivity, and conduct problems in young children. Although inattention/hyperactivity symptoms (e.g., fidgeting, not paying attention) and conduct problem symptoms (e.g., lying, 8 aggression) commonly co-occur, it is conduct problems which better predict the development of serious behaviour problems and antisocial/criminal behaviour later in life. Therefore, it is particularly important to understand which processes underlie each set of symptoms. One aspect of executive function is the ability to make decisions (e.g., by inhibiting incorrect responses and being flexible in how one responds) when having to manage our emotions under conditions of reward or loss, known as “hot” executive function. “Cool” executive function refers to similar skills but when there are no clear rewards/losses (and hence emotions are less activated). Previous research has found that symptoms of those with conduct problem disorders (such as Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Conduct Disorder), but not inattention/hyperactivity symptoms (including those diagnosed in Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; ADHD) are associated with difficulties on hot executive function tasks. Likewise, past research has found that attention/hyperactivity problems, but not conduct problem symptoms are more strongly related to cool executive function. However, research on this topic in samples of younger children when problems are just beginning to develop is less common. The present study assessed cool and hot executive function in relation to inattentionhyperactivity and conduct problems, in a sample of children referred for emotional and behavioural problems (average age = 6.09 years). The study is important as understanding the underlying processes of particular symptom profiles will help inform the development of tailored preventative interventions in young children. Overall 132 children took part in the study. Each child was given a variety of tasks to complete, some of which assessed cool executive function,(working memory and cognitive flexibility), whilst other tasks related to hot executive function (reward-related decision-making tasks). Against our hypotheses, cool executive function was not significantly related to either inattention-hyperactivity or conduct problems. Also, against predictions, conduct problem symptoms were not uniquely related to scores on hot executive function tasks. However, further analysis on the hot executive function tasks found that children who had concurrent high inattention-hyperactivity and conduct problem symptoms had the poorest performance on hot executive function tasks, 9 including increased risk taking, slower learning, and they were less sensitive to punishment. It was therefore concluded that in young children, hot executive function difficulties appear to be related to a combination of inattention/hyperactivity and conduct problem symptoms.

Executive function and some forms of memory have been observed to decline with age. These cognitive declines are often subtle and do not necessarily impede the ability of an individual to lead a perfectly fulfilling and independent life. However, a better understanding of what may influence these small deficits could contribute towards our understanding of what happens when executive dysfunction occurs with greater severity across different patient cohorts. Considerable work has already been done exploring these dynamics regarding cortical and subcortical regions, but white matter correlates are not so well understood. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the microstructure of frontal white matter pathways and age-related decline in three key cognitive processes associated with executive function (attention, working memory and planning). Methods: 104 healthy participants (18 – 79 years) were recruited for this cross-sectional observational study. Neuroimaging and behavioural measures were collected. Data from a subset of 18 participants was used to establish reliability of manual and semi-automated tractography protocols for the cingulum, corpus callosum, frontal aslant tract (FAT), inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF), superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) system and uncinate fasciculus in young and older adults. Data a separate group of 86 participants (18 – 77 years) were then analysed to test for age related changes to tract microstructure, task performance and mediation effects of tract microstructure on age-related decline of cognition. Results: Overall volume and HMOA measures from manual and semi-automated dissection protocols demonstrated good reliability in both young and older adult age groups except for the third segment of the corpus callosum, the right FAT and right IFOF. Significant age-related declines were observed across all behavioural measures and all tracts except for the posterior segments of the corpus callosum, right cingulum, bilateral SLFI, and left SLF II. Significant task/tract correlations were identified across several different pathways and behavioural measures. Three tracts (left cingulum, left IFOF and left uncinate) demonstrated either a partial or full mediation effect on age-related declines in performance of episodic memory and planning. Conclusion: First, results from this study have established that manual and semi-automated dissection protocols are reliable for both young and older adults in a wide range of white matter pathways. Second, this study has described for the first-time ageing trajectories of the frontal aslant tract and SLF system. Lastly, this study has supported the role of the cingulum and IFOF in attention and working memory processes and has highlighted a potentially more prominent role than originally supposed for the uncinate in executive function.

