Assessing Childhood Psychopathology

Assessing Childhood
Psychopathology and
Developmental
Disabilities
Assessing Childhood
Psychopathology
and Developmental
Disabilities
Edited by
Johnny L. Matson
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
Frank Andrasik
University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
Michael L. Matson
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
Editors
Johnny L. Matson
Department of Psychology
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
225-752-5924
[email protected]
Frank Andrasik
University of West Florida
Pensacola, FL 32514-5751
[email protected]
Michael L.Matson
Louisiana State University
ISBN: 978-0-387-09527-1
e-ISBN: 978-0-387-09528-8
DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-09528-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2008931166
Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009
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Contents
PART I: INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1. History, Overview, and Trends in Child
and Adolescent Psychological Assessment .......................................
Robert W. Heffer, Tammy D. Barry, and Beth H. Garland
Chapter 2. Diagnostic Classification Systems .................................

Jeremy D. Jewell, Stephen D.A. Hupp, and Andrew M. Pomerantz
31
Chapter 3. Interview and Report Writing .........................................

Amie E. Grills-Taquechel, Rosanna Polifroni, and Jack M. Fletcher
55
PART II. ASSESSMENT OF SPECIFIC PROBLEMS

Chapter 4. Intelligence Testing .......................................................
R.W. Kamphaus, Cecil R. Reynolds, and Katie King Vogel
Chapter 5. Rating Scale Systems for Assessing Psychopathology:
The Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA)
and the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2 (BASC-2) ........
Leslie A. Rescorla
Chapter 6. Neuropsychological Disorders of Children .....................
WM. Drew Gouvier, Audrey Baumeister, and Kola Ijaola
91
117
151
PART III. ASSESSMENT OF SPECIFIC PYCHOPATHOLOGIES

Chapter 7. Assessment of Conduct Problems ..................................
Nicole R. Powell, John E. Lochman, Melissa F. Jackson,
Laura Young, and Anna Yaros
185
vi
CONTENTS
Chapter 8. Evidence-Based Assessment of Attention-Deficit

Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) ........................................................
Paula Sowerby and Gail Tripp
209
Chapter 9. Assessment of Mood Disorders

in Children and Adolescents ... .........................................................
C. Emily Durbin and Sylia Wilson
241
Chapter 10. Assessment of Bipolar Disorder in Children ................

Stephanie Danner, Matthew E. Young, and Mary A. Fristad
273
PART IV. ASSESSMENT OF PROBLEMS DEVELOPMENTAL

DISABILITIES
Chapter 11. Academic Assessment .................................................
George H. Noell, Scott P. Ardoin, and Kristin A. Gansle
311
Chapter 12. Behavioral Assessment of Self-Injury...........................

Timothy R. Vollmer, Kimberly N. Sloman,
and Carrie S.W. Borrero
341
Chapter 13. Autism Spectrum Disorders

and Comorbid Psychopathology ......................................................
Jessica A. Boisjoli and Johnny L. Matson
371
PART V. BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE

Chapter 14. Assessment of Eating Disorder
Symptoms in Children and Adolescents ..........................................
Nancy Zucker, Rhonda Merwin, Camden Elliott,
Jennifer Lacy, and Dawn Eichen
401
Chapter 15. Pain Assessment .........................................................

Frank Andrasik and Carla Rime
445
Chapter 16. Assessment of Pediatric Feeding Disorders ..................

Cathleen C. Piazza and Henry S. Roane
471
Index ..............................................................................................
491
List of Contributors
Frank Andrasik
Department of Psychology, University of West Florida,
Pensacola, FL 32514, [email protected]
Scott P. Ardoin
Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina,
Columbia, SC, [email protected]
Tammy D. Barry
Department of Psychology, The University of Southern Mississippi,
Hattiesburg, MS 39406, [email protected]
Audrey Baumeister
Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University,
Jessica A. Boisjoli
Carrie S.W. Borrero
Kennedy Krieger Institute Johns Hopkins University Medical School,
Baltimore, MD 21205
Stephanie Danner-Ogston
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210
Catherine Emily Durbin
WCAS Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208,
[email protected]
Dawn Eichen
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710
vii
viii
Camden Elliott
Jack M. Fletcher
Department of Psychology, University of Houston,
Houston, TX 72204
Mary A. Fristad
Research & Psychological Services, Division of Child & Adolescent
Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine,
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, [email protected]
Kristin A. Gansle
Department of Educational Theory, Policy, and Practice,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, [email protected]
Beth H. Garland
Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Psychology,
Texas A&M University, TX 77845, [email protected]
Drew Gouvier
Baton Rouge, LA 70803, [email protected]
Amie E. Grills-Taquechel
Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX 72204,
[email protected]
Rob Heffer
Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, TX 778845,
[email protected]
Stephen D. A. Hupp
Department of Psychology, Southern Illinois University,
Edwardsville, IL 62026
Kola Ijaola
Melissa F. Jackson
Department of Clinical and Forensic Psychology,
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401, [email protected]
Jeremy D. Jewell
Edwardsville, IL 62026, [email protected]
R. W. Kamphaus
College of Education, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. 30302
[email protected]
Jennifer Lacy
Department of Psychology, Duke University Medical Center,
Durham, NC 27710
John E. Lochman
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL,
[email protected]
Johnny L. Matson
Rhonda Merwin
George H. Noell
Cathleen C. Piazza
MunroeMeyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation,
University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198
Rosanna Polifroni
Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX 72204
Andrew M. Pomerantz
Edwardsville, IL 62026
Nicole R. Powell
Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
Leslie Rescorla
Department of Psychology, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010,
[email protected]
Cecil R. Reynolds
Texas A & M University, TX 78602, [email protected]
Carla Rime
Department of Psychology, University of West Florida,
Pensacola, FL 32514
iX
Henry S. Roane
MunroeMeyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation,
University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198,
[email protected]
Kimberly N. Sloman
Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611
Paula Sowerby
Department of Psychology, ADHD Research Clinic, University of Otago,
Dunedin, New Zealand, [email protected]
Gail Tripp
Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand,
[email protected]
Katie King Vogel
College of Education, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602.
Timothy R. Vollmer
Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611,
[email protected]
Sylia Wilson
WCAS Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208
Anna Yaros
Center for the Prevention of Youth Behavior Problems,
Matthew E. Young
The Ohio State University, Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry,
Columbus, OH 43210
Laura Young
Nancy Zucker
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27705,
[email protected]
Part I
Introduction
1
History, Overview, and
Trends in Child and
Adolescent Psychological
Assessment
ROBERT W. HEFFER, TAMMY D. BARRY,
and BETH H. GARLAND
Systematically evaluating human performance and predicting important

outcomes emerged in the far reaches of recorded history. For example, Gregory
(2007) described that as early as 2200 BC Chinese emperors developed physical
abilities, knowledge, and specific skill examinations for government officials
and civil servants. However, assessment of childrens abilities and behavior
certainly predates even these distant instances of evaluation of adults.
We contend that child assessment has taken place as long as parents
and other adults have observed and tracked changes in childrens development. Parents notice changes over time within a given child and differences
among children in abilities and responses to circumstances. This type of
informal evaluation process certainly is a far cry from the empirically based,
standardized methods of child and adolescent psychological assessment
that have developed over the past 150 years or so, but it is foundational.
The current state-of-the-art of assessing childhood psychopathology
and developmental disabilities is presented in this volume of a two-volume
edited series. Each topic and issue covered includes a common core:
adults have an interest in understanding, documenting, and predicting
the capacities and experiences of children. In addition, these contributions to the literature have an applied slant: that is, interventions designed
ROBERT W. HEFFER, BETH H. GARLAND Department of Psychology Texas A&M University,
4235 TAMU College Station, TX 778845-4235.
TAMMY D. BARRY Department of Psychology, The University of Southern Mississippi, 118
College Drive, 5025 Hattiesburg, MS 39406.
J.L. Matson et al. (eds.), Assessing Childhood Psychopathology

and Developmental Disabilities, DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-09528-8,
ROBERT W. HEFFER et al.
to influence outcomes emanate from competent assessment. Our psychological assessment approaches have become more sophisticated, but are
linked historically to our predecessors curiosity about how children grow
and learn and what to do with this knowledge.
In this chapter, we use the words, child or children to refer to individuals whose chronological age ranges from birth to late adolescence.
Otherwise, we note if a particular description applies specifically to an
infant/toddler, preschool-aged young child, a school-aged child, or a
teenager. First, we present an overview of some of the key historical events
that have shaped child assessment today. We promise not to include every
detail from Adam and Eves parental observations of Cain, Abel, and Seth
to the present! Next, we offer an overview of issues central to child assessment methods early in the 21st century. Finally, we suggest overarching
trends that we believe are influencing directions for the field of child psychological assessment.
SYNOPSIS OF HISTORICAL EVENTS

Thorough and intriguing accounts of the historical underpinnings of
psychological assessment and testing may be found in Gregory (2007),
Kelley and Surbeck (2004), or Sattler (2008). From parental observations
and assessment methods in antiquity, fast forward to the early 19th century,
when Jean Marc Gaspard Itard, a physician and educator of children with
deafness, wrote of his attempts to understand and intervene with Victor,
the Wild Boy of Aveyron (Shattuck, 1994). Evidently, Victor lived on his
own in the woods near Toulouse, France until perhaps age 12 years when
he was discovered without verbal language and typical behavior. Itards
detailed record in 1807, Reports on the Savage of Aveyron, described systematic assessment and intervention methods to rehabilitate the social
behavior and language development of this feral child.
Edouard Seguin, who studied with Itard, established the first education
program for mentally retarded children in 1837 (Gregory, 2007; Sattler,
2008). He later designed the Seguin Form Board and continued his innovative
and pioneering work with developmentally disabled individuals when
he emigrated to the United States. Also in France, Jean-tienne Dominique
Esquirol in 1838 distinguished written definitions of mental retardation
(idiocy) versus mental illness (dementia) and proposed specific diagnostic
criteria for levels of mental retardation (Gregory, 2007; Sattler, 2008).
Other trailblazers in psychology focused primarily on assessment of
adult mental processes. For example, Wilhelm Wundt, who founded the
first psychology laboratory in Leipzieg, Germany in 1879, and Sir Francis
Galton in Great Britain established precise, systematic assessments of
psychophysiological and sensory experiences. In the United States during the late 1800s and early 1900s, psychologists such James McKeen
Catell and Robert M. Yerkes instituted research and assessment methods
applied to adult mental and intellectual abilities (Gregory, 2007; Sattler,
2008). However, Lightner Witmers Psychological Clinic, founded at the
University of Pennsylvania in 1896, featured intensive case studies of
HISTORY, OVERVIEW, AND TRENDS IN CHILD
childrenand some adultsfrom the Philadelphia community. Child clients were assessed and treated by a multidisciplinary team using clinical
and research-based methods (Cellucci & Heffer, 2001; McReynolds, 1996).
In addition, Granville Stanely Hall, founder of the American Psychological
Association in 1892, established the child study movement in the United
States (Fagan & Wise, 1994), laying the groundwork for the development
of child assessment as a subspecialty area.
The work of Itard, Seguin, and Esquirol and the methods established
by adult-focused psychologistsalong with the concomitant social changes
of the time (Habenstein & Olson, 2001)set the stage for the invention of the
first intelligence test, to be used with children, by Alfred Binet and his colleagues, published as the Binet-Simon Scale in 1905 (Gregory, 2007; Kelley
& Surbeck, 2004). Due to laws regarding compulsory school attendance in
both France and the United States, assessment methods were needed to
identify levels of cognitive abilities and to predict success in various levels
of education. In the United States in the early- to mid-1900s, psychologists
such as Henry Herbert Goddard, E. L. Thorndike, Lewis M. Terman, Maud
Merrill, Florence L. Goodenough, Arnold Gesell, Lucy Sprague Mitchell,
and Psyche Cattell established scientific and practical aspects of child
psychological assessment upon which current approaches are founded
(Kelley & Surbeck, 2004; Sattler, 2008).
Following World War II, the evolution of standardized child assessment
continued with the publishing in 1948 of R. G. Leiters Leiter International
Performance Scale and in 1949 of David Weschlers Weschler Intelligence Test
for Children (Boake, 2002; Kelley & Surbeck, 2004). The Leiter was the first
nonverbal, culturally fair test of intellectual abilities, most recently revised
in 1997. Further readers will recognize that the WISC evidently caught
on, because as of 2003, it is in its fourth revision, the WISC-IV. Similarly
in 2003, the Simon-Binet Scale of 1905 morphed into its fifth revision as the
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales-5. Presently, the concept of intelligence
in children and methods for evaluating cognitive functioning have diversified and become more intricate, reflecting the advance of child assessment
regarding this complicated construct (Benson, 2003a,b,c; Sattler, 2008).
Based in part on developmental theorists work (e.g., Piaget, 1970,
1971) the emphasis [in child assessment in the mid-1900s]:shifted from
intelligence testing to the study of personality, social, and motoric factors
related to general functioning (Kelley & Surbeck, 2004, p. 6). For example, in 1959 Anton Brenner published his Brenner Developmental Gestalt
Test of School Readiness to evaluate childrens preparedness for entering
first grade. In 1961, the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Ability, in its third
revision as of 2001, was published by S. A. Kirk and J. J. McCarthy as
an individually administered test of language ability in children (Sattler,
2008). Over this time period, Edgar Doll (whose work spanned from 1912
to 1968) and colleagues used the Vineland Social Maturity Scales, first
published in 1936 and revised in 2005 as the Vineland Adaptive Behavior
Scales-II, to assess social, communication, and daily living skills in infants
to older adults (Sattler, 2008).
Changes in education practices, United States federal laws, and society
in general, gave rise from the 1960s to the 1980s to a range of standardized
tests of child cognitive abilities and development (Kelley & Surbeck, 2004).
For example, in 1967 David Weschler published his downward extension of
the WISC, the Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI).
The WPPSI is in its third revision as of 2002. In 1969, Nancy Bayley
published the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, which was revised
as the Bayley-III in 2005. In addition, Dorothea McCarthy published her
McCarthy Scales of Childrens Abilities (MSCA) in 1970/1972 (Sattler,
2008). The MSCA is a hybrid of intelligence and developmental tests that
evaluates verbal, perceptual-performance, quantitative memory, and motor
abilities in young children.
Assessment of child behavioral, emotional, and personality functioning
blossomed in the 1990s, from its humble beginnings with Florence Goodenoughs Draw A Man Test in 1926 and subsequent permutations by
John Buck in 1948 and Karen Machover in 1949. Specifically, in 1992 a
version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory was designed
and normed for 14- to 18-year-olds, the MMPI-Adolescent, by James
Butcher and colleagues. Also in 1993, the Millon Adolescent Clinical
Inventory (MACI) was published by Theodore Millon. Both the MMPI-A and
the MACI continue to experience widespread use in research and applied
settings as extensive, self-report measures of psychological functioning
(Vance & Pumariega, 2001).
A welcome addition to the burgeoning body of literature on the Personality
Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991, 1996, 2003) is the PAI-Adolescent
(Morey, 2007). Les Morey adapted the PAI-A for use with individuals
aged 12 to 18 years and reported that it demonstrates comparable
psychometric properties, practical strengths, and the solid theoretical
foundation as its adult-normed predecessor. In addition, between 1998 and
2001, William Reynolds published a self-report measure for individuals
aged 12 to 19 years, the Adolescent Psychopathology Scale (APS), that
provides multidimensional assessment across a range of psychopathology,
personality, and social-emotional problems and competencies (Reynolds,
1998a,b, 2000, 2001). Also between 1995 and 2001, David Lachar and
colleagues introduced their revision of the Personality Inventory for Children
(PIC-R), the Personality Inventory for Youth (PIY), and the Student Behavior
Survey (SBS) as a comprehensive assessment system of psychological
functioning of children and adolescents, based on self-, parent-, and
teacher-report (Lachar, 2004).
During the late 20th century to the present, Thomas Achenbach and
colleagues developed the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000, 2001) and Cecil Reynolds and
Randy Kamphaus developed the Behavior Assessment System for Children,
2nd Edition (BASC-2; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004). The 2003 version of
the ASEBA and the 2004 version of the BASC-2 are exemplars of multidomain, multimethod, multi-informant assessment systems (Kazdin, 2005)
for assessing childhood psychopathology and other domains of behavioral, emotional, and school-related functioning (Heffer & Oxman, 2003).
For continuity in life-span research and applications into adulthood, the
BASC-2 offers norms for persons aged 2 through 25 years and the ASEBA
includes norms on persons aged 1.5 to 59 years.
At present, myriad child assessment methods have sprouted to

address almost any psychological process or construct that the reader can
imagine (Sattler, 2006), as evidenced by the chapters in this volume. For
example, researchers and practitioners alike may find ample resources
regarding assessing and screening preschoolers (Campbell, 2002; Nuttal,
Romero, & Kalesnik, 1992); interviewing children, parents, and teachers
and conducting behavioral observations (LaGreca, Kuttler, & Stone,
2001; Sattler, 1998); using a therapeutic assessment approach with
children and adolescents (Handler, 2007); family functioning (Heffer,
Lane, & Snyder, 2003; Heffer & Snyder, 1998; Snyder, Cavell, Heffer, &
Mangrum, 1995); psychopathy in adolescence (Edens & Cahill, 2007);
and evaluating quality of life (Varni, Limbers, & Burwinkle, 2007a; 2007b)
and other child health/pediatric psychology issues (Rodrigue, Geffken, &
Streisand, 2000). Child assessors may focus on school-based assessments
(DAmato, Fletcher-Janzen, & Reynolds, 2005; House, 2002; Shapiro &
Kratochwill, 2000; Sheridan, 2005) or primarily clinical diagnostic or
categorical evaluations (Kamphaus & Campbell, 2006; Rapoport & Ismond,
1996; Shaffer, Lucas, & Richters, 1999). In fact, even comprehensive
assessment-to-intervention systems are modeled for child assessors who
intend to link assessment to intervention to process/outcome evaluation
(Schroeder & Gordon, 2002).
Assessment of child psychopathology and developmental disabilities
certainly has come a long way from informal parental observations and
case studies of feral children. We turn your attention next to an overview
of the current state-of the-art in child assessment and then to trends for
future directions of the field. Where we have been, where we are, and
where we are going are the themes.
OVERVIEW OF STATE-OF-THE ART

