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There is evidence that physical activity positively influences cognition and academic outcomes in childhood. This systematic review used a three-level meta-analytic approach, which handles nested effect sizes, to assess the impact of physical activity interventions. Ninety-two randomised control trials in typically developing children (5-12 years old, N = 25,334) were identified. Control group type and intervention characteristics including duration, frequency, and teacher qualification were explored as potential moderators. Results showed physical activity interventions improved on-task behaviour with a large effect size (g = 1.04, p = 0.03 (95% CI: 0.08-2.00), very low-certainty evidence) and led to moderate improvements in creativity (g = 0.70, p < 0.01 (0.20-1.20), low-certainty evidence). Small beneficial effects were found for fluid intelligence (g = 0.16, p = 0.03 (0.02, 0.30), moderate-certainty evidence) and working memory (g = 0.18, p = 0.01 (0.07-0.29), very low-certainty evidence), but no overall benefit was observed for attention, inhibitory control, planning, cognitive flexibility or academic outcomes. Heterogeneity was high, and moderator analyses indicated beneficial effects of physical activity (PA) with academic instruction of 6-10-week duration with moderate or moderate to vigorous intensity on mathematics outcomes and enriched PA programmes on language outcomes. In contrast, aerobic PA with moderate to vigorous intensity benefitted executive function outcomes. These results therefore suggest differential mechanisms of impact of different types of PA on different aspects of cognition.

Background: Early literacy and numeracy skills are developed during early childhood. Among the many factors that influence the development of such skills, the literature shows that the executive functions, especially the response inhibition (RI)--that is the capability to block out or to tune out what can be considered irrelevant information or action to the learning task--is one of the most essential functions. There are specific tests used to appraise these children's inhibition skills, but these tests are generally time-consuming, and demand specialized human resources. Objectives: We present a computational approach to model children's RI behaviour through the analysis of educational traces left in an educational app. This modelling allows the automatic and instant identification of the RI level of children without the need of a human-conducted test. Methods: Our modelling is based on two definitions of RI found in the literature, from which we derived a mathematical formalism of three variables we used to query the traces dataset and isolate the RI behaviour of each student from the learning traces generated in the app. The sample population is composed of children from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. The model is then assessed by comparing it to a traditional human-conducted RI test suitable for kindergarten children, the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulder (HTKS) task. Results and conclusions: The results show that our RI model can explain an important part of the HTKS variance (up to 0.45 according to the adjusted R[subscript 2]) when taking the HTKS results as a dependent variable for a multiple regression model. In practice, our model can be integrated in a learning app and become a powerful tool for instant preliminary identification of dysfunctional RI behaviour, especially in the early stages of children's education. Once students are identified by our model as having a dysfunctional RI behaviour, teachers can rapidly act to help them. Besides, the proposed model requires only very simple data to work, which means it can be easily integrated into different learning apps.

This meta-analysis aimed to systematically investigate the cognitive and linguistic correlates of both word decoding and reading comprehension among children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) across orthographies. Based on data from 26 studies of 1.92- to 18.92-year-old children with ASD, we found that (1) intelligence, theory of mind, and executive function exhibited modest associations (rs = 0.41, 0.46, and 0.39, respectively) with reading; (2) phonological awareness, semantic skills, and syntax skills also showed modest associations (rs = 0.53, 0.50, and 0.53, respectively) with reading; (3) cognitive and linguistic skills showed comparable contributions to word decoding and reading comprehension, when both skills were analyzed in the same model with meta-analytic structural equation modeling; (4) age, language type, publication type, sample type, and reading measures did not moderate the relations. Taken together, these findings suggested that although children with ASD exhibit language weaknesses, their linguistic skills still made important contributions to reading development beyond cognitive skills. Further, cognitive skills may compensate for language deficits in children with ASD's reading development. Implications for reading interventions in children with ASD were also discussed.

Reading comprehension difficulties exhibited by children with autism are related to executive function (EF) and theory of mind (ToM) deficits. However, the potential heterogeneity of ToM, EF, and reading comprehension abilities, and their interrelationships, among Chinese children with autism remains unclear. Using comprehensive sets of ToM and EF tasks, the present study assessed basic and advanced ToM, EF, and reading comprehension skills for 36 seven- to nine-year-old Hong Kong Chinese children with autism and 36 typically developing (TD) peers. Despite comparable age, intelligence, and working memory, children with autism performed significantly worse than their TD peers on advanced ToM and EF tasks and overall reading comprehension skills. Moreover, linear mixed-effects modelling analyses revealed that specific impairments in EF and ToM were associated with different components of reading comprehension deficits and language abilities in children with autism. These findings suggest that children with autism have multiple but specific cognitive and reading comprehension difficulties and that EF and ToM uniquely contribute to their deficits in reading comprehension.

The educational services available for fully included middle schoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the general education setting in the United States are not well known. Even less is known about how the executive functioning (EF) deficits of such youth are addressed in the classroom. The current study sought to identify the challenges, including EF, that middle schoolers with ASD face, determine the services that they receive on their Individualized Education Program (IEP), and also explore specific strategies used to build EF skills at school. A convenience data sample was obtained from focus groups with educational personnel (n = 15), and qualitative analyses of IEPs were conducted in middle schoolers with ASD with EF deficits (n = 23). Results confirmed that social communication and EF challenges are common. Multiple services and accommodations were identified, although EF challenges were rarely targeted on IEPs. Factors that may facilitate the success of EF strategies in the classroom are discussed. [For the corresponding grantee submission, see ED618973.]

