Assessment and Development of Executive Function (EF) During Childhood

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…