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Details
Purpose
Screens for executive function impairment in ages 5–18 years (parent & teacher forms) & 11–18 years (self-report form)
Authors
Gerard A. Gioia, PhD, Peter K. Isquith, PhD, Steven C. Guy, PhD, and Lauren Kenworthy, PhD
Administration Formats
Additional Details
The Gold-Standard Rating Form for Executive Function Testing
Now enhanced with the addition of age-based (combined-sex) norms, integrated ADHD content, and all-digital scoring.
The updated BRIEF2 gives you the information you need to help children and adolescents with executive function difficulties—pinpointing exactly where and why children struggle so clinicians and schools can make informed, impactful decisions about intervention and support. Supported by 25 years of research and more than 2,000 peer-reviewed publications, it is designed for children and adolescents for whom there may be concerns about self-regulation, including those with ASD; learning disabilities; attention disorders; TBI; depression; and other developmental, neurological, psychiatric, and medical conditions.
The updated BRIEF2 introduces age-based (combined-sex) norms as a validated scoring option, integrates all ADHD evaluation content into the core Professional Manual, and moves all scoring to PARiConnect—without changing the instrument, items, or normative sample.
- Flexible: Age-based (combined-sex) norms are now available as a validated scoring option alongside the existing age- and sex-based norms, giving you the ability to select the most appropriate norm set for each case.
- Comprehensive: The contents of the ADHD manual supplement are now fully integrated into the updated and expanded BRIEF2 Professional Manual. ADHD evaluation content—including profiles, classification metrics, and DSM-5-TR symptom crosswalk—will remain available in BRIEF2 reports generated via PARiConnect. The standalone ADHD Form and its manual supplement have been discontinued—no separate purchase needed.
- Efficient: Administration takes only 10 minutes, and all scoring is completed through PARiConnect so you can calculate results automatically and generate reports immediately—no manual lookup tables.
- Trusted: Supported by more than 2,000 peer-reviewed publications and 25 years of clinical evidence, with sensitivity across key clinical groups including ADHD, autism, and TBI.
Features and benefits
- Three indexes—Behavior Regulation, Emotion Regulation, and Cognitive Regulation—plus a Global Executive Composite organize scores into a comprehensive picture of executive function across behavioral, emotional, and cognitive domains. Three embedded validity scales (Inconsistency, Negativity, Infrequency) help detect response bias.
- The Parent and Teacher forms each contain 63 items and assess nine clinical scales: Inhibit, Self-Monitor, Shift, Emotional Control, Initiate, Working Memory, Plan/Organize, Task-Monitor, and Organization of Materials.
- The Self-Report Form contains 55 items, with seven clinical scales paralleling the Parent and Teacher forms: Inhibit, Self-Monitor, Shift, Emotional Control, Task Completion, Working Memory, and Plan/Organize.
- Parallel structure across Parent, Teacher, and Self-Report forms supports more informed and effective interventions.
- The Score Report provides validity results, index T scores and percentiles, a score summary table, a score profile, and an item response table plus an optional ADHD profile.
- The Interpretive Report includes everything in the Score Report plus interpretive text for each clinical scale, index, composite, and validity score. Optional sections include executive function interventions, an ADHD-focused section that generates a score profile, classification metrics, and a DSM-5-TR symptom crosswalk, and an autism section that provides classification metrics.
- Both Score and Interpretive Reports can be generated with either set of norms—age- and sex-based or age-based (combined-sex). Reports can be regenerated with a different norm set at no additional charge.
- The 12-item BRIEF2 Screening Form screens for executive function difficulties in children ages 5-18 (Parent and Teacher forms) and 11-18 (Self-Report Form) in approximately 5 minutes, helping you determine whether a comprehensive assessment is appropriate. Administered and scored digitally via PARiConnect.
- A free training course is available on the PAR Training Portal.