IN CHILD ASSESSMENT
Ethicallegal issues and requirements of education laws demarcate
child assessment from adult assessment. Of course, professional standards
and guidelines generated to promote competent and ethical psychological
assessment and research apply equally to evaluations conducted with
individuals across the life-span. However, unique characteristics central
to child assessment create interesting twists for psychologists (Lefaivre,
Chambers, & Fernandez, 2007; Melton, Ehrenreich, & Lyons, 2001).
Furthermore, as the field of clinical child psychology continues to grow,
so does the number of assessment tools available (Mash & Hunsley, 2005).
Many of these tools serve to advance research in the broader field of child
and adolescent clinical psychology, whereas a large number also become
available assessment methods for use by practitioners and researchers. In
this section, we describe some of the ethical and legal challenges in child
assessment and proffer suggestions for managing such conundrums. Then,
we review six state-of-the-art approaches in child assessment, several
major issues to be considered in the use of such approaches, and a few
trends in the resultant outcomes of these approaches to child assessment.
Professional Standards and Guidelines

Each reader should be keenly aware that psychology as a profession has
historically paid considerable attention to defining and promoting ethical
behavior and standards for professional behavior (American Psychological
Association, 1950, 1953, 1959; Hobbs, 1951). For example, the most
recent version of The Code, Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code
of Conduct (American Psychological Association, 2002a), provides aspirational goals and prescriptive directives regarding a range of research,
assessment, intervention, teaching/training, consultation, and business
activities of psychologists. Furthermore, the APAs Record Keeping Guidelines (American Psychological Association Committee on Professional
Practice and Standards, 1993) have application to both child-focused and
adult-focused practitioners and trainers of clinical, counseling, or school
psychologists.
Other documents have been published specifically to guide professional activities and promote standards for psychological assessment and
use of psychological tests. Examples of these documents include Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (American Educational
Research Association, American Psychological Association, and National
Council on Measurement in Education, 1999), Code for Fair Testing Practices (American Psychological Association, 2003), Code of Fair Testing
Practices in Education (National Council on Measurement in Education,
2004), and Guidelines for Test User Qualifications (American Psychological
Association, 2000; Turner, DeMers, Fox, & Reed, 2001).
Similar documents elaborate on particular aspects of competent
assessment such as Guidelines for Computer-Based Test and Interpretations (American Psychological Association, 1986), Psychological Testing on
the Internet (Naglieri et al., 2004), Guidelines for Providers of Psychological
Services to Ethnic, Linguistic, and Culturally Diverse Populations (American
Psychological Association, 1990), Guidelines on Multicultural Education,
Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists
(American Psychological Association, 2002b), Statement on Disclosure of
Test Data (American Psychological Association Committee on Psychological
Tests and Assessment, 1996), and Rights and Responsibilities of Test
Takers: Guidelines and Expectations (American Psychological Association
Joint Committee on Testing Practices, 1998).
At least one professional guidelines document specific to child assessment is Guidelines for Child Custody Evaluations in Divorce (American Psychological Association Committee on Professional Practice and Standards,
1994). Additional information about psychological tests and testing as a
practice and research enterprise may be viewed at http://www.apa.org/
science/testing.html.
Interplay of Ethical and Legal/Forensic Issues

Most psychologists understand that ethical and competent professional behavior ideally is completely compatible with legal behavior. However, from time to time a dynamic tension erupts when a given state law,
for example, creates a dilemma for a child assessor (Anderten, Staulcup,

& Grisso, 2003). Evaluation of children evokes unique developmental,
systems, and ethical issues that may inconsistently seem congruent with
what a given law requires (Heffer & Oxman, 2003). The chronological
age of the child, his or her developmental/cognitive capacity, the family, school, and/or medical system that is requesting the evaluation, and
the purposes for which the evaluation will be used may evoke complicated problem-solving to balance ethical and legal expectations (Rae &
Fournier, 1999). For example, issues of assent and consent for services,
confidentiality of communications and records, consulting with extra-family
systems (e.g., school or medical personnel), and state abuse reporting laws
distinguish child assessment from adult assessment.
Ethicallegal challenges in child assessment abound, which make it
such an exhilarating enterprise. Psychologists currently have resources
to assist as they wrestle with ethical delimmas. Of course, we already
have provided a number of references for professional standards and
ethical behavior for psychologists. In addition, publications such as
Bersoff (2003), Fisher (2003), and Nagy (2003) allow psychologists
to flesh out issues that emanate from application of the Ethical
Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (American Psychological
Association, 2002a). Furthermore, publications often exist that elucidate
mental health laws specific to a given state. For example, Hays, Sutter,
and McPherson (2002) and Shuman (2004) provide such references for
psychologists in Texas.
For psychologists involved in service delivery roles, current information regarding the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Acts
(HIPPA) of 1996 (Bersoff, 2003) may be viewed at http://www.apapractice.
org/apo/hipaa/get_hipaa_compliant.html#. Effectively navigating child
assessment activities in the schools vis--vis the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (National Association of School
Psychologists, 2007) may be facilitated by information at http://www.
ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/osep/index.html or http://nasponline.
org/advocacy/IDEAinformation.aspx. Other resources are explicit to
forensic evaluations of children or other evaluative activities that may
interface with the legal system (American Psychological Association Committee on Psychological Tests and Assessment, 1996; Schacht, 2001;
Schaffer, 2001).
Assessment Approaches
Although we do not include an exhaustive list of current and exemplary
assessment approaches, we do highlight six recent and important advances
in child assessment. First, the evolution of our understanding of brain and
behavior relationships has been mirrored by growth in neuropsychological
assessment (Williams & Boll, 1997). Once used primarily for understanding significant psychopathology and traumatic brain injury, neuropsychological assessment is now increasingly utilized to better disclose subtle
differences in children presenting with a range of disorders, including
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) and learning disabilities
10
(Williams & Boll, 1997). Neuropsychological assessment instruments are

well suited to meet these increasing demands as the field of neuropsychology
continues to assimilate knowledge from other disciplines, including those
pertinent to child assessment, such as developmental psychology (Williams
& Boll, 1997).
Furthermore, input from other fields has allowed the application of
previously adult-oriented neuropsychological techniques to be more readily
applied to child populations (Korkman, 1999), thus leading to the expansion of child-specific neuropsychological test batteries. Such batteries
range from focusing on a circumscribed area of neuropsychological functioning, such as the Childrens Memory Scale (Cohen, 1997), to encompassing a comprehensive neuropsychological examination that can be
tailored to the clients needs, such as the NEPSY-II (Korkman, Kirk, &
Kemp, 2007). A complete neuropsychological evaluation certainly is not
implicated for every child referral.
However, the availability of these tools and the tremendous expansion
of the subdiscipline of clinical neuropsychology (Heilbronner, 2007) provide
abundant opportunities to employ these state-of-the-art approaches when
indicated. Whereas neuropsychological assessment can provide information linking brain functioning and a childs behavior, conceptualizing the
child within a broader, contextually based framework is imperative (Heffer,
Lane, & Snyder, 2003). As such, a second progression in child assessment
has been the inclusion of an ecological/systems approach in the process
(Dishion & Stormshak, 2007; Mash & Hunsley, 2005).
Data from a broader perspective better informs assessment and can be
integral to treatment planning. Thus, assessment approaches should seek
an understanding of not only the individual childs functioning but also
should assess domains of influence on the child, such as the parentchild
dyad, broader family context, peer relations, school and academic functioning, and domains of influence on the family itself, such as life stress,
community resources, or medical involvement (Brown, 2004; Dishion &
Stormshak, 2007; Mash & Hunsley, 2005; Roberts, 2003). Although context affects functioning at any age, children are particularly dependent on
external regulatory systems and are more strongly influenced by context
than are adults (Carter, Briggs-Gowan, & Davis, 2004). Furthermore, parent
child interactions are often reciprocal in nature, with certain parenting
behaviors and other characteristics of the parent serving as either risk or
protective factors for the childs functioning (Carter et al., 2004). Hence, it
is critical to understand the childs functioning within a contextual framework, especially given that such understanding can inform treatment decisions (Dishion & Stormshak, 2007).
Whereas both neuropsychological assessment and ecological/systems
assessment broaden the amount of data gleaned about a child, a third
trend in current assessment approaches allows for more specific, objective
measurement in the assessment of individual childhood disorders (Mash &
Hunsley, 2005). Fueled largely by the popularity of the use of time-efficient
and cost-effective behavior rating scales in the assessment process
(Kamphaus, Petoskey, & Rowe, 2000), this problem-focused assessment
approach is particularly attractive to cost-focused healthcare systems that
11
require practical symptom-based assessment, which lends itself to continuous monitoring of outcomes (Mash & Hunsley, 2005). Furthermore, a
problem-focused approach to assessment fits cohesively with research on
both assessment and treatment of disorders and can allow the practitioner
or researcher to map symptoms directly on to DSM-IV-TR criteria (Mash
& Hunsley, 2005). Indeed, although omnibus ratings scales, such as the
ASEBA (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000, 2001) and BASC-2 (Reynolds &
Kamphaus, 2004) will likely remain effective in years to come, tremendous
growth in specialized or more problem-specific measures for childhood
disorders is occurring. Both research and practice have moved toward the
use of brief problem/disorder-specific measures and batteries (Mash &
Hunsley, 2005).
Nevertheless, comorbidity in child functioning must be considered
because target problems are often quite heterogeneous (Achenbach, 2005;
Kazdin, 2005). A fourth approach to child assessment, building steadily
over the past few decades, is multidomain, multimethod, multi-informant
assessment techniques (Kazdin, 2005). Given the wide utility of assessment, the heterogeneity of functioning, and the rates of comorbidity among
disorders, consideration of multiple domains in the assessment of child
functioning is indispensable (Kazdin, 2005). Even if the presenting problem is specific and narrowly defined, evaluating multiple domains to ascertain a comprehensive representation of the child is important. Domains
may include not only dysfunction, but also how well a child is performing in prosocial adaptive areas (Kazdin, 2005). Thus, any state-of-the-art
assessment of a child should incorporate evaluation of multiple domains
of functioning, based on multiple sources of information, using multiple
assessment methods/measures (Kazdin, 2005).
Because any one measure likely fails to capture the entirety of a clinical
concern, it is imperative that child assessment include multiple measures.
In addition, even within the same mode of assessment (e.g., behavioral rating forms), practitioners and researchers may use various instruments to
better gauge the complexities of a given problem. For example, a referral
to evaluate for ADHD may include completion of parent, teacher, and child
rating forms assessing for behavioral symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity (e.g., BASC-2, Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004), attentional difficulties (e.g., Conner Rating Scales-Revised, Conners, 2001a),
and, at a more broad level, cognitive aspects of the problem (e.g., Behavior
Rating Inventory for Executive Function, BRIEF; Gioia, Isquith, Guy, & Kenworthy, 2000). Likewise, different modes of assessment for the same clinical problemsuch as use of a continuous performance test to measure
sustained attention and behavior rating forms to assess real life attention problemsyield richer data than either mode alone.
Finally, assessment of a childs functioning based on multiple informants (e.g., parents, other caregivers, teachers, practitioners, self-report) is
critical, given that each informant adds a unique perspective and captures
variations across settings (Achenbach, 2005; Kazdin, 2005). The need for
multi-informant assessment is underscored by a lack of uniform agreement commonly found among various raters of child social, emotional,
and behavioral functioning (Kamphaus & Frick, 2005). In addition, some
12
childhood disorders (e.g., ADHD) require documentation of impairment

across more than one setting (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).
Fifth, functional assessment, including experimental functional analysis,
has made robust advances in child assessment (Matson & Minshawi,
2007). These procedures, which allow antecedents, measurable actions,
consequences, and contextual variables of child behavior to be evaluated in controlled settings, inform individualized interventions. Functional
assessment and analysis approaches are becoming even more prevalent
in applied settings (Horner, 1994; Matson & Minshawi, 2007), including homes (Moes & Frea, 2002), schools (Watson, Ray, Turner, & Logan,
1999), residential care settings (Field, Nash, Handwerk, Friman, 2004),
and medical rehabilitation centers (Long, Blackman, Farrell, Smolkin, &
Conaway, 2005), among others.
Through these procedures, environmental variables can be manipulated,
which can further inform the practitioner of the function of target behaviors
and, thus, identify what may be causing or maintaining an unwanted behavior (Watson et al., 1999). Furthermore, functional assessment and analysis
link directly to intervention, which typically involves manipulation of environmental variables identified through the assessment (Watson et al., 1999).
That is, the intervention can focus not only the behavior itself but also its
function in an effort to improve treatment efficacy (Horner, 1994).
Functional assessment has widely been implemented with children
with developmental disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities (Swender,
Matson, Mayville, Gonzalez, & McDowell, 2006) and autism spectrum disorders (Moes & Frea, 2002). In addition, these procedures are increasingly
used to assess children presenting with a range of other concerns, such
as ADHD (Stahr, Cushing, Lane, & Fox, 2006), behavioral and academic
problems (Kamps, Wendland, & Culpepper, 2006), and primary pediatric
problems, for example, acquired brain injury (Long et al., 2005).
Sixth and finally, with progression in the field of child assessment and
corresponding research, state-of-the-art assessment will need to embrace
or at least come to terms withevidence-based practices. Whereas applied
child psychology has long focused on evidence-based treatments (EBT) for
childhood disorders, only recently has an emphasis been placed on evidencebased assessment (EBA; Mash & Hunsley, 2005). EBA is used to describe
assessment methods and processes that are based on empirical evidence in
terms of both their reliability and validity as well as their clinical usefulness
for prescribed populations and purposes (Mash & Hunsley, 2005, p. 364).
In short, an EBA battery should be specific to the presenting problem and should provide incremental validity in measuring the presenting
problem and its associated symptoms. That is, a measure included in an
EBA battery should help predict the set of target behaviors and symptoms
above and beyond that already assessed by other measures included in
the battery (Mash & Hunsley, 2005).
Finally, EBAs should aid the practitioner in forming a case conceptualization, determining a DSMIVTR diagnosis, and generating subsequent
treatment recommendations (Mash & Hunsley, 2005). These goals help
to evaluate whether a given assessment meets the qualifications for EBA.
That is, it is these purposes of assessment that distinguish EBA simply
13
from a measure that demonstrates evidence of its psychometric properties

and usefulness (Kazdin, 2005).
This final assessment approach is one that should sustain continued
attention and interest for many years to come, because development of
clear guidelines and policies to conduct EBA for specific disorders is greatly
needed (Mash & Hunsley, 2005). It is complicated, however, in that no gold
standard exists by which to validate assessments (Kazdin, 2005, p. 548).
Efforts, however, have begun to establish EBA guidelines for myriad child
and adolescent disorders, including anxiety (Silverman & Ollendick, 2005),
depression (Klein, Dougherty, & Olino, 2005), bipolar disorder (Youngstrom,
Findling, Youngstrom, & Calabrese, 2005), ADHD (Pelham, Fabiano, &
Massetti, 2005), conduct problems (McMahon & Frick, 2005), and learning
disabilities (Fletcher, Francis, & Morris, 2005), among others.
EBA should take into consideration key demographic characteristics
of the child (e.g., gender, ethnicity, age) that may influence performance on
a given measure, as well as to adequately evaluate both primary and secondary targets of assessment, particularly given the high rates of comorbidity among disorders (Kazdin, 2005; Mash & Hunsley, 2005).
Further development of EBA guidelines will need to balance being
comprehensive but also flexible to meet the assortment of purposes of
applied and research assessment, including case conceptualization, early
identification, prognostic predictions, and treatment planning, monitoring, and evaluation (Kazdin, 2005; Mash & Hunsley, 2005). Likewise,
other assessment parameters, such as the optimal amount and duration
of assessment and the need for follow-up assessment, will require attention in future EBA research (Mash & Hunsley, 2005).
Issues in the Implementation of Child Assessment

Approaches
When conducting child assessment, it is insufficient solely to implement a state-of-the-art approach. Child assessors must also consider
important issues that influence the assessment process. Interpretations
of assessment data must be filtered accordingly. Although an exhaustive
list of implementation issues is beyond the scope of this chapter, four key
issues are highlighted. First, an individual child must be assessed within
the context of broader developmental theory, taking into account both
the continuities and discontinuities of development (Achenbach, 2005).
Indeed, the subdiscipline of developmental psychopathology has exerted
tremendous influence in how a child assessor formulates child psychopathology and disability within a developmental framework (Yule, 1993).
A second contextual issue that may affect a given childs psychological
functioning involves health and medical conditions. Increasingly since the
late 1960s, psychologists with interests and training in working with children
and families have developed innovative assessment and intervention strategies to serve families challenged by pediatric chronic illness and disability (Spirito & Kazak, 2006). Since Logan Wrights (1967) seminal article
defined the pediatric psychologist as a unique subspecialty within applied
psychology, the field of pediatric psychology or child health psychology has
14
expanded to include greater numbers of scientist-practitioners, who are

working in a larger variety of settings (Goreczny & Hersen, 1999).
Assessing children who experience acute illness, developmental delay
or disability, or catastrophic, life-threatening injury or disease requires an
appreciation for challenging life circumstances and a developmental and
ecological/systems approach (Brown, 2004; Roberts, 2003). For example,
understanding and operating effectively as a child assessor in a medical
care system is a must for pediatric or child health psychologists (Drotar,
1995). Central features affecting the professional role of a pediatric psychologist include: (a) service provision and research depend strongly on
collaboration among psychologists and physicians, (b) the families and
children served typically are not psychiatrically disordered, and (c) assessment and intervention strategies are family-focused. Becoming familiar
with the experiences of medically involved and developmentally disabled
children and their families equips the savvy child assessor to place assessment data in its appropriate ecological context (Fletcher-Janzen & Reynolds, 2003; Graziano, 2002).
Third, throughout the assessment process, child practitioners and
researchers must take into account the role of cultural and ethnicity variables (Achenbach, 2005). Many practical considerations of assessing a
child from a different cultural and/or linguistic background are reviewed
later in this chapter. However, at a broader level, individual differences
within the context of cultural and ethnic diversity, even among subcultures within the United States, should be infused into every step of the
assessment process (Canino & Spurlock, 2000; Gopaul-McNicol & Thomas-Presswood, 1998). It is also important to recognize that this process
is especially intricate because culture is dynamic and often changes in
response to other demands and needs for adaptation (Carter et al., 2004).
The importance of considering diversity cannot be overstated; indeed, culture and ethnicity may not only be considered as possible subtle influences, but also may have major impact on assessment decisions, such as
cut-points in EBA (Achenbach, 2005).
Fourth and lastly, improvements in assessment have resulted in earlier
identification, and subsequent treatment, of problems in childhood (Carter
et al., 2004). Early identification follows directly from advances in developmental psychopathology research, which allows us to understand the
complexities of teasing apart psychopathology from typical developmental processes. Such research has also identified trajectories for various
developmental processes and how early onset of problems differs from
problems with a later onset. One example is the well-established differences between childhood-onset and adolescent-onset Conduct Disorder,
the former of which is preceded by an early onset of aggression and irritability and often a previous diagnosis of Oppositional Defiant Disorder
(Loeber, 1990). Early identification also has been aided by the expansion of
standardized, norm-referenced measures for younger populations. Many
child and adolescent instruments have been downwardly extended for use
with younger ages and it is becoming common for newly developed measures to include a preschool version, such as the BRIEF-Preschool Version
(BRIEF-P; Gioia et al., 2000).
15
Nevertheless, early identification of child psychopathology faces many

challenges, including rapid developmental shifts in very young childrens
functioning and abilities, as well as the hesitance of many practitioners
or parents to label young children with a psychological diagnosis (Carter
et al., 2004). Yet, the preponderance of literature suggests that psychological
problems in young children are typically not transient and are usually
associated with a continuation of later problems, underscoring the importance of early identification (Briggs-Gowan, Carter, Bosson-Heenan, Guyer,
& Horwitz, 2006).
Trends in Child Assessment

