Abstract:

Standardized psychometric tools for assessing language and cognitive skills are imperative for early detection of language and learning difficulties in children. Such norm-referenced screening tools can assist educators in determining which areas and skills should be emphasized based not just on children’s age but also on individual profiles of cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Thus, intervention programs can be better adapted to individual needs toward preventing secondary problems and school failure.

Μost of the existing screening assessment batteries or screening assessments are lengthy and time consuming and they often require highly trained examiners. Digital assessments, however, are children friendly as administered with mobile devices (tablets) and they are extremely valuable to professionals, as they include several provisions for administration, scoring and outcome interpretation. First, they enable automatic data coding and application of ceiling rules, ensuring high assessment fidelity among different examiners. The parallel web-based gamification platform and online database also meets the needs of experts and professionals for management support of the entire assessment process by eliminating work time and recording errors. Gamification platform automatically compiles reports for educators and other specialists presenting norm-referenced index scores of the exact level of development for the skills assessed. It also allows children to interact with a gamified environment that can positively affect motivation and engagement level. Thus, administration of standardized assessments that are psychometrically valid and reliable can be accomplished in a simpler, accurate and non-threatening manner to more children especially at school entry. More importantly early screening with digital assessment can be directly linked to proper intervention activities for focused treatment of any weaknesses.

The three assessment tools presented were constructed to assess attentional control in visual and auditory domains and visuospatial working memory. Attentional control (AC) is an important executive ability comprising several processes including selective and sustained attention, inhibition, working memory and monitoring (Anderson, 2002). Τhe term describes more than one process that involves inhibition of automatic responses or cognitive interferences and sustaining attention on task (Arrington, Kulesz, Francis, Fletcher & Barnes, 2014). All the above are crucial for efficient reading comprehension and math skills (Cutting et al., 2009; Semrud-Clikeman, 2005) as they enable students to reject distracting stimuli and to ensure immediate employment of the proper strategy for problem solving during different tasks.

The assessments were normed with Greek-speaking elementary school students aged 6-12 years (N=1000, 510 girls) attending grades 1-6 and covering a wide range of geographical and socioeconomic backgrounds. Written consent was provided by parents/guardians and the study protocol was approved by the Greek Ministry of Education. Test-retest reliability of all tasks was assessed during two consecutive assessments in a 2-week interval ranging between r=.75 and .80. The development of norm-referenced digital tools for detecting difficulties in attentional control and working memory could form the basis for valid and reliable screening and diagnostic decisions that will lead to immediate provision of early intervention.

Keywords:

Digital tools, attentional control, working memory, gamification platform, early screening.