Perspective-taking plays an important role in daily life, allowing consideration of other people's perspectives and viewpoints. This study used a large sample of 265 community-based participants (aged 20-86 years) to examine changes in perspective-taking abilities--a component of "Theory of Mind"--across adulthood, and how these changes may relate to individual differences in executive functions at different ages. Participants completed a referential-communication task (the "Director" task) while behavioral responses and eye movements were recorded, along with four measures of executive functions (inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility, and planning). Results revealed a quadratic fit of age in egocentric errors; performance on the task plateaued between 20 to [approximately]37 years old but showed a substantial decline from [approximately]38 years onward (i.e., increased egocentric errors). A similar pattern was established in eye-movement measures, demonstrating that advancing age led to a decrease in efficient attention orientation to a target. In other words, older adults were more distracted by a hidden competitor object (egocentric interference) and were therefore delayed in orienting their attention to the correct target object. Mediation analyses revealed that executive functions partially mediated the effect of age on perspective-taking abilities. Importantly, however, the relationship between age and egocentric bias in task performance remained significant when controlling for changes in executive functions, indicating a decline in social cognition abilities with advancing age that was independent of age-related declines in more domain-general abilities, such as executive functions.

This review aimed to investigate the use of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Automated Testing Battery (CANTAB) for people at risk of cognitive impairment, especially those born with Down syndrome and those born preterm. Six databases were searched according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standards, in addition to the bibliography index listed in the CANTAB site. Twenty four studies regarding Down syndrome and 17 regarding prematurity were reviewed and are here described. Both cognitive profiles were described, and their performance was compared on specific tasks and CANTAB tests. In this battery of tests, people with Down syndrome usually present impaired key cognitive domains, such as episodic memory and recognition memory. Results were presented considering general aspects described in the studies, specific findings such as dementia, the role of genetics, and cognitive profile, among other descriptions. Comparability between both populations in future studies is discussed.

Background: It has been suggested that children's writing is dependent on transcription and executive functions. However, there is a need for more research examining the relationships among those variables in primary school children, given that most existing studies are cross-sectional and assess transcription and executive functions separately, and there are scarce and mixed longitudinal findings. Aims: This study used a cross-lagged panel model to explore the relationships among transcription skills, executive functions and text quality from Grade 2 to Grade 3. Sample: The sample included 353 Portuguese children (195 boys, 155 girls) in Grade 2, who were reassessed in Grade 3. Methods: Children were assessed on transcription, executive functions and writing tasks at two time points. Results: Transcription skills and executive functions in Grade 2 positively predicted the same variables in Grade 3. At Grade 2, transcription skills were associated with executive functions and text quality. At Grade 3, we only found an association between executive functions and text quality. Finally, text quality in Grade 2 predicted transcription skills in Grade 3, but both transcription and executive functions in Grade 2 did not predict text quality in Grade 3. Conclusions: Transcription skills and executive functions seem to be stable over time, but previous performance on these skills does not seem to predict later text quality. Overall, these findings do put into question the direction of the typically assumed relationships, especially between transcription and text quality. Findings also provide information that can guide the development of instructional programmes in primary school.

This longitudinal study assessed the relative importance of second language exposure, motivational and attitudinal factors, and executive functions in predicting receptive vocabulary acquisition in children and adolescents after controlling for background characteristics (socio-economic status, non-verbal intelligence) and prior knowledge. The sample comprised 721 participants from French-speaking Belgium: 369 fifth-graders from 13 elementary schools and 352 eleventh-graders from 9 secondary schools. The background, input, and socio-affective data were obtained through questionnaires, the cognitive and language data through a round of computerized data collection, twice with an 18-month interval. While some input and motivational variables were predictive of vocabulary acquisition when analyzed separately, most of them lost significance once combined. Measures of executive functions were not related to vocabulary acquisition. Classroom input was predictive among children and adolescents, but other age-related differences emerged. The findings call for caution regarding the separate treatment of factors believed to be involved in second-language acquisition.

Japan's Social Thinking and Academic Readiness Training (START) program Academic Readiness (AR) lesson aims to improve self-regulation, executive function, and behavior problems in kindergarten children, but the effects of the START program AR lessons in unfavorable circumstances are unclear. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of the START program AR lesson in affected areas after the Great East Japan Earthquake. A cluster randomized trial was conducted with 111 5-year-old children in two kindergartens in Miyagi Prefecture to evaluate the effectiveness of the six-week AR lesson. One kindergarten was randomly chosen to implement the AR lesson, and the other maintained standard education. In the intervention group, trained classroom teachers provided the children with a 20-min AR lesson once a week. Executive function, behavioral self-regulation, and internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors were measured before and after the six-week intervention. The intervention group showed improved inhibitory control and enhanced behavioral self-regulation compared with the standard practice group. In addition, teachers' evaluations showed that children's internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors improved significantly. The results indicate that the START program AR lesson was effective in enabling teachers to help students improve executive function, self-regulation, and problematic behaviors. Therefore, educators and policy-makers should consider implementing the START program AR lesson in kindergartens after a disaster.