We have overviewed a historical perspective and issues germane to the
current state-of-the art in child assessment. Now, we direct the reader to
our peering into the crystal ball of the future for assessing children within
their ecological context. Where will our Delorean take us to new horizons
or back to the future? We suggest three trends for the upcoming road-trip
of child assessment: (a) the use of technology in assessment administration
and scoring/interpretation, (b) the impact of taxometric statistical techniques on diagnoses, and (c) cultural/linguistic considerations.
Use of Technology in Child Assessment Administration

For the past few decades, computer technology has affected several
aspects of assessment practices including test administration and scoring/interpretation of test results. With ever-changing and improving
technology and security concerns, research has begun to consider these
impacts on psychological assessment. Software has been developed for a
number of assessment instruments to allow computerized self-administration. For example, the Parenting Stress Index -3rd Edition (PSI-3; Abidin,
1995), the ASEBA (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000, 2001), and the MMPI-A
(Butcher et al., 1992) are measures of emotionalbehavioral functioning
that can be answered at a computer by parents, children, or teachers. In
addition, a majority of continuous performance tests for the diagnosis of
problems with inattention and impulsivity are computerized, such as the
Conners Kiddie Continuous Performance Test (Conners, 2001b), the Test of
Variables of Attention (TOVA; visual version) and TOVA-A (auditory version;
Greenberg, Leark, Dupuy, Corman, & Kindschi, 2005), and the Wisconsin
Card Sorting Test: Computer version 4 (Heaton, 2005).
Several authors have discussed advantages of computerized administration, such as cost effectiveness (Rew, Horner, Riesch, & Caurin,
2004), increased speed of administration and scoring (Singleton, Horne, &
Thomas, 1999), and precise response times for timed subtests (Luciana,
2003). From a data collection perspective of the practitioner or researcher
Rew and colleagues (2004) suggested that computerized administration
avoids certain assessment process problems possible with paper and pencil methods, such as marking two responses to an item or skipping an
item in error. Computerized versions of tests of achievement, cognition,
and comprehensive neuropsychological functioning are less common and
16
likely will remain so (Camara, Nathan, & Puente, 2000; Mollica, Maruff,
Collie, & Vance, 2005). Comprehensive and frequently used assessments,
such as the WISC-IV, WPPSI-III, NEPSY-II, or the Woodcock-Johnson Tests
of Achievement (Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2007) are developed strictly
for face-to-face administrations, replete with opportunities for informative
behavioral observations.
Only a few studies have evaluated computerized measures of achievement, intellectual, and neuropsychological tasks. For example, Singleton et al. (1999) studied computerized assessment of mathematics ability
and literacy and reported good psychometric properties of the computerized version as well as a moderate to good relation with literacy scores
obtained by traditional methods 12 months later. Hargreaves, ShorrocksTaylor, Swinnerton, Tait, and Threlfall (2004) likewise studied computerized assessment of childrens mathematics ability and demonstrated
similar scores on a computerized version and a traditional pencil and
paper test. Luciana (2003) noted strong psychometric properties of the
Cambridge Neuropsychological Testing Automated Battery (CANTAB;
http://www.cantab.com) in a pediatric sample. Although Luciana (2003)
stated that the use of the CANTAB does not replace a human assessor in
neuropsychological testing, the use of the computerized assessment does
allow for excellent standardization procedures that are not confounded by
administrator influences.
Computer-Assisted Survey Interviewing (CASI) is a trendy application
of computer administration for interviewing that may be applied to child
assessment. CASI allows for presentation of all items in a measure or an altered
presentation based on a decision tree formula to prompt follow-up information
if a certain item is endorsed. Use of CASI provides a standardized presentation
of items and preliminary background information and evaluation data, which
then allows for face-to-face follow-up with a human assessor to refine the
interview regarding specific areas of concern (McCullough & Miller, 2003).
CASI users report less embarrassment and discomfort with the computeradministered interviews compared to face-to-face interviews, especially if
sensitive topics are covered, such as sexual behavior, drug/alcohol/substance use, or health-risk behaviors (McCullough & Miller, 2003; Newman,
et al., 2002). Romer et al. (1997) demonstrated that adolescents reported
more sexual experience and more favorable responses toward sex, after
controlling for reported experience, on a computerized survey than when
interviewed face-to-face. Davies and Morgan (2005) reported that the use
of CASI designed for vulnerable youths in foster care provided a sense
of empowerment and confidence to express their ideas, opinions, and
concerns about foster home placements. In addition, Rew and colleagues
(2004) used headphones to present an audio recording of items and also
presented items visually in words on a computer screen, which allowed for
non-English speakers and children with lower reading skills to participate.
Valla, Bergeron, and Smolla (2000) also considered the issue of potential
reading difficulty among young children and devised a diagnostic computerized interview with pictures and audio in different languages. They
reported adequate to good psychometric properties for methods in which
the interview was presented pictorially and aurally.
17
Several studies suggest that children prefer a computerized administration format over a face-to-face interview with an adult. In an evaluation of a program applied to forensic interviewing, children reported that
they preferred the computerized interactive interview over the face-to-face
interview (Powell, Wilson, & Hasty, 2002). Children may prefer the novel
or now more familiar to many childrenmedium to gather information. In
particular, the use of animation and graphics may be a more entertaining
method of collecting information relative to an adult interview.
Research findings do not, however, suggest universally positive
outcomes of computerized administration of interviews. Connolly (2005)
reported that face-to-face interviews elicited more statements that were also
selected by participants for further discussion in later sessions. Although
Connolly suggested that games and questionnaires often included in
computer-assisted interviews might aid in increasing rapport, They do not
replace the need for direct communication with professionals (p. 412).
Another CASI, designed to measure childrens recall of a classroom
event, found that most children reported correct responses on recall and
were equally verbose in responses to the computer and to an adult interviewer (Donohue et al., 1999). This recall task also tested the childrens
reporting of a secret that occurred during the event. Children did not
report the secret more frequently on the computer than with the adult,
suggesting that the use of the computer may not create a more comfortable milieu in which to discuss sensitive or personal topics.
Use of Technology in Child Assessment

Scoring and Interpretation
More frequently utilized by child assessorscompared to computer
administration softwareare desktop software or online scoring and interpretation services for many types of assessment (e.g., achievement, cognitive, neuropsychological, behavior, socialemotional). Computer-based
test interpretation (CBTI) generally includes programs that use actuarial assessment programs, based on statistical equations, and automated
assessment programs. CBTI reports are generated using an if-then formula by expert practitioners based on research and experience (Lichtenberger, 2006). Authors have recently noted several important benefits and
limitations with CBTI, which predict a further expansion and adaptation
of their use in the future.
One advantage of CBTI is the immediacy of receiving data both for
individual clients as well as for group data used in research (Davies &
Morgan, 2005). These software programs operate very quickly in comparison to personally calculating and looking up scores in tables and manuals. In addition to speed of data availability, the use of CBTI may increase
divergent thinking about alternative assessment hypotheses and provide
virtual access to expert practitioners, who wrote the software reports
(Harvey & Carlson, 2003, p. 99). In addition, Snyder (2000) offered a summary of benefits from existing literature, including reduction of errors in
scoring, minimization of a practitioners subjectivity or bias in an interpretation, and the ability to store entered information for later research use.
18
In spite of these benefits, authors have noted several important limitations to using CBTI. First, results produced by CBTI should be detailed
enough to have already ruled out several hypotheses, but still be inclusive
of possible hypotheses. In a review of several studies, Butcher, Perry, and
Atlis (2000) concluded that CBTI reports are similar to results derived
from a practitioner. However, CBTI reports should include a level of specificity and detail to avoid the Barnum Effect of giving overly generalizable
descriptions that could apply to many people in general. This effect, they
report, stems from a line of literature suggesting that people are more
likely to report higher levels of accuracy with statements that are nonspecific, especially if those statements are given by an authority figure.
A second major limitation to the use of CBTI is variable validity and
reliability evidence to support computer-generated interpretations. Garb
(2000) noted that writers of the interpretive reports generated by computers
do not always collect criterion information to empirically influence results.
He argued that interpretations may come from clinical experience, rather
than research findings, to make predictions about behavioral outcomes
and generate hypotheses. Also, CBTI reports should be scrutinized for the
validity of their report, for example, regarding the comparison group used
by the software program and relevant demographic characteristics. Such
demographic information may include cultural, linguistic, and economic
variables, which are not always accounted for in the computer-generated
interpretations (Butcher, et al., 2000, McCullough & Miller, 2003; Moreland, 1985; Snyder, 2000; Harvey & Carlson, 2003).
A lack of psychometric data for many CBTI applications calls into question the trustworthiness of the interpretation for some clinical or research
uses. Therefore, proper caution and study is imperative before accepting
the results of a given CBTI report. For a more detailed review of validity
and reliability issues related to CBTI, please see Snyder (2000).
Both Garb (2000) and Lichtenberger (2006) provided recommendations for CBTI software. Garb (2000) asserted that computer-generated
reports are not inappropriate to use, but suggested several recommendations to improve a system of CBTI. For example, information with the
highest validity should be considered initially for statistical predictions.
In addition, statistical-prediction rules can improve with more collection
of criterion information, such as behavior sampling, other psychological
testing, and structured interviewing. Lichtenberger (2006) suggested finding an optimal balance between practitioners need for efficiency due to
time limitations and their reliance on CBTI reports. She recommends four
considerations for practitioners as they evaluate narrative summaries provided by CBTI to create a psychological report:
1. When evaluating all major hypotheses in a CBTI narrative consider
additional data collected for evidence that might support or refute
the CBTI hypothesis.
2. Consider alternate hypotheses in addition to those presented in the
CBTI narrative. As in Step 1, determine if other evidence from the
assessment supports or refutes hypotheses.
3. Review written notes from the assessment and clinical interview to
avoid reliance on personal memory, which is subject to bias.
19
4. When available, use computer-based programs or other prediction

formulas to evaluate additional data collected during the assessment that was not considered in the CBTI narrative (Lichtenberger,
2006, pp.2728).
Lichtenberger (2006) adds that although computer-generated reports can
provide important information, the human assessor must respect the
uniqueness of the person being evaluated and her or his situation and
consider all variables in generatingor concluding abouthypotheses.
Most research suggests a clear trend toward the use of CBTI and technological advances in computerized scoring and interpretation of data.
Many potential benefits exist, but proper education about the validity and
reliability of these programs is crucial to accurate assessment. In particular, compared to adult-focused assessment, even less is known about CBTI
for frequently used child assessment measures. An important direction for
future research will be the adaptation of computerized assessments with
children and the continuing evaluation of the scoring and interpretation
programs for child assessment measures.
Influence of Taxometric Statistical Techniques on Diagnoses

Taxometric research examines the discrete, rather than the continuous, nature of a trait or psychological disorder (Meehl, 1995). Meehl (1995)
discovered a particular taxon, schizotaxia, which led to the diagnosis of
schizophrenia in a certain subset of people evaluated.
Although Meehls methods have experienced limited application in child
assessment research, Beauchaine (2003) noted three important areas for
future taxometric research. First, taxometrics could be useful in the early
identification of children at risk for psychopathology. For example, studies
have demonstrated links of family history of psychiatric symptoms and a
temperament trait of behavioral reactivity as indicators of psychopathology
later in childhood or adulthood.
For example, Woodward, Lenzenweger, Kagen, Snidman, and Arcus
(2000) reported a High Reactivity (HR) taxon in young infants that showed
qualitative differences measured by time spent crying, back arching,
hyperextension of limbs, and leg movements. Later behavioral differences
(e.g., smiling less, and less spontaneous comments to an unfamiliar adult)
at 4.5 years were found for infants who were classified in the HR taxon. An
empirical determination of these taxa could aid in early intervention techniques to target the onset and severity of a possible psychological disorder
in a persons developmental history.
Second, taxometric research could aid in determining subtypes of current diagnoses, such as childhood-onset and adolescent-onset depression.
Another example might involve the nature of Autistic Disorder, Pervasive
Developmental Disorder, and Aspergers Disorder as discrete diagnoses
versus a continuum known as Autism Spectrum Disorders with various
subtypes. An additional example might include further empirical validation
of the discreteness of the three subtypes of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorder, in particular distinctions between ADHD, Combined Type and
ADHD, Predominately Inattentive Type. Two groups of researchers have
20
reported a rejection of a categorical representation of the core symptoms

of ADHD (Frazier, Youngstrom, & Angle, 2007; Haslam, Williams, Prior,
Haslam, Graetz, & Sawyer, 2006); however, further research is still needed
to replicate these findings. Taxometric research may also clarify variations
over the past several decades in the use of diagnoses such as childhood
schizophrenia, childhood psychosis, and childhood bipolar disorder.
Lastly, Beauchaine (2003) noted that adult research has demonstrated
discrete taxa for schizotypy, dissociative experiences, and psychopathology.
However, he argued that currently the research literature is insufficient to
determine the viability of a sensitive period when these traits first emerge.
Although very few taxometric studies have been completed with children,
two studies demonstrated the presence of taxa related to antisocial
behavior based on self-report measures. These taxa indicated broad,
long-term antisocial behavior as well as psychopathy (Skilling, Quinsey,
& Craig, 2001; Vasey, Kotov, Frick, & Loney, 2005). Taxometic research
could elucidate time periods in development for these emerging traits,
with benefits being earlier, more effective, and more precisely tailored
interventions.
Cultural/Linguistic Considerations in Child Assessment

An important trend in the best practices of assessment involves
research and resources regarding assessment of a child who is bilingual
and/or has limited English proficiency. One assessment approach with
these children, especially those from different cultures or who speak English as a second language, has been to translate versions of the assessment
instrument in a childs first language or to complete the English version
assessment with an interpreter present. Valencia and Suzuki (2001) and
Kamphaus (1993) argued these translations/interpretations may produce
assessments that are not clear in the second language (poorly translated/
interpreted), may measure different constructs than the English version,
and may not consider or provide appropriate regional dialects for various
languages. Most importantly, newly constructed assessmentseven if they
are translations from English versionsshould still be held to the rigor of
psychometric evaluation. One may not assume that a translated version
demonstrates the same psychometric properties of the English version. In
addition, Fives and Flanagan (2002) asserted that although several of the
well-studied, verbal intelligence tests have demonstrated limited test bias
for special populations even in translated forms, intelligence testing with
populations of limited communication abilities may yield more a measure
of English proficiency than intelligence per se.
Current recommendations for assessing multilingual children are
addressed by Ochoa (2003). For academic achievement assessment, child
assessors are encouraged to use multiple methods of alternative assessment, such as school records, observations, performance assessments,
and samples of the childs work or portfolio. For intellectual assessment,
Ochoa (2003) suggests that current standardized measures of intelligence
(e.g., WISC-IV; Wechsler, 2003), frequently given in English, should only be
21
administered if the student demonstrates an acceptable Cognitive Academic

Language Proficiency (CALP) in English.
Alternatives to verbally loaded intellectual assessment are tests of
nonverbal intelligence, such as the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test
(Bracken & McCallum, 1998) and the Leiter International Performance
Scale-Revised (Roid & Miller, 2002), which focus on less verbally loaded,
performance-based assessment. Proponents (e.g., Bracken & Naglieri,
2003; McCallum, Bracken, & Wasserman, 2001; Naglieri, 2003; Roid,
Nellis, & McLellan 2003) of nonverbal measures of cognitive abilities
argue that a de-emphasis on verbally loaded directions and items creates
tests appropriate for special populations who may not understand
spoken language or be able to use verbal communication. In addition,
these assessments are judged to be less culturally weighted because they
use universal pictorial images in items and universal signs of nonverbal
communication (e.g., shaking head from side to side to indicate a negative
response or no) in directions.
However, a major weakness for some of these nonverbal tests is
that although the participant may respond nonverbally to the task, the
directionsand sometimes the itemsare administered verbally, meaning
receptive language is necessary for understanding the task. For children who
have learned English as a second language or who are hearing- or speechimpaired, the validity of obtained scores may be questionable because the
verbal directions were not clear to the child. Such assessment practices
may result in misdiagnosis or inappropriate placement into certain service
or education programs (Fives & Flanagan, 2002; McCallum et al., 2001;
Valencia & Suzuki, 2001). In addition, some controversy exists regarding
the nature of intellectual abilities measured by these nonverbal tests. Some
researchers argue that these instruments measure a separate construct
known as nonverbal intelligence or nonverbal abilities (Kamphaus, 1993;
McCallum, et al., 2001). However, other researchers argue that whether
tested verbally or nonverbally (or with both methods) measures of intelligence
tap into the same general ability (Naglieri, 2003). This trend in intellectual
assessment will likely continue in a controversial fashion.
Another trend in the assessment of bilingual children is the creation of
the Bilingual Verbal Ability Test (BVAT; Munoz-Sandoval, Cummins, Alvarado, & Reuf, 1998). The BVAT incorporates three subtests of verbal ability that are first administered in English. Items answered incorrectly
are later presented in the childs native language, with credit being
earned if the child correctly answers the item. The combined score
yields a measure of bilingual verbal ability. In addition to this score,
the BVAT can be used to obtain a CALP and an aptitude score that can
be compared to collected measures of achievement (Rhodes, Ochoa, &
Ortiz, 2005). However, continued research regarding the psychometric
properties of the BVAT is needed. Interested readers in this trend are
encouraged to review Bracken (2004), Barona and Garcia (1990), Thomas and Grimes (1990), and Rhodes et al. (2005). Cultural competence
of child assessors clearly will be emphasized for some time to come
(Ecklund & Johnson, 2007)
22
EPILOGUE
Continuing research into the development of childhood disorders will
shed light on future versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical ManualIV
TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) and on less diagnosis-focused
assessment (Kamphaus & Campbell, 2006). Of course a goal of such research
will be to enhance the accuracy, utility, and predictive quality of assessment
of child psychopathology and developmental disabilities. The future of child
assessment seems bright, indeed. Certainly, the chapters that follow in this
volume will shine and illuminate your path as a child assessor.
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2
Diagnostic Classification
Systems
JEREMY D. JEWELL, STEPHEN D.A. HUPP,
and ANDREW M. POMERANTZ
DEFINING MENTAL DISORDER

