Assessing sequential reasoning skills in typically developing children

Introduction: Since serial ordering has an important role in both language development and learning abilities, the present study aims to describe a new instrument, the Sequential Reasoning Task (SRT), specifically designed to assess children’s ability to place events in temporal order. Methods: Participants were 200 typically developing children, ranging from 3 to 8 years of age. Each child was individually administered a battery of cognitive and linguistic tasks. Results: The scores obtained in the SRT by children at different age levels appeared to be significantly different (except for 6- and 7-year-old children). Moreover, the scores obtained in the task were significantly related to the children’s non-verbal and linguistic competence. Conclusions: The SRT appeared to be a valid instrument to assess children’s sequential reasoning skills. It is engaging for children and easy to be administered also by teachers and therapists.