Chapter 4

1. Chapter 4 Assessment and Classification of Child Behavior Disorders

2. Assessment and Classification: Alike but Different

3. Assessment - Process of colleting information through observation of behavior, testing of of performance • Classification – categorizing child into a grouping based on diagnostic analysis of the assessment information

4. Standards of Assessment • Any type of method is subject to error • Error is always present to a certain degree; information is an approximation • Random error – Chance • Systematic error – Assessment procedure always off to a certain degree

5. Reliability – indication of consistency of procedure • Factors that reduce reliability • Ambiguous procedures • Poorly trained evaluators • Widely varying behavior of children • Varying assessment conditions

6. Validity • Validity is a better measure for systematic error. Validity determines how accurately an assessment measures what it says it will measure

7. Types of Reliability and Validity • Test-retest reliability • Alternate form reliability • Internal consistency reliability • Inter-rater reliability

8. Content validity • Concurrent validity • Predictive validity • Construct validity

9. Utility • Utility of an assessment is extent to which the assessment information is used to make practical, cost effective and correct decisions • False negative – condition truly exists but is missed by assessment • False positive – assessment positively identified a problem when one doesn’t exist

10. Psychological Test • Psychological Test – an objective and standardized measure of a sample of behavior • Standardized measure – indicates that explicitly defined procedures are to be employed in administering the test.

11. Holding testing conditions constant • Same items or test questions are given in the same order to all subjects • The same test instructions are given to all subjects in an identical fashion • All subjects have the same amount of time to finish the test • The testing environment is held relatively constant and free from noise and distraction for all subjects

12. Intelligence Tests • LM.Terman helped refine and standardize the concept of IQ (intelligence quotient) to compare relative intelligence of children at different ages • IQ is child’s “mental age” divided by chronological and multiplied by 100

13. WISC-III-R • Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children –Revised – one of most frequently used intelligence tests • Combines both verbal subscales and performance subscales

14. Intelligence Tests: Construct Validity • What exactly is intelligence? • Binet – abilities that include comprehension, reasoning, judgment and ability to adapt • Weschler – abilities that include capacity to “act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with the environment” • G factor – general ability factor • Spearman – basic mental energy

15. However, all of previous definitions rely on an indirect measure of intelligence obtained by sampling selected behaviors under controlled conditions • Intelligence tests mostly sample and measure verbal ability and perceptual and performance ability

16. One of controversies surrounding Intelligence tests • Using Intelligence tests on children from diverse cultures • Language differences offer more opportunities for errors and test bias • Inappropriate use of tests has led to over identification and mislabeling minority children as having disabilities

17. Projective Tests • Some of most popular assessment procedures used with children • “Clinicians delight and a statistician’s nightmare” • Most popular tests based on psychoanalytic assumptions rather than rigorous standardization procedures

18. Projective Techniques • Association techniques – inkblots, word associations • Construction techniques – child creates a product (story) after seeing testing materials • Completion techniques – a child is asked to complete a statement or brief story • Choice of ordering technique – a child ranks materials in order of preference • Expressive techniques – A child creates product of own choice.

19. Rorschach and TAT • Rorschach – test has 10 cards with symmetrical inkblots (half b&w, half colored) • Child initially asked what each blot represents, then asked to justify response • Thematic Apperception Test – 20-30 cards, each depicting fantasy scenes and child develops a story about picture. • Clinician interprets story (no universally accepted method for scoring TAT)

20. Projective Tests: Critiques • Popular but usefulness is consistently criticized • Some argue they are more “clinical tools” and not psychological tests • Some argue that they do not really provide much information beyond what could be obtained in standard psychological tests

21. Personality Inventories and Behavior Rating Scales • Identify traits or consistent behavior patterns in children • California Psychological Inventory • Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory • Jessness Personality Inventory • Personality Inventory for Children

22. Derived statistically through factor analysis and are well standardized with normative groups • Require rater that can judge presence of a specific behavior or personality characteristic

23. Personality Inventories tend to describe broad traits that together help describe whole personality • Behavior checklists identify broad-band characteristics that can be broken into specific problematic behavior patterns

24. Behavioral Observation • Behavioral observation (gathering information in natural environment) is most direct form of assessment based on a sampling method • Antecedents and consequences can be observed

25. Methods • Frequency Recording – tallying or event recording • Interval Recording can record discrete and non-discrete behaviors • Duration Recording times onset and offset of behavior • Latency Recording records time from stimulus to start of behavior

26. All methods require precise definitions of target behavior • Observation codes explicitly define target behaviors to be observed in one environmental setting. It allows for description of several different behaviors that occur at once – a “photograph”

27. Interviewing • The “cornerstone of assessment” • Used to start an evaluation technique that will use other techniques, and helps clinician decide on subsequent techniques

28. Classification Systems • Diagnosing a behavior disorder is the process of using an accepted classification system and a set of operational definitions to identify a child’s atypical behavioral characteristics • Allows clinician to match child’s behavior to a subcategory resulting in diagnosis, and possible treatment outcomes

29. Characteristics and Functions of Behavior Classification • Classification systems have error built into them. Good systems share the following • Can be used with consistency by different diagnosticians • Includes manageable number of behavior disorders • Should be flexible enough to allow for growth and development

30. Psychiatric Classification • DSM-IV-TR is most widely know mental health system. Most common critiques include: • Shortcomings concerning basic psychometric characteristics of reliability, validity, and utility • Doesn’t adequately handle disorders where symptoms can have a wide spectrum of intensities • Problems with criteria for very young children or with diverse cultures

31. Functional Behavior Assessment and Classification • Alternative to DSM rooted in early applied behavior analysis • Less emphasis on labeling and classifying; more emphasis on how a behavior is functionally controlled in the environment • Not a passive system. Child probed in experimental conditions with specific antecedents and consequences