On the surface, the purpose of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Text Revision (DSMIVTR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) is straightforward. Contemporary practice
requires a standard catalogue of mental disorders, with each disorder
defined conceptually, and criteria for formal diagnosis set forth. This chapter explores the development of the DSMIVTR, the history of the DSM
including previous versions, advantages and disadvantages of the current
model of classification, and possible revisions for future editions of the
DSM. To begin, however, one must understand that the concept of mental
disorder is complicated by many issues, including the idea that mental
disorders are rooted in societal norms as well as the context of history.
The origin of the concept of mental illness may date back to prehistoric
man. That is, it is likely that prehistoric man had some understanding of
the mind, and that surgery to the skull might relieve symptoms of illness
due to head injury (Liu & Apuzzo, 2003). As human society has progressed,
however, the concept of mental illness has both expanded as well as become
more complex. Consider, for example, the mental disorder of depression. In
the case where a person may suffer a personal loss and experience grief,
at what point in time does that grief become psychopathological depression? In this case, culture and society must somehow draw the line between
the normal grieving process and psychopathology. The distinction must be
made in terms of the specific behaviors exhibited (frequent fatigue or suicidal ideation) as well as the duration of the pathological behavior (one week
JEREMY D. JEWELL, STEPHEN D. A. HUPP, and ANDREW M. POMERANTZ
Illinois University Edwardsville, Diagnostic Classification Systems

Southern
31
32
JEREMY D. JEWELL et al.
versus one year). Also consider schizophrenia. Typical symptoms of this

disorder include the presence of delusions. However, if one were to admit
that she believed in a spiritual world or the afterlife, she would probably not
be labeled delusional despite the fact that there is no supporting scientific
evidence for an afterlife. Therefore, even mental disorders with the greatest
amount of research in some sense are founded on societys assumption of
what is, and is not, normal.
Similarly, societys historical context has often affected our understanding of mental disorder. For example, homosexuality was included as
a diagnosable mental disorder in the first two editions of the DSM (APA,
1952, 1968). Societys view of homosexuality as a defect in ones character
was at that time reflected in the DSMI and DSMII classification of homosexuality (Sexual Orientation Disturbance) as a mental disorder. As societys view on homosexuality has changed, however, so has the classification
of homosexuality as a mental disorder. Therefore, although scientists conduct research on various forms of mental illness, one must acknowledge
that this academic exercise occurs in the context of both sociocultural
norms to some extent, as well as the context of history.
Understanding this, what can we say is a mental disorder? The current DSMIVTR defines a mental disorder as
a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern
that occurs in an individual and that is associated with present distress
(e.g., a painful symptom) or disability (i.e., impairment in one or more
important areas of functioning) or with a significantly increased risk of
suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom. (APA,
2000, p. xxxi)
One should note that there are several important components to this definition, including the concept that the individual must be experiencing
some sort of pain (presently or in the future) or impairment due to the
symptoms of the disorder. The advantage of a broad definition such as
this, is that it allows clinicians to include a host of disorders in cases
where patients themselves may either not recognize their own symptomology as reflecting a disorder (e.g., during a psychotic episode) or even when
patients may resign themselves to a longstanding period of suffering (e.g.,
dysthymia).
Because changing societal norms have continued to shape the definition of mental disorders over time, it is important to take a closer look at
the development of the DSM and other classification systems.
HISTORY OF DIAGNOSTIC CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS

Pre-DSM
Until the publication of the original DSM in 1952, the history of diagnostic classification systems for mental disorders in the United States was
characterized by a lack of unification. Some of the early efforts were motivated by statistical, rather than clinical, factors. When the U.S. census
DIAGNOSTIC CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS
33
was conducted in 1840, it included a single category of mental illness

(idiocy/insanity) to describe portions of the American populace. This was
the first time that data were systematically collected via the census for
this purpose. In the 1880 census, seven categories of mental illness were
included in the census materials, many of which were labeled with terms
that now seem antiquated (e.g., monomania, dipsomania, melancholia).
Soon, a committee within the American Psychiatric Association began to
collaborate with the census bureau in order to gather more extensive data.
However, the emphasis remained primarily statistical rather than clinical
(APA, 1952, 2000).
Formal diagnostic categorization of mental disorders for clinical purposes was uncommon prior to the approach of the twentieth century. By
1900, many large hospitals and training centers had developed their own
systems of labeling and record-keeping for mental illness. These systems
were idiosyncratic, having been created solely to meet the needs of the
home institution. As increasing numbers of these individualized systems
appeared, communication between mental health professionals and agencies was restricted by the lack of a common language describing mental
disorders (APA, 1952, 2000; Langenbucher & Nathan, 2006).
In the late 1920s, efforts emerged to create a standardized nomenclature, although it would take decades to attain this goal. Some of the
individualized systems of diagnostic classification were adopted widely,
including systems created by the U.S. Army and the Veterans Administration hospitals. These few systems remained in competition with each
other until the original DSM effectively replaced them in 1952 (APA, 1952,
APA, 2000).
DSMIDSMIIIR
The first edition of the DSM, published by the American Psychiatric Association in 1952, was essentially a modified version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD, published by the World Health
Organization). The ICD was in its sixth edition at the time, and it was the
first time in which that manual included a category for mental illnesses
(APA, 2000). The DSMI was followed by a revision, DSMII, in 1968. These
two editions are similar to each other and also quite different from any of
the subsequent DSM revisions. The language included in the DSMI and
DSMII indicates a very strong psychoanalytic emphasis; indeed, the psychoanalytic approach was prominent in all areas of clinical work at that
time. It is also noteworthy that the first two editions of the DSM lacked
specific diagnostic criteria; that is, each disorder was described in a brief
paragraph or two. The absence of specific criteria to determine whether an
individual qualified for a disorder made the first two editions of the DSM
less clinically useful than they could have been. The DSMI included very
few disorders specifically characterizing pathology in children or adolescents, and they were placed within a larger category with many transient
adult disorders. For example, the DSMII included a category of disorders entitled Behavioral Disorders of Childhood and Adolescence, which
included only six specific disorders.
34
The publication of the DSMIII represented a significant change in

the DSM classification system (Widiger & Trull, 2007). The DSMIII was
quite different from its predecessors in a variety of ways, most obvious
of which was greatly increased size and scope. The DSMIII was much
more extensive than the DSMI and the DSMII; it included a great deal
more text and a far greater number of disorders, including a sizeable
number of newly defined disorders for children and adolescents (Houts,
2002). The authors of the DSMIII also made an explicit effort to use
empirical data as the basis for diagnostic categories, an emphasis that
was not present in the first two editions. The DSMIII also shed the
psychoanalytic language and any influence that it might reflect, endorsing instead a more atheoretical approach to mental illness. Unlike the
first two editions, the DSMIII included specific criteria and thresholds
to define disorders. Additionally, the DSMIII marked the first appearance of a multiaxial system, including Axis I (most clinical disorders),
Axis II (e.g., developmental disorders and personality disorders), Axis III
(relevant medical conditions), Axis IV (relevant psychosocial and environmental factors), and Axis V (Global Assessment of Functioning on
a scale from 0 to 100). Collectively, the changes evident in the DSMIII
resulted in a more inclusive and clinically useful manual than the first
two editions of the DSM.
The DSMIII was followed by the publication of the DSMIIIR in 1987.
As its edition number indicates (with R standing for revised), the
DSMIIIR did not represent an overhaul of the DSMIII. Instead, it was
a relatively minor revision intended to clear up some inconsistent and
ambiguous aspects of the DSMIII (APA, 2000). Thus, the DSMIIIR was
quite similar in structure, format, and length to the DSMIII. In fact, all
subsequent revisions of the DSM have remained consistent with the general structure, format, and length of the DSMIII.
DEVELOPMENT OF DSMIV
In 1994, the American Psychiatric Association published the fourth
edition of the DSM (DSMIV; APA, 1994a). In 2000, another edition was
published, entitled DSMIVTR, with TR standing for text revision.
The term text revision refers to the fact that only the text describing
the diagnosesnot the diagnostic criteriadiffers between the DSMIV
and the term DSMIVTR. That is, the DSMIVTR contains exactly the
same diagnostic criteria as the DSMIV, and they are officially defined in
exactly the same way. The essential difference between the DSMIVTR
and the DSMIV is the addition of new text in the DSMIVTR to describe
recent findings relevant to existing disorders. For the sake of simplicity,
this chapter simply uses the term the DSMIV to refer to both the DSMIV
and the DSMIVTR.
The creation of the DSMIV was a massive effort, involving the collaborative work of over 1,000 people and a period of time greater than five
years (APA, 1994b). It was overseen by a coordinating Task Force and 13
independent Work Groups, each of which focused on a particular category
35
of psychopathology (e.g., Child and Adolescent Disorders, Anxiety Disorders,

Mood Disorders, Personality Disorders). Throughout its development,
its authors emphasized that empirical evidence was the cornerstone on
which the DSMIV was built, and was also the primary requirement for any
changes from the previous edition of the DSM (APA, 1994b). The process
of creating the DSMIV included three primary phases: literature reviews,
reanalysis of existing datasets, and focused field trials (each of these
three phases is described in more detail below.) After these three phases
were completed, the DSMIV Draft Criteria were released, with which the
DSMIV creators hoped to elicit feedback from the professional community, including any problems they could foresee before the draft criteria
were made official (APA, 1994b). Incorporating this feedback, DSMIV was
published in 1994.
Literature Reviews
Especially since the publication of the DSMIII in 1980, a significant
body of empirical literature has accumulated regarding specific disorders.
Much of this literature is pertinent to the revision of the manual, so a primary task of the DSMIV authors was to undertake a large-scale review.
Each Work Group was instructed to ascertain the most important issues
for their category of diagnoses, and then to conduct a systematic comprehensive review of the literature to address those issues. Selected parts of
the results of these literature reviews are included in the DSMIV text, and
the results are included more extensively in the separate DSM Sourcebook
(APA, 1994b, 2000).
The literature review conducted by each Work Group focused exclusively on their category of diagnoses, and followed the same six-step format (APA, 1994b; 2000).
1. Statement of the Issues. In this section, the researchers identified
the most important issues within their category that were to be
addressed by the literature review.
2. Significance of the Issues. Here, the researchers explained some
possible diagnostic or clinical ramifications of the issues identified
in the previous section.
3. Methods. The researchers described how many studies it examined,
how it went about searching for and finding the studies, why certain studies were included or excluded from the review, and other
aspects of the literature review methods.
4. Results. Here, the researchers presented the findings of their literature review. They were instructed to produce results that were
objective, thorough, and concise.
5. Discussion. This section features consideration of the implications
of the results, including multiple options for resolving the issues
described in the first two sections.
6. Recommendations. Here, the researchers selected the option or
options (among those listed in the previous section) that, based on
the review of the literature, they believed were most viable.
36
Data Reanalyses
In some cases, the literature review process revealed areas in which
insufficient research existed to address important diagnostic issues for
various work groups. In these situations, the researchers often obtained
existing datasets and reanalyzed them utilizing new methods (APA 1994b,
2000). By doing so, they were able to address gaps in the published literature on diagnostic and clinical issues. A total of 40 data reanalyses were
conducted for the DSMIV, usually via collaboration with researchers at
different sites. Typically, the data used in these reanalyses were originally
collected for epidemiological purposes or to examine treatment methods,
but in this context, the focus was diagnostic (APA, 2000).
Field Trials
The overall purpose of the field trials was to determine how well the
proposed DSMIV criteria actually functioned in applied settings that represented the kinds of sites where DSMIV criteria might actually be used.
In total, there were 12 field trials involving over 70 separate sites and over
6,000 subjects. The sites selected, as well as the subjects served there,
represented a diverse range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Thus,
the cross-cultural generalizability of proposed diagnostic criteria was
addressed (APA, 2000).
A primary goal of the field trials was to investigate the extent to which
the proposed revisions would affect the reliability and validity of the diagnostic criteria. Diagnostic criteria were considered both in sets (i.e., the
full list of criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder, including requirements regarding thresholds and combinations of criteria) and individually
(i.e., each specific criterion listed for Generalized Anxiety). Additionally,
the field trials allowed the DSMIV authors to appreciate the impact that
the proposed diagnostic revisions might have on the day-to-day practice
of clinicians who rely on the DSMIV. One way in which these questions
were explored was to compare the criteria for mental disorders directly
according to various sources. In other words, at a field trial site, the investigators might have utilized both DSMIIIR and various proposed DSMIV
criteria sets, and then compared the outcome of the use of each to the
other (APA, 1994b; 2000).
Throughout the process of creating the DSMIV, its authors emphasized that any revisions would need to be justified by empirical research:
The threshold for making revisions in DSMIV was set higher than
that for DSMIII and DSMIIIR. Decisions had to be substantiated by
explicit statements of rationale and by the systematic review of relevant
empirical data (APA, 2000, p. xxviii). There were a number of potential
new diagnoses that the DSMIV authors considered; many of those that
were not added as new categories appear in an appendix of the manual
entitled Criteria Sets and Axes Provided for Further Study. One purpose of including them in an appendix is to stimulate research among
interested researchers. Among the proposed disorders included in this
appendix are Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, Binge-Eating Disorder,
37
Minor Depressive Disorder, Recurrent Brief Depressive Disorder, and

Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder.
It is also notable that the DSMIV is the first edition of the manual to
contain an appendix devoted to issues of culture. This appendix includes
an outline for cultural formulation, which is intended to encourage mental health professionals performing diagnoses to consider such factors as
the individuals cultural identity and ways in which cultural factors may
influence the psychosocial environment and the relationship between the
individual and the professional (APA, 2000).
Creation of the DSMIV was an immense task, and although its authors
explain the significant efforts taken to ensure maximum reliability, validity, and clinical utility, they also realize that our understanding of mental
illness will continue to improve: The advance of fundamental understanding of mental disorders will undoubtedly provide much clearer (and probably often very different) answers to the questions raised [by the DSMIV
review process] (APA, 1994b, p. xxi).
FORMAT OF THE DSMIV

In this section, the major topics and the format of the DSMIV (2000)
are described. The text of the DSMIV begins with the typical acknowledgments and broad statements on the purposes, use, and development of the
DSMIV. The authors proceed to describe the multiaxial system and how
to derive a multiaxial diagnosis. Within this, the authors provide the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). Beginning on page 39, disorders are
catalogued and described based on broader sections. Examples of these
broad sections include Mood Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, as well as Disorders Usually First Diagnosed in Infancy, Childhood, or Adolescence.
Within each section, each disorder is described in a uniform manner. First, the diagnostic features of the disorder are described. These
features are described and conceptualized rather broadly, and are not a
simple list of symptoms or diagnostic criteria. For example, the diagnostic
features of Conduct Disorder are described as a repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior in which the basic rights of others or major
age-appropriate societal norms or rules are violated (Criterion A) (p. 93).
Next, the subtypes and/or specifiers heading refers to any particular
subtypes that may be appropriate to the diagnosis (e.g., for Conduct Disorder, Childhood Onset Type or Adolescent Onset Type can be specified).
Additionally, appropriate specifiers, such as mild, moderate, or severe, are
listed and described. Other types of specifiers may exist as well, such as
the specifier chronic for Major Depressive Disorder. If subtypes or specifiers do not exist for a particular disorder, this section is not included in
that disorder description. Any special instructions for the recording of the
diagnosis, including the relationship between the DSMIV diagnosis and
ICD9 diagnosis, are then noted in the recording procedures section.
The next broad section for each disorder is associated features
and disorders, which is usually divided into the following three sections:
associated descriptive features and mental disorders, associated laboratory
38
findings, and associated physical examination findings and general medical conditions. Associated descriptive features and mental disorders
include those features that have been associated with the disorder to a
lesser extent, and in some cases these features were not found to contribute significantly to the sensitivity or specificity of the diagnosis in the field
trials. Associated laboratory findings refers to particular laboratory findings that are either considered diagnostic of the disorder, associated with
the disorder, or are perhaps a secondary effect of the disorder.
Next, the DSMIV provides several sections that give further description to the disorder. First, specific culture, age, and gender features
describes any differences that may occur in the expression, initiation, or
maintenance of the disorder based on these demographic characteristics
of the patient. Next, the prevalence section gives some broad range of
the prevalence of the disorder based on the existing research. Course
refers to research findings on the onset of the disorder, course of the disorder, duration, and other similar concepts. The familial pattern section
summarizes research on the presumed heritability of the disorder based
on current research findings. The heritability of other related disorders
may also be described (e.g., the familial pattern of any mood disorder in
patients with Major Depressive Disorder). In the differential diagnosis
section, the DSMIV authors describe how other similar disorders may be
differentiated from the disorder in question. This information is critical
when one considers that many disorders have the same or similar criteria
when compared to other disorders. Finally, the DSMIV provides the specific diagnostic criteria required for the particular disorder.
The DSMIV ends with a number of useful appendices. For example, decision trees for differential diagnoses and criteria sets and axes
provided for further study are provided. Additionally, other appendices
provide for an analysis of the compatibility of a particular diagnosis with
ICD10 diagnoses.
ICD10 CLASSIFICATION OF MENTAL

