Abilities of preschoolers: comparing different tools

We evaluated 58 children attending for the first time the last year of the Scuola dell'Infanzia. Parental view was obtained with Child Behaviour Check-List and Conners' Rating Scales - Revised, and family socio-economic status was evaluated using Hollingshead's Four Factor Index; teacher compiled the IPDA questionnaire; children were administered Raven's Progressive Matrices, Modified Bell Cancellation Test, BVN 5-11 (a neuropsychological battery).A correlational analysis was conducted using Spearman's Rho (since variables were not normally distributed). These asymptomatic children show a good global cognitive functioning, but also a deficit of attention and of Executive Functions. Some of the tests used seem more cost-effective than others and there are some redundancies in information obtained.Our data show that there are significant correlations between different neuropsychological and behavioural measures. It is therefore possible to rationalize diagnostic protocols without a significant information reduction. A deeper analysis will require a preliminary definition of the psychometric properties of used tools.Different neuropsychological functions have been shown in pre-schoolers to be more closely correlated to successive school achievement [1]: the integration of several cognitive and perceptual-motor skills is required since the beginning of primary school [2]. English-based literature has focused on letter recognition, spelling ability, phonemic awareness for reading and writing [1,3] and number recognition, quantity processing and counting for mathematical skills [4,5]. Given that Italian, unlike English, has an almost fully transparent orthography, it is perhaps understandable that studies conducted in Italy have shown a preminent role of metaphonological skills [6]. It has been written that these abilities represent a crystallized knowledge, deriving from experiences conducted at home, at the nursery or in other social contests; the role of the so called