This study aimed to explore the effect of a mindfulness-based curriculum designed especially for preschoolers on facets of executive functions. Fifty-one preschoolers were randomly assigned to either a mindfulness and kindness curriculum (MC) or an active control dialogic reading program (DR). A battery of behavioral and neurophysiological tests was used to tap into facets of executive control (inhibition, shifting). Electroencephalography data were acquired during the attentional network task (ANT). Relative to DR, children in the MC group exhibited a reduced difference in the N200 Event related potentials (ERP) amplitudes for the congruent versus incongruent conditions during the ANT paradigm representing inhibition and shifting abilities. On the behavioral tasks, both groups improved on executive functions (EF) but on different facets; MC group showed increased inhibition and the DR group demonstrated significantly greater shifting abilities. The results highlight the sensitivity of electrophysiological data to detect subtle cognitive changes. The understanding of how mindfulness-based interventions in preschoolers affect facets of executive functions can enable further refinement and maximization of the benefits of these interventions for this age group.

Executive function (EF) is essential for academic achievement, successful work, and physical and mental health. Although evidence shows that several factors have been linked to EF, these results are mixed. This study aims to identify both biological and environmental variables associated with impaired EF in preschoolers. This study was a population-based cross-sectional study of healthy children aged 2-5 years from public and private schools in Chiang Mai, Thailand. EF was assessed using a parent report of the Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool (BRIEF-P). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to explore the biological and environmental factors relevant to impaired executive functioning. In a total of 1540 included children, 213 children (13.83%) were defined as impaired EF. We found that biological factors--male (odds ratio [OR], 1.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.04-1.91]), overweight/obesity (OR, 1.59, 95% CI [1.10-2.31]), less physical activity (OR, 1.77, 95% CI [1.10-2.84]), and environmental factors--low maternal education (OR, 1.61, 95% CI [1.13-2.31]), permissive parenting style (OR, 2.75, 95% CI [1.24-6.13]), and excessive screen exposure (OR, 1.66, 95% CI [1.15-2.41])--are associated with an increased risk of impaired EF. Adjusting modifiable factors, such as healthy weight status, positive parenting, appropriate screen time, and adequate physical activities, may be necessary for children to promote EF.

Purpose: The purpose of this scoping review was to synthesize the current evidence-based treatment practices used with school-aged children with any severity of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that could benefit the practice of speech-language pathologists (SLPs). Method: A scoping review of the literature was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. Included studies were assigned thematic labels based on a modified version of the Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System. Results: A total of 27 articles that covered 16 different treatment approaches met inclusion criteria for this study. Most studies included adolescent or teenage participants with moderate-severe TBIs. Treatment targets included executive functioning (n = 15), social competence (n = 6), postconcussive symptoms (n = 5), behavior (n = 3), family functioning (n = 1), and health-related quality of life (n = 1). The majority of current interventions for school-aged children with TBI include a multidisciplinary approach and components of family involvement education. Conclusions: Further research is needed on interventions that are specifically implemented by SLPs as well as protocols that include more heterogeneous samples (e.g., varied sociodemographic factors and injury severity) to allow for the development and testing of ecologically valid intervention practice. SLPs can use the results of this scoping review to individualize treatment based on the child's areas of need while considering individual characteristics and to provide person-centered intervention for children with school-aged TBI.

High-quality communicative interactions between caregivers and children provide a foundation for children's social and cognitive skills. Although most studies examining these types of interactions focus on child language outcomes, this paper takes another tack. It examines whether communicative, dyadic interactions might also relate to child executive function (EF) skills and whether child language might mediate this relation. Using a subset of data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, dyadic interactions between 2-year-olds and their mothers were coded for three behaviors: symbol-infused joint engagement, routines and rituals, and fluency and connectedness. Child language was assessed at age 3 and three facets of EF (self-regulation, sustained attention, and verbal working memory) were assessed at age 4.5. Structural equation modeling showed that dyadic interaction related to later child sustained attention and verbal working memory, indirectly through child language and directly related with child self-regulation. This suggests that communicative interactions with caregivers that include both verbal and non-verbal elements relate to child EF, in part through child language. Our findings have implications for the role of caregiver interactions in the development of language and cognitive skills more broadly.

During childhood, the ability to limit problem behaviors (i.e., externalizing) and the capacity for cognitive regulation (i.e., executive function) are often understood to develop in tandem, and together constitute two major components of self-regulation research. The current study examines bi-directional relations between behavioral problems and executive function over the course of childhood and adolescence. Relying on a diverse sample of children growing up in low-income neighborhoods, we applied a random intercept cross-lagged panel model to longitudinally test associations between behavioral problems and executive function from age 4 through age 16. With this approach, which disaggregated between- and within-child variation, we did not observe significant cross-lagged paths, suggesting that within-child development in one domain did not strongly relate to development in the other. We also observed a moderate correlation between the stable between-child components of behavioral problems and executive function over time in our preferred model, suggesting that these two domains may be relatively distinct when modeled from early childhood through adolescence.

Relational thinking, the ability to represent abstract, generalizable relations, is a core component of reasoning and human cognition. Relational thinking contributes to fluid reasoning and academic achievement, particularly in the domain of math. However, due to the complex nature of many fluid reasoning tasks, it has been difficult to determine the degree to which relational thinking has a separable role from the cognitive processes collectively known as executive functions (EFs). Here, we used a simplified reasoning task to better understand how relational thinking contributes to math achievement in a large, diverse sample of elementary and middle school students (N = 942). Students also performed a set of ten adaptive EF assessments, as well as tests of math fluency and fraction magnitude comparison. We found that relational thinking was significantly correlated with each of the three EF composite scores previously derived from this dataset, albeit no more strongly than they were with each other. Further, relational thinking predicted unique variance in students' math fluency and fraction magnitude comparison scores over and above the three EF composites. Thus, we propose that relational thinking be considered an EF in its own right as one of the core, mid-level cognitive abilities that supports cognition and goal-directed behavior.

