Thinking flexibly is absolutely essential to social interaction and effective communication. It’s a skill that spans across all of our executive functions including problem solving, decision making, regulating our behavior, and sticking to a plan. To adapt with our ever-changing environment we must be able to switch or reframe our decisions and thoughts in the blink of an eye. A conversation involves so many subtle switches in topic, attitude, pace, and importance. We must be able to adjust our ideas without even thinking about it if we want to keep up. Conceptual flexibility has even been shown to predict positive outcomes of academics in areas IQ tests could not. Flexibility is essential to how we function in the world and often we don’t teach it enough. Standardized tests and schooling prepare students for a black and white way of seeing the world as there are certain answers which are wrong and very specific steps for completing tasks. Many issues that we face in the real world do not have such definitive answers as A or B on a math test, these require flexible thinking. Here are some components of actually putting together flexible thinking:
- Thinking of ideas – flexibility begins with recognizing there are many different ways of looking at a situation. What are the available options and choices?
- Add ideas together – flexibility also relates to compromise. We often must combine our ideas to formulate a mutually beneficial option.
- Let it go – sometimes being flexible means giving up on your idea/plan. When teaching this strategy, we often tell students to visualize the idea floating away, like a balloon in the wind.
- Try another way – A big part of being a flexible thinker is being cognizant of when stuck thinking is blocking you from changing and trying something else. When you recognize that you are thinking in a one-dimensional fashion, you should try to step back and look at it another way.
The less flexible someone is at interpreting social information, the more they tend to interpret language and non-verbal cues as being literal. This can make social problem solving very difficult and cause a lot of miscommunication because their theory of mind is not adapting properly. Not everyone is born a flexible thinker and easily able to switch ideas and learn new concepts on the fly. With that being said, we can always work on and train ourselves to be more flexible thinkers. Talk to one of our therapists about group sessions and your child’s mental flexibility. Groups just might be the extra push your kid needs to start quickly adapting to the ever-changing demands of the environment.