Introduction to Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology. Robert Weis

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      Principles of Assessment

      The most accurate understanding of children’s behavior comes from multimethod assessment. Multimethod assessment involves gathering data in a number of different ways to obtain the most complete picture possible (Butcher, 2019). Ideally, multimethod assessment involves four components:

      Multimethod assessment would be extremely helpful in identifying the cause of Sara’s physical complaints and school refusal. First, we would probably want to interview Sara and her mother to learn more about her family and developmental history. How long has Sara had this problem? How are her grades? Does she have friends at school?

      Second, we might want to observe Sara’s school refusal firsthand. Perhaps we could find a way to intervene and make mornings go more smoothly for her family.

      Third, we might administer behavioral rating scales to Sara’s parents and teachers, to assess Sara’s functioning at home and school, respectively. Maybe she is having problems in other areas.

      Finally, we might administer some psychological tests to assess Sara’s cognitive abilities, academic skills, or social–emotional functioning. Does she have a learning disability that is causing academic problems and embarrassment at school? Does Sara avoid school because she is depressed or anxious?

      Multi-informant assessment is equally necessary to provide a complete picture of a child’s functioning. Data should be gathered from different people. Previous research has shown low correlations between parents, teachers, and children’s ratings of child behavior. The overall correlation across informants is only .28. Consequently, a clinician who relies only on information provided by one informant will likely obtain an inaccurate picture of a child’s functioning (de Los Reyes et al., 2015).

      Why do informants disagree so much in their reports? There are at least two reasons. First, informants are privy to different types of information about children’s functioning. For example, parents and teachers are able to observe children’s overt actions but may not be able to accurately assess children’s thoughts and feelings.

      Second, children’s behavior can vary dramatically across settings. For example, children may seem anxious at school but appear relaxed at home. Similarly, children may be defiant and disrespectful toward parents but be courteous and compliant toward teachers. In fact, informant agreement is higher between two parents observing a child in the same setting (r = .58) than between a parent and a teacher observing a child in two different settings (r = .28). Disagreement between informants, therefore, often reflects differences in informants’ knowledge of the child and variability in the child’s behavior across settings. As a result, clinicians must gather and integrate information from multiple people (Villabø, Gere, Torgersen, March, & Kendall, 2012).

      Multi-informant assessment would be useful to test our initial hypotheses regarding the source of Sara’s problems. For example, Sara’s parents might report that she has chronic headaches, stomachaches, and nausea at home, whereas her teacher might report no such problems at school. In fact, her teacher might say that Sara has well-developed social skills and several friends at school. Such data might suggest that bullying is not the cause of Sara’s school refusal. We need to revise our hypotheses and look elsewhere.

       Review

      What Is a Diagnostic Interview and Mental Status Exam?

      Diagnostic Interview

      The most important component of psychological assessment is the diagnostic interview. The interview usually occurs during the first session, and it can extend across multiple sessions. The interview usually involves the child and his or her parents, and it can sometimes include extended family members, teachers, and other people knowledgeable about the child’s functioning. Some clinicians prefer to interview children and parents together, whereas other clinicians interview them separately (Sommers-Flanagan, 2018).

      One purpose of the interview is to begin to establish rapport with the family. By the end of the interview, the family members should feel that the therapist understands their concerns, that she offers a viable solution to address these concerns, and that they can work together to help the child. Rapport is especially important when treating children and adolescents, because many youths are reluctant to participate in therapy. For example, Sara may feel angry, resentful, or embarrassed that her parents brought her to therapy. Her parents, in turn, are likely exasperated by Sara’s school refusal. To build rapport, the therapist will acknowledge these feelings and offer hope that therapy will improve the situation (Allen & Becker, 2020).

      A second purpose of the interview is to identify the family’s presenting СКАЧАТЬ