This study examined relations between intentional self-regulation (ISR) and executive functions (EFs) among 84 Icelandic youth in Grade 6 (mean age 11.7 years; 51% girls) and their contributions to healthy and problematic outcomes a year later. ISR was indicated by the Selection, Optimization and Compensation model (SOC) and Self-Regulated Learning (SRL). EF was indicated by attention shifting, inhibition, and working memory (WM). Only WM was related to ISR. Furthermore, ISR tended to uniquely predict Grade 6 outcomes, but the inverse was less true. In Grade 7, EF but not ISR uniquely predicted national test scores, and symptoms of depression and anxiety, whereas ISR remained a stronger predictor of Positive Youth Development (PYD) and risk behavior. These findings suggest a limited relation between ISR and EF, and that ISR is important to the general well-being of youth, whereas EFs may play a role in the development of problems and academic achievement.

The lack of research exploring the influence of dynamic visual narratives on inference skills prompted the present study with an aim to profile the inference skills in school children between the ages of 6 years and 9 years 11 months using dynamic visual narratives. A total of 80 participants were considered for the study. An animated story was designed as the dynamic visual narrative stimuli based on which an "inference task" was formulated, which included forced-choice questions and free-response questions. The responses of the forced-choice questions were analyzed quantitatively using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), while the responses from the free-response questions were analyzed qualitatively. The results revealed an increase in inference skills with age, with children using less seductive details, beginning to display inductive inference, and providing multiple inferences. The inference profiles obtained from the study can serve as evidence for the development of bridging inference skills from dynamic visual narratives in children.

Brain connectivity of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is heterogenous, as are the behavioral manifestations. The current study investigated brain-behavior relationships in the context of social skills and executive function profiles with data from the Autism Brain Imaging Database Exchange II. We calculated connectivity measures from diffusion tensor imaging using Bayesian estimation and probabilistic tractography. Subsequently, we performed structural equation modeling by regressing three latent factors, yielded from an exploratory factor analysis, onto total default mode network (DMN) connectivity. Both social regulation processing and self-directed cognitive processing factors moderately, negatively correlated with total DMN connectivity. Our findings indicate social regulation processing difficulties in youth with ASD may be attributable to impaired connectivity between the anterior and posterior DMN.

Individual differences in reading performance between children appear from the onset of literacy acquisition. One possible explanation for this variability is the influence of inhibition in reading ability, a topic that has received very little research attention. Nevertheless, children often make guessing errors characterized by replacing a word with an orthographic neighbor, possibly linked to failing inhibition. The present study aims to evaluate the role of inhibition during word and sentence reading and compare its effects in spoken and motor tasks. Participants comprised 25 children in Grades 2 and 3 (M[subscript age] = 8; 2). The children performed five inhibition tasks in reading (words, sentences), spoken (words, sentences) and motor modalities. Within the two reading tasks, inhibition demands were assessed using pairs of orthographic neighbors for which the frequency was manipulated. Accuracy, types of errors, latency, and response times were measured. GLMM analyses demonstrated that children were sensitive to the inhibitory demands of both spoken tasks and of the sentence reading task regarding accuracy, latency, and response times. Indeed, children made more mistakes and were slower when inhibitory demands were augmented. They also made more guessing errors in the word reading task. No such inhibitory effect was found in the motor task. Moreover, correlational analyses revealed that children who showed better inhibitory skills were able to read words and texts more accurately. These findings suggest that children need to utilize inhibitory resources when processing words or sentences and that these inhibitory skills are involved in overall reading ability.

This study examined the effects of cognitively challenging physical activity games on students' executive functions and situational interest in physical education. Participants were 144 fourth- and fifth-grade students (75 boys, 69 girls) from four elementary schools. A four-group, repeated measures, cross-over quasi-experimental design was used in this acute experiment including a physical education session. One fourth- and one fifth-grade class from each school were randomly assigned to Group 1 with cognitively challenging physical activity games, Group 2 with a session for teaching soccer skills, Group 3 with a session for teaching track and field skills, and Group 4 (waiting-list control group) with cognitively challenging physical activity games after the post-test. Pre- and post-test measures for executive functions and a post-test measure for situational interest were included. Group 1 students, who were involved in cognitively challenging physical activity games, improved their scores in the executive functions more than students who participated in the sessions with soccer or track and field skills and waiting-list control group students. The positive effects on students' executive functions were replicated when the cognitively challenging physical activity games session was implemented in the waiting-list control group. Some improvements on executive functions for students who participated in the soccer skills session were found. Students who played the cognitively challenging physical activity games reported higher scores on novelty compared to students in the soccer or track and field groups. These results support the effectiveness of the cognitive challenging physical activity games for triggering students' executive functions in physical education.