AND BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS
The tenth edition of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Health Related Problems (ICD10; World Health Organization,
1992, 1993) is a broad diagnostic system including all diseases and other
problems related to health. The first edition, the International List of Causes
of Death was adopted in the late 1800s and was originally developed to
represent a list of possible causes of death to be used internationally. The
World Health Organization (WHO) began publishing the sixth edition of the
ICD in 1948, and this revision was the first to broaden the scope of the
classification system to include mental disorders. By comparison, the first
edition of the DSM was published soon thereafter in 1952.
The ICD7 was published in 1955; however, there were no changes to
the mental disorders. In the late 1960s, when the ICD8 and DSMII were
published, some effort was made to increase the compatibility of these
systems. At this time, both systems received criticism regarding the lack
39
of empirical support for the reliability and validity of their diagnoses (Widiger, 2005). The ICD9 was published in 1977, and in an effort to increase
reliability it included a glossary with more detailed descriptions of disorders. Published soon thereafter, the DSMIII also continued to develop the
descriptions of disorders. The DSMIII also had other innovations (e.g.,
explicit sets of criteria) that made it less compatible with the ICD9, and
this decrease in compatibility was counter to the ultimate goal of facilitating communication between professionals (Widiger, 2005). The ICD10
and the DSMIV were both published in the early 1990s with an increased
effort at improving compatibility.
The fifth chapter of the ICD10 is the Classification of Mental and
Behavioral Disorders. There are two different versions of this chapter, and
the first published version was the Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic
Guidelines (CDDG; WHO, 1992) used by clinicians. This version includes
narrative descriptions of disorders. The WHO also subsequently derived
the Diagnostic Criteria for Research (DCR, WHO, 1993) from the clinical version. Although the clinical and research versions are very similar,
there are some differences. Specifically, the research version leaves out
some of the descriptive information for each disorder. More importantly,
the research version is more restrictive than the clinical version by delineating clear and highly specified criteria and lists of symptoms. The clinical and research versions combined are similar to the scope of information
included in the DSMIV.
Overall, the ICD10 continued to move away from vague descriptions
and the inclusion of unsupported etiologies, and toward clear operational
definitions with improved reliability (Bertelsen, 1999). Separate field trials were conducted for both the clinical and research versions in over 30
countries. For both versions, 2,400 patients were assessed by at least
two clinicians, and both yielded high interrater reliability for diagnoses
(stn, Chatterji, & Andrews, 2002). Alternatively, however, the more difficult question of validity and clinical utility of the diagnostic categories
continued to be raised.
Although there is considerable overlap between the ICD10 and DSM
IVTR, the ICD10 is most commonly used in Europe, Asia, and Africa,
whereas the DSMIV is more commonly used in the Americas (Jablensky
& Kendell, 2002). Having both a clinical and a research version of the
ICD10 Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders makes comparison between the ICD10 and DSMIV both more complicated and difficult,
and has led to confusion about which version of the ICD10 is being used
during comparisons (First & Pincus, 1999).
Generally speaking, the most significant difference between these two
classification systems is that the ICD10 is a more comprehensive system including the wide range of diseases and other medical problems,
whereas the DSMIV focuses only on psychological disorders. Even within
the psychological disorders, the ICD10 has a greater emphasis on distinguishing between organic disorders and other types of disorders.
The multiaxial approach is another general difference between the two
systems. The DSMIV includes a five-axis approach, whereas the WHO
did not publish a multiaxial system (WHO, 1996) until a few years after
40
the original publication of the ICD10. There are also some differences
between the specific axes.
The majority of the psychological disorders in both the DSMIV and
ICD10 are highly similar, but there are some significant differences
between the two systems. These systems can be directly compared by
using another book, Cross-walks ICD10DSMIVTR: A Synopsis of Classifications of Mental Disorders (Schulte-Markwort, Marutt, & Riedesser,
2003). Focusing on ICDDSM comparisons that most directly affect children, the ICD10 has substantially more disorders for children in several
ways. First, the ICD10 sometimes allows for separate disorders for children (e.g., Social Anxiety Disorder of Childhood) and adults (e.g., Social
Phobias), whereas the DSMIV uses the same diagnosis for both (i.e., Social
Anxiety Disorder). Second, the ICD10 has some mixed disorders that
are not included in the DSMIV, and examples of these include Depressive
Conduct Disorder and Hyperkinetic Conduct Disorder. Finally, for many of
the types of disorders diagnosed in childhood, the ICD10 divides them into
more possible diagnoses. For example, whereas the DSMIV has five types
of Pervasive Developmental Disorders, the ICD10 describes additional
disorders including both Atypical Autism as well as Overactive Disorder
Associated with Mental Retardation. Also, compared to Conduct Disorder
in the DSMIV, the ICD10 provides three separate disorders (i.e., Conduct
Disorder Confined to the Family Context, Unsocialized Conduct Disorder,
and Socialized Conduct Disorder).
Although many of the disorders are similar between the two systems,
they still differ somewhat in label and symptoms. For example, the DSMIV
uses the label Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and the ICD10
includes a few Hyperkinetic Disorders (e.g., Disturbance of Activity and
Attention) with slightly different criteria. Also, both Attention-Deficit/
Hyperactivity Disorder (in the DSMIV) and Disturbance of Activity and
Attention (in the ICD10) have many similar symptoms (sometimes with
slight wording differences); however, the ICD10 has an increased distinction between hyperactivity and impulsivity.
As psychology journals continue to have greater international contributions, having two different major classification systems creates more
confusion regarding diagnoses. This confusion is somewhat tempered by
the fact that the DSMIV is used more internationally with researchers
than with clinicians; however, this increases the gap between international research and practice. Having two different versions of the ICD10
also adds to the possible confusion. The existence of different major systems
for cataloguing mental disorders also emphasizes that the current diagnostic categories are not static and are subject to change. In fact new
editions of the DSM and ICD will likely be published within the next few
years. Jablensky and Kendell (2002) suggest that the next revision of the
DSM is more likely to have radical changes because the ICD is more constrained by coordinating the efforts of many more countries. Although
some view the omission of unsupported etiologies in the ICD10 as a step
in the right direction, some have called for revisiting inclusion of supported etiological theories in the next revision of the ICD (stn, Chatteri, & Andrews, 2002).
41
THE PURPOSES AND USES OF A DIAGNOSTIC

CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM
In a generic sense, a nosological system is simply a system of classifying disease or pathology. Therefore, most would agree that the DSMIV, as
well as all previous versions of the DSM, can be understood as nosological
in nature. However, as the DSM has evolved from its first edition to the
current one, the primary purpose of this classification system has drastically changed. Specifically, the first two versions of the DSM were known
as primarily an explanatory nosological system that was rooted almost
exclusively in psychoanalytic theory. Therefore, the primary purpose of
the system was to explain the etiology of particular disorders from this
theoretical framework.
With the introduction of the DSMIII, however, the nosological system
became more descriptive or typological (Bertelsen, 1999). The DSMIII drifted
away from explaining the etiology of particular disorders, and a great deal of
attention was paid to specifically and accurately describing the symptoms
of each disorder in the hopes of elevating the reliability of the diagnostic
system. Another implication of this evolution of the diagnostic model is that
the DSMIII and DSMIV are relatively atheoretical. Although an atheoretical nosological system allows it to be more broadly applied to a variety of
disorders as well as clinicians with a variety of theoretical backgrounds and
training, these advantages come at a cost. In particular, an atheoretical
nosological system may lack explanatory power as to the etiology of particular disorders, thus affecting patient treatment (Frances & Egger, 1999).
Subsequent sections of this chapter continue to come back to this issue of
an explanatory versus descriptive nosological system.
Given that the current DSMIV is primarily descriptive in nature, one
must consider the strengths and multiple purposes of such a system. The
primary motivating force in moving the DSM to a descriptive classification
system was to increase the reliability of the diagnostic system. Specifically, many clinicians in the field became concerned regarding the lack of
standard practice in diagnosis that existed prior to the DSMIII. At a more
fundamental level, however, a diagnostic system is critical so that those
within the profession can communicate with each other using a universal nomenclature. One can imagine the chaos and confusion that would
prevail if hundreds of professionals attempted to describe groups of similar patients or existing constructs without any agreed-upon system that
defined these groups. Therefore, a foundational prerequisite to any diagnostic classification system is that it must allow for clinicians to come to
the same diagnostic conclusion given information gathered from a patient
that reflects a particular set of symptoms.
Related to this, previous research using the DSMII indicated that
diagnostic reliability between clinicians ranged from poor to fair on almost
all of the diagnostic categories (Spitzer & Fleiss, 1974). With regard to
diagnostic reliability, researchers publishing on the DSMIV indicate that
there is increasing reliability compared to previous versions of the DSM,
although there are a number of diagnoses where diagnostic reliability continues to be problematic (APA, 1998).
42
Another purpose of a diagnostic classification system such as the

DSMIV is the need to conduct clinical research on particular populations.
Again, a reliable diagnostic system is a fundamental prerequisite needed
to conduct such research. For example, imagine that a group of researchers wanted to test the efficacy of a new antidepressant drug. In order to do
so, they would need to administer the drug to a group of persons suffering
from depression, while also administering a placebo to a similar group of
persons with depression. In order to draw accurate conclusions regarding
the efficacy of the new drug, it is critical that both groups of people diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder are highly similar in the symptoms,
as well as the level of impairment they exhibit. Another obvious reason for
a reliable diagnostic classification symptom is that the efficacy of this new
antidepressant drug presumes that there are symptoms of depression that
exist in the person so that a change can be noted by researchers. If someone who was not clinically depressed were to be included in the experimental research group, the results might underestimate the effects of this
antidepressant as there were no symptoms of depression to decrease or
eliminate in that particular person.
A recent meta-analysis of inpatient psychotherapy effectiveness by
Ksters, Burlingame, Nachtigall, and Strauss (2006) provides another example of the need for reliable diagnostic categories for research purposes. The
results of the meta-analysis indicated that the strength of improvement that
could be attributed to inpatient psychotherapy treatment differed as a function of the patients diagnosis. Specifically, patients with mood and anxiety
disorders improved to a greater extent when compared to patients with other
disorders such as Schizophrenia (Ksters et al., 2006). Understanding this,
the field of psychology can now examine the treatments for persons with
these various diagnoses and attempt to improve those treatments that are
relatively less successful. Again, important research such as this can only be
conducted when a reliable diagnostic classification system exists.
Similarly, there has been a general movement in clinical psychology
toward specifically detailed interventions that are both standardized and
manualized. In fact, Division 12 of the American Psychological Association
has begun establishing a list of treatments that researchers support for
particular diagnoses (American Psychological Association, Division 12 Society of Clinical Psychology, n.d.). These empirically supported treatments
(ESTs) are catalogued and matched by disorder, rather than endorsing a
particular treatment wholesale. Treatment planning based on a particular diagnosis is not necessarily new to psychology, yet it is the specificity
of the particular treatment intervention matched with a very specifically
diagnosed disorder that is somewhat novel. Again, reliable diagnosis is
a fundamental prerequisite to this move toward choosing an empirically
supported treatment based on a particular diagnosis.
Another use of the DSM diagnostic classification system is that there
are many other public institutions that rely on an accurate diagnosis. For
example, in the United States, the Social Security Administration policy on
disability determination partially relies on criteria for Mental Retardation
to determine social security disability benefits for that disability status.
These criteria are closely related to the criteria set forth in the DSMIV.
43
This example is just one where a mental disorder may qualify someone for
government support. Similarly, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; Department of Education, 2005) allows for children with a
diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to be eligible
for special education services in the public schools through the category of
Other Health Impaired (OHI). However, the IDEA legislation itself does not
specify the criteria for ADHD. Rather, IDEA relies on the symptom criteria
as outlined in the DSMIV, as part of the criteria necessary for a child to be
determined as Other Health Impaired (Department of Education, 2005).
A final use of the DSM diagnostic classification system, and perhaps
the most controversial, is to allow for third-party payment for psychological
services. Specifically, a significant portion of the population in the United
States has private health insurance coverage. These health insurers usually require a formal diagnosis, using either the DSMIV or ICD10, in
order to reimburse the provider. This situation has generated a great deal
of debate, most especially concerning the rights of the insured and privacy
of medical records (for a detailed review of similar issues see Newman &
Bricklin, 1991). Given the direct relationship between a categorical diagnostic system such as the DSMIV and reimbursement for mental health
services, persons who suffer from a mental illness but at a subthreshold
level may be denied services from their insurance provider. Again, this is
not an explicitly stated purpose of the DSMIV by its authors, but merely
an undesirable effect of the healthcare system that has evolved over time.
As can be seen, there are numerous purposes for a nosological classification system such as the DSMIV. These purposes all rely on the reliable
and accurate diagnosis of mental disorders. As the DSMIV has moved
from an explanatory to a descriptive classification system, proponents
would argue that this shift has resulted in an increase in diagnostic reliability. On the other hand, some critics would also argue that because of
this shift, the utility and validity of the DSM has suffered considerably in
order to gain this increase in reliability (Widiger & Clark, 2000).
DISADVANTAGES OF THE DSMIV

Since the first edition of the DSM in 1952, there have been numerous
critics of this classification system, and the ICD10 is subject to the same
types of criticisms. Most recently, criticism has been focused on the DSM
IV because of its increasing adherence to the medical model of mental
illness (Widiger & Clark, 2000). Although there is some variation as to how
experts define this medical model, some possibilities are outlined below as
well and an explanation is provided as to how the medical model affects
our understanding of mental illness.
The Medical Model of Mental Illness

The medical model of mental illness can be understood as having
similarities with the medical communitys understanding of physical illness (Cloninger, 1999). The assumptions of the medical model as they
44
apply to mental illness are threefold. First, it is assumed that the concept
of a disease exists, and that persons can be placed into two categories,
those who are diseased and those who are healthy and without disease.
This categorical way of conceptualizing mental illness, as opposed to
placing persons along a continuum of disease and health (also known as
a dimensional model), are discussed in more detail in further sections.
The second assumption of the medical model is that the disease, or mental illness, resides within the individual (as opposed to the individuals
circumstances, context, relationships, etc.). The third assumption is that
any treatment to alleviate this disease must occur at the level of the
individual as well. When one understands these assumptions that are
implicit in the medical model, coupled with the descriptive and atheoretical nature of the DSMIV as previously described, a type of tautological
circular reasoning can arise. Specifically, one might ask, Why is this
child often truant, cruel to people, and cruel to animals, which would
be answered Because he has Conduct Disorder. The next question is,
Why does this child have Conduct Disorder, to which might come the
answer, Because he is often truant, he is cruel to people, and is cruel
to animals. This error in reasoning is often referred to as reifying disorders, and many have urged clinicians and researchers to formulate
mental disorders as simplified descriptions of behavior clusters rather
than actual entities (Knapp & Jensen, 2006).
Another related disadvantage of the medical model of mental illness
is that the model in and of itself lends credibility to a biological etiology
of mental illness, when in fact such an exclusive etiology may not necessarily exist. For example, when working within a nosological system that
assumes that disease lies within the individual, resulting research will
most likely examine the disease at the individual level, neglecting other
facets of the human experience that contribute to the mental disorder.
This process of scientific inquiry, if allowed to proceed in this fashion,
could then build a research literature that describes mental disorders as
biological in origin (neglecting other avenues of research).
Acknowledging the Environmental Context

The question as to the etiology of mental disorders leads to another
important concept related to the medical model, which is the relative
importance of environmental variables in understanding mental illness.
Bronfenbrenner (1979) first discussed what he described as the ecological model of psychological functioning. This model changed the internal
process of the disease of mental illness to one wherein an individuals
internal characteristics do not fit within his environmental context. Bronfenbrenner (1979) theorized that each child is surrounded by a complex
ecology or environment with which he or she interacts. This environment
consists of relationships and systems proximal to the child, such as other
family members. Additionally, however, the child is both directly and indirectly affected by other systems in the environment, including the school
environment, religious and other community organizations, and other
broader cultural variables.
45
Therefore, the ecological model would view the aggressive behaviors of

an individual child within their social context. Whether these aggressive
behaviors might be indicative of a mental disorder depends on whether
they are adaptive and fit within the childs context. If this particular child
lives in a home where violence is both modeled and expected, and within
a high crime neighborhood that exposes the child to daily threats, then
aggressive behavior may in fact be adaptive and may not necessarily be
indicative of a mental disorder. On the other hand, if that same child lives
in a safe environment where aggression is punished, then repeated displays of aggression would be maladaptive. This aggression could lead to
impairment of the childs functioning, and could be viewed as a symptom
of a mental disorder.
The Categorical Nature of the DSMIV

