Executive Function (EF) incorporates skills that have been described as the “essentials of life” because they have a deep-rooted impact on adulthood. These are a set of fundamental skills that assist a child in preparing for success in school, college, and other activities in life. Although children are not born with Executive Function skills, they do, however; have the potential to develop them.
Majority of children can learn these skills which include mental processes that facilitate them remember instructions, plan, focus on a task, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. It is essential to be able to review and build up these skills for proper development objectively. Early assessment of Executive Function skills is imperative to establish since it can point out the need for any additional help or intervention that a child might require.
The Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) is a psychometric test that is utilized for gauging a variety of verbal and nonverbal executive functions for children above eight years of age. This tool was developed by Dean Delis, Joel Kramer and Edith Kaplan. It encompasses nine tests that are designed to stand alone, and it takes 90 minutes to administer the full battery of tests. Consequently, there are no collective measures or scores for an examinee’s performance.
It is administered individually, and its game-like format is developed to be motivating and engaging for children, encouraging them to perform optimally. Moreover, it does not offer any “right/wrong” feedback as it can create frustration in some children. Some of these tests are modifiable; however, some of these are a new indicator of executive functions such as Word Context Test.
The Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System’” (D-KEFS) is the first nationwide standardized set of screening method that evaluates higher-level cognitive functions in children. It is exclusively designed for the evaluation of executive functions comprising of inhibition, problem-solving, planning, and flexibility of thinking, impulse control, concept formation, abstract thinking, and creativity in both verbal and spatial modalities.
By administering this test, we can understand many behaviors that children exhibit and can assist them in improving their mental health. The results from this test can facilitate in assessing the integrity of the frontal lobe which ultimately helps in finding out the deficits in abstract and creative thinking. These thought processes should be understood as they impact the decisions an individual makes in their daily lives.
Furthermore, the results from the evaluation support in planning strategies that will help the child to cope. Likewise, multiple rehabilitation programs can be tailored according to the child’s profile of executive-function strengths and weaknesses.
Although IQ tests and basic achievement tests are crucial for analyzing some domains of cognitive abilities; they do not offer information about what a child’s most significant cognitive abilities are i.e. the capabilities to take on creative, abstract thinking. The Delis–Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) allows you to recognize and then deal with executive function shortfalls in children who perform well on IQ tests.
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