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Executive functions of children with developmental dyspraxia
8
Names: Houssam Elbetar, Arfan Jawish
Rochester Institute of Technology
Executive functions of children with developmental dyspraxia: assessment combining neuropsychological and ecological tests
Goal of the Experiment
To assess executive function in children with developmental dyspraxia.
Introduction
Executive Function
Executive function is a broad group of mental skills that enable people to complete tasks and interact with others. An executive function disorder can impair a person’s ability to organize themselves and control their behavior.
Executive
Function
However, executive function disorder is not a specific, standalone diagnosis or condition. Instead, neurological, mental health, and behavioral disorders, such as depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), can affect a person’s executive function.
Dyspraxia
Dyspraxia
Developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia, is a condition affecting physical co-ordination. It causes a child to perform less well than expected in daily activities for their age, and appear to move clumsily.
Inclusion criteria
Testing
children aged 8 years to 12 years at the time of the study, diagnosed with developmental dyspraxia between January, 2008 and August, 2009 by a multidisciplinary team in one single center.
Assessment tools
- Paper-and-pencil neuropsychological and ecological tests to assess flexibility, planning, inhibition and prospective memory.
- Two questionnaires answered by parents.
- The 'Children's Cooking Task' (CCT), an ecological task performed in a real environment. In this last test.
Assessment Tools
The Trail Making Test A and B for children
Test 1
The Trail Making Test (TMT) A and B for children evaluates flexibility. Part A consists in connecting a set of eight numbers in increasing order. In part B, the child needs to alternatively connect numbers and letters. We took into account the time taken and number of errors; the results are given in raw score and percentage of children in the clinical range (at least 2 SD below the norms).
The NEPSY tower subtest
Test 2
The NEPSY tower subtest evaluates non-verbal planning, control and self-regulation as well as problem-solving. The child must move three colored beads onto three pegs according to a predetermined number of moves to reproduce the model while respecting the guidelines. The result is given in standard score.
Results
Thirteen patients participated in the study (11 boys-2 girls; mean age 10.3 years). Neuropsychological tests highlighted planning and inhibition disorders, but no impaired flexibility. For more than half of the children, the questionnaires indicated impaired executive functions in daily life tasks. Finally, patients showed a significantly increased rate of errors during the CCT, compared with the control group .
Results
Conclusion
Overall results suggest that some children diagnosed with developmental dyspraxia also exhibit executive function disorders. Ecological tests seem more sensitive for identifying executive function disorders than conventional tests.
Conclusion
Dyspraxia case:
https:/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23582179/
Executive function:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325402
Dyspraxia:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/developmental-coordination-disorder-dyspraxia/