Executive function assessment: Adaptation of the Amsterdam executive function inventory using Spanish first-year university students from two knowledge areas

Objective

Many university students have difficulties in adapting to autonomous learning due to executive functioning deficits. In the Spanish university context, there is a lack of reliable validated instruments for the evaluation of executive functioning. In this sense, the aim of this research is to present the process of adaptation and validation of the Amsterdam Executive Function Inventory (AEFI) for the evaluation of executive functioning in the Spanish context.

Methods

This study integrates two sequential processes: questionnaire translation and back-translation, and evaluation of the psychometric properties (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted), reliability, validity and multigroup analysis to identify factorial invariance. An online questionnaire was used for data collection and R package lavaan software was administered to a sample of 519 first-year university students (270 females and 249 males).

Results

The exploratory factor analysis evidenced an interna structure of three factors with adequate internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha higher than 0.70), endorsed in the confirmatory factor analysis that indicated an adequate goodness-of-fit-indexes for the model. The composite reliability showed values between 0.74 and 0.82, and the convergent (average variance extracted values ranged from 0.50 to 0.61) and discriminant validity were adequate. A multigroup-analysis showed the invariance factorial through the difference in the RMSEA, CFI and TLI index, performed both in the model comparison according to gender and academic disciplines.

Conclusion

The AEFI adapted for Spanish has practical implications for the management of university students, as it can facilitate the improvement of university policies designed to foster the development of executive functions, specifically in first-year students.

Measuring Changes in Social Skills Throughout an Intervention Program for Children with ASD, Contributions from Polar Coordinate Analysis

The demand of social skills interventions for people with ASD has grown in recent years. The main goal of this research was to study social skills: “responding to interaction” and “initiating interaction”, and to capture whether there were differences between an initial and a final session in a program for children with ASD. Additionally, we aimed to compare social skills patterns according to the VIQ level. The sample (N = 20) was divided into 2 subgroups depending on whether the VIQ was > 90 or < 90. We employed a mixed methods approach based on a systematic observation of social behaviors. The observational design was nomothetic, follow-up, and multidimensional. Once we confirmed inter-observer reliability for the ad hoc observational instrument we performed descriptive statistics and polar coordinate analysis using LINCE software. The results show high intragroup and intergroup variability. In general, participants with VIQ < 90 showed a better improvement in responding to interaction, whereas participants with VIQ > 90 showed more complex patterns to initiate interactions. The polar coordinate technique was useful for detecting significant relationships between autism’s social micro-behaviors. Results and information obtained through observational methodology could allow professionals to understand communication and interaction of participants.

Motivation and Perceived Learning of Secondary Education History Students. Analysis of a Programme on Initial Teacher Training

This paper presents the results of research on the initial teacher training in Spain. The aim is to verify whether the development of a training program for teachers based on methodological and epistemological aspects has a positive repercussion on the learning of secondary school pupils. We evaluated to what degree this training was reflected in secondary education pupils (n = 467, M_age = 14.74, SD = 1.97) taught by the participating trainee teachers during their period of teaching practice. A pretest and a postest were employed to obtain data on the methodology and the motivation and perceived learning on the part of the pupils. A confirmatory factor analysis was carried out to verify the validity and internal consistency of the tools and, later, the longitudinal invariance in each of the dimensions analyzed. The results confirm the internal consistency and validity of the tools employed and the improvement in the pupils' evaluation regarding methodology, motivation, and learning.

Observation of Metacognitive Skills in Natural Environments: A Longitudinal Study With Mixed Methods

Recent studies pointing to evaluation methods in natural environments suggest that their use in the analysis of metacognitive skills provides more precise information than the use of off-line evaluation methods. In this research, mixed methods are used over one academic year for the evaluation of the metacognitive skills that students of Secondary Education apply to solve physics problems. The objectives of this study are to analyze the use of metacognitive skills in natural environments and to study behavioral patterns of student learning through a longitudinal study. A total of 509 recordings of think-aloud protocols are analyzed through the categorization of the responses (liquefying) and the protocol of Van der Stel and Veenman for the analysis of the quality of metacognitive skills. Fewer conceptual errors and less uncertainty over vocabulary were noted during the academic year. Nevertheless, a degree of ambiguity persisted in the understanding of physics concepts. The metacognitive skills of Orientation and Planning were used more than any others. The technique of graph analysis is also applied, to establish the patterns of behavior of each student throughout the academic year. Different patterns were found, the analysis of which helped to identify academically challenged and at-risk students. The use of mixed observation techniques and graph analysis facilitated information on the pace of learning of each student. Future studies will be directed at proposals for the automation of these evaluation techniques in natural learning environments.

