[Evaluation of executive functions in children].

OBJECTIVES: This is a review of the available instruments to evaluate executive functions in children and adolescents. DEVELOPMENT: Executive functions (EF) give support for organization, anticipation, inhibition, working memory, flexibility, control and autoregulation of behavior. EF appear abnormal in several neurological an psychopathological conditions e.g. learning and behavior disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Tourette syndrome, Asperger syndrome, and temporal epilepsy. The large spectrum of the so called EF makes difficult to propose any simple and comprehensive instrument for evaluation. In spite of that, here are described the more useful tests adapted to developmental ages.
CONCLUSIONS: The measure of FE in children and adolescents needs further developments of more solids theoretical models. Nevertheless, in the last recent years relevant progresses have been done, and several useful instruments of evaluation have been built for clinical practice and research.