Companion materials
BRIEF2 Interpretive Guide — Written by the BRIEF2 authors for psychologists, graduate students, and other professionals—any clinician or researcher who assesses executive functioning in children or provides intervention—this book provides in-depth guidance for interpreting BRIEF2 scores and associated metrics such as base rates and classification statistics, writing results in clinical reports using illustrative case examples, and providing executive function intervention. Available in print and electronic formats.
BRIEF2 Interventions Handouts — Available only via PARiConnect, these colorful, graphic handouts were developed by the BRIEF2 authors and designed to be shared with parents, teachers, and students. A set of Interventions Handouts, each addressing an elevated clinical scale (T ≥ 60) can be generated after generation of a Score or Interpretive Report. Written in easy-to-understand language, each handout explains the relevant executive function and includes detailed strategies to support and improve the associated behaviors at home and in school.
Available in English and Spanish
The BRIEF2 Parent and Self-Report forms are available in Spanish both in print and as an i-Admin on PARiConnect. Spanish Parent and Self-Report screening forms are available as an i-Admin only.
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FAQs
What are the BRIEF2 scales, forms, and psychometric properties?
Test structure
- Three indexes—Behavior Regulation, Emotion Regulation, and Cognitive Regulation—plus a Global Executive Composite organize scores into a comprehensive picture of executive function across behavioral, emotional, and cognitive domains. The Parent and Teacher forms each include nine clinical scales: Inhibit, Self-Monitor, Shift, Emotional Control, Initiate, Working Memory, Plan/Organize, Task-Monitor, and Organization of Materials.
- The Self-Report Form includes seven clinical scales: Inhibit, Self-Monitor, Shift, Emotional Control, Task Completion, Working Memory, and Plan/Organize.
- Includes Inconsistency, Negativity, and Infrequency validity scales.
Core test materials
- BRIEF2 Professional Manual, Updated and Expanded
- Parent Form (ages 5–18 years)
- Teacher Form (ages 5–18 years)
- Self-Report Form (ages 11–18 years)
- 12-item Screening Forms (Parent, Teacher, and Self-Report) available via PARiConnect only
- Digital administration kits include e-Manual, i-Admins, and Score/Interpretive Reports via PARiConnect; print administration kits include e-Manual, print forms, and Score/Interpretive Reports
Administration and scoring
- Administration time is approximately 10 minutes per form (5 minutes for screening forms)
- Requires a qualification level of B (core forms) or S (screening forms)
- All scoring is completed via PARiConnect; norm lookup tables are not included in the updated manual
- Score Reports, Interpretive Reports, and Interventions Handouts are available for purchase on PARiConnect
- Feedback Reports, Multirater Summary Reports, and Items and Responses Reports are also available on PARiConnect at no additional charge once a Score or Interpretive Report has been generated
Reliability, validity, and norms
- Standardization sample (N = 3,603 total ratings) is matched by age, sex, ethnicity, and parent education level to U.S. Census statistics. Age-based (combined-sex) norms were added to the existing age- and sex-based norms in 2026, with reliability and validity evidence for both sets of norms presented in the updated manual.
- Clinical data provide support for evidence-based assessment and interpretation of clinical profiles.
- Reliable change statistics make it easy to measure the significance of change in scores over time.
- Reliability coefficients are above .90 for the Parent Form and Teacher Form and above .80 for the Self-Report Form.
- The BRIEF2 has been correlated with other measures of behavior and cognitive ability, including the CBCL, BASC-2, Conners-3, ADHD-RS-IV, RIAS, WISC-IV, and WAIS-IV.
- Confirmatory factor analysis supports a three-factor structure as reflected in the three indexes: Behavior Regulation Index, Emotion Regulation Index, and Cognitive Regulation Index.
- Base rates and mean performance across several clinical groups (e.g., ADHD, ASD, LD, anxiety, TBI, epilepsy, NF1, cancer, and diabetes) are provided in the updated and expanded Professional Manual.
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