Virtual reality (VR) is the computer simulation of a three-dimensional environment that a person can interact with using special electronic equipment, such as a headset with an integrated display. Often coupled with VR, exergames are video games that involve physical exercise. Little is known regarding the chronic effects of exergaming through VR chon cognitive functions. Eleven young participants were enrolled in this crossover exploratory study. They had to follow two trainings of 5 consecutive days, 15 min per day, interspaced by a 1-month washout period. Trainings were performed in a random order: (1) a video training using shadow boxing fitness videos (SBV) and (2) a VR training using a three-dimensional game where the aim is to cut moving cubes with a sword in each hand. Before and after each training period, a battery of cognitive tests was performed to assess executive functions, such as attention (change blindness), reaction time, response inhibition (go/no-go, Stroop task), or flexibility (trail making test). Fine motor skills were also evaluated through a Fitt's task. No effect of the SBV training was observed on any of the cognitive functions tested. On the contrary, a significant increased performance in selective attention and observation tests was found after VR training, as well as in inhibitory processes (Stroop and go/no-go). Other performances were unaffected by either VR or SBV training. The present study argues that VR exergaming is a promising tool to promote cognitive enhancement but targets specific functions according to the type of interface/game that is used.

Executive functions are widely considered as an umbrella term for the higher order cognitive processes that contribute to goal-directed behavior. In addition, executive functions are highly correlated with positive academic outcomes. To promote the development of executive functions among youth within educational settings, some theorists and clinicians have proposed methods of explicitly instructing executive functioning skills, such as planning, organization, time management, and self-regulation skills. This critical review serves to evaluate the theoretical rationale and the supporting evidence of the six most cited handbooks for improving executive functions skills among elementary and high school students via class-wide instruction. Research that cited these handbooks and that addressed whole-class instruction of executive skills was evaluated and critiqued according to the four levels of the Every Students Succeeds Act. The overall evidence supporting each handbook was then critiqued as lacking, emerging, or sufficient. Although the handbooks are informed by theory and clinical experience, the supporting research is limited to mostly Level 3 and 4 evidence, as defined by the ESSA framework, including only a handful of case studies and small sampled quasi-experimental studies. Overall, the evidence supporting the explicit instruction of executive functioning skills through a class-wide approach is lacking and more rigorous research is still required. Best practices for instructing executive functioning skills to students and directions for future research are discussed.

Purpose: In light of the importance of preschool oral narrative skills as precursors to literacy, this exploratory study examined expressive language skills among emergent bilingual Latine preschoolers using a naturalistic personal narrative task. To understand the factors that support language use in the personal narrative context for this population, we examined the contribution of children's executive function (EF) skills to their narrative language abilities. Method: Children completed two subtests from the Preschool Self-Regulation Assessment to measure EF and produced two personal narratives in response to conversational prompts. A series of linear regressions were used to evaluate the relation between children's EF skills and their narrative production ability, narrative organization, and expressive language skills derived from automated analyses of narrative samples. Results: EF was found to predict children's ability to produce a personal narrative but not the language skills children demonstrated in these narratives. Conclusions: The current findings suggest that EF is implicated in emergent bilingual Latine children's narrative abilities. At the preschool age, the contribution of EF to narrative language production is apparent in the global task of producing a narrative, rather than in the organizational or linguistic features of the narrative. As such, supporting both EF and narrative skills might be an important means of facilitating preliteracy among bilingual children.

Executive function (EF), a set of neurocognitive processes, is central to students' emotional and behavioral well-being. Despite students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) being at risk for negative long-term outcomes, there is a paucity of EF research with students at risk for EBD in early elementary school, an important identification and intervention period. Thus, we conducted a cross-sectional latent profile analysis with a sample of 1,154 kindergarteners and first graders identified as at risk for EBD to determine whether unique EF profiles existed and the extent to which profile membership was related to distinct patterns of functioning. Results indicated a theoretically supported, three-profile solution of mildly, moderately, and clinically at-risk EF profiles. Differences between EF profiles were noted such that students with moderately and clinically at-risk EF profiles demonstrated more problematic behaviors, less social competence, and greater language difficulties. We discuss implications for early identification, intervention efforts, and future research.

Explicit instruction is a teaching strategy that aims to avoid cognitive overload experienced by students which aims to improve academic performance. Previous research has mentioned working memory as a cognitive capacity that processes information and cognitive control and supports the success of explicit teaching on student academic performance. The core components of the executive function consist of working memory, but also inhibitory control and shifting. This review of the article provides new directions for the development of cognitive load theory on explicit teaching and research on executive function-based information processing aimed at avoiding cognitive load.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, students have endured drastic changes in educational routines. Such disruptions can be especially challenging for students who struggle with executive functioning, self-regulation and emotion regulation, such as students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and bipolar disorder. Using a framework of trauma-informed instruction, the authors supported classroom teachers in implementing sensory spaces for students with ASD, ADHD and bipolar disorder. The project included professional development and funding for teachers to develop, procure and offer sensory tools and strategies to assist students in recognising and managing emotions. The authors collected data on the effectiveness of the sensory supports, combining teacher surveys and student behaviour data. Results indicated increased teacher knowledge on trauma-informed instruction and use of sensory supports to promote executive functioning and self-regulation and decreased target behaviours in students based on structured observation and anecdotal teacher feedback.

