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Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch)
Availability
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Classification
Supplemental: Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Exploratory: Sport-Related Concussion (SRC)
Short Description of Instrument
The TEA-Ch is adapted from the Test of Everyday Attention (TEA), the original adult version of the battery. The TEA-Ch battery is comprised of nine subtests that yield a three-factor structure that includes selective attention, attention control/switching and sustained attention. An alternate version (B) is available for re-test purposes. A four- subtest screener is available, but this short version has suboptimal discriminant validity. Materials and administration procedures largely are appealing to children and adolescents.
 
Age range: 6–16 years
 
Administration: paper-pencil
 
Administration Time: 1 hour
 
Accessibility: MACS I-II; CFCS I-II/III. Many tasks have speeded motor response demands. Verbal demands do not require lengthy response but for some subtests there is a speeded component.
 
Norms: The original normative sample was 293 Australian children, ages 6:0–15:11.
 
Psychometrics: Test-retest reliability ranges from .71–.87, with the exception of .57 for the Creature Counting timing score. Data are available regarding expected practice effects when administering Version B, following initial administration of Version A.
 
Comments
TBI: "This measure has been shown to be sensitive to children with severe TBI." – McCauley et al., 2012.
 
CP: There is evidence in children with CP of generally lower TEA-Ch sustained and divided attention that is not associated with verbal intellect. Children with unilateral CP show evidence of lower attentional control with tests that include the TEA-Ch. The TEA-Ch has been utilized in numerous studies of congenital and acquired neurodevelopmental conditions, including ADHD. In studies of children with ADHD, there is evidence that specific subtests are sensitive to the effects of methylphenidate in this population.
 
Sport-Related Concussion-Specific:
Advantage: The measure is used in traumatic brain injury, primarily with mixed samples, and a recent study used it to asssess the effect of an attetional intervention (Treble-Barna et al., 2016).
Limitations: The use of the TEA-Ch in studies of concussion is limited and only one study with mild complicated brain injury was found.
Scoring
Standardized scores (M = 10; SD = 3) and percentile ranks are given for each subtest.
References
Manly T, Robertson IH, Anderson V, Nimmo-Smith I. Test of Everyday Attention for Children, The (TEA-Ch) San Antonio, TX: Pearson Clinical, Inc.; 1998 [23 June 2016]. Available from: https://www.pearsonassessments.com/store/usassessments/en/Store/Professional-Assessments/Behavior/Attention-ADHD/Test-of-Everyday-Attention-for-Children-%7C-Second-Edition/p/100001942.html.
 
Baron IS. Test of everyday attention for children. Child Neuropsychol. 2001;7(3):190-195.
 
Bigler ED, Jantz PB, Farrer TJ, Abildskov TJ, Dennis M, Gerhardt CA, Rubin KH, Stancin T, Taylor HG, Vannatta K, Yeates KO. Day of injury CT and late MRI findings: Cognitive outcome in a paediatric sample with complicated mild traumatic brain injury. Brain Inj. 2015;29(9):1062-1070.
 
Bodimeade HL, Whittingham K, Lloyd O, Boyd RN. Executive function in children and adolescents with unilateral cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2013;55(10):926-933.
 
Bottcher L, Flachs EM, Uldall P. Attentional and executive impairments in children with spastic cerebral palsy. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2010;52(2):e42-e47.
 
McCauley SR, Wilde EA, Anderson VA, Bedell G, Beers SR, Campbell TF, Chapman SB, Ewing-Cobbs L, Gerring JP, Gioia GA, Levin HS, Michaud LJ, Prasad MR, Swaine BR, Turkstra LS, Wade SL, Yeates KO. Recommendations for the use of common outcome measures in pediatric traumatic brain injury research. J Neurotrauma. 2012;29(4):678-705.
 
Paton K, Hammond P, Barry E, Fitzgerald M, McNicholas F, Kirley A, Robertson IH, Bellgrove MA, Gill M, Johnson KA. Methylphenidate improves some but not all measures of attention, as measured by the TEA-Ch in medication-naive children with ADHD. Child Neuropsych. 2014;20(3):303-318.
 
Treble-Barna A, Sohlberg MM, Harn BE, Wade SL. Cognitive Intervention for Attention and Executive Function Impairments in Children With Traumatic Brain Injury: A Pilot Study. J Head Trauma Rehabil. 2016;31(6):407-418.

 

Document last updated June 2019