This review paper outlines the issues associated with the assessment of executive function (EF) in children and adolescents, and describes the developmental profile of executive processes across childhood. At the outset, EF is defined, and cognitive and behavioral impairments associated with executive dysfunction (EDF) are described. A developmental model of EF is proposed incorporating four discrete but inter-related executive domains (attentional control, cognitive flexibility, goal setting, and information processing) which operate in an integrative manner to enable “executive control”. Characteristics that constitute traditional EF measures are discussed, as are the problems associated with test interpretation. The ecological validity of EF tests and neuropsychological assessment procedures are examined, and adjunct methods of measurement are presented to enable a more comprehensive and valid assessment of EF. Based on developmental and normative studies, the maturation of executive domains is mapped....

Very preterm infants are at high risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been proposed as a means of predicting neurodevelopmental outcomes in this population.

Cognitive deficits, school difficulties, and behavioral problems are often reported for children born with extremely low birth weight (ELBW; birth weight <1000 g) or very preterm (<28 weeks' gestation).^1-3 A recent meta-analysis of case-control studies reported from 1980 to November 2001 that examined cognitive and behavioral outcomes found that the mean IQ for school-aged children born very preterm was approximately two-thirds SD below that of healthy controls.⁴ In addition, the meta-analysis found that preterm children exhibited more externalizing, internalizing, and attentional behavior problems than healthy controls, although these difficulties were not present in all studies.⁴

Although there have been significant theoretical advances in the field of child neuropsychology, developmental features of adolescence have received less attention. Progress in clinical practice is restricted due to a lack of well-standardized, developmentally appropriate assessment techniques. This article addresses these issues in relation to executive skills. These abilities are targeted for 2 reasons: first, because they are often considered to be mature during late childhood and adolescence, despite limited investigation in this age range; and second, because of their central importance to efficient day-to-day functioning. Using a normative sample of 138 children, aged 11.0 to 17.11 years, this article plots the development of executive skills through late childhood and early adolescence and interprets progress in these skills with reference to current neurological and cognitive theory.

Objective To assess the ability of the third edition of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III) to detect developmental delay in 2-year-old children who were extremely preterm and those carried to term. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting The state of Victoria, Australia. Participants Subjects were consecutive surviving children who were born either at less than 28 weeks' gestational age (extremely preterm) or with less than 1000 g birth weight (extremely low-birth-weight; n = 221) in the state of Victoria, Australia, in 2005 and randomly selected controls who were both carried to term and of normal birth weight (n = 220). Main Outcome Measure Children were assessed by psychologists blinded to knowledge of group at 2 years of age, corrected for prematurity with the new Bayley-III scale. Results Follow-up rates of both cohorts were high (>92%). Mean values for all composite and subtest scores for the extremely preterm/extremely low-birth-weight group were significantly below those of the control group (P < .001), with the magnitude of all group differences being in excess of two-thirds SD. Mean values for the extremely preterm/extremely low-birth-weight group approached the normative mean, but in contrast, the mean values for the control group were higher than expected, with composite scores being between 0.55 and 1.23 SD above the normative mean. Proportions of children with developmental delay were grossly underestimated using the reference values, but were within the expected range when computed relative to the mean (standard deviation) for the controls. Conclusion The Bayley-III scale seriously underestimates developmental delay in 2-year-old Australian children.