Measuring executive function skills in young children in Kenya

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Technology

Background:

• Measuring executive function (EF) in young children in low- and middle-income countries is challenging due to the lack of scalable assessments.
• Existing EF measures often require extensive training and resources, limiting their applicability in diverse global contexts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt and evaluate a tablet-based battery of executive function tasks, originally developed in the United States, for use with young children in Kenya.
• To assess the feasibility, reliability, and initial validity of the adapted EF assessment in a Kenyan early childhood development setting.

Main Methods:

• A tablet-based executive function battery was administered to 193 children aged 3-6 years in Kenyan early childhood development centers.
• Task completion rates, assessor-rated quality of administration, and psychometric properties of the EF composite score were analyzed.
• Relationships between EF composite scores and factors like reaction time, attention behaviors, and age were examined.

Main Results:

• High rates of task completion (65-100%) and acceptable administration quality (90%) were observed.
• An executive function composite score was approximately normally distributed, with some floor/ceiling effects on specific tasks.
• Simple reaction time, attention-related behaviors, and age were significant unique predictors of the executive function composite score.

Conclusions:

• The tablet-based executive function assessment is feasible and shows potential for reliable measurement in Kenyan early childhood education settings.
• This adapted assessment offers a scalable tool for evaluating executive function skills in young children in developing country contexts.
• Further research should focus on refining the measures and expanding their use to diverse populations and settings.