Cognitive flexibility (CF) is the ability to shift between concepts or rules. Difficulty with CF is associated with autism (i.e., ASD) as it contributes to repetitive behaviours. However, little is known about CF skills of autistic adolescents with low intelligence. This study uses the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) to assess the CF of 36 adolescents, all with a Weschler full-scale IQ between 50 and 85, 14 of whom had an ASD diagnosis. The results indicated no statistically significant differences in WCST performance between those with and without ASD. It was also found that performance IQ significantly contributed to the WCST performance in the ASD group only, suggesting an autism-specific role of non-verbal cognitive functioning in CF.

Performance-based tools to assess school readiness domains such as Approaches to Learning are lacking in Low and Middle-Income Countries such as Kenya. This study aims to develop the Kenyan version of the FOCUS app (Finding Out Children's Unique Strengths), a game-like computer tablet assessment of two Approaches to Learning domains: mastery motivation and executive functions. We used a design-based research approach to develop and validate the FOCUS app, initially designed for the US and Hungarian Cultures, to suit the Kenyan context. We later followed children longitudinally from preschool to grade 1, to assess the applicability of the FOCUS app to the two grade levels. Results showed that the FOCUS app is valid and reliable. There was no significant difference in mastery motivation between the two waves. The FOCUS App can complement other school readiness tools to assess Approaches to Learning as one of the strategies to enhance school and life success.

Although the important role of children's executive function (EF) in their reading development has been well-established, less is known about the extent to which multilingual children's EF components vary and whether the variability in different EF abilities explains multilingual children's English reading achievement. The present study explored the US first-grade multilingual children's (N = 3,819) profiles of EF abilities and how the profile membership was associated with their English reading achievement, using a nationally representative sample of multilingual children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K: 2011) study. We fit latent profile analysis with various EF components, including working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, approaches to learning, and attentional focus, and found three distinct EF profiles in multilingual children: (a) "Below-Average EFs with Above-Average Cognitive Flexibility" (10.13%), (b) "Above-Average EFs" (84.09%), and (c) "Very Low Cognitive Flexibility" (5.78%). Controlling for kindergarten English reading achievement scores and demographic variables, children in the "Above-Average EFs" profile attained a significantly higher English reading achievement score than their peers, while children in the "Very Low Cognitive Flexibility" group had the lowest English reading achievement score. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding multilingual children's heterogeneity in EF and have implications for the early identification of and tailored intervention for multilingual children at risk for reading difficulties.

In this study, we investigated longitudinal reciprocal relations among reading, executive function, and social-emotional skills in students from Grades 2 to 5, using the data set from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011. We addressed several important gaps in the literature on longitudinal reciprocal relations by using latent factors to represent the executive function and social-emotional skills in latent growth models with structured residuals, separating between- and within-person effects, and examining sample effects with a general population sample, students with reading difficulties, and high-performing students. Our results showed longitudinal reciprocal relations between reading and executive function in high-performing students, such that with development, the contribution of executive function to reading grew stronger while the contribution of reading to executive function remained stable; we found no longitudinal reciprocal relations between reading and social-emotional skills in any of the three sample groups; and these patterns of results remained the same based on the control of socioeconomic status and sensitivity analyses. Together, the results of this study support the heterogenous hypothesis of mutualism theory in education: The effect of mutualism may be stronger in some contexts and populations than in others. Longitudinal reciprocal relations between executive function and reading may be driven mostly by high-quality and intensive learning and practice in reading, not by socioeconomic status.

Pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) improves the school readiness of all children, but less is known about whether associations between enrollment in Pre-K and different indicators of social-emotional and executive functioning (EF) skills are sustained as children move into and across elementary school. The current study examines associations between enrollment in the Boston Public Schools (BPS) Pre-K program and children's (N = 508) social-emotional, approaches to learning, and EF skills at both the start and end of kindergarten. Results from multilevel regression models revealed that children who enrolled in BPS Pre-K started kindergarten with lower internalizing behaviors and higher levels of task orientation than their peers. These associations, however, were not sustained through the end of kindergarten. Instead, there were emerging associations between BPS Pre-K and two dimensions of EF--working memory and inhibitory control--at the end of the kindergarten year. The results were robust to different model specifications, including inverse probability of treatment weighting. Taken together, the results highlight the importance of examining links between high-quality Pre-K and different indicators of children's social-emotional and EF skills across time in order to provide a more complete picture of how Pre-K supports different types of skills across time.

This randomized trial compared the first online parent training program for an evidence-supported executive function intervention for autism to in-person parent training with the same dose and content. Parents of autistic children (8-12 years-old; Full Scale IQ above 70) were randomized to in-person (n = 51) or online (n = 46) training. Training acceptability and feasibility were rated highly by parents, without significant differences between groups. The completion rate was lower for parents in the online versus the in-person training condition, but neither the total time spent with training materials, nor parent and child outcomes differed by condition. Parents reported that training resulted in a reduction in caregiver strain (Cohen's d = 0.66) and modest improvements in child flexibility, emotional control and global EF, but not planning and organization. Dose of parent training had a significant positive effect on child planning and organization problems. These findings did not support the hypothesized superiority of online to in-person training, but they did indicate online is as effective as in-person training at helping parents learn to improve their autistic children's EF abilities and reduce their own experience of parenting strain. Implications included increased access to training for parents who experience barriers to receiving in-person care.

