Assessment of preschool children's executive function skills

This study aims to determine the relationship between the performance-based assessment of executive functions of the preschool children between months 36 and 71 and the behavioural assessment of executive functions made by the adults, who are in the social circles of the children. Within the scope of the study, the relationship between the parent and teacher assessments of children's executive functions was investigated based on children's performances through the validity and reliability analysis of the Executive Function Battery. The data of the study was obtained from 200 children between the months 36 and 71 (x ̅=54,01, sd=9,65), and consisting 97 girls (48,5%) and 103 boys (51,5%), who have received preschool education in institutions during the school year 2019-2020 in Istanbul, as well as 200 parents and 30 preschool teachers. In the study, Executive Function Battery was used to measure the performance-based executive functions of the preschool children, while the Childhood Executive Functioning Inventory and Children's Behavior Questionnaire Short Form were used for the teachers and parents to measure the executive functions of the children. The information regarding the demographic characteristics of the children and the parents is obtained through the parent and child information form prepared by the researcher. In the analysis of the data, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used for the validity analysis of the Executive Function Battery. In the analysis of the relationship between executive functions and demographic characteristics, t-test was used to determine whether the gender, having siblings, preschool education year, parental education and mother's occupation variables produces a significant difference, and Pearson's Correlation Coefficient was used in the determination of the relationship between the chronological age and the socio-economic status of the family, and executive functions. Pearson's Correlation Coefficient was also used to determine the relationship between the children's executive function performances and the parent and teacher assessments of these performances. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that the original factor structure of the Executive Function Battery (EF Touch) is preserved, and it is a reliable measurement tool (χ2(19, N=200)=29,834, p=0,05; CFI=0,958; RMSEA=0,053 [%90 CI 00, 08], SRMR=0,071; CR=,804). Considering the analysis of gender variable, there was no difference in the measurements of the children's executive function performances. However, according to the parent and teacher ratings, the inhibitory control abilities significantly differed in favour of girls, and in the teacher ratings, the skills of activity level were significantly different in favour of boys. As a result of the analysis regarding the age variable, it was found that the executive functions of children were significantly relevant in all performance-based measurements of the children, in terms of activity level and attentional focusing skills in parent ratings, and terms of attentional focusing skills, working memory, and inhibitory control abilities in teacher ratings. After the analysis of the socio-economic status and parental education variables, there were concluded that the executive functions of the children do not significantly differ in the children's performances, and the parent and teacher ratings. A significant relationship was found between the parent ratings and teacher ratings of the children's executive function performances.