A Preliminary Investigation of the Validity of Time-Based Measures of Sustained Attention for Children
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF THE VALIDITY OF TIME-BASED MEASURES OF SUSTAINED ATTENTION FOR CHILDREN MICHAEL ROBERT KULFAN Antioch University Seattle Seattle, WA This study is a preliminary investigation of the validity of using time-based measures to quantify sustained attention in children ages 6-12. Problems with sustained attention negatively affect childhood learning and development. The prevalence of disorders known to impact sustained attention performance continue to rise in the United States. Currently, commercially available, objective measures of sustained attention use normative comparisons that provide limited information about the effect such problems have on child performance in natural settings. We reviewed test data from 290 charts of children ages 6-12 referred for neuropsychological evaluation. The Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch) is an ecologically oriented measure of attention; however, the test provides only normative data about child sustained attention. We examined the validity of two time-based scores derived from the Code Transmission subtest of the TEA-Ch. The Code Transmission Time on Task (CT-TOT) estimates the total time a child spends processing the subtest stimulus and the Code Transmission Longest Duration (CT-LD) estimates the maximum duration of a child's sustained attention before an attentional lapse. We correlated CT-TOT and CT-LD scores with age, criterion sustained attention measures from the TEA-Ch, and a measure of intelligence. Analysis of the data revealed significant differences in performance on the iv
Author: Michael R Kulfan
Institution: Antioch University
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W153758353