Background: An interplay of emotional and cognitive aspects underlies academic performance. We focused on the contribution of such interplay to text comprehension. Aims: We investigated the effect of worry on comprehension and the role of two potential moderators of this effect: physiological self-regulation as resting heart rate variability (HRV) and working memory updating. Sample: Eighty-two seventh graders were involved in a quasi-experimental design. Methods: Students read an informational text in one of two reading conditions: to read for themselves to know more (n = 46; low-worry condition) or to gain the highest score in a ranking (n = 36; high-worry condition). Students' resting HRV was recorded while watching a video of a natural scenario. The executive function of working memory updating was also assessed. After reading, students completed a comprehension task. Results: Findings revealed the moderating role of HRV in the relationship between induced worry and text comprehension. In the high-worry condition, students with higher resting HRV performed better than students who read under the same instructions but had lower HRV. In contrast, in the low-worry condition, students with higher resting HRV showed a lower performance as compared to students with lower HRV. Finally, working memory updating was positively related to text comprehension. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the cognitive component of anxiety, that is, worry, plays a role in performing a fundamental learning activity like text comprehension. The importance of physiological self-regulation emerges clearly. In a condition of high worry, higher ability to regulate emotions and thoughts acts as a protective factor.

Recent studies and reviews have shown the positive effects of exergames (EXs) on physical activity (PA) and fitness in children and adolescents. Nevertheless, their effects on cognition have been scarcely explored, and no previous review has focussed on this relationship. The purpose of the research reported on here was to analyse the acute and chronic effects of the use of different EXs on the cognition of young people aged 6 to 18 years, to review potential confounders, and to elaborate a practical guide to using EXs in schools or extracurricular contexts. Studies were identified from 4 databases (Pubmed, SportDiscus, ProQuest and Web of Science) from January 2008 through January 2018. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. All the studies showed a positive effect of EXs on cognition. The review showed an acute improvement effect on executive functions (EFs) (visual attention, mental processing, working memory, response inhibition, and motor planning) and chronic benefits on mathematical calculation, self-concept, classroom behaviour, and on parental and interpersonal relationships. Only 5 studies used confounders. EXs are an effective and motivating tool to improve cognition in young people aged 6 to 18 years. Didactic recommendations to use EXs in school or extracurricular contexts are provided in this article.

This study aims to examine the effect of attention and coping skills training on the improvement of attention and coping skills of inclusive students with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder. It was conducted through the mixed method by using the quantitative and qualitative methods together. This study was conducted with the permission of Konya Provincial Directorate of National Education in the 2018-2019 education year. The participants were students with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder and their parents. The current study lasted 10 weeks in the spring of 2018-2019 education year. The data were collected through the Stroop TBAG test, Cancellation Test, KidCOPE Scale, and Parent Interview Form. A statistically significant difference is found between the pretest and posttest scores of positive coping, anger accusation and avoidance points (p<0,05). Consequently, it is found that the training has a positive effect on the coping skills of children. The results of the Turkish version of the cancellation test show a significant difference between the experimental group's pretest-posttest results in all sub-tests except regular letters total scanning, irregular letter number of wrong targets and regular letters number of canceled targets sub-test. The pretest and posttest Stroop test results of the experimental group shows that there is a significant difference in many subtests. However, section 3 error and time, section 4 error and section 5 correction subtests are found insignificant. A significant difference is found in all the others. In the interviews with the families, it was determined that the education process had positive contributions to the coping skills of the children.

This systematic literature review was conducted to explore the social validity of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) as a means of providing social skill instruction to students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Forty-one articles met the inclusion criteria, including five studies utilizing AR and the remaining 36 utilizing VR for social skill interventions. No studies implemented MR. The targeted skills of the studies included emotion recognition, relationship skills, social awareness, cooperation, and executive functioning. The intervention was considered effective in 63% of studies, not effective in 10% of studies, and mixed results in 27% of studies. The social validity indicators reported by researchers ranged from two to 14 of 17 determined categories. Findings indicate the primary socially valid reasons for utilizing AR/VR for social skill instruction were high student motivation toward the intervention and a positive attitude toward the technology. Findings indicate that increasing the role of parents, educators, and students as both social skill selectors and treatment agents and adding valid and reliable skill measures may improve the effects of an intervention. Sustainability may increase by providing training to both treatment agents and participants. AR has the potential to improve generalization and VR provides a practice environment for performance deficits. Combining these technologies may provide a more effective social skill intervention.

Implementation of university-based animal-assisted stress-prevention programs is increasing despite limited knowledge about impacts on students' academic success. This randomized trial (N = 309) examined the effects of a 4-week stress-prevention program with varying levels of human-animal interaction (HAI) and evidence-based content presentations on students' executive functioning (EF). Effects were examined while considering the moderating role of students' risk status (N = 121), based on history of academic failure, suicidal ideation, mental health, and learning issues. Intent-to-treat analyses showed that at-risk students showed the highest levels of EF (? = 4.74, p = 0.018) and metacognition (? = 4.88, p = 0.013) at posttest in the condition featuring 100% HAI, effects that remained 6 weeks later (?[subscript Global EF] = 4.48, p = 0.028; ?[subscript Metacognition] = 5.31,p = 0.009). Since evidence-based content presentations did not confer benefits for at-risk students' EF, even when offered in combination with HAI, universities should consider providing at-risk students with targeted programs emphasizing exposure to HAI.