Another disadvantage, or weakness, of the DSMIV is the categorical
view of mental illness. Again, this concept is related to the medical model
of mental disorders as persons are either considered as having a mental
disorder, or not having a disorder. Many argue that this view of psychological functioning ignores the reality of the human existence (Widiger & Trull,
2007). In fact, the authors of the DSMIV were themselves concerned with
what might be perceived as an absolutist view of the categorical nature of
the classification system, and they address this issue in the preface of the
text. Specifically, they state the following.
In DSMIV, there is no assumption that each category of mental disorder is a completely discrete entity with absolute boundaries dividing it
from other mental disorders or from no mental disorder. There is also no
assumption that all individuals described as having the same mental
disorder are alike in all important ways. (APA, 2000, p. xxxi).
However, although this point is acknowledged in the DSMIV, the reality is that the current DSM lays out a specific diagnostic classification
system that for the most part does not allow the diagnosis of any disorder falling below the threshold. Specifically, clinicians must simply judge
whether a patient does or does not have a particular mental disorder.
Again, the authors (APA, 2000) of the DSMIV go on to justify and rationalize the categorical nature of the DSMIV when stating:
Although dimensional systems increase reliability and communicate
more clinical information (because they report clinical attributes that
might be subthreshold in a categorical system), they have serious limitations and thus far have been less useful than categorical systems in
clinical practice and in stimulating research. (APA, 2000, p. xxxii).
Given this, there are two caveats to understanding the DSMIV as a

purely categorical diagnostic system. First, some DSMIV disorders allow
for a Not Otherwise Specified (NOS) diagnosis. For example, a NOS diagnosis might apply if the clinician cannot establish the required time frame
46
for impairment required to formally diagnose a particular disorder. Thus,

this system does allow for some flexibility in diagnosing individuals when
clinical judgment determines that a disorder exists but that a lack of information regarding the patients functioning does not allow that patient to
qualify for a particular diagnosis. Secondly, some disorders require clinicians to specify the level of impairment as mild, moderate, or severe.
This qualifier of severity usually depends on the number of symptoms displayed by the patient as well as the qualitatively judged severity of those
symptoms. Again, qualifiers of impairment and severity lend a somewhat
dimensional quality to the DSMIV, allowing clinicians to distinguish
patients to some extent within a diagnostic category.
Many would argue that the rigidity of the current categorical system
is unfortunate, but is also necessary in a system that has been highly
operationalized in an attempt to maximize diagnostic reliability. However,
researchers in the field also maintain that many more persons suffer from
psychological distress that could be considered a subthreshold disorder
compared to those who meet the full criteria for a mental disorder (Helmchen & Linden, 2000). Given this, the current system of diagnosis may not
accurately reflect the true broad continuum of psychological functioning.
A final point related to this is the fact that the DSMIV is not a classification system that measures or classifies health or adaptive psychological functioning. Rather, all of the diagnoses that are catalogued in this
diagnostic system are considered illnesses. For clinicians in fields such
as positive psychology and health psychology, this fact may be somewhat
frustrating. Although related topics in human resiliency are important and
have begun to garner more research attention (Greene, Galambos, & Lee,
2003), this view of adaptive psychological functioning is not captured or
described in the current diagnostic system (Cloninger, 1999). Again, there
are two exceptions to this within the DSMIV itself. First, the DSMIV provides the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale that allows clinicians to rate client functioning (from 1 to 100). The GAF is estimated on
Axis V and is part of a standard multiaxial diagnosis. An important component of the GAF related to resiliency is the scale between 91 and 100
that allows clinicians to identify patients who have superior functioning
relative to typical nondisordered individuals (p. 34).
Another component of the DSMIVTR that allows for the description
and assessment of psychological health and adaptation is the Defensive
Functioning Scale (DFS), located on p. 807 of the manual. The DFS follows from psychoanalytic theory by describing psychological defenses
that are available to a person as they attempt to cope with either internal or external stressors. Many of these defenses are maladaptive in
nature (e.g., psychotic denial), however, other defenses are catalogued
that would reflect an optimal and perhaps even superior level of functioning. Such defense mechanisms include affiliation, altruism, and
humor (APA, 2000). Currently, the DFS is only included in the DSMIV
as a possible consideration for future versions of the DSM so that clinicians may estimate and describe psychological defenses that are at
a clients disposal. Although the DFS is merely a possibility for use in
future versions of the DSM, some researchers and theorists in the field
47
have encouraged continued examination of this scale and the constructs

measured (Blais, Conboy, Wilcox, & Norman, 1996).
ALTERNATIVE THOUGHTS ON CLASSIFICATION

The DSMIV enjoys widespread use as the most utilized diagnostic classification system in both clinical and research settings. However, critics of the system abound, and several conceptual alternatives to the DSMIV have been put
forward. Some of these alternatives are limited to a particular diagnostic class
(e.g., personality disorders), or are in the beginning stage of their theoretical
and conceptual construction, whereas other alternatives such as the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (Alliance of Psychoanalytic Organizations, 2006;
PDM) and the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental
Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (Zero to Three: National Center for
Infants, Toddlers, and Families, 1994) are currently in print and exist as either
competitors or adjuncts to the DSMIV, depending on ones view.
The PDM is a product of the collaboration of five psychoanalytic associations (Packard, 2007). The primary impetus for the creation of the PDM
was the complaint from clinicians that although the DSMIV easily separates diagnostic groups for research purposes, it also neglects to include a
theoretical foundation that serves to inform treatment planning. The PDM,
on the other hand, relies on the foundation of psychoanalytic theory to
explain mental health as well as dysfunction. The manual describes three
axes: the P axis describes personality variables, the M axis describes mental functioning, and the S axis describes symptom patterns. The authors
of the PDM emphasize that the manual is not necessarily a direct competitor to the DSMIV, but can be used as an adjunct for the purpose of
increasing clinician effectiveness (Packard, 2007).
The Diagnostic Classification: 03 (Zero to Three: National Center for
Infants, Toddlers, and Families, 1994) is essentially a diagnostic classification system that has been specifically derived for classifying mental illness
and developmental disorders in very young children and infants. Again,
given that the DSMIV provides a limited number of diagnostic categories
that apply to children from birth to age three, one could consider this manual as more of a complement to the DSMIV rather than a direct competitor
in all cases. The Diagnostic Classification: 03 (1994) describes a multiaxial
system of diagnosis very similar to the DSMIV, except that clinicians note
Relationship Classification for Axis II, as opposed to typical Axis II disorders
in the DSMIV that largely include personality disorders.
Besides the PDM and Diagnostic Classification: 03, which can be
used as standalone diagnostic manuals, other researchers and theorists
have begun to describe alternative models of classification. For example,
Cloninger (1999) has proposed an alternative to the DSMIV that draws
from a number of theoretical origins. The author describes a psychobiologically based paradigm that acknowledges the importance of certain
innate personality characteristics that exist. Cloninger uses evolutionary
theory to explain the development of these characteristics as well as their
continuous variability within the human race.
48
These characteristics are purported to be measured by the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Data gathered from the TCI on a
clinical population relates these broader temperament and character constructs to both the existence of mental health as well as dysfunction. Some
of the differences between this paradigm and the DSMIV as noted by
the author include a more developmental perspective on human functioning, and an equal emphasis on mental health. Although Cloninger (1999)
alludes to the interaction of neurological processes and the psychological
development of the individual, others (Hollander, 2006) have also relied
on neurological research to both explain and categorize particular mental
disorders.
Specifically, Hollander (2006) calls on future conceptualizations of substance use and impulse control disorders as well as Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder to consider neurological functioning and related laboratory findings in their clinical diagnosis. With continued research in neuroimaging
that relates neurological functioning to behavioral and emotional dysfunction, a more physiological and neurological classification system of mental
illness is being called on by some in the field (Charney, Barlow, Botteron,
Cohen, Goldman, Gur et al., 2002).
Another alternative to the current DSMIV classification of mental illness is the underlying conceptual structure of particular rating scales.
Lahey, Applegate, Waldman, Loft, Hankin, and Rick (2004) discuss how
particular diagnostic categories such as ADHD are conceptualized differently between the DSMIV and the subscale scores (and the items that
derive them) provided on particular rating scales.
Given this, the authors developed an interview covering many of the
diagnosable disorders in childhood and adolescence. In examining data from
1,358 participants, the authors tested several taxonomic classifications of
psychopathology through both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The authors then describe how the current DSMIV criteria and related
categories both agree and differ with the factors derived from their data. For
example, these authors describe a factor that describes both hyperactive/
impulsive as well as oppositional defiant criteria, thus combining two separate DSMIV diagnoses (Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Attention-Deficit/
Hyperactivity Disorder Hyperactive Impulsive Subtype) into a single category
of psychopathology. Thus these authors argue for an alternative taxonomy
that relies on an empirical investigation of both self and caretaker reports of
symptomology (Lahey et al., 2004). For a similar study using empirical methods to derive and confirm personality diagnoses in adolescence, see Westen,
Shedler, Durrett, Glass, and Martens (2003).
Jensen, Knapp, and Mrazek (2006a) present an evolutionary perspective of psychological disorders, and this perspective sets the stage for a
new way of thinking about diagnoses. Overall, they suggest that the DSM
IV considers disorders, by definition, to be maladaptive. However, they add
that the symptoms contributing to most disorders are only maladaptive in
most modern-day settings. That is, many clusters of symptoms may have
actually been adaptive in the evolutionary history of humans. Jensen et al.
(2006a) provide evolutionary theories for several disorders that are common in children and adolescents.
49
For example, the authors apply evolutionary theory to ADHD. That

is, inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity (i.e., some of the criteria for
ADHD) are often maladaptive in modern homes and classrooms. However,
there may have been a time in the evolutionary history of humans when
these behaviors served an important function. In fact, Jensen, Mrazek et al.
(2006) suggest that being too focused on a task may actually be maladaptive in settings that have a high likelihood of danger (e.g., attack from wild
animals). Thus, being easily distracted by small changes on the horizon
may actually help a person survive. What has been termed inattention
in the DSM is labeled scanning behavior in this theory. Also, hyperactivity may also be adaptive at times, particularly in settings with few
resources. That is, very active behavior may include exploring an environment for scarce resources. Active behavior may also help stimulate muscle
development and motor skills. Lastly, in this theory, impulsive behavior
may make the difference between success and failure when pouncing on
a prey or defending against an attacker. Jensen et al. (2006b) use the
term response-ready as an alternative to the label ADHD, suggesting
that response-ready behavior has been very adaptive in the evolutionary
history of humans in some environments.
Similar evolutionary theories for other disorders have also been presented. For example, social anxiety may represent an adaptive sensitivity
to social hostility, and panic attacks sometimes alert organisms to actual
dangers, such as potential suffocation (Pine & Shapiro, 2006). In a similar vein, depressive behavior may be adaptive in the sense that it ensures
the loser of a battle gives up fighting in order to survive (Pfeffer, 2006).
Finally, behaviors associated with Conduct Disorder, such as aggression
and cunning, also clearly have some survival value in certain environments (Kruesi & Schowalter, 2006). If nothing else, evolutionary theory
forces one to consider the context within which behaviors occur, and that
context often determines if the behavior is adaptive or maladaptive.
THOUGHTS ON THE DSMV

With the publication of the DSMIV in 1994, well over a decade has
now passed with no significant changes made to the diagnostic classification system itself. However, preparatory work on the DSMV has been
ongoing for the past several years (Widiger & Simonsen, 2005). A series of
white papers, developed by the DSMV Research Planning Work Group,
was recently published as an edited book entitled Research Agenda for
DSMV (APA, 2002). This source outlined the current research on several
fundamental areas of diagnostic classification, including neuroimaging
research, animal models, understanding psychopathology within a developmental context, the diagnosis of personality disorders, and other related
topics. Additional white papers have been published more recently regarding similar topics.
A website, entitled the DSMV Prelude Project (http://dsm5.org/index.cfm),
has been created to both inform professionals in the field regarding the
revision process as well as solicit feedback (First, Regier, & Narrow, n.d.).
50
The most recent work toward the DSMV includes a series of ongoing NIHsponsored conferences, whose purpose is to lay out a framework for the
research agenda that will guide the revision process (Sirovatka, 2004).
The next step in the revision process was the appointment of work groups,
which occurred in 2008. Therefore, according to the current timeline the
publication of the DSMV is anticipated to be May of 2012 (First, Regier,
& Narrow, n.d.).
Given that a great deal of preliminary discussion has already
taken place regarding the next DSM, a few patterns have begun to
emerge. First, there is building consensus for a dimensional model of
personality disorder as opposed to the current categorical model in the
DSMIV (Widiger & Trull, 2007). These authors argue that the current
categorical model provides a number of diagnostic problems, including
criteria overlap between diagnostic categories and heterogeneity within
diagnostic categories. Additionally, they posit that a dimensional model of
personality dysfunction, possibly based on the Five Factor Model, would
alleviate many of these current diagnostic issues. In fact, others in the
field advocate for a dimensional model (as opposed to a categorical one)
for many of the other disorders (e.g., mood disorders) listed in the DSMIV
(Widiger & Clark, 2000).
Although many behaviorists have proposed replacing the DSM with
other systems altogether, Scotti, Morris, McNeil, and Hawkins (1996)
suggest improvements for future revisions of the DSM. Specifically, they
propose revisions to the multiaxial approach that include a focus on the
function of behavior. Scotti et al. suggest the diagnostic categories in the
DSM already give clinicians a starting point with which to begin a functional analysis. A diagnosis describes people with a similar set of behaviors, making it easier for the clinician to start hypothesizing about etiology
and potential treatments. However, diagnostic categories typically represent fairly heterogeneous groups of people, thus there remains a need for
ideographic assessment, and this could be better reflected in the multiaxial approach of the DSM. Goals of the DSM include improving diagnosis,
communication, research, and treatment. These authors argue that the
DSM is effective at these first three goals, but that it falls significantly
short in helping with treatment planning.
To improve the multiaxial system, Scotti et al. (1996) propose changes
to Axis III and Axis IV, with the other axes remaining unchanged. In the
DSMIVTR, Axis III is reserved for General Medical Conditions, and Axis
IV is for Psychosocial and Environmental Problems. In the Scotti et al.
proposal the medical problems axis would be significantly expanded and
relabeled Ideographic Case Analysis. Part of this axis would include
medical conditions that affect the diagnosis, but it would also be expanded
to include antecedents and consequences of the primary symptoms. The
Psychosocial and Environmental Problems axis would also be expanded
and relabeled Psychosocial and Environmental Resources and Deficits.
Although it would continue to include similar problems to those in the current system, it would also have a significant increased focus on resources
and client strengths that can be used and built upon to improve treatment
outcome. In a later summary of this proposal, Reitman and Hupp (2002)
51
also emphasized the importance of improving Axis V, Global Assessment of

Functioning, to include scores from assessment tools with empirical support (e.g., questionnaires) rather than the very broad and generic rating
used in the current DSM.
Although critics of the DSMIV look to make substantial changes in
the upcoming DSMV through the revision process, there are others in the
field that continue to defend at least aspects of current practice using the
DSMIV as the most empirically supported (Hiller, 2006). Since the publication of the DSMIII, the DSM has served as an atheoretical classification
system that strives for universal applicability, cutting across both theoretical lines as well as investigations into the etiology of disorders. History,
perhaps, will judge whether the DSMIII, DSMIIIR, and DSMIV have
been successful in this endeavor. Perhaps the future of psychiatric diagnosis lies in the integration of theory, rather than the removal of theory. In
the words of Banzato (2004), this future would rely on the combination of
sophisticated conceptual framework, methodological pluralism and sound
scientific empirical evidence (p. 500).
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Schulte-Markwort, M., Marutt, K., & Riedesser, P. (2003). Cross-walks ICD10 DSMIVTR:
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Sirovatka, P. (2004, Winter). DSM research planning. Psychiatric Research Report, 20, 13.
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Westen, D., Shedler, J., Durrett, C., Glass, S., & Martens, A. (2003). Personality diagnoses in adolescence: DSMIV Axis II diagnoses and an empirically derived alternative. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 952966.
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Widiger, T. A. & Simonsen, E. (2005). Introduction to the special section: The American
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3
Interview and
Report Writing
AMIE E. GRILLS-TAQUECHEL, ROSANNA
POLIFRONI, and JACK M. FLETCHER
The interview is a critical component of the psychological assessment

of a child. In addition to the standard unstructured interview, several
structured interviews have been developed for use with children and their
parents/caregivers.1 This chapter is designed to introduce and familiarize
the reader with not only which interviews are available for use when assessing children, but also with techniques appropriate and effective for use
during interviews when a child is the identified client. We discuss considerations in using interview procedures with children who have disabilities
as well as other factors related to the use of interviews, such as language
dominance. Considerations for basic report writing are also described.
INTERVIEWS FOR CHILDREN

Interviews are often the most comprehensive assessment tools for
clinicians, allowing for the evaluation and observation of both behavioral and emotional functioning. Historically, reliance was given to parental
reports and any information given by the child was considered secondary.
In fact, children were rarely included in the interview process due to beliefs
that they lacked the cognitive capabilities to give accurate statements
about their feelings and behaviors (Edelbrock & Costello, 1990; Herjanic,
Herjanic, Brown, & Wheatt, 1975). The seminal work of Lapouse and Monk
1
Note: Although interviews are intended to be conducted with any primary caregiver as
informant (e.g., parents, grandparents, stepparents, guardian ad litem, etc.), use of the term
parent is employed from this point forward for reading ease.
AMIE E. GRILLS-TAQUECHEL, ROSANNA POLIFRONI, and JACK M. FLETCHER

Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Tx 72204-5022.

