Purpose: Assess executive functioning in preschool-aged children
Age Range: 2 to 5.11 years
Admin: Individual
Time: Approximately 10-15 minutes to administer; 15 to 20 minutes to score
The observations of parents and teachers provide a wealth of information about a child's behavior that is directly relevant to an understanding of that child's executive functioning. The assessment of executive function in preschool-aged children is often difficult because of the variable nature of behavior in this age range (ages 2.0-5.11 years); the limitations in motor and verbal proficiency at this age; and the many neuropsychological, psychological, developmental, and other medical conditions that begin to manifest during the preschool years. The BRIEF-P is the first standardized rating scale designed to specifically measure the range of behavioral manifestations of executive function in preschool-aged children--thus facilitating intervention at earlier stages of development.
The BRIEF-P consists of a single Rating Form used by parents, teachers, and day care providers to rate a child's executive functions within the context of his/her everyday environments--home and preschool. The original Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function™ (BRIEF™) was the basis for the development of the BRIEF-P. Consequently, the BRIEF-P is an ecologically valid and efficient tool for screening, assessing, and monitoring a young child's executive functioning and development.
The hand-scorable BRIEF-P Rating Form consists of 63 items that measure various aspects of executive functioning: Inhibit, Shift, Emotional Control, Working Memory, and Plan/Organize. The clinical scales form three broad indexes (Inhibitory Self-Control, Flexibility, and Emergent Metacognition) and one composite score (Global Executive Composite). The BRIEF-P also provides two validity scales (Inconsistency and Negativity).