Executive Function in Preschoolers

Assessment, Interpretation, and ABA Intervention Mapping

This 2-part on-demand webinar helps behavior analysts understand executive function development in preschool children and apply preschool assessment findings to ABA treatment planning. The course focuses on early skills such as inhibition, working memory, cognitive flexibility, shifting, self-control, planning, emotional control, and task initiation.

Part 1 reviews executive function assessment in preschoolers, including developmentally sensitive tasks such as snack delay, gift delay, day and night tasks, bear and dragon tasks, Shape School, reverse categorization, multi-location search, and other performance-based measures. Participants will learn how these tasks help identify early strengths and challenges in inhibition, delay tolerance, rule switching, working memory, attention, and self-regulation.

Part 2 focuses on preschool assessment in neurodevelopmental disorders, including how to interpret cognitive, language, adaptive, observational, and social communication data for ABA planning. The session emphasizes the difference between a child’s underlying cognitive capacity and performance constraints such as receptive language limits, expressive language delays, reduced initiation, task demands, motor demands, attention, and cognitive flexibility challenges.

The webinar connects assessment findings to practical ABA intervention mapping. Participants will consider how tools such as the BRIEF-P, Shape School, WPPSI, Leiter-3, Mullen Scales of Early Learning, PPVT, Vineland-3, and ADOS-2 can help identify a child’s learning entry point, strongest processing channel, support needs, prompting plan, instructional modality, communication targets, transition supports, and goals for independence.

Format: 2-part on-demand webinar
Length: 50 minutes
CEUs: 1 BACB CEU
Presenter: Dr. Vanetta LaRosa
Audience: BCBAs, BCaBAs, behavior analysts, clinical supervisors, early intervention providers, preschool consultants, educators, and professionals supporting young children with autism, ADHD, language delays, developmental delays, or other neurodevelopmental conditions

Learning Objectives

• Describe key executive function skills that develop during the preschool years, including inhibition, working memory, shifting, self-control, planning, and emotional control.
• Identify developmentally appropriate measures of preschool executive function, including caregiver and teacher ratings, performance-based tasks, delay tasks, inhibition tasks, and rule-switching tasks.
• Explain how tools such as the BRIEF-P, Shape School, and day and night tasks can inform ABA goals related to self-control, delay tolerance, cognitive flexibility, and transition support.
• Differentiate cognitive capacity from performance constraints when interpreting preschool assessment results.
• Analyze discrepancies between nonverbal reasoning, receptive language, expressive language, adaptive functioning, and social communication to identify access barriers and learning entry points.
• Use assessment findings from tools such as the WPPSI, Leiter-3, Mullen, PPVT, Vineland-3, and ADOS-2 to guide instructional modality, response demands, task complexity, prompting, and reinforcement planning.
• Translate preschool assessment data into ABA intervention targets that support communication, spontaneous initiation, flexible responding, independence, generalization, and participation in daily routines.

Disclaimer

This training is for professional education only. Assessment instruments are discussed only at the level of general clinical purpose and treatment-planning implications. No proprietary test items, scoring forms, protocols, stimulus materials, rating-scale items, or administration procedures are reproduced. Participants should consult official publishers, manuals, and professional standards for authorized test administration, scoring, and interpretation.