The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF) is a parent report of executive function in children (Gioia, Isquith, Guy, & Kenworthy, 2000). It includes eight subscales and two summary indices. Several studies have evaluated children with FASD using the BRIEF, however, many of these have not included a comparison group of children. In one study without controls, children with FASD had scores in the clinical range (> 1.5 standard deviation from the population average) on all subscales, with greatest difficulty on the inhibitory control, working memory, and problem-solving subscales (Rasmussen, McAuley, & Andrew, 2007), while another study revealed abnormal elevation on all but two subscales (Rasmussen, Horne, & Witol, 2006). In a separate investigation, these executive function deficits (using the two BRIEF summary indices) were predictive of poorer social skills and greater problem behaviors (Schonfeld, Paley, Frankel, & O'Connor, 2006). Because these studies did not include a comparison group it is difficult to conclude whether the magnitude of the deficits persists when compared to a demographically matched control group. A later investigation of 43 adolescents (age 13–18 years) did
