Digital Tools for Assessing Children's Mental Development: Validity in Visual Working Memory Testing

Diagnostics of mental development is a prerequisite for the timely identification of potential developmental risks and their correction in children of all ages. The development and implementation of digital versions of professional diagnostic methods will make it possible to ensure their availability, significantly reduce the procedural burden and improve the quality of the collected data. This study is aimed at assessing the diagnostic capabilities and psychometric characteristics of the digital version of the NEPSY II battery subtest: Memory for Designs. The study was conducted according to an intra-individual scheme on a sample of 62 preschool children. The sample was divided into two groups depending on the sequence of the traditional and digital versions of the methodology. The results confirmed the high consistency and internal reliability of both versions. Medium and strong positive correlations between the indicators of the method were found, regardless of the method of presentation. No significant differences were recorded in the results of visual working memory diagnostics depending on the form of the presented method. The results obtained open up new prospects for further research in the field of child development; in particular, they allow large-scale screening studies using the digital version of the methodology. However, it is important to remember that each digital tool must undergo a testing procedure before being used in large-scale screening studies, which includes a more detailed assessment of its psychometric properties and ergonomics.