Assessment of Sensory Processing and Executive Functions at the School: Development, Reliability, and Validity of EPYFEI-Escolar

The authors thank the parents and teachers for their participation in this study. Especially to the teachers of the CEIP Ntra. Sra. Del Prado de Talavera de la Reina, Toledo (Spain) and CEIP Parque de las Infantas, Granada (Spain).The aim of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Assessment of Sensory Processing and Executive Functions at the School (EPYFEI-Escolar), a questionnaire designed to assess the sensory processing and executive functions as underlying processes for school participation. The total sample consisted of 536 children aged between 3 and 11 years old who lived in Spain. A total of 103 teachers completed the questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted, which showed five main factors: (1) initiation, organization, execution, and supervision of the action; (2) inhibitory control; (3) sensory processing; (4) emotional self-regulation and play; and (5) self-competence. Some of these factors were similar to those found in the EPYFEI for parents in the home context. The reliability of the analysis was high, both for the whole questionnaire and for the factors it is composed of. The results provide evidence of the potential usefulness of the EPYFEI-Escolar in school contexts for determining academic needs and difficulties of children; moreover, this tool can also be used to plan intervention programs in the school environment according to the needs of each child and school.This study was supported by University of Málaga

Play in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Psychometric Properties of a Parent Report Measure ‘My Child’s Play’

Play is essential in childhood, allowing for a positive trend in development and learning. Health professionals need useful tools to assess it, especially in the case of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. The aim of this study was to validate and cross-culturally adapt the My Child’s Play questionnaire and to find out if this instrument allows us to differentiate the play of children with neurodevelopmental disorders from the play of children with neurotypical development. A total of 594 parents completed the questionnaire. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted, which showed a similar structure to the English version: (1) executive functions; (2) environmental context; (3) play characteristics; and (4) play preferences and interpersonal interactions. The reliability of the analysis was high, both for the whole questionnaire and for the factors it comprises. The results provide evidence of the potential usefulness of the My Child’s Play questionnaire for determining play needs and difficulties of children; moreover, this tool can also be used to plan intervention programs according to the needs of each child and family

EPYFEI-Escolar: Evaluación del Procesamiento Sensorial y Funcionamiento Ejecutivo en la Infancia en el Ámbito Escolar

Cuestionario diseñado para evaluar el procesamiento sensorial y el funcionamiento ejecutivo en la escuela en niños entre 3 y 11 años. Este cuestionario es potencialmente útil en el contexto escolar para determinar las necesidades académicas y dificultades de los niños, además de planificar programas de intervención escolares de acuerdo a las necesidades de cada niño y escuela

Tactile discrimination, praxis and cognitive impulsivity in ADHD children: A cross-sectional study

Maciver, Donald - ORCID 0000-0002-6173-429X https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6173-429XBackground: The study of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has traditionally focused on deficit of inhibitory control and cognitive impulsivity. However, the pathophysiology of ADHD has also been associated with the somatosensory cortex. The aim of this study was to explore if there were differences in tactile discrimination and praxis between neurotypical and ADHD children and whether these differences could be explained by cognitive impulsivity. Methods: It was conducted a cross-sectional study. The sample comprised 74 children aged 7 to 11 years divided in two groups: 43 with neurotypical development, 31 with ADHD. To assess tactile discrimination, they were used the finger localization and the graphestesia tests. Praxis were assessed with the K-ABC hand-movement subtest, the action program and the Zoo-map subtests of the Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome and the complex figure of Rey-Osterrieth test (ROCF). Cognitive impulsivity was assessed using the Magallanes Computerized Impulsivity Scale test (EMIC). Results: Children with ADHD showed greater cognitive impulsivity (p=0.038) and scored lower in Zoo-map (p=0.023), hand-movement subtests (p=0.002) and in ROCF test (p=0.004). Differences in praxis skills still remained after controlling by gender and cognitive impulsivity. Conclusion: Praxis deficit might have repercussions not only on the characterization of ADHD but also on its treatment.17pubpub

Development, reliability, and validity of EPYFEI-Escolar

The aim of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Assessment of Sensory Processing and Executive Functions at the School (EPYFEI-Escolar), a questionnaire designed to assess the sensory processing and executive functions as underlying processes for school participation. The total sample consisted of 536 children aged between 3 and 11 years old who lived in Spain. A total of 103 teachers completed the questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted, which showed five main factors: (1) initiation, organization, execution, and supervision of the action; (2) inhibitory control; (3) sensory processing; (4) emotional self-regulation and play; and (5) self-competence. Some of these factors were similar to those found in the EPYFEI for parents in the home context. The reliability of the analysis was high, both for the whole questionnaire and for the factors it is composed of. The results provide evidence of the potential usefulness of the EPYFEI-Escolar in school contexts for determining academic needs and difficulties of children; moreover, this tool can also be used to plan intervention programs in the school environment according to the needs of each child and school

A Pilot Study of Improving Self-Regulation and Social Interaction with Peers: An “Exciting School”

