Executive performance on the preschool executive task assessment in children with sickle cell anemia and matched...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Neurology
• Child Psychology
• Hematology

Background:

• Executive deficits are common in children with sickle cell anemia (SCA).
• Early identification of these deficits is limited by a lack of age-appropriate assessment tools for preschoolers.
• Executive functioning (EF) is critical for academic success as children enter school.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate executive functioning in preschool children with SCA.
• To evaluate the utility of the Preschool Executive Task Assessment (PETA) for identifying EF deficits in this population.
• To provide insights for classroom interventions.

Main Methods:

• Compared the performance of 22 children with SCA to 24 matched controls on the PETA.
• Assessed quantitative domains (Sequencing, Completion) and qualitative domains (Distractibility).

Main Results:

• Children with SCA performed significantly poorer than controls on the PETA.
• SCA group required more support for task shifting (lower Sequencing and Completion scores).
• SCA group exhibited greater distractibility (lower Distractibility scores).

Conclusions:

• Preschool children with SCA exhibit notable executive functioning deficits.
• The PETA is a valuable tool for identifying EF challenges in young children with SCA.
• Findings highlight the need for targeted classroom support for children with SCA to improve EF skills.