55
56
AMIE E. GRILLS-TAQUECHEL et al.
(1958), as well as Rutter and colleagues (Rutter & Graham, 1968; Rutter,
Tizard, & Whitmore, 1970; Rutter, Tizard, Yule, Graham, & Whitmore, 1976;
Rutter, Tizard, Yule, Graham, & Whitmore, 1977), altered the manner in
which the reports of youth were considered by demonstrating psychometric
soundness for child structured interviews. Thus, currently most clinicians
consider the child to be an essential informant in the interview process
(Chambers et al., 1985; De Los Reyes & Kazdin, 2005; Edelbrock, Costello,
Dulcan, Kalas, & Conover, 1985; Grills & Ollendick, 2002; Kazdin, French,
& Unis, 1983; Moretti, Fine, Haley, & Marriage, 1985; Ollendick & Hersen,
1993; Verhulst, Althaus, & Berden, 1987). Consequently, numerous parent/child interview measures and techniques have been developed. At a
basic level, interviews can be differentiated by the amount of structure
utilized to elicit responses, with most falling into the categories of unstructured, semi-structured, and highly structured.
Unstructured Interviews
An unstructured interview is conducted as part of most, if not all,
evaluations and is commonly the first significant contact the family
has with the clinician. Most clinicians begin their assessment with
some form of unstructured interview, with variations occurring in the
depth, breadth, and participants (i.e., child, caregivers, siblings, etc.)
included. A particular strength of the unstructured interview format is
the individualized nature, which allows for significant clinician freedom
and judgment. Apart from the typically included demographic (e.g., age
of child, level of acculturation) and introductory (e.g., What brings you
in today) information, there are no required/standard question sets,
which allows for flexibility in pursuing ambiguous responses or gathering greater details. However, unstructured diagnostic interviews should
not be mistaken as an opportunity to simply engage in conversation
with the client. In order to collect sufficient information, preparation
and organization are required to direct discussion toward topics that
are relevant to the problem at hand, and that will aid in eventual diagnostic and/or treatment decisions.
Unstructured interviews are perhaps best suited for the more experienced clinician, who would be better equipped with the skills necessary for
asking the right questions (Sattler & Hoge, 2006). For example, a trained
clinician is more likely to know which questions elicit the most useful
and relevant information from the child, whereas a lay interviewer may
spend too much time in general conversation or asking irrelevant questions that could inhibit the eventual diagnostic or treatment formulation
(Sattler & Hoge, 2006). Of course, a less experienced clinician can become
more experienced through practice sessions and supervised unstructured
interview administrations. In addition, newer clinicians may benefit from
gradually moving from a structured to unstructured format. For example,
becoming familiar with the probe and follow-up questions typically
included in more structured interviews, as well as areas of differential
diagnosis (e.g., DSM-IV-TR, American Psychiatric Association, 2000), may
help establish a flowing questioning style while remaining comprehensive
in the scope of inquiries.
INTERVIEW AND REPORT WRITING
57
Structured Interviews
Structured diagnostic interviews were designed to increase the reliability
of diagnoses by standardizing the method used to elicit responses. This,
in turn, is expected to have the effect of increasing the reliability of the
responses and eliminating potential biases (e.g., making decisions prior to
the collection of all the information, only collecting confirming or disconfirming evidence) associated with clinical judgment (Angold, 2002). Structured interviews formally examine particular problem areas with several
expectations, including that the interviews: (1) are internally consistent,
(2) have specific rules regarding the content and order of the questions
asked (e.g., asking whether depressed mood is present prior to asking the
possible effects of the depressed mood) as well as the manner of recording
responses, and (3) have some degree of guidance provided for arriving at
final diagnostic decisions (Weiss, 1993).
Structured interviews are generally geared toward gathering information about specific DSM criteria and are therefore typically ideal for
assessing psychiatric symptoms and formulating diagnoses. Furthermore,
structured interviews are commonly used because they include a standard
set of questions designed to cover the range of topics necessary for obtaining relevant information about the interviewees presenting problems. The
degree to which the interview fits with these expectations and the amount
of latitude allotted to the examiner result in classifications of semi-structured or highly structured.
For the most part, the format of (semi/highly) structured parent and
child companion interviews is similar. The typical layout is: (1) an introductory section designed to help build rapport with the informant (e.g.,
demographics, school, psychological history) and elicit initial information
regarding presenting problems and history; (2) disorder-specific sections
targeting symptom presence, frequency, intensity, duration, and interference; (3) diagnostic formulations based on preset algorithms and/or
clinical judgments. All of the interviews can be used in either research or
clinical settings and typically require one to three hours to complete. In
addition, for most interview sets, the parent version contains additional
diagnostic categories (e.g., the child version of the ADIS does not contain
the enuresis section whereas the parent version does) and can be used
alone when the child is too young to complete his or her respective version.
In addition, most structured interviews are comprised of questions that
are asked in a branching manner. For each diagnostic category, there are
screener or core questions that must be administered. Secondary questions are then asked only if the child/parent endorsed the initial screener
questions. However, if the initial questions are not endorsed, the interview
proceeds to the next diagnostic category.
Highly structured interviews are more restrictive in the amount of
freedom allotted to the interviewer. With these interviews, it is generally
expected that examiners ask all questions in the same manner and order,
as well as record all responses in a prespecified manner. Given the rigid
format, clinical judgment is reduced and specific and/or extensive training
is usually not required. In fact, highly structured interviews are commonly
58
administered by laypersons (e.g., individuals without a formal degree in

psychology, psychiatry, or social work) and several have been converted to
computer-based formats. Two of the more commonly utilized highly structured interviews are described below and summarized in Table 3.1.
The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC; Shaffer, Fisher,
Lucas, Dulcan, & Schwab-Stone, 2000) was designed to assess DSM-IV/
Table 3.1. Summary of Commonly Utilizzed Structured Diagnostic Interviews

Interview Type
DISC-IV
ChIPS
CAPA
~Length/ Age Range

interview
Highly
12 hours 917 (child
structured
version)
617 (parent
version)
Highly
40 min.
618 (child/
structured
parent
versions)
Interviewer/ 1 hour
917 (child
glossaryversion)
based
ADIS-IV
Semi3 hours
structured
DICA-IV
Semi1 to 2
structured hours
KSADS-IV Semi1.251.5
structured hours
ISCA
Semi45 min.
structured 2.5 hours
Cost Range Interviewer
$150 to
$2000
Trained Lay
Interviewers
$115
Highly
Trained Lay
Interviewer
$2650 for
Highly
information Trained/
packet/
Experienced
training
Lay
Interviewer
717 (child/ $26 for
Highly
parent
manual
Trained Lay
versions)
and
Interviewers
parent/
child
interview
612 (child
$1000 for
Highly
version)
computer
Trained Lay
1318
Paper/
Interviewer
(adolescent pencil cost
version)
varies
618 (parent
version)
618 (child/ E- $75;
Trained
parent
P/L- Online; Clinicians
versions)
P-IVR- Free
817 (child/ Obtain from Trained

parent
developer
Clinicians
versions)
Informant
and
Specifications
Child and
parent
Child and
Parent
Child and
Parent
Child and
Parent
Interviewed
Separately
Same
Clinician
Child and
Parent
Parent (1st)
and Child
Interviewed
Separately
Same
Clinician
Parent (1st)
and Child
Interviewed
Separately
Same
Clinician
59
ICD-10 psychiatric disorders that can be identified in children and adolescents (see Table 3.2). The DISC-IV evaluates symptoms from the past
year, as well as recent (last month) symptoms for any areas endorsed.
The DISC utilizes gate questions that allow the interviewer to skip sections
of the interview that are irrelevant to the individual without hindering the
reliability of the examination. Given the highly structured format, little
training is required for the administration of the DISC. Indeed, lay interviewers and computer administration (C-DISC-4.0) are common inasmuch
as questions are read verbatim following a specified order and diagnoses
Table 3.2. Summary of Possible Diagnoses Covered by the Structured

Interviews Reviewed
K-SADS ADIS-IV
Major depression
Dysthymia
Bipolar Disorder
Mania
Hypomania
Cyclothymia
Somatization Disorder
Anorexia Nervosa
Bulimia Nervosa
PICA
Enuresis
Encopresis
Sleep Disorders
Tic Disorders
Trichotillomania
Schizophrenia
Schizoaffective
Delusional Disorder
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Separation Anxiety Disorder
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Simple Phobia
Social Phobia
Agoraphobia
Panic Disorder
Selective Mutism
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Acute Stress Disorder
Adjustment Disorder
Oppositional Defiant Disorder
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder
Conduct Disorder
Substance Disorders
Personality Disorders
Gender Identity Disorder
a
DICA CAPA
ISCA ChIPS
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
N
Ya
Ya
N
Ya
N
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
Yb
Yb
N
Yc
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
N
N
Yc
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
Y
N
N
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
N
Y
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
N
N
N
Y
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
Yc
Y
N
N
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
Yc
Y
Y
N
N
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
Y
Y
Y
N
N
K-SADS-E & K-SADS-P/L versions only.

screens for these disorders only.
c
parent version only.
b
DISC-IV
60
are computer generated. The DISC has been extensively researched and
several additional versions (e.g., Spanish, Teacher) have also been developed (Shaffer et al., 2000). A sample item from the DISC-IV, Parent Version is provided as an illustration of this highly structured interview (see
Figure 3.1).
The Childrens Interview for Psychiatric Syndromes (ChIPS; Weller,
Weller, Fristad, Rooney, & Schecter, 2000; Weller, Weller, Teare, & Fristad,
1999) is also considered a highly structured interview and was designed to
cater to younger children. It is shorter than other structured interviews and
it incorporates concise sentence structure and simple language to ensure
comprehension. The ChIPS for DSM-IV includes 20 sections that assess
Axis I diagnoses (see Table 3.2) and two sections that examine psychosocial stressors. Lay interviewers can be trained in the administration of the
ChIPS, with a scoring manual used to record and summarize responses
according to DSM-IV criteria. Extensive studies have been conducted and
published on the development of the ChIPS (Fristad et al., 1998a; Fristad
et al., 1998b; Fristad, Teare, Weller, Weller, & Salmon, 1998c; Teare, Fristad, Weller, Weller, & Salmon, 1998a, 1998b).
Although highly structured formats allow for more confidence in
the exactness of the interviews administration and perhaps more reliable findings, the rigidity of the interview may also make it seem impersonal, hinder the establishment of rapport, and interfere with reliability
and validity by not providing the interviewee the opportunity to report
all difficulties or to explore them in full depth (Breton et al., 1995;
LaGreca & Stone, 1992; Verhulst et al., 1987). As a result, the use of
highly structured interviews may result in unanswered questions for
the clinician that might have been addressed in a less structured format
(e.g., knowing a child feels sad most days does not answer questions of
potential precipitants, etiological factors, or responses by others in the
childs environment). Another area of critique of structured interviews
is their heavy emphasis on diagnosis generation. That is, structured
interviews leave little room for assessing the context of the behavior, as
well as how developmental stages may dictate stage-specific behavior
for which a diagnosis may be unwarranted.
A combination of structured and unstructured interview formats,
semi-structured interviews include a suggested order and configuration
like that of highly structured interviews; however, there is also more opportunity to follow up on certain questions, and flexibility on the phrasing and
recording of questions and responses. Emphasis is placed on obtaining
consistent and reliable information, so that extensive training is generally
required for administration of semi-structured interviews to ensure that
clinical discretion will be applied judiciously. Although not an exhaustive
list, several of the more commonly utilized semi-structured interviews for
DSM-IV are described below and summarized in Table 3.1.
The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age
Children (K-SADS) has a primary focus on affective disorders, however,
several additional psychiatric disorders are also examined (see Table 3.2).
The three most current and widely used versions of the K-SADS are:
Present State (P-IVR; Ambrosini & Dixon, 1996), Epidemiological (E-Version 5;
61
0 = NO 1 = SOMETIMES/SOMEWHAT 2 = YES 7,77 = REFUSE TO ANSWER 8,88 = NOT

APPLICABLE 9,99 = DONT KNOW
Some [children/young people] get very upset or nervous when they are not with their
parents or with the grown-ups who usually look after them. I am going to ask you some
questions about that.
1. In the last yearthat is, since [ [NAME EVENT]/[NAME CURRENT MONTH] 0 2 7 9 [16]
of last year]was there a time when _____often wanted to stay at home and
not go (to [school/work] or other) places without you
IF YES, A. Were there several weeks in a row when [he/she] seemed
0 2 7 9 [17]
nervous or afraid about being away from you or away from home?
B. Now, what about the last four weeks?
0 2 7 9 [18]
Since [ [NAME EVENT]//the beginning of/the middle of/the end of
[LAST MONTH] ], has [he/she] wanted to stay home because [he/she]
was worried about going (to [school/work] or other) places without you
Figure 3.1. Separation Anxiety Disorder Sample Question from a Highly Structured
Interview (DISC-IV)
Orvaschel, 1995), and Present/Lifetime (P/L; Kaufman et al., 1997). Each

of these interviews has child and parent companion versions that differ
primarily in regard to the diagnostic time frame examined. For example,
the K-SADS-P-IVR examines disorders from the past 12 months and most
recent episode, whereas the K-SADS-E and P/L focus on current and lifetime disorders.
In general, the K-SADS parent version is administered before the child
version, with discrepancies addressed in a subsequent joint interview.
Following the interviews and consideration of all reports (e.g., parent, child,
school, clinicians), the clinician determines summary severity scores and
diagnoses are made based on criteria checklists of symptom severity (i.e.,
Research Diagnostic Criteria). Other KSADS sections include behavioral
observations, global impressions, and reliability and completeness of the
interview. Clinically trained interviewers familiar with KSADS are required
for administering this semi-structured interview and training costs are
noted to vary by version (Ambrosini, 2000). A sample item from the KSADSP-IVR is provided as an illustration of this semi-structured interview (see
Figure 3.2).
The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA; Angold,
Prendergast, Cox, & Harrington, 1995; Angold & Costello, 2000) is a semistructured interview designed to generate DSM-IV diagnoses. The CAPA
has been referred to as glossary based because it includes an interview
glossary that has detailed definitions of each symptom, which then provides the basis for client response interpretation (Angold & Fisher, 1999).
The diagnostic section of the interview is given first and includes evaluation of symptoms and functional impairment followed by the assessment
of family structure, functioning, and resources. Each diagnostic section
includes a brief description of the symptom being assessed, as well as
62

SEPARATION ANXIETY
Refers to feelings of excessive anxiety (butterflies in stomach, nervousness, scary feelings) in

context of separation from mother or major attachment figure. Younger child may exhibit a
pattern of discomfort when traveling alone, or refusal/homesickness when attending camp
or sleep-overs. They may show demanding, intrusive behavior, needing constant attention,
or show an unusually conscientious, comforting, or eager to please behavioral pattern. Older
children or adolescents may begin refusing school, worry about leaving for college, and/or
avoid situations involving separations. Symptoms frequently accompanying separation anxiety
are listed below. DSM-III-R identified Distress with Separation as anticipatory distress or
separation distress. DSM-IV collapses these two symptoms.
FIRST SCORE THE SYMPTOMS LISTED BELOW, THEN RATE OVERALL SEVERITY.
SCHOOL REFUSAL
No
Reluctance to go to school. Differentiate from
Truancy and loss of interest in school because
Mild/
Info
No
Severe/
Slight Moderate Extreme

2
Child cant perform from Depressive Disorder.

l
Have you been going to school?
Missed any days? What happened? (If sick)

What kind of sickness did you have?
2-Occasionally.
Did you take medicine, have a fever,

see the doctor?
3-Sometimes/Often.
4-Most of the time/
Did just staying at home make you better?
Almost all the time.
Do you have any worries about

being in school?
Do you get any scary feelings about

going to school, when youre getting ready
to go, or on your way there?
Does having these worries make

you feel like this?
One day, most days, every school day?
Have you ever left school before its over?

Whats happened? Where did you go?
WHAT ABOUT THE LAST WEEK?
LAST WEEK: 0 1 2 3 4
Figure 3.2. Separation Anxiety Disorder Sample Question from a Semi-Structured Interview (KSADS-P-IVR)
screening questions, which must be asked verbatim unless modified wording is required for child comprehension.
Optional follow-up questions are also provided for the clinician to use
if clarification of previous responses is necessary. Additionally, coding rules
are applied for rating symptoms in terms of intensity, setting, and timing,
as applicable. After the interview, the examiner completes a series of questions based on behavioral observations (i.e., motor behavior, level of activity,
63
apparent mood, and social interaction). Interviewers must have at least a

bachelors degree and receive extensive training in CAPA administration by a
qualified CAPA trainer over the course of approximately one month.
The Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents (DICA; Reich,
1998; 2000) is a semi-structured interview designed to examine a wide
range of youth psychiatric disorders (see Table 3.2). There are two separate youth versions (for ages 612 and 1317 years) and a corresponding parent version. The DICA begins with a joint parent/child interview
of demographics, school, and psychiatric and medical histories. This is
followed by separately conducted diagnostic sections of the parent and
youth interviews. In addition, the parent version also includes inquiries
of psychosocial stressors, risk/protective factors, perinatal, delivery, and
early child development. The DICA includes structured probes to allow
the clinician to clarify interviewee responses when warranted (Silverman,
1994; Ollendick, King, & Yule, 1994).
Following completion of the interview, the interviewer pursues problematic areas which are then resolved by consultation with the DICA
manual and/or discussion with more experienced clinicians or primary
investigators. A highly structured computerized version of the DICA is
also available for administration by trained interviewers or the informant alone. Interviewers must hold at least a bachelors degree and require
approximately two to four weeks of training in the DICA. The focus of the
interviewer is on rating each symptom and not ruling upon the presence
or absence of diagnoses (Reich, 2000).
The Interview Schedule for Children and Adolescents (ISCA; Kovacs,
1997; Sherrill & Kovacs, 2000) is a semi-structured, symptom-oriented
interview that allows for the generation of several diagnoses by mapping
symptoms onto the DSM-IV disorders (see Table 3.2). The ISCA contains
five sections: signs and symptoms (e.g., anxiety, dysregulated behavior),
mental status (i.e., orientation), behavioral observations (i.e., nonverbal
expression), clinical impressions (i.e., social maturity), and developmental
milestones (i.e., dating). There is also one item that examines the childs
global functioning and social impairment. The ISCA assesses current
symptoms; however, separate current/lifetime and current/interim (i.e.,
since last assessment) versions are also available.
The ISCA is usually administered by the same clinician to the parent(s)
first and then the child separately. Although all questions (roughly 105) are
asked of each informant, the interviewer can decide upon the order of administration. At the end of the assessment the interviewer combines the ratings
from both the parent and child to establish an overall symptom rating. A diagnosis is made based on correspondence between established criteria (e.g.,
DSM) and the clinical significance and temporal sequence of the overall symptom ratings. Clinically relevant experience with semi-structured interviews
and diagnostic system(s) is requisite for ISCA administration.
The Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV, Child and Parent
Versions (ADIS-IV:C/P; Silverman & Albano, 1996) is a semi-structured
interview that permits diagnoses of all anxiety disorders, as well as several other disorders of childhood and adolescence (e.g., Attention-Deficit/
Hyperactivity Disorder, Dysthymia) from the DSM-IV (see Table 3.2). The
64
parent and child versions overlap considerably; however, the parent version
contains several additional disorders (e.g., Conduct Disorder, Oppositional
Defiant Disorder, Enuresis) as well as requires greater detail regarding the
history and consequences of problems. The child version probes for more
in-depth descriptions of symptoms and phenomenology, while providing a
simpler format and wordings (Silverman & Nelles, 1988).
During the interview, respondents are first asked to answer yes or
no to several screener questions. If the child or parent responds affirmatively to the screener, the clinician continues to assess symptoms within
that section as well as obtain frequency, intensity, and interference ratings as appropriate. These ratings (e.g., symptom count and interference
rating) assist the clinician in identifying which diagnostic criteria are met
for the child. Following the interview, clinicians assign severity ratings for
each diagnosis met based on their subjective interpretation from the child
and parent reports. ADIS training is required prior to administration and
it is recommended that the same clinician interview the child and subsequently the parent(s) (Albano & Silverman, 1996).
PSYCHOMETRICS OF INTERVIEW PROCEDURES

