Tips to Develop Cognitive Flexibility and Flexible Thinking Skills

“I can’t do it! It’s wrong!” Nicole announces loudly. This is a common scene at homework time. Andrea, Nicole’s mother, knows that Nicole is doing math and just got a problem wrong. She also knows that Nicole will resist trying a different approach to the problem. Soon Nicole will be in tears and declaring that the book is wrong and that this is not the way the teacher showed how to do the problem.

An educational evaluation was completed to help Nicole’s parents and teachers understand her learning style. Nicole was found to have strong verbal skills, and she is easily able to read and understand stories at or above grade level. Her memory for both auditory and visual information is strong. However, her math and writing skills are weak. An assessment of her executive functioning skills discovered that her ability to set-shift was very weak. Set-shifting is a component of cognitive flexibility that impacts a student’s ability to shift attention.

To shift attention Nicole needs to update or “shift” her strategy when the way she is doing something doesn’t work. For example, when Nicole realized she got the wrong answer on her math homework, she would have, with set-shifting skills, realized her way of approaching the math problem was not working, and “shift” to a new approach to solve the problem. There are multiple types of set-shifting, but they all require the ability to let go of one idea to consider another.

The ability to abandon an old strategy and adapt to a new rule is a key life skill. Children with set-shifting difficulty have trouble being flexible. It is challenging for these children to deal with change, be it routines, rules or integrating new information. When a child with set-shifting issues makes a mistake, it is hard for her to find it, correct it, and move on.

Cognitive flexibility, an essential executive functioning skill, requires the ability to inhibit our previous perspective and to consider or explore a new perspective. It allows us to think creatively, to see things from a different perspective, and to quickly adapt to changes around us.

How to build cognitive flexibility skills

Start with teaching inhibition skills. The ability to inhibit our thoughts and actions allows us to change and choose how we will react. Impulse control can be difficult to develop, but without the ability to inhibit her thoughts and behaviors, Nicole is at the mercy of her impulses and old habits. Self-awareness is needed for Nicole to realize that change can be good for her.

• Discuss what currently occurs and how learning a new approach will help.
  • Nicole will get her math homework done faster, without getting frustrated and upset, if she can easily learn to find more than one way to solve a problem.
• Talk about how the brain works. The brain builds pathways to process information. The more you use a pathway the faster and better the pathway becomes. When you are learning a new skill, the brain pathways are small, but as you use them, the pathways build.

• 3D Brain App (free)

• Explain that you are going to use games to help build new pathways.
• The games will provide the opportunity for the child to build new habits and pathways that will make learning easier.

Guiding students out of their comfort zone may cause some anxiety and frustration. How do you help when this anxiety and frustration arise? Metacognitive conversations and careful scaffolding are essential. While playing the flexible thinking games, you will need to move slowly, taking time to stop and talk about how the student

feels and what steps she can follow to solve the problems presented. The games and activities in the Flexible Thinking Program require set-shifting and flexible thinking. Each activity is designed to provide an opportunity for your student to go through the cognitive flexibility cycle.

 

Steps for successful scaffolding:

• The selection of the task is important – The task needs to be at the correct level so that the student is developing new skills while staying in his learning zone. The task should be engaging and fun.
• Anticipate errors – After choosing the task, the teacher needs to anticipate errors the learners are likely to make so they can properly guide the learner through the errors and on to mastery.
• Move at the pace of the child’s mastery – Once the child has mastered a skill, move to the next level. Guided learning is organized step-by-step to ensure the child stays in the learning zone.
• Be prepared for any emotions that arise – Stop and discuss feelings and frustrations as they arise. Use scaffolding techniques for the emotions as well as the cognitive task.

Teach Metacognition Skills: Taking control of your thinking skills will help build inhibition skills

• Teach the STOP, THINK, PLAN, DO strategy for approaching a problem.
  • STOP:
    • Stopping allows the child to consider the situation
    • What is this task asking me to do?
  • THINK:
    • What is the best way to approach the task?
    • Is there another way to do it?
  • PLAN:
    • Which option looks like the best one?
  • DO
    • Start with the plan you think will work.
    • If it doesn’t work try the next one.
    • If that doesn’t work try the next one until you solve the problem.

Play Flexible Thinking games and activities

• Explain that there can be more than one right answer and more than one right way to get to an answer.
  • Mirta the Superfly (free) is fun to watch and discuss how Mirta could do things differently.
• Build frustration tolerance by taking the time to work through possible options.
• Build cognitive flexibility by modeling the metacognitive process as you play the games. Talk out loud about what you are considering as you make your choices.
  • Use the STOP, THINK, PLAN, DO strategy to break down the games and activities to figure out new ways to solve the problems.

 

Have fun while playing the flexible thinking games. Relax and enjoy the time with your student. Learning new skills takes time and practice, so take time to examine all the possibilities knowing you are instilling important skills.

 

 

 

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