# D-KEFS Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System

- Link: https://www.alquimedez.com/d-kefs-delis-kaplan-executive-function-system
- Published: 2021-09-13T02:33:00+00:00
- Author: alquimedezhemo

**What is the D-KEFS Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System?**
 Developed by Dean
Delis, Edith Kaplan and Joel Ramer, Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS)
was designed in the span of 10 years and was released in 2001. This system is a 
neuropsychological test curated to evaluate verbal and non-verbal different types
of executive functions. This psychometric test system comprises of nine separate
stand-alone tests. Due to this, D-KEFS does not provide a combined assessment result
of the participant’s performance in the test and provide separate results.

**What Is The Purpose Of D-KEFS?**
 D-KEFS is the first compilation of tests curated
for the individual assessment and evaluation of executive functions. Delis-Kaplan
Executive Function System provides assessment and evaluation of executive functions
like inhibition, flexibility in thinking, problem-solving skills, planning, creativity,
abstract thinking, concept formation and impulse control in both spatial and verbal
aspects. It is a nationally standardized medium of assessment of executive functions
in both, adults and children from the age of eight and eighty-nine. The nine assessment
tests are designed in a manner to produce efficient and accurate results in both
scenarios when it is administered individually or together in a group.

D-KEFS offers a cognitive approach, which is the catalyst for examiners to produce
and evaluate the clinical findings on executive functioning of the participant via
analyzing the examinee’s performance in various sections of the test in an organized
way.

Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System’s nine independent test are apt to evaluate
the executive functions in the following sectors:

 1.  The Trail Making Test –This calculates the ability to think flexibly on visual-
     motor sequencing tasks. Consisting of 5 trials: visual scanning, letter sequencing,
     number sequencing, motor-speed and switching between number and letter. TMT differentiates
     the deficits of visual scanning and mental sequencing from deficits in control
     and cognitive flexibility.
 2.  The Verbal Fluency Test – This measures fluency in the letter, category and switching
     between categories.
 3.  The Design Fluency Test – This evaluates a person’s problem-solving behavior, 
     creativity, fluency in producing patterns, while adhering to the rules of the 
     task without repeating the designs.
 4.  The Color-Word Interference Test – This calculates the potential to give a firm
     and natural verbal response
 5.  The Proverb Test – This evaluates a person’s capability to contribute fresh ideas
     verbally
 6.  The Word Context Test – This assesses a person’s ability to deduct reasoning, 
     flexible thinking and utilizing information.
 7.  The Sorting Test – This measures flexible thinking in conceptual tasks, problem-
     solving skills and verbal and non-verbal concept building skills.
 8.  The Tower Test – Calculates impulsiveness and reasoning and planning in the spatial
     modality.
 9.   The Twenty Question Test – Evaluates the skill to construct abstract, categorize,
     and answer no/yes questions

D-KEFS was not only designed to be used by clinics, but also in schools by psychologists.
It aids to detect the impact of deficits on an individual’s performance. Therefore,
performance in D-KEFS can be used as the foundation to build coping strategies or
rehabilitation modules. Schools can benefit from it to use as a tool to measure 
intelligence and other skills. Various benefits and a comprehensive review of all
the domains verify the significance of D-KEFS not only as a clinical tool but also
in the field of frontal-lobe functions as a research instrument.