Cognitive Assessment System 2nd Edition Brief (CAS2:BRIEF)

Purpose: Measures cognitive and neuropsychological strengths and weaknesses

Age: 5-18 years

Time: 30-40 minutes

The Cognitive Assessment System-Brief (CAS2:BRIEF) is a standardised assessment of cognitive ability based on the cognitive/neuropsychological theory PASS (planning, attention, simultaneous and successive).

• Planning—a cognitive process requiring the individual to determine, select, and use a strategy to solve a problem. The subtests require the solving of novel tasks
• Attention—a cognitive process requiring the individual to selectively attend to a particular stimulus and inhibits attending to competing stimuli
• Simultaneous—a cognitive process involving integrating separate stimuli into a single whole or group
• Successive—a cognitive process requiring the serial ordering of things

PASS abilities are evaluated using four subtests (planned codes, simultaneous matrices, expressive attention and successive digits) which are combined to provide a total score.

The CAS2:BRIEF was designed to be used whenever a fast, reliable, research-based measure is needed to evaluate PASS cognitive abilities. This would include initial testing to measure overall ability and examination of variability in PASS scores to determine possible implications for intervention.