Measures and References: Attention

Return to Attention factor page.

Measures

Numerous measures exist to gain a full picture of a student's learning strengths and challenges. Following are examples of measures used to assess this Learner Factor. These measures should be administered and interpreted by experienced professionals.

Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) (Gioia et al, 2000): Parent and teacher questionnaire to assess executive function, including Attention, in students aged five to 18

Conners' Teaching Rating Scale (CTRS-R:S) (Conners, 1997): Assesses Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other Attention-related measures (e.g. aggression, learning problems) in children and adolescents aged six to 18

References

Achenbach, T.M., & Rescorla, L.A. (2000). Manual for the ASEBA preschool forms and profiles. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont Department of Psychiatry.

Anobile, G., Pisa, U., & Stievano, P. (2013). Visual sustained attention and numerosity sensitivity correlate with math achievement in children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 116, 380-391.

Awh, E., Vogel, E. K., & Oh, S. H. (2006). Interactions between attention and working memory. Neuroscience, 139(1), 201-208.

Bialystok, E. (2001) Bilingualism in development: Language, literacy, and cognition. Cambridge University Press.

Conners, K. C., Sitarenios, G., Parker, J. D. A., & Epstein, J. N. (1998). Revision and restandardization of the Conners Teacher Rating Scale (CTRS-R): Factor Structure, reliability, and criterion validity. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 26(4), 279-291.

Dulaney, A., Vasilyeva, M., & O'Dwyer, L. (2015). Individual differences in cognitive resources and elementary school mathematics achievement: Examining the roles of storage and attention. Learning and Individual Differences, 37, 55-63.

DuPaul, G. J., McGoey, K. E., Eckert, T. L., & VanBrakle, J. (2001). Preschool children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Impairments in behavioral, social, and school functioning. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 40(5), 508-515.

Franke, B., Michelini, G., Asherson, P., Banaschewski, T., Bilbow, A., Buitelaar, J. K., ... & Reif, A. (2018). Live fast, die young? A review on the developmental trajectories of ADHD across the lifespan. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 28(10), 1059-1088.

Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., Compton, D. L., Powell, S. R., Seethaler, P. M., Capizzi, A. M., … Fletcher, J. M. (2006). The cognitive correlates of third-grade skill in arithmetic, algorithmic computation, and arithmetic word problems. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(1), 29-43.

Geary, D. C., Hoard, M. K., & Nugent, L. (2012). Independent contributions of the central executive, intelligence, and in-class attentive behavior to developmental change in the strategies used to solve addition problems. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 113(1), 49-65.

Greco, V., Beresford, B., & Sutherland, H. (2009). Deaf Children and Young People's Experiences of Using Specialist Mental Health Services. Children & Society, 23(6), 455-469.

Hagmann-von Arx, P., Meyer, C. S., & Grob, A. (2008). Assessing intellectual giftedness with the WISC-IV and the IDS. Journal of Psychology, 216(3), 172-179.

Hassinger-Das, Jordan, N. C., Glutting, J., Irwin, C., & Dyson, N. (2014). Domain general mediators of the relation between kindergarten number sense and first-grade mathematics achievement. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 118, 1-24.

Kofler, M. J., Singh, L. J., Soto, E. F., Chan, E. S. M., Miller, C. E., Harmon, S. L., & Spiegel, J. A. (2020). Working memory and short-term memory deficits in ADHD: A bifactor modeling approach. Neuropsychology, 34(6), 686-698.

McVay, J. C., & Kane, M. J. (2012). Why does working memory capacity predict variation in reading comprehension? On the influence of mind wandering and executive attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 141(2), 302-320.

Orban, S. A., Rapport, M. D., Friedman, L. M., Eckrich, S. J., & Kofler, M. J. (2018). Inattentive Behavior in Boys with ADHD during Classroom Instruction: the Mediating Role of Working Memory Processes. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 46(4), 713-727.

Pagani, L. S., Fitzpatrick, C., & Parent, S. (2012). Relating kindergarten attention to subsequent developmental pathways of classroom engagement in elementary school. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 40(5), 715-725.

Phelps, J., Attaheri, A., & Bozic, M. (2022). How bilingualism modulates selective attention in children. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 6381.

Pylyshyn, Z. W., & Storm, R. W. (1988). Tracking multiple independent targets: evidence for a parallel tracking mechanism. Spatial Vision, 3(3), 179-197.

Reimann, G., Gut, J., Frischknecht, M., & Grob, A. (2013). Memory abilities in children with mathematical difficulties: Comorbid language difficulties matter. Learning and Individual Differences, 23, 108-113.

Rhoades, B. L., Warren, H. K., Domitrovich, C. E., & Greenberg, M. T. (2011). Examining the link between preschool social-emotional competence and first grade academic achievement: The role of attention skills. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 26(2), 182-191.

Ringer, N. (2020). Living with ADHD: A meta-synthesis review of qualitative research on children's experiences and understanding of their ADHD. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 67(2), 208-224.

Sadeh, A., Gruber, R., & Raviv, A. (2002). Sleep, neurobehavioral functioning, and behavior problems in school‐age children. Child Development, 73(2), 405-417.

Seethaler, P. M., & Fuchs, L. S. (2006). The cognitive correlates of computational estimation skill among third-grade students. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 21(4), 233-243.

Sharkey, P. T., Tirado-Strayer, N., Papachristos, A. V., & Raver, C. C. (2012). The effect of local violence on children's attention and impulse control. American Journal of Public Health, 102(12), 2287-2293.

Skalski, S., Pochwatko, G., & Balas, R. (2021). Impact of motivation on selected aspects of attention in children with ADHD. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 52(4), 586-595.

Steele, A., Karmiloff-Smith, A., & Cornish, K. (2012). The multiple subfunctions of attention: differential developmental gateways to literacy and numeracy. Child Development, 83(6), 2028-2041.

Stevens, C., Lauinger, B., & Neville, H. (2009). Differences in the neural mechanisms of selective attention in children from different socioeconomic backgrounds: An event-related brain potential study. Developmental Science, 12(4), 634-646.

Stipek, D., & Valentino, R. (2016). Early childhood memory and attention as predictors of academic growth trajectories. Journal of Educational Psychology, 107(3), 771-788.

Swanson, J. M., Schuck, S., Porter, M. M., Carlson, C., Hartman, C. A., Sergeant, J. A., ... & Wigal, T. (2012). Categorical and dimensional definitions and evaluations of symptoms of ADHD: History of the SNAP and the SWAN rating scales. The International Journal of Educational and Psychological Assessment, 10(1), 51-70.

Szucs, D., Devine, A., Soltesz, F., Nobes, A., & Gabriel, F. (2014). Cognitive components of a mathematical processing network in 9-year-old children. Developmental Science, 17(4), 506-524.

Van der Niet, A. G., Hartman, E., Smith, J., & Visscher, C. (2014). Modeling relationships between physical fitness, executive functioning, and academic achievement in primary school children. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 15(4), 319-325.

Williford, A. P., Vick Whittaker, J. E., Vitiello, V. E., & Downer, J. T. (2013). Children's engagement within the preschool classroom and their development of self-regulation. Early Education and Development, 24(2), 162-187.