Background: Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) have motor difficulties which impact their everyday activities. Difficulties with Executive Function (EF) are commonly reported with relationships between EF and motor skills poorly understood. A key component of EF is Inhibition, important for classroom learning and less explored in children with DCD. Study One aimed to investigate the EF skills of children with and without DCD focusing on Inhibition, and Study Two aimed to examine relationships between Inhibition and motor skills. Method: Participants were 25 children with DCD aged six-ten years, and 25 age and gender matched typically developing (TD) children. They completed experimental measures of Inhibition, standardised tests of motor and EF skills, and parents and teachers completed standardised EF questionnaires. Results: Study One. Children with DCD had significantly poorer performance on some experimental and standardised measures of Inhibition and on parent and teacher reports of overall EF skills. Inhibition difficulties were reported by parents but not teachers. Results emphasize the potential for task and environmental demands to influence EF and Inhibition performance. Study Two. Significant relationships between at least one Inhibition measure and all areas of motor skills were found across groups. However, relationships differed across motor domains and Inhibition measures. Many within group correlations were also significant, although there was variation across the DCD and TD groups. This suggests that relationships between EF and motor skills are different for those with and without DCD. Conclusion: Children with DCD have difficulties with Inhibition across a range of measures and some aspects of performance are associated with their level of motor skills. The motor and Inhibition difficulties observed in children with DCD appear to be interdependent. Assessment of children with DCD should include an examination of Inhibition skills. Interventions should consider development of Inhibition as well as motor skills.

Executive function (EF) is an umbrella term for a group of related yet distinguishable cognitive functions responsible for flexibly controlling and directing attention and behaviour. EF is important in the top-down control of decision-making and the ability to direct attention towards the fulfilment of long-term goals. EF, particularly in emotive contexts, is still developing during adolescence. EF may also be affected negatively by various threats to optimal EF development, including depression and HIV infection. Immature or suboptimal EF may predispose to risk-taking behaviour, including risky sexual behaviour and substance use, which in turn increases the risk of HIV transmission and poorer health and socioeconomic outcomes. I have three major hypotheses which are explored in this thesis. Firstly, I hypothesise that there is a relationship between HIV and poorer EF in adolescents. Secondly, I hypothesise that poorer EF is associated with increased risky sexual behaviour and substance use in adolescents, and lower adherence to treatment in HIV-positive adolescents. Thirdly, I propose that musical training, particularly group drumming, is a feasible and acceptable intervention to enhance EF and mood in HIV-positive adolescents. The thesis begins with an introduction to the relevant concepts and background literature (Chapter 1) before presenting a systematic review and meta-analyses of EF in HIV-affected children and adolescents globally (Chapter 2). It then shifts to the region of interest, rural South Africa, and presents the validation of a tablet-based EF assessment tool (Chapter 3) followed by a cross-sectional study assessing the relationship between EF and risk-taking behavioural outcomes, including behaviourally acquired HIV, in late adolescent females (Chapter 4). Finally, musical training is explored as a potential intervention to improve EF. A literature review on musical training and EF, and the potential socio-emotional effects of group drumming (Chapter 5) provides the background to a feasibility trial assessing the feasibility and acceptability of a group drumming intervention aiming to improve EF in HIV-positive adolescents in rural South Africa (Chapter 6). The thesis concludes with a general discussion chapter which integrates the findings and considers potential future directions (Chapter 7). Study 1 found evidence for EF deficits in perinatally acquired HIV; evidence was limited for behaviourally acquired HIV. Study 2 found that the OCS-EF is a valid and feasible tool for measuring EF reliably amongst adolescents in rural South Africa. Study 3 found that EF is only weakly associated with certain risky behavioural outcomes, and that adolescents with behaviourally acquired HIV may only have limited EF deficits relating to verbal working memory. Study 4 found that a group drumming programme is a feasible and acceptable intervention amongst HIV-positive adolescents in rural South Africa, with promising effects on psychosocial wellbeing, including mood, but no effects on EF.

Executive functioning (EF) was investigated in 134 young adolescents with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in comparison to 141 students not requiring additional support (Non-SEN peers). These students (11-14 years) completed standardized assessments of vocabulary, decoding and non-verbal reasoning, and verbal and non-verbal EF assessments of inhibition, executive working memory, switching and fluency. Significant group differences were found in all these measures (verbal switching excepted), but no significant differences were found between three SEN subgroups (school action, school action plus, and those with statements) apart from non-verbal inhibition. Cluster analyses suggested that despite significant group differences, both SEN and Non-SEN students were often included in the same clusters. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that the best model of EF performance for the SEN group involved an immature organisation. Parents, teachers and students completed the BRIEF questionnaire for ‘inhibit’, ‘working memory’ and ‘shift’. All three groups provided significantly different ratings for the SEN and Non-SEN groups, although the ratings varied for each group. Teachers also completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and analyses revealed significantly higher concerns for the SEN group. Binary logistic regressions were conducted to identify predictors of SEN status. Significant predictors from just the EF variables included inhibition, switching/shift and fluency. In the final analysis which included the three standardized assessments the significant predictors were decoding and the BRIEF ‘shift’ construct. The findings have increased the limited knowledge about the characteristics of young adolescent students with SEN. These students were identified as having significantly lower EF abilities than their Non-SEN peers; the structural organization of the EF abilities appears similar to younger individuals, and the most important predictors of their SEN status were decoding and shift. Task management and inflexibility (‘shift’) were important issues for coping with the demands of early secondary school life.

