This course provides students with an opportunity to learn about the foundational theory and practices in psychological assessment of children and adolescents, grounded in application of psychometric theory. Students gain familiarity with a range of psychological assessment devices used with children and adolescents including measures of intelligence, academic achievement and mental health symptoms. Students receive hands-on instruction in the administration, scoring and interpretation of major objective and projective psychological tests used with children and adolescents and develop skills in explaining the tests results and their implications to parents and, at a developmentally appropriate level, children and adolescents. Emphasis is placed on formulating problems experienced by children and adolescents, and looking at them in relation to a developmental psychopathology framework (e.g., individual, parent, parenting/family, and social risk and protective factors). Moreover, the importance of considering individual and cultural diversities when assessing children and adolescents is examined. Ethical issues that may arise when working with children and adolescents in an assessment context are explored.
Key Texts:
Child Interviewing: McConaughy, S. H. (2013). Clinical interviews for children and adolescents: Assessment to intervention. Guilford Press.
Intellectual and Academic Assessment: Kaufman, A. S., Raiford, S. E., & Coalson, D. L. (2015). Intelligent testing with the WISC-V. John Wiley & Sons.
Personality Assessment: McCann, J. T. (1999). Assessing adolescents with the MACI: Using the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory. John Wiley & Sons Inc. [No Access, request through Interlibrary Loan]
Whitcomb, S. A. (2013). Behavioral, social, and emotional assessment of children and adolescents. Routledge.
Resources for General Assessment: Prinstein, M. J., Youngstrom, E. A., Mash, E. J., & Barkley, R. A. (Eds.). (2020). Treatment of disorders in childhood and adolescence. Guilford Press.
Jan 10:
In Mash and Barkley: Chapter 1. Assessment of Child and Family Disturbance: A Developmental–Systems Approach, Eric J. Mash and Russel Barkley. Pp. 3-50.
In Schroeder and Smith-Boydston: Chapter 2. Assessment to Intervention. Pp 46-85
Optional Readings:
In Schroeder and Smith-Boydston: Chapter 1: Development of Psychopathology. Pp 4-45.
Jan 17:
In McConaughy: Chapter 1: Clinical interviews in the context of multimethod assessment. Pp 1-13; Chapter 2: Strategies of child clinical interviews. Pp 14-40.
In Whitcomb: Chapter 2: Socio-emotional assessment and cultural diversity.Pp 31-67; Chapter 6: Interviewing techniques 155-190.
See Schroeder and Smith-Boydston: Appendix B Assessment Instruments Pp. 551-562. Example of parent interview.
In Frick, Paul J., Christopher T. Barry, and Randy W. Kamphaus: Clinical assessment of child and adolescent personality and behavior. New York, NY: Springer, 2020. Chapter 5: Planning the evaluation and rapport building: pp. 75-89.
Optional readings:
Donald Winnicott: From Playing and reality: Chapter 3. Playing: A theoretical statement. Pp 38-52 (PDF)
Jan 24:
In McConaughy: Chapter 5: Child Clinical Interviews: Home Situation and Family Relations. Pp. 104-122; Chapter 6. Parent interviews Pp. 123-168.
Jan 31:
In Kaufmann et al. Part II: Administration and Scoring (of WISC-V): Pp. 35-137.
In Kaufmann et al. Part III: Basic Interpretation. Pp: 157-247.
Feb 7:
In Prinstein, M. J., Youngstrom, E. A., Mash, E. J., & Barkley, R. A. (Eds.). (2020). Treatment of disorders in childhood and adolescence. Guilford Press; Chapter 1. Introduction to Evidence-Based Assessment: A Recipe for Success, Eric A. Youngstrom & Mitchell J. Prinstein;
In Youngstrom, E. A., Prinstein, M. J., Mash, E. J., & Barkley, R. A. (Eds.) (2020) Assessment of Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence. Guilford Press. Chapter 4. Assessing Process: Are We There Yet?, Andrew Freeman & John Young.
Feb 14:
In Kaufmann: Chapter 14: Does my son have a reading disability? Pp. 600-612
Part 1: Assessment of intellectual disability
In Prinstein, M. J., Youngstrom, E. A., Mash, E. J., & Barkley, R. A. (Eds.). (2020). Treatment of disorders in childhood and adolescence. Guilford Press Chapter 13. Intellectual Disability, Randy J. Kamphaus & Emily Walden
Optional Readings:
In Schroeder and Smith-Boydston: Chapter 11: Developmental Disabilities, Intellectual Disability and Autism. Pp. 389-414.