Executive function skills are a set of cognitive processes that help individuals to engage in goal-directed behavior and have been linked to benefits in academic achievement and other learning-related outcomes. Recently, there has been interest in understanding how attending center-based preschool may relate to the development of executive function skills. This study used the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 (n [approximately] 9,270) to examine the association between preschool attendance and executive function skills in each grade of elementary school. The results of the analysis suggest small initial associations of preschool attendance with some subdomains of executive function (working memory) but not others (cognitive flexibility). These associations are heterogenous based on preschool type (i.e., public vs. private). The longitudinal analysis revealed rapid attenuation of initially positive associations, but also some indications of so-called "sleeper effects" emerged in late elementary school for working memory. Implications for research and policy are discussed.

Perezhivanie is a concept that was originally defined by Vygotsky, but it did not become a part of educational theory until recently. Today the concept has been revived, and it is now used as a way to include emotional aspects into education and educational research. The concept also provides a rationale for describing and forming personalised learning. The present study provides a literature review with the aim of covering the variety in definitions of the concept, as well as the different perspectives that the concept lends to research in general, and to research with focus on early years education in particular. Results show that the concept has been applied within the most common theoretical perspectives in use today (such as social, cultural and subjective perspectives) with an interesting array of outcomes, such as design of educational methods, analysis of different modes of experiencing and development of self-awareness. The use of this concept becomes a shift toward more emotional perspectives of learning and development that may not be altogether positive, as perezhivanie holds the risk of blurring the border between psychotherapy and education, which is something that would provide new challenges for education in general and especially for teacher education.

This study aims to investigate the development of executive functions (EFs) for pre-service teachers, their issues during teaching practice, and their motivations for entering the teaching profession. EF self-assessment questionnaires, logbooks, structured in-depth interviews, and support system evaluation forms were used to collect the data. The theory has suggested that school field experiences are particularly effective in student teacher development at the grade level. This study demonstrated a positive association between student teachers' EFs using four years of data from 45 pre-service teachers participating in teacher preparation programs. Fifteen pre-service teachers attending the fifth year of their teacher education program at a university in Thailand. This longitudinal study used four years (during 2017-2020) of data.

Background: The Early Learning Outcomes Measure (ELOM) assesses early learning programme outcomes in children aged 50-69 months. ELOM assesses gross motor development (GMD), fine motor coordination and visual motor integration (FMC & VMI), emergent numeracy and mathematics (ENM), cognition and executive functioning (CEF), and emergent literacy and language (ELL). Content and construct validity, reliability and cross-cultural fairness have been established. Aim: To establish the test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of the ELOM. Setting: Low income preschool and Grade R children. Methods: In study one, Test-retest reliability was investigated in a convenience sample of 49 English and isiXhosa speaking preschool children (Mean age = 60.77 months, SD = 3.70) tested and retested one week apart. In study two, concurrent validity was investigated in a convenience sample of 62 children (Mean age = 75.05 months, SD = 0.75). ELOM performance was compared with that on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV). Results: Test-retest reliability was established for ELOM Total score (r = 0.90, p < 0.001). The concurrent validity of ELOM Total and the WPPSI-IV Full Scale Composite scores was established (r = 0.64, p < 0.001). FMC & VMI, CEF, and ELL domains correlated significantly with their corresponding WPPSI-IV indices: visual spatial, fluid reasoning, processing speed, working memory, and verbal comprehension. Conclusion: The findings of both psychometric studies contribute further to the reliability and validity of the ELOM.

The diagnostic utility of the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities and Clinical Clusters was assessed in a sample of 52 children (26 Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disordered (ADHD) and 26 matched controls). Multivariate analysis of variance followed by post-hoc testing and d-ratios yielded some statistically significant and clinically meaningful differences between groups on the Cognitive Fluency Cluster and the Tests of Auditory Attention, and Rapid Picture Naming. Discriminant function analyses indicated that the WJ III COG Tests collectively classified 80.77% of the sample correctly (76.92% of controls and 84.62% of children with ADHD correctly identified). The Auditory Attention and Rapid Picture Naming tests were found to make the most significant contribution overall to the discriminant function. Using a cut-score of 85, the WJ-III COG Clinical clusters and subtests examined in this study offered fair to weak diagnostic utility based on indices of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive power, as well as results of Receiver Operating Characteristic curve analyses. Implications for research and practice are outlined. [Note: The page range (37-49) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct page range for this article is p36-49.]

Conservation and executive function (EF) are important early childhood skills; however, knowledge about their relationship is scarce. Hence, in this study, this relationship is investigated, and a comparison is conducted between the Piagetian conservation and EF tasks to obtain the total hemoglobin (mMmm) for the left and right brain activity in the prefrontal cortex of children, using a functional near-infrared spectroscopy. As a case study, a survey was conducted in the home of a four-year-old child (boy) in Japan in 2020. His home was selected as the primary place of investigation owing to the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 infection. The researcher was an expert in pedagogy and psychology. The following hypothesis could be formulated from the case studies analyzed herein: From the viewpoint of the brain activity in the prefrontal cortex, there may be a link between the conservation of quantity and EF. The preservation of quantity is closely related to mathematics education. This hypothesis can thus expand the scope of research and practice in the fields of psychology, education, and mathematics education. Furthermore, the results may help psychologists, psychiatrists, teachers, parents, and others involved in the development of children sublate the value of their concept of conservation and improve their support methods.

Students with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HASD) have specific challenges that can impede their successful transition from high school to college. The unique expertise of school counselors put them in an ideal position to assist these students with this process. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the social, communication/self-advocacy, and executive functioning deficits that impact the transition process and identify effective intervention strategies for school counselors.