How Do You Assess Cognitive Flexibility?

I talk a lot about flexible thinking, but how do you assess it?

Flexible thinking is an executive function (and flexible thinking and cognitive flexibility are different ways to say the same thing). I tend to use the term “flexible thinking” more often because it is a more common term. However, I like the term “cognitive flexibility” better because I think it better represents what it is. “Flexible thinking” may make some people think that it’s intentional or that there is control over it when it is actually a lagging skill; and like other executive functions, it is how the brain is wired. Flexible thinking challenges require education to learn how to think more flexibly.

Standardized Tests to Assess Flexibility

Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF-2) 

The BRIEF-2 is a behavior rating scale that you can give to parents or teachers to assess executive functioning. It is for ages 3 and up. There are self-report rating scales for adults and children over age 12. 

The Comprehensive Executive Function Inventory™ (CEFI®) 

The CEFI is also a behavior rating scale that you can give to adults to complete on behalf of children ages 5 to 18. It includes parent, teacher, and self-reports. There is also a self-report version for adults. 

Observations and Caregiver Reports 

Questions to Consider When Observing Children or Consulting with Caregivers

Other Informal Measures

There is an executive functioning questionnaire for children to complete online that can be found at Smart but Scattered Kids. 

While this does not address flexibility directly, it does look at emotional regulation and may be helpful to initiate conversations about what triggers may cause big emotional reactions (e.g., is this when there is a change or if things don’t go as expected). 

The Clue Cards

There are several items in the Clue Cards that are related to flexibility. They are color coded and can help you identify patterns if a child is triggered by a lack of flexibility.

Observations of card placement can also be helpful. For example, children are given 5 boards on which to place a card with possible triggers (not a problem, little problem, medium problem, big problem, I can’t handle it). If a child primarily places items at the extreme ends, indicating that they are either not a problem or a major problem, then this is likely a sign of cognitive flexibility difficulties. 

The Flexibility Files

While The Flexibility Files  is intended to be a treatment tool, there are activities in it that can be used to identify flexible thinking challenges while also helping children learn strategies to be more flexible. 

For example, one of the activities is to color pictures in a different way than what is typical/standard (like making a banana pink). You don't need the Flexibility Files for this. You can do this with almost any coloring sheet and ask the child to do this (for example, making the Incredible Hulk purple instead of green). How does a child react if you ask them to color something like this differently? For some children with cognitive flexibility challenges this is really easy, others really struggle with it. By itself it is not an assessment of flexibility thinking, but can help identify flexibility difficulties. 

You can also ask children to solve common problems that they may encounter and would be expected to solve at their age. 

For example, at school, what would they do if their marker runs out of ink or their pencil breaks?

What if they can’t find their jacket?

What if they lose a game?

Flexible thinking is an important life skill. There are tools to formally assess it, but informal measures also often help us understand a child’s ability to think flexibly.