Early Years Toolbox (EYT) Not This is an iPad-based assessment of childrens working memory (i.e., the amount of auditory information that concurrently can be coordinated in mind). In this game, children are presented with an array of characters (i.e. shapes that have cartoon expressions on their faces) that vary in shape, size and colour (e.g., a large blue circle). Before the characters are shown, children hear an auditory instruction to point to a card that does not fulfill a certain descriptive quality (e.g. “Find a shape that is not red” or “Find a shape that is not a triangle and is not large”). For each level, the number of descriptive qualities that must be held in mind increases. Trials are presented in order of difficulty, with a stop rule after a series of incorrect responses to prevent frustration associated with overly difficult items. This game takes around 5-8 minutes to complete.
Scores are presented on the final assessment screen. For more precise research applications, there are options to have the item by item data sent to a user-specified e-mail address or database. For more information, brief EYT training videos, and analysis resources, please visit http://www.eytoolbox.com.au
Languages embedded: English, Korean, and more in progress
About the Early Years Toolbox:
The Early Years Toolbox (EYT, for short) is comprised of brief, engaging game-like assessments of children’s self-regulation, executive functioning and vocabulary. These assessments are based on well-established and widely used measures, yet have been adapted and optimised on the basis of 20+ years of research experience working with young children.
NOTE FOR RESEARCHERS: If using this app for research and/or publication purposes, please cite the following as the original source article:
Howard, S. J., & Melhuish, E. (2017). An Early Years Toolbox (EYT) for assessing early executive function, language, self-regulation, and social development: Validity, reliability and preliminary norms. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 35(3), 255-275.