Abstract:

The aim of the study was to examine inhibition and cognitive flexibility performances of 3-5 year old children in relation with age and receptive and expressive language skills. It was a correlational study and the data were gathered cross-sectionally. The study was conducted in two public preschools in Ankara. Three age groups, 3, 4 and 5 year-olds, were included in the study. Seventy children (34 girls and 36 boys) were tested. In order to assess executive functions, Day/Night Task, Flexible Item Selection Task and for language skills, Turkish Expressive and Receptive Language Test were administered to children. SPSS program was used for data analysis. The data were non-normally distributed. Therefore, intergroup comparisons were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests. As to the tests of correlation, Spearman Rho was adopted. The results revealed that the performance in Flexible Item Selection Task increased with age and it had significant relationship with receptive language skill. 

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