Psychometric studies have been conducted for each of the above-described
interviews. In general, researchers have been concerned with demonstrating the reliability (i.e., consistency of measurement), validity (i.e.,
degree it assesses what it purports to measure), and clinical utility of
these interviews. Overall, consistent findings have been reported across
the various structured interviews for which reliability data is available
(cf., ADIS: Albano & Silverman, 1996; Weems, Silverman, Saavedra,
Pina, & Lumpkin, 1999; Wood, Piacentini, Bergman, McCracken, & Barrios. 2002; CAPA: Angold & Costello, 2000; ChIPS: Weller et al., 2000;
DICA: Reich, 1998; 2000; DISC: Costello, Edelbrock, & Costello, 1985;
Shaffer et al., 2000; ISCA: Sherrill & Kovacs, 2000; KSADS: Ambrosini,
2000). Acceptable testretest and interrater reliability estimates have
been documented for each of the structured interviews (Angold, 2002;
Grills-Taquechel & Ollendick, 2002, 2007). In contrast, findings for multiple-informant reliability (e.g., parentchild agreement) have been more
varied (Angold, 2002; De Los Reyes & Kazdin, 2005; Grills-Taquechel
& Ollendick, 2002, 2007), a result also commonly reported for behavior rating scales (Achenbach, Dumenci, & Rescorla, 2002; Achenbach,
McConaughy, & Howell, 1987; De Los Reyes & Kazdin, 2005; DiBartolo
& Grills, 2006).
Attempts to understand informant discordance have been made
at the interview (e.g., order effects, length, structure), interviewer (e.g.,
experience level, site differences, biases), and interviewee (e.g., age, gender, disorder type, motivation) levels with generally inconsistent results
(Grills-Taquechel & Ollendick, 2002, 2007). Thus, the broad consensus
in the youth assessment area is that parent(s) and children should both
be involved in the assessment of youth symptoms and diagnoses (Jensen
et al., 1999; Silverman & Ollendick, 2005, 2008). Moreover, teacher
65
and school reports are also important with child cases, as the child may
behave differently in academic settings and/or the parent may be unaware of the childs school behaviors (Karver, 2006; Tripp, Schaughency,
& Clarke, 2006). Thus, despite potential disagreements, inclusion of multiple informants is imperative for acquiring the most comprehensive and
accurate account of the childs presenting problems, particularly given
the situation-specific nature of some child behaviors (e.g., inattention at
school but not when watching television). Therefore, rather than searching
for the correct answer among multiple informants, it has been recommended that clinicians consider all sources of information and allow discrepancies to be interpreted as informative, not problematic (Boyle et al.,
1996; Schwab-Stone et al., 1996).
Varied results have also been presented for the validity of structured
interviews. For example, studies have reported positive results regarding construct and/or criterion-related validity (Ambrosini, 2000; Angold
& Costello, 2000; Boyle et al., 1996; Cohen, OConnor, Lewis, Velez, &
Malachowski, 1987; Fristad, Cummins, et al., 1998; Fristad, Teare, et al.,
1998; Hodges, McKnew, Burbach, & Roebuck, 1987; Kaufman et al., 1997;
Piacentini et al., 1993; Reich, 2000; Schwab-Stone et al., 1996; Teare
et al., 1998a; Wood et al., 2002). However, concordance for diagnoses generated by structured interviews and real world clinicians has often been
poor (Jensen & Weisz, 2002; Jewell, Handwerk, Almquist, & Lucas, 2004;
Lewcyz, Garland, Hurlburt, Gearity, & Hough, 2003). To illustrate, studies
have shown poor validity when diagnoses obtained from diagnostic interviews are compared to clinician diagnoses at outpatient clinics (Ezpeleta,
de la Osa, Domnech, Navarro, & Losilla, 1997), inpatient clinics (Pellegrino, Singh, & Carmanico, 1999; Vitiello, Malone, Buschle, & Delaney,
1990), and on admission (Weinstein, Stone, Noam, & Grimes, 1989) and
discharge (Aronen, Noam, & Weinstein, 1993; Welner, Reich, Herjanic,
Jung, & Amado, 1987) from these settings.
Nonetheless, establishing the validity of diagnoses based on diagnostic
interviews is difficult because there is no gold standard with which to
compare the findings. That is, no definitive standard exists to compare
the accuracy of diagnoses generated from structured and unstructured
clinician interviews, and numerous factors could influence either side
(Jensen & Weisz, 2002). Finally, it is important to note that structured
interviews must be considered within the context of the diagnostic system
upon which they are based. If diagnostic criteria are not presented in a
manner that allows for their adequate assessment, this will be reflected
in the interviews as well. Thus, problems with diagnostic interviews may
speak to the need for further alterations or amendments to the diagnostic
system itself (Achenbach, 2005).
The clinical utility of structured interviews has also received discussion. For example, as the selection and course of psychological treatments
often follow from the particular diagnosis received (Silverman & Ollendick,
2008), interview problems can translate into inappropriate case conceptualization and treatment planning. Likewise, researchers often use structured interviews in studies designed to further understanding of child
psychopathology and treatment. However, if the findings resulting from
66
these interviews are unreliable, then the information cannot be translated

to meaningful clinical practice. In addition, the boundary between normal and pathological problems will be more blurred than usual given the
dimensional nature of most disorders affecting children, and interviewers
may have increased difficulty making reliable diagnostic decisions. Thus,
incorporating functional assessments into structured interviews or including a separate functional analysis interview (e.g., Questions About Behavioral Function; Matson, Bamburg, Cherry, & Paclawskyj, 1999) may help
alleviate these problems by examining information at a more idiographic
level (Scotti, Morris, McNeil, & Hawkins, 1996). Likewise, a prescriptive
approach of matching endorsed symptoms with appropriate treatment
strategies has recently gained attention as a manner of increasing the
clinical meaningfulness of interview information (Chorpita, 2007; Eisen &
Silverman, 1993, 1998; Ollendick, 1995; Ollendick, Hagopian, & Huntzinger, 1991).
Selecting Interview Procedures

In addition to consideration of psychometric issues, numerous other
factors may guide selection among the various structured diagnostic interviews. For example, the rating system used to score responses and compile
information, required training for administration, and costs of interviews
vary widely (see Table 3.1). In addition, the setting in which the interview
will take place can be influential. For instance, research, epidemiological, or clinical trial settings will likely involve more in-depth and lengthier
interview (and overall assessment) processes. Within these settings a complete structured interview might be given to the parent and child (along
with other assessments). Conversely, in a typical practice setting the
clinician would be less likely to engage in a complete interview, due to
issues such as cost, lengthiness, and relevance. Rather, in these cases,
clinicians often select to engage in unstructured interviewing alone, or
in combination with the most relevant modules of a structured interview. As noted in Table 3.2, not all interviews cover the same diagnostic
categories; thus, the primary area of study or presenting problem may
also guide the selection of an interview.
The childs age may also help determine the type of interview to select.
For example, only a subset of the structured interviews are purported
to assess younger children (less than eight years of age; see Table 3.1).
Furthermore, the more structured an interview is, the more difficulty
younger children may experience, particularly without the benefit of clinician clarifications and/or elaborations. Indeed, some researchers believe
the information contained in structured interviews can be too complex or
beyond young childrens cognitive capabilities (Breton et al., 1995; Brunshaw & Szatmari, 1988; Edelbrock et al., 1985; Ezpeleta et al., 1997; Herjanic & Reich, 1982; Piacentini et al., 1993; Schwab-Stone, Fallon, Briggs,
& Crowther, 1994; Valla, Bergeron, Berube, Gaudet, & St Georges, 1994;
Welner et al., 1987; Young, OBrien, Gutterman, & Cohen, 1987).
67
The attention spans of younger children are shorter than adolescents

and adults, which could also be problematic with lengthier interviews.
This is not meant to imply that younger childrens input is not valued,
but rather that appropriate strategies should be selected based on the
developmental level of the child. To illustrate, the more flexible, semistructured format has been recommended for younger children because
multiple examples, visual aids, and explanations can be utilized (Sattler &
Hoge, 2006). Furthermore, the use of pictorial aids has been recommended
and incorporated into interviews designed for younger children (cf., Scott,
Short, Singer, Russ, & Minnes, 2006; Valla, Bergeron, & Smolla, 2000).
Nevertheless, given the similarities among interviews, most often the clinician or researchers discretion or preference guides the final selection. In
fact, Hodges (1994) suggested that there is not one best interview, but
rather, that researchers and clinicians should determine which interview
to use based on the sample and focus of their endeavor.
INTERVIEW PROCESS
Regardless of whether unstructured or structured interview formats will
dominate the assessment, oftentimes the first interview that occurs is conducted with both the parent(s) and child present. During this interview,
basic clinic policies can be covered (e.g., confidentiality procedures), and
a general understanding of the concerns that led to the assessment can
be discussed. Ideally, this joint session is followed by time spent individually with the child and parent(s) to obtain each perspective unhindered by
the others presence. Even the views and perceptions of younger children
are often invaluable and observation of parentchild interactions and/or
family dynamics can also be highly informative (e.g., is the parent paying
attention to the child? Does the parent interact with the child or engage the
child in discussion?). During the interview the clinician will also have the
opportunity to observe and make inferences about the childs thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors (e.g., does the child separate easily from the parent?
Does the child have labels and understanding of diverse emotions?).
The primary goal of this initial interview is generally to gather as much
information as possible about the childs history, presenting problems,
and the environment in which these difficulties exist. Many clinicians find
use of a comprehensive developmental history form, completed prior to
the first meeting, to be helpful (see Appendix A for an example). This form
can then be reviewed by the clinician with subsequent questions asked
for clarification as needed. In addition, parent and teacher forms (e.g.,
Child Behavior Checklists, Achenbach, 2001; Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham
Questionnaire, Swanson et al., 2001) can be included in a preinterview
packet completed before the clinic visit and examined for noted areas of
concern for follow-up during the interview.
Rapport with the clinician is of utmost importance as the nature of
this relationship will set the tone for the rest of the interview, assessment,
and/or therapy contact. Preschool children tend to warm up quickly and
respond well to an interviewer who is friendly and supportive (Bierman &
68
Schwartz, 1986). Children in grade school may be more intimidated by the

interview experience and may need to be eased into the process. This can
be accomplished by inviting the child to explore the toys in the room or discussing fun topics (e.g., friends, sports, hobbies) rather than immediately
sitting down and commencing with the interview. Adolescents may appear
more stand-offish and are generally more responsive to open communication and honesty (LaGreca, 1990). In addition, adolescents typically ask
more questions about confidentiality issues that should be clarified with
all parties prior to continuing the assessment (LaGreca, 1990).
The clinician should prepare by making sure the setup of the room
where the interview will take place is child friendly (e.g., smaller chairs
for young children, appropriate decorations and toys/activities), as the
room is often the first impression the child and his or her parents will
have of the assessment experience. The room should feel welcoming to
the family without too much clutter or bright/noisy objects that can be
tempting distractions, particularly for a child who is restless or hyperactive (Thompson & Rudolph, 2000), and could hinder successful interview
completion. The ability of the child to feel comfortable in the environment
can improve rapport and ease him or her into the assessment process.
Once adequate rapport has been established, the goal becomes investigation of the childs presenting problems. Although any one interview type
might be sufficient, intermixing is also common. For example, an unstructured interview format could be used to determine specific diagnostic considerations and modules from a structured interview could then follow as
needed. Conversely, a highly structured interview could be conducted to
screen for potential psychopathology with an unstructured interview subsequently conducted for clarifications and to gather additional information
(e.g., on the course of the disorder).
As previously noted, with structured interviews, the questions asked
are primarily diagnostic. If the interview format is unstructured, the topics
of discussion pertain to factors that appear to be relevant and immediate
to the child. Generally, topics discussed here include, but are not limited
to, symptom presentation, severity of symptoms, duration and onset of
problems, somatic concerns, stressors, as well as individual and environmental strengths (Greenspan & Greenspan, 2003). During this discussion
the clinician should be attune to the childs temperament, attitude, willingness to cooperate, language difficulties, observable emotional change
during topic transitions, and nonverbal behaviors suggestive of distress
(Sattler & Hoge, 2006).
When interviewing younger children the clinician should try to keep
the questions as simple and as open-ended as possible. This is more difficult when using structured interviews because the questions are fixed and
responses are limited. Furthermore, the clinician should be aware of normative developmental domains (e.g., language, cognitive, and social; Bierman & Schwartz, 1986; Greenspan & Greenspan, 2003; Herba, Landau,
Russell, Ecker, & Phillips, 2006; Wareham & Salmon, 2006), in order to
accurately distinguish between what is severely deviant from normal and
what is maladaptive at a stage-specific level and can be self corrected with
69
age (Sattler & Hoge, 2006). This will also assist the clinician in determining areas in need of further evaluation.
Suggested communication skills that help maintain rapport and facilitate discussion are verbal and nonverbal acknowledgments of the childs
thoughts or feelings, descriptive statements that are nonevaluative, reflective statements, statements of positive evaluation, questions, and summary
statements which indicate to the child that you have been listening and paying attention (Sattler & Hodges, 2006). The interviewer can also ascertain the
childs level of understanding by asking for summarizations of the questions
being asked in the childs own words. Avoidance of critical statements and
use of praise for the clients discussion can also be used to maintain good rapport and cooperation. Although similar communication approaches are also
appropriate during parent interviews, parents frequently require less prompting as they have often sought the assessment.
For children experiencing difficulty sustaining focus or cooperation during
the interview process, Sattler and Hoge (2006) also recommend summarizing
the discussion up to the point of withdrawal and then rephrasing the question,
using hypothetical questions and scenarios, or presenting acceptable alternatives. Techniques such as these have been found to be most effective with
younger children who are either not willing to participate or are showing difficulty communicating their experiences (Wesson & Salmon, 2001). Depending
on the developmental level of the child, play-oriented interview techniques can
also be introduced at these times. For example, therapy games (e.g., thinking,
feeling doing), drawing activities (e.g., draw a story about your (family, school,
friends) and tell a story about it), stories (e.g., told to solve hypothetical problems), and use of toys (e.g., dolls whose actions the therapist can ask the child
to describe) can be introduced (Bierman & Schwartz, 1986; Priestley & Pipe,
1997; Salmon, 2006; Wesson & Salmon, 2001). Similarly, the therapist can
engage the child in conversation while also participating in parallel play (e.g.,
shooting baskets on a mini hoop, building with blocks).
These techniques can also be used when sensitive and painful topics
become the focus of the interview. If the child begins to experience distress,
the clinician should not necessarily move away from the topic, but rather
could try utilizing a different interview tool or discussing the distress (depending on the childs developmental level). Indeed, experienced clinicians become
adept at identifying and subtly probing areas of distress, and then helping
the child reconstitute. An interview should not be confused with a therapeutic effort, and could compromise (or enhance) the clinicians ability to subsequently engage in intervention with a child. All of these alternative activities
allow the child to express his or her thoughts and feelings in reaction to
given situations. The clinician should use clinical judgment when interpreting responses or artistic creations, as these will primarily be used to generate conversation and in conjunction with semi-structured and unstructured
interviews. In addition, the inclusion of breaks can be useful for regaining/
refocusing attention. However, these techniques are more difficult with structured interviews because of their established guidelines and rigid format.
The clinician should end the interview with a summary of the main
points discussed regarding the presenting problems and other relevant
70
material offered by the interviewee. This is an opportunity for the clinician

to ask any final questions or clarify any ambiguous responses. The parent/
child should also be given an opportunity to ask any questions or express
any concerns not discussed previously.
CONSIDERATIONS FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

AND ALTERNATIVE LANGUAGE BACKGROUNDS
Modifications of Procedures
In conducting any kind of an interview with a child who has a
disability, modifications may be necessary. For example, if the child has
an oral language disorder that interferes with comprehension of speech,
it may be necessary to simplify the language of an unstructured or semistructured interview so that the vocabulary level is appropriate for the
child. Furthermore, it may be more difficult to utilize a structured interview
with someone who has a comprehension problem because the language is
less modifiable. Similarly, reading problems are common in children (and
in adults). If the highly structured interview is administered on a computer
that requires significant reading, this may be frustrating to the child (or to
the parent) and it may be necessary to read the items to the interviewee.
There are other considerations that may be relevant depending on the
presenting problem and these should always be considered in selecting and
administering a semi-structured or highly structured interview. It is always
important to ensure that the interview is appropriate for the participant.
Children with mental retardation or with autism may not be able to provide
adequate self-reports and it will be important to rely on third-party observers
for these children. Most scales are only designed for English speakers and
are not translated to other languages and/or have little normative data
for non-English speakers. Translations are questionable procedures inasmuch as language conventions also vary. If a scale must be administered in
another language, the items should be adapted beforehand and great caution exercised in interpreting the results. For an unstructured interview,
it is easier for a clinician to adapt and modify his or her interaction style
according to the language and disability of the participant.
Adaptive Behavior Assessments

An important consideration for evaluating children with developmental
disabilities is the need to assess adaptive behavior. Adaptive behavior assessments are particularly important for individuals with mental retardation
because the definition of mental retardation requires evidence of intellectual
and adaptive behavior functions that are two standard deviations below average (American Association of Mental Retardation; AAMR, 2002). Because they
rely on third-party informants and address everyday functioning in social
and other domains, adaptive behavior assessments can be helpful in evaluating children with autism and pervasive developmental disorders as well.
71
In addition, many adaptive behavior scales have separate maladaptive

behavior domains that are not computed as part of the adaptive behavior
quotient, but are very helpful in evaluating children where social function
is a major consideration. For instance, although assessments of adaptive
behavior are less frequently used for children who have learning disabilities, they can be helpful with other high-incidence disabilities when language or attention is a factor (e.g., ADHD), because they are based on the
reports of others. For children who have significant language problems,
an assessment of adaptive behavior can be helpful in terms of differentiating cognitive problems that interfere with performance on a cognitive test
versus the childs capacity for habitual everyday functioning.
Adaptive behavior is formally defined as the collection of conceptual,
social, and practical skills that have been learned by people in order to function in their everyday lives (AAMR, 2002, p. 14). The AAMR (2002) goes on
to indicