Overview
The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Second Edition (BRIEF-2; Gioia, Isquith, Guy, & Kenworthy, 2015) is an individualized, norm-referenced instrument designed to assess executive function in children and adolescents ages 5 to 18 years. The BRIEF-2 includes both a core form and a screening form that can be completed by parents, teachers, and/or the students themselves (for ages 11-18 years); parent and self-report forms are also available in Spanish. The BRIEF-2 is useful for assisting practitioners as they assess, plan interventions for, and monitor students with executive function impairments in both home and school environments. Moreover, the screening form is appropriate for assessing response to intervention (RTI) in school.
Scores yielded include a Global Executive Composite, as well as three Index Scores: Behavior Regulation (subscales: Inhibit, Self-Monitor); Emotion Regulation (Shift, Emotional Control), and Cognitive Regulation (subscales: Working Memory, Plan/Organize, Initiate [parent/teacher forms], Task-Monitor [parent/teacher forms], Organization of Materials [parent/teacher forms], and Task Completion [self-report]). Three validity scales (Inconsistency, Negativity, and Infrequency) are also available; the Infrequency scale is new to the BRIEF-2 and helps identify unusual responses. Compared with its predecessor, the BRIEF-2 takes less administration time, contains more concise scales, increased parallel structure across the forms, and increased sensitivity to executive function. Online administration and scoring is also available through PARiConnect. Base rates and mean performance across a variety of clinical groups (e.g., ADHD, ASD, SLD, anxiety, TBI, and several medical conditions) are provided in the manual.
Summary
Age: 5 years to 18 years (Self-report available for ages 11-18)
Time to Administer: 10 mins. (core form); 5 mins. (screening form) 15 mins. to score
Method of Administration: Individualized norm- referenced instrument that assesses executive function through parent, teacher, and/or self-rating forms
Yields T-scores (M = 50, SD = 10), percentile ranks, confidence intervals
Subscales: Overall Composite Score: Global Executive Composite
Index Scores: Behavioral Regulation Index, Emotion Regulation Index, Cognitive Regulation Index
Subtests: Inhibit, Self-Monitor); Shift, Emotional Control, Working Memory, Plan/Organize, Initiate, Task-Monitor, Organization of Materials, Task Completion
Autism Related Research
None found. However, Demetriou et al. (2018) conducted a meta-analysis of executive functioning (EF) in ASD and included (among other research aims) information regarding the clinical utility of EF measures in differentiating between ASD and typically developing controls. In this extensive review of 235 empirical studies, these researchers concluded that “mostly informant-based measures based on the BRIEF (Gioia, Isquith, Guy, & Kenworthy, 2000) achiev[ed] absolute clinical marker criteria.” Further, they noted that such ecologically valid measures may be most appropriate for practice, including diagnostic and intervention frameworks. Importantly, these authors also cautioned users to consider demand or reporter characteristics.