Social interaction skills are related to successful academic performance and mental health. One of the key elements of socio-emotional competence is self-regulation. The main aim of this study was to analyze the effect of a self-regulation program at a primary school on the social interactions of neurotypical children and children with special educational needs, from the teachers’ and parents’ perspectives. A pre-post study was conducted. The children (n = 107) followed 10 sessions, each one of 50 min, for ten weeks, between January and April 2021. To assess the changes in children’s social interaction, the Peer Social Maturity Scale was administered to the teachers. After the intervention, parents completed a questionnaire designed ad hoc to understand the effectiveness of children’s emotional self-regulation. The results showed a statistically significant improvement in peer interaction skills. The families were satisfied with the program, due to the improvement in their children’s knowledge about their own emotions and those of the other people, and the learning strategies to regulate their emotions. Likewise, parents indicated that it would be necessary to complement the program with teaching and emotional regulation strategies for them. The “Exciting School” program could help improve the social skills of school-aged children.Vicerrectorado de Igualdad, Inclusion y Sostenibilidad de la Universidad de Granad

A New Tool for Assessment of Professional Skills of Occupational Therapy Students

The assessment of the acquisition of professional skills is an essential process in occupational therapy students. Until now, there has been no standardized and validated instrument for evaluating these skills in Spanish occupational therapy students. This study reports the development and testing of the psychometric properties of the professional skills in students of occupational therapy during their practical training. Methods: A new instrument was developed to assess the professional skills of occupational therapy students, called CPTO. A total of 69 occupational therapists participated in evaluating 295 occupational therapy students from the University of Granada, between the 2018 and 2021 academic years. Results: Of a total of 79 items, the factor analysis yielded a final solution of 33 items, which explains 70.22% of the variance with the following three dimensions: (1) self-appraisal and professional responsibility (α = 0.951); (2) communication skills and delivering intervention (α = 0.944); and (3) clinical reasoning for assessing and planning the intervention (α = 0.947). The instrument allows students with low, medium, high and excellent clinical skills to be differentiated according to the cutting points established by the quartiles. Conclusion: the instrument has good psychometric properties, and is a useful tool to assess professional competencies in occupational therapy students during their practice placement education.Unidad de Calidad Docente from University of Granad

Association between proximity to industrial chemical installations and cancer mortality in Spain

It is likely that pollution from chemical facilities will affect the health of any exposed population; however, the majority of scientific evidence available has focused on occupational exposure rather than environmental. Consequently, this study assessed whether there could have been an excess of cancerrelated mortality associated with environmental exposure to pollution from chemical installations e for populations residing in municipalities in the vicinity of chemical industries. To this end, we designed an ecological study which assessed municipal mortality due to 32 types of cancer in the period from 1999 to 2008. The exposure to pollution was estimated using distance from the facilities to the centroid of the municipality as a proxy for exposure. In order to assess any increased cancer mortality risk in municipalities potentially exposed to chemical facilities pollution (situated at a distance of 5 km from a chemical installation), we employed Bayesian Hierarchical Poisson Regression Models. This included two Bayesian inference methods: Integrated Nested Laplace Approximations (INLA) and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC, for validation). The reference category consisted of municipalities beyond the 5 km limit. We found higher mortality risk (relative risk, RR; estimated by INLA, 95% credible interval, 95%CrI) for both sexes for colorectal (RR, 1.09; 95%CrI, 1.05e1.15), gallbladder (1.14; 1.03e1.27), and ovarian cancers (1.10; 1.02e1.20) associated with organic chemical installations. Notably, pleural cancer (2.27; 1.49e3.41) in both sexes was related to fertilizer facilities. Associations were found for women, specifically for ovarian (1.11; 1.01e1.22) and breast cancers (1.06; 1.00e1.13) in the proximity of explosives/pyrotechnics installations; increased breast cancer mortality risk (1.10; 1.03e1.18) was associated with proximity to inorganic chemical installations. The results suggest that environmental exposure to pollutants from some types of chemical facilities may be associated with increased mortality from several different types of cancerThe study was partially supported by research grants from the Spanish Health Research Fund, Carlos III Institute of Health (ISCIII), Spain (FIS CP11/00112, FIS PI14CIII/00065, FIS PI17CIII/00040) and by Scientific Foundation of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), Spain (Fundación Científica de la Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC) e EVP-1178/14

A systematic review

Purpose: Cognitive instrumental activities of daily living are particularly related to executive functions, such as scheduling appointments, monthly payments, managing the household economy, shopping or taking the bus. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the available tests for the assessment of executive functions with ecological validity to predict individuals’ functioning. Materials and methods: An electronic search was conducted in MEDLINE, Cochrane Central, PsyCInfo and IEEE Xplore until May 2019, in addition to a manual search. The PRISMA criteria and the Covidence platform were used to select articles and extract data. Results: After applying the search selection criteria, 76 studies were identified. They referred to 110 tools to assess instrumental activities of daily living. Those that have received most attention are related to menu preparation and shopping. Performance-based measures are the most widely used traditional methods. Most tests were aimed at the adult population with acquired brain damage, cognitive impairment or dementia. There was a predominance of tests based on the Multiple Errands Test paradigm. Conclusions: In recent years, it has increased the number of tools that assess the instrumental activities of daily living based on technologies such as personal or environmental sensors and serious games

Quality of life of mothers at the sixth week and sixth month postpartum and type of infant feeding

Introduction: There is little scientific evidence on the relationship between maternal quality of life and type of infant feeding. The purpose of this study was to determine if there were differences in mother?s quality of life by type of infant feeding