Development and Assessment of Executive Function in Children

There is increasing evidence that the development of the frontal lobes is a prolonged multi stage process continuing into adolescence. Research has indicated that damage to the frontal lobes may be detected from infancy. Downward extensions of tests from adult neuropsychology are not always suitable for use with infants and young children. There is a need to use tests in the routine neuropsychological assessment of children that have originated in cognitive developmental research. Executive and frontal functions are implicated in learning disabilities and several psychiatric disorders and therefore should be tested more frequently in clinical assessment.