Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome in Children (BADS-C)

H Emslie, F Colin Wilson, Vivian Burden, Ian Nimmo-Smith, Barbara A Wilson
 

The Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS) has been adapted for children (BADS-C) to examine a number of aspects of the dysexecutive syndrome (DES) such as:

• inflexibility and perseveration
• novel problem solving
• impulsivity
• planning

• the ability to utilise feedback and moderate one’s behaviour accordingly.

Deficits in executive functioning are well documented in children and adolescents with neuro-developmental disorders such as Attention Deficit (AD), Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD) and those with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Recently there has been a rapid increase in the number of children diagnosed as suffering from developmental disorders associated with impaired executive function and self-regulation.

Many children with poor executive skills go on to experience:

• weak social relationships
• problems with communication skills
• behavioural and learning difficulties

• low self esteem.

Early identification of DES is crucial as the effects are likely to become more marked with age as children have to cope with greater complexity in their life.

Why do we need a new test of executive function?

Most traditional tests for children are insensitive to executive dysfunction. Accurate and reliable identification has been hampered by the lack of developmentally sensitive assessment tools.

Five of the tests from BADS have been adapted to produce a test with standardised ‘child friendly’ administration and standardised scoring procedures with comprehensive norms.

Now with normative data for 7 year olds

The authors of the BADS-C have extended the original normative sample scores by testing 22 children (9 girls and 13 boys) aged from 7 years to 7 years 11 months. The normative data is now included in the BADS-C.