Non-reciprocal Friendships in a School-Age Boy with Autism: The Ties that Build?

This mixed-methods study examined differences in social interaction patterns between a school-age boy with autism and his friends, non-reciprocal friends, and non-friends during recess time at a mainstream school (third grade of elementary school). Through a combination of observational methodology and social network analysis with an idiographic, follow-up and multidimensional design approach, we used lag sequential and polar coordinate analysis to ascertain the associations between various interactive behaviors as a function of type of friendship relation. After 40 sessions, we found that the non-reciprocal friendship relations of the boy with autism could have significantly greater potential than his reciprocal friendships to increase active engagement and reduce the time he spent alone during recess.

Mixed Methods Approach to Describe Social Interaction During a Group Intervention for Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Over the last 20 years, researchers have been mixing qualitative and quantitative approaches, but mixed methods research represents a new movement that arose in response to the currents of qualitative and quantitative research, considered separately. Little has been published on the use of polar coordinate analysis in psychotherapy. This type of analysis can provide detailed information and integrate the qualitative-quantitative analysis. Even less has been published on the analysis of ASD children’s behavior. The main aim of this study was to implement this mixed methods methodology to analyze patterns of social behaviors in a group of adolescents with ASD during a group social competence intervention program. Moreover, we wanted to see whether an observational scale could be combined fruitfully with polar coordinate analysis and to investigate whether typical ASD behaviors show similar interrelations (prospective and retrospective sequentialities) as behaviors observed in psychotherapy. We used an adaptation from the Social Skills Training Program (UC Davis, California). We observed that each participant took a unique course, increasing or decreasing the number and quality of their social behaviors. In accordance with previous literature, results suggest some increment in the amount of appropriate social conduct. We did not detect a generalized progress pattern but agreed that there were changes between the beginning and end of the intervention. Therefore, we consider that observational methodology is useful in the field of psychotherapy and ASD, offering detailed information about changes and development that cannot be obtained with other traditional measures, such as questionnaires.

Identifying potentially marker symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Background

For the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) proposes that adherence to six symptoms in either group (inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity) will lead to the diagnosis of one of three presentations of the disorder. Underlying this diagnostic algorithm is the assumption that the 18 symptoms have equal relevance for the diagnosis of ADHD, all are equally severe, and all have the same power to detect the presence of the disorder in all its degrees of severity, without considering the possibility of using marker symptoms. However, several studies have suggested that ADHD symptoms differ in both their power to discriminate the presence of the disorder and the degree of severity they represent. The aim of the present study was to replicate the results of previous research by evaluating the discriminative capacity and relative severity of ADHD symptoms, as well as to extend the investigation of this topic to Spanish-speaking Latin American samples.

Methods

The properties of ADHD symptoms rated by the parents of 474 Chilean children were analyzed. Symptom parameters were estimated using the graded response model.

Results

The results suggest that symptoms of ADHD differ substantially in both the accuracy with which they reflect the presence of the disorder, and their relative severity. Symptoms “easily distracted by extraneous stimuli” and “have difficulty sustaining attention in tasks” (inattention) and “is on the go, acting as if driven by motor” (hyperactivity/impulsivity) were the most informative, and those with relatively lower severity thresholds.

Discussion

The fact that symptoms differ substantially in the probability of being observed conditionally to the trait level suggests the need to refine the diagnostic process by weighting the severity of the symptom, and even to assess the possibility of defining ADHD marker symptoms, as has been done in other disorders.

Peer-Mediated Intervention for the Development of Social Interaction Skills in High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by difficulties with social interaction and communication, which manifest at school especially in less structured situations such as recess. Recess provides opportunities for relationship with peers in a natural context, for which students with ASD may not be equipped with the necessary skills to use without support. Using a single-case design, we evaluated an intervention applied in recess to improve the social interaction skills of a student with high-functioning ASD mediated by his peers without ASD, in second grade of elementary school. This intervention includes different strategies to initiate the peers without ASD, using direct instruction, modeling, and social reinforcement carried out in the recess setting. After 14 sessions, changes were observed in the rates of initiating and responding to interactions, and a negative trend in the percentage of time that the student maintained low-intensity interactions or was alone. Teachers and family perceived improvements in social skills, more peer acceptance, and increase in the frequency and duration of social interactions. This intervention can help teachers to apply research-based practices to improve some social interaction skills in high-functioning students with autism in inclusive school environments.