Part 2: Assessment of school refusal
Havik, T., & Ingul, J. M. (2021). How to Understand School Refusal. In Frontiers in Education (p. 348). Frontiers in Education. 6(2021).
Kearney, C. A. (2008). School absenteeism and school refusal behavior in youth: A contemporary review. Clinical psychology review, 28(3), 451-471.
Optional Readings:
Kearney, C. A., & Albano, A. M. (2004). The functional profiles of school refusal behavior: Diagnostic aspects. Behavior Modification, 28(1), 147-161.
Anxiety Canada (2018, Dec 6). School Refusal. Accessed online at https://www.anxietycanada.com/articles/school-refusal/
Mar 13:
Aggarwal, N. K., Jarvis, G. E., Gómez-Carrillo, A., Kirmayer, L. J., & Lewis-Fernández, R. (2020). The Cultural Formulation Interview since DSM-5: Prospects for training, research, and clinical practice. Transcultural Psychiatry, 57(4), 496-514.
DeSilva, R., Aggarwal, N. K., & Lewis-Fernandez, R. (2015). The DSM-5 cultural formulation interview and the evolution of cultural assessment in psychiatry. Psychiatric Times, 32(6), 10-10.
In Prinstein, M. J., Youngstrom, E. A., Mash, E. J., & Barkley, R. A. (Eds.). (2020). Treatment of disorders in childhood and adolescence. Guilford Press Ch. 4 Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Julie Sarno Owens, Steven W. Evans, & Samantha M. Margherio
Mar 27:
Part 1: Personality assessment with adolescents with attention to the million adolescent clinical inventory
Frick, Paul J., Christopher T. Barry, and Randy W. Kamphaus. Clinical assessment of child and adolescent personality and behavior. New York, NY: Springer, 2010. Chapter 6: Self-report inventories, pp. 90-120
APA_DSM5_The-Personality-Inventory-For-DSM-5-Full-Version-Child-Age-11-to-17.pdf (available for download)
Koster, N., Laceulle, O. M., Van der Heijden, P. T., Klimstra, T., De Clercq, B., Verbeke, L., ... & Van Aken, M. A. (2020). A Psychometric Evaluation of a Reduced Version of the PID-5 in Clinical and Non-Clinical Adolescents. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 36(5), 758-766.
Optional Readings:
Krueger, R. F., Derringer, J., Markon, K. E., Watdons, D., & Skodol, A. V. (2012). Initial construction of a maladaptive personality traits model and inventory for DSM-5. Psychological Medicine, 42, 1879–1890. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291711002674
Part 2: Assessment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
In Prinstein, M. J., Youngstrom, E. A., Mash, E. J., & Barkley, R. A. (Eds.). (2020). Treatment of disorders in childhood and adolescence. Guilford Press Chapter 10. Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder, Joshua Kemp and Jennifer B. Freeman
Rozenman, M., & Bergman, R. L. (2018). Assessment of children with OCD. In The Clinician's Guide to Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Childhood Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (pp. 55-73). Academic Press.
Apr 3:
In Frick, Paul J., Christopher T. Barry, and Randy W. Kamphaus. Clinical assessment of child and adolescent personality and behavior. New York, NY: Springer, 2010.
Chapter 14: Assessing Social and Emotional Behavior of Young Children 407-431
Chapter 11: Assessing Internalizing Problems: 305-341
Optional Readings:
In Frick, Paul J., Christopher T. Barry, and Randy W. Kamphaus. Clinical assessment of child and adolescent personality and behavior. New York, NY: Springer, 2010. Chapter 10: Projective Techniques; pp. 185-207.
In McConaughty: Chapter 4: Self-Awareness, Feelings and Adolescent Issues. Pp. 77-103.
In Whitcomb: review Ch. 6: Clinical Interviewing and Suicidal Ideation and Behaviour. Pp. 182-187
In Mash and Barkley: Ch. 7: Adolescent Suicidal and non-suicidal self-harm behaviors and risk. Pp 305-343.
In Prinstein, M. J., Youngstrom, E. A., Mash, E. J., & Barkley, R. A. (Eds.). (2020). Treatment of disorders in childhood and adolescence. Guilford Press
Chapter 24. Risky and Impulsive Behaviors, Kevin M. King, Madison C. Feil, Katherine Seldin, Michele R. Smith, Max A. Halvorson, & Kevin S. Kuehn