Convergence between task performance scores, researcher observations, and parent ratings of executive functions and emotion regulation in neurodiverse toddlers at 20 months.
Randomized trial measures associations of executive functions and emotion regulation in neurodiverse toddlers, indicating the effectiveness of different evaluation methods.
Key Points
This research aims to assess how performance scores, parent ratings, and researcher observations of executive functions (EFs) relate to one another in toddlers with elevated autism or ADHD traits.
Utilized performance-based EF task battery with a sample of 110 neurodiverse toddlers at 20 months.
Collected parent ratings using Early Executive Functions Questionnaire (EEFQ) for cognitive EF and emotion regulation.
Conducted correlational and moderation analyses to explore relationships between scores and the impact of autistic traits.
Moderate positive associations were found between various assessment methods for executive functions, except performance-based EF and EEFQ-Regulation (r = 0.01).
Stronger associations between EEFQ-CEF and EEFQ-Regulation were noted in toddlers with low autistic traits compared to high traits.
Day-to-day emotion regulation showed a lack of connection with performance on structured tasks for some toddlers but was linked to cognitive EF particularly in neurotypical children.