Cognitive Flexibility. What is it and how can it benefit my child?

How cognitive flexibility will help bring out the exceptional in your child

Mums of primary schoolers, remember when your little ones were toddlers and you played flash card sorting games with them? While they were probably great at sorting the cards by colour, they may have struggled a bit with sorting them in other ways, for example, by category (animals, food). But now that your little ones are older, it’s likely they are capable of more complex sorting methods if you play the same card game with them.

Perhaps you haven’t given this behaviour too much thought except to marvel at how clever your little ones are. But, what you’ve observed is in fact an extremely important executive function skill related to childrens’ brain development, known as cognitive flexibility.

What is cognitive flexibility and what are its benefits?

Experts define executive function skills as “the CEO of the brain”. That is because these skills -- cognitive flexibility, working memory and self control -- allow us to plan, set goals, and manage emotions, thoughts and feelings to achieve these goals. Each skill plays an important role in how your child learns effectively and continuously and are all interconnected. Cognitive flexibility is related to how quickly your child adapts to new situations or changes his/her attention to something else.

In particular, cognitive flexibility works closely with working memory for children to fulfillfulfil various high-level tasks in their day, such as being creative, multi-tasking, thinking about many concepts simultaneously and being able to see multiple sides to an issue.
A dexterous mind enables your little ones to succeed in the classroom and in every area of their lives.

Research published in Nature Human Behaviour indicates that cognitive flexibility is strongly linked to advanced brain functions, especially related to how information is taken in and processed. In other words, there is a positive correlation between this skill and learning. Furthermore, cognitive flexibility is also an ability possessed by good leaders, ensuring your child’s success in the workplace and society in the future.

How parents can nurture cognitive flexibility in their children

Advanced cognitive flexibility won’t be immediately apparent in your little one. Like all executive function skills, a nimble mind too must be nurtured and developed. You can help do this by incorporating some simple and effective strategies into your child’s daily routine.

As your child’s brain develops rapidly between the ages of one to seven, try these experts-recommended, age-appropriate activities to nurture cognitive flexibility in your children during this period.

1. Read to your one-year-old

Studies show that reading to your one-year-old develops language, literacy, and social skills. Reading aloud helps your little one develop cognitive flexibility through exposing them to words that have various meanings. By listening to stories, little ones also encounter diverse characters, ideas and scenarios. Your child then needs to make sense of these different elements in order to understand and enjoy the story. This process hones your little one’s cognitive flexibility.

What you can do:

● Set aside time daily to read with your child. It can be as short as 20 minutes, yet your little one will still benefit immensely from this quality time with you.
● Choose books with plenty of visual and tactile cues to fine-tune cognitive flexibility in your child, while stimulating his/her senses. Your one-year-old will find it easier to understand word meanings if he/she is also able to see and touch the corresponding images in the book.
● Keep interacting with your little one as you read and even after you’ve finished the story. By staying engaged and asking open-ended questions (e.g. “What did the pink doggy say?”), you’re helping your child improve his or her working memory, language and critical thinking skills. You’re promoting cognitive flexibility by prompting your little one to think back on the story, and then connect this to the present through your questions.

2. Get lost in imaginary worlds with your two-year-old child

A notable milestone in toddlers is their ability to engage in pretend play. An empty box magically transforms into a space shuttle or a stick into a guitar, in the hands and mind of your toddler.

On the surface, this seems like simple play. But underneath, complex cognitive processes are being developed—working together and sharpened—during imaginary play.,. One of these processes is cognitive flexibility.

Imaginary play stimulates your two-year-old child’s creativity and improves the ability to look at things from many different angles. It’s the ideal type of play to really stimulate cognitive flexibility in your child because he/she needs to keep thinking of new roles for “characters”, new situations and scenarios and then link all these different things together, bringing play to life!

What you can do:

● Bring your child to the playground. Your little one gets to flex and exercise both his/her cognitive and physical muscles there. Kids are able to repurpose the variety of equipment found at the playground, into incredible props for imaginary play.
● Hone your little one’s cognitive flexibility even more by joining in play with him/her: “Look! This wand you were using to be Fairy Flower is now mummy’s broomstick!”
● Provide your two-year-old with dress-up items. You don’t need to spend much on this either. Give them some of your old clothes, a handbag or purse, a hat -- anything goes. Enjoy watching your child give these old items a new lease on life!

3. Play sorting games with your three-year-old

Three-year-olds can do a lot of things by themselves. However, one task they commonly struggle with is sorting according to different categories. This difficulty is, more often than not, caused by their cognitive flexibility levels not being strong enough yet.

You can help your little one develop this skill by playing a simple sorting game using cards with different features. Although it looks simple on the surface, it’s a powerful teaching tool that helps your child adjust to new rules and shake off old habits, flexing those brain muscles in the process.

What you can do:

● Ask your child to sort a pack of cards according to one category (e.g. by animals).
● After repeating this a few times, change the category requirement (e.g. by colour). Your child might struggle to switch gears at first and follow the old rule. Keep giving encouragement and repeat the new rule until he/she catches on. Your patience will pay off.

4. Play games that require listening, and tweak the rules

Your four-year-old has high energy levels and shows rapid development on all fronts, especially at a cognitive level. Playing fun games that require good listening skills is a great way to help release all of that pent-up energy, while honing his/her cognitive flexibility.

A few games that you can play with children include Red Light Green Light, Sleeping Lions, and Simon Says. Each activity helps to sharpen your child’s focus and builds consistency through your child needing to pay attention and carefully follow the instructions.

For example, try the game of Simon Says. It involves one person giving instructions starting with Simon says (e.g. “Simon says touch your nose”). The other participants can only carry out the instruction if “Simon” prefaces the action with the phrase “Simon says”. If anyone does the action without listening correctly, they sit out the next round.

Played like this, the game develops your child’s working memory (they have to remember what Simon says) and focus. However, it also fine-tunes cognitive flexibility when you start changing the rules. Due to the nature of it being a reaction-based game, kids can’t help but instinctively respond to initial instructions. Over time, your child will learn how to look at something in a different way and update his or her actions based on the new rules.

● Play “Simon Says” as per normal with your child. After a few rounds, announce a slight change to the rule. For example, give two instructions instead of just one at once. This encourages your child to listen carefully and remember what has been said.
● Take turns and let your child be Simon. This gives them a chance to creatively make up rules that are difficult for you to follow.

5. Keep your five-year-old on his/her toes by changing up the daily routine

A daily routine is important in building consistency to your child’s life. Changing a routine might seem daunting, but don’t worry. Your child is much more resilient than you imagine. When doing things that are out of the ordinary, your child builds and strengthens neural pathways as they process and adapt to these small changes. Over time, he or she will develop a keen sense of cognitive flexibility to swiftly adapt to change when exposed to similar situations in the future.

What you can do:

● Choose an activity you can do together with your children, like making a sandwich. Change how you might make the sandwich (e.g. laying the ham out first, then spreading butter).
● Try a different route home from preschool than normal. You can encourage your five-year-old to help with directions by giving him or her a simple map. Your child will develop mental flexibility as he/she has to “read” the map and then present different solutions for you to get home.

6. Write or tell silly jokes with your six-year-old

Some of the fondest memories with your child are the ones filled with laughter. This doubles the benefits for this activity since jokes are also a great way to build cognitive flexibility in your child.

At the core of good jokes are words with different meanings or ones that make you think about something in another way. It’s a fun way to strengthen this executive function in your child and they’ll look forward to giggling with you.. Just remember to give them a chance to tell their own jokes as well!

What you can do:

● Tell your child a joke that involves play of words and language (e.g. “What do you call friends you like to eat with? Tastebuds!”)
● Take time to explain what the punchline means and how the word “tastebuds” contains two meanings in the context of this joke.
● Encourage your child to come up with his or her own jokes. By doing so, your six-year-old develops his or her language skills in order to draw a chuckle from you.

7. Teach your seven-year-old how to talk through problems to themselves

Your seven-year-old is growing at an incredible rate, physically and cognitively. But even though his or her abilities are continuously developing, your child will encounter different and new situations, including challenges, both at home and at school. One effective way to teach your child how to handle such situations, that also hones his/her cognitive flexibility, is the art of self-talk. Self-talk, is simply talking through a problem to yourself. This is an invaluable tool that will serve your child well into adulthood. It teaches children how to look at the situation from an alternative perspective and more importantly, come up with a range of solutions. Armed with this ability, your child will become more confident when faced with unexpected circumstances, and will gain a dexterous mind.

What you can do:

● Coach your child to talk through an imaginary situation.
● Go through a routine set of questions that are easy to remember and answer, like “Have I been faced with this problem before?” and “Is there anything different in this situation compared to the last time?”
● After reviewing the different solutions, review each one in terms of how feasible and practical they are in resolving the problem. For example, you might have three different options for tidying up toys after playing with them - leaving them where they are, putting them back, or asking someone else to do it. Explore each solution and gently teach your child that taking responsibility for his/her own actions is a good habit.

Understanding what is cognitive flexibility is key to your child's development. As a key executive function, your little ones will benefit from well developed cognitive flexibility to process and make sense of new information. They will also be able to better adapt to new situations and the new world, and unleash their full potential of becoming an exceptional child.

References:
https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/learning-at-home/homework-study-skills/7-tips-for-building-flexible-thinking

https://www.neeuro.com/cognitive-flexibility-kids-more-productive/

http://www.pbs.org/parents/expert-tips-advice/2016/04/flexible-thinking-encourage-kids-go-flow/

http://blog.tinkergarten.com/blog/2018/8/17/6-ways-to-help-your-kids-develop-cognitive-flexibility

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096515000946