Attention plays a pivotal role in information processing by filtering the potential information available based on individual goals, states, and past experiences. Early attention control is thought to underpin and support executive functions (EFs), which in turn are predictive of later behavioural outcomes. The development of attention and EF is partly subject to environmental influences, such as the use of digital media. There is a rapid increase in accessibility and usability of mobile touchscreen devices (i.e. smartphones and tablets) in the family environment, but rigorous scientific research investigating the impact on the developing mind lags behind the widespread usage. To address this, children with different levels of touchscreen use were followed longitudinally at 12 months, 18 months, and 3.5 years, and tested on attention control (bottom-up, and top-down), and EF (updating, shifting, and inhibiting). Children with high touchscreen use were faster on single (i.e. pop-out) visual search, with the amount of concurrent use associated with the speed of bottom-up attention in a linear manner. This saliency bias was repeatedly found on saccadic control tasks, where steady longitudinal high use was associated with a quickening of attention to peripheral salient onsets with a resulting detriment to top-down performance, i.e. disengagement and inhibition of attention. Finally, top-down difficulties were also seen in EF tasks in high users at 3.5 years, particularly in processes of updating and shifting between abstract mental sets. These results point to an influence of touchscreens use on the emerging attention and EF systems, in a way that experience of salient and contingent digital content elicits automatic biases to bottom-up processing, and displaces competency of top-down control and/or increases reliance on stimulus-response pairings. Future studies are needed to demonstrate causality, and to understand long-term trajectories and the interplay between bottom-up and top-down processes over time.

Struggling readers, or students who read below grade level but have strong phonological awareness, may benefit from using instructional tools like graphic organizers (GOs) while reading. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between reading comprehension and teacher-generated graphic organizers (GOs) as they support executive function for struggling readers. The use of GOs to support reading comprehension was grounded in cognitive load theory as it combines with the construction-integration model of reading to highlight the importance and potential weakness of executive function. Although researchers have identified component parts of reading comprehension and different instructional tools for supporting working memory and reading comprehension, research has not looked for the potential support relationship between executive function and instructional tools like GOs. The study investigated to what extent do teacher-generated graphic organizers improve reading comprehension for underachieving readers and to what extent do graphic organizers influence reading comprehension when controlling for executive function (EF; student and parent ratings of executive function, working memory, and inhibition)? In a between and within groups design, 21 ninth grade students assigned to two sections of a remedial English class (Class A n = 11, Class B n = 10) participated in a 3-week short-story unit. The dependent variable was reading-comprehension quiz score. Findings show that independent-samples t tests compared the reading-comprehension quiz scores for each quiz by treatment (GO or no GO) and found there was no statistically significant difference between classes. In addition, a partial correlation was used to correlate the use of teacher-generated GOs and reading comprehension when controlling for executive-function composite (student and parent ratings of executive function, working memory, and inhibition). Correlations did not show any statistical significance. This study combined research that is typically conducted in the lab in one-on-one testing (i.e., neuropsychological testing) and classroom testing (i.e., reading comprehension) to highlight the importance of both the individual student challenge and teacher instructional tools. Future studies may focus on increasing sample size to improve statistical power to detect statistical significance, investigating the influence of educator engagement with teacher-generated GOs, and which visual components are most useful when included in a GO. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Reading comprehension is a complex interactional process whereby the accumulated meaning of sounds, words, and sentences is integrated to form a meaningful representation of text. It is well established that many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have reading comprehension difficulties, but less is understood about the underlying processes contributing to these deficits. The weak central coherence theory is a long-standing explanation, but more recently, oral language and executive functions are argued to explain poor reading comprehension in ASD. The goals of this project were: (1) to assess several aspects of reading comprehension and (2) to evaluate possible predictors (oral language, central coherence, and executive function) of reading comprehension in ASD. Participants with ASD (n = 21) between 8- and 14-years were compared to typically developing (TD; n = 21) peers matched on age, socioeconomic status, oral language, and word reading abilities across three studies. Study 1 examined participants' context integration while reading using both button-press and eye-tracking measures. Button-press results indicated that participants with ASD had poor sentence comprehension, but this was not explained by poor integration as predicted by the weak central coherence account or poor semantic knowledge as predicted by the oral language account. Eye tracking results showed increased looks back to the context (i.e., regressions), indicating general comprehension difficulties for the ASD group. Study 2 used a novel comprehension monitoring approach to assess story comprehension across visual, listening, and written modalities. Results demonstrated that the ASD group had poor story comprehension across all three modalities. Again, this was not explained by weak central coherence or poor oral language. Study 3 assessed the inter-relationships and contributions of word reading, central coherence, executive function, and oral language to reading comprehension, and found that all components were highly related in the ASD group. Word reading was a highly significant predictor, and after accounting for word reading, oral language was the only additional significant predictor of reading comprehension in ASD. Together, these three studies suggest complex inter-relationships between reading comprehension, word reading, central coherence, executive function, and oral language that should be further evaluated in future studies with larger samples. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This thesis examines the profiles of difficulty seen in three groups of impaired children (10 – 15 years), those with language only impairment (DLD), literacy only impairment (dyslexia) and comorbid literacy and language impairment (D-DLD). The aim of the project is to establish whether or not distinct profiles of difficulty can differentiate between groups. Performance of the impaired groups was compared to both a chronological age matched group (CAs) and younger literacy and language ability level groups. Performance was assessed for literacy, language, phonology, processing, short-term memory, working memory, executive function, attention and central executive measures over two time points. The three groups showed qualitatively different profiles of impairment. They did however share an overlap in certain difficulties which may explain their high rates of comorbidity. The DLD group showed mild difficulty in spelling, phonological awareness and severe difficulty in language but were unimpaired in executive function, processing speed and short-term memory. The dyslexic group showed difficulty in word level literacy, phonology and verbal short-term memory. The D-DLD group showed difficulty in word level and text level literacy, phonology, language, executive function and verbal short-term memory. This is the first project to include DLD, dyslexic, D-DLD, age-matched and ability matched groups simultaneously. It is also the first project to compare these different groups simultaneously over an extensive battery of working memory measures. It reveals distinct patterns of difficulty, in each of the impaired groups, that has implications for models previously conceptualising the overlap between the disorders. It also has implication for intervention in the classroom based on the strengths and weaknesses revealed for each group. Objectives: To establish the patterns of impairment in each of my groups, and to suggest implications for current conceptualisations of overlap, and methods of classroom intervention.

Executive function (EF) is becoming a more widely used term to explain student behaviors, yet research on EF in education is limited. This qualitative study addressed a gap in literature by examining teacher perceptions of students with EF deficits, as well as teacher preparedness and desire to learn more about EF. Perceptions of third grade, sixth grade, and ninth grade teachers in a Midwestern public school district were explored. Thirty-three teachers completed questionnaires and 12 teachers were interviewed one-on-one. As the research questions were analyzed, five themes emerged: Theme 1: Knowledge of EF, sub-theme: Professional Development; Theme 2: EF Skills Addressed, sub-themes: Classroom Organization, Behavior; Theme 3: Everyone is Responsible, sub-themes: Parents, Time, Early Childhood Education, It Takes a Village; Theme 4: They are in Every Class, sub-themes: Class Clown, Lazy; and Theme 5: Middle School is the Age, sub-theme: If not by Middle then High School. The study showed teachers are addressing some EF deficits, yet lack formal training and knowledge to teach all EF skills, and are in need of interventions specific to individuals separate from whole class systems. The teachers expressed a desire to learn more about EF due to student behaviors exhibited in their classrooms. The researcher recommends school districts provide professional development (PD) on EF and assess student EF deficits to determine specific interventions needed for student success. Further research on at-risk populations and prevalence of EF deficits, and EF PD in education with measurement of successful interventions are meaningful areas of future exploration. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Executive Function (EF) comprises general purpose control processes that regulate thoughts and behaviours. Underlying core skills have been identified, including Shift: the ability to move between mental states, operations, or tasks. Research implicates EF (and Shift specifically) in academic achievement and broader life functioning throughout the life span. Most attempts to develop EF skills directly have focused on memory aspects and/or younger children. Reported benefits are controversial and perhaps limited. This research tackles a particular gap: intervention with adolescent core EF skills, with a focus on Shift, in a typical educational setting. All participant sampling was by convenience. Two experts in EF and three local stakeholders guided intervention development. 22 mainstream Year 8 students (one tutor group) trialled the resulting intervention prototype. A teaching assistant facilitated the implementation, with the form tutor present to occasionally assist. Being an exploratory evaluation, this research used mixed methods with an emphasis on qualitative data. Semi-structured group interviews with experts and a stakeholder focus group were used during the development phase. Standardised baseline and retest data were collected up to three weeks before and four weeks after the implementation phase respectively: a half term's trial during morning form-time. This was complemented by semi-structured feedback interviews with the participating adults and eight students. Transcripts were analysed with Thematic Analysis and the researcher's diary with Content Analysis. The quantitative data were summarised with descriptive statistics and additionally analysed with nonparametric inferential statistics. The study extends available data describing the near benefits of EF intervention. It explores the likely utility of EF intervention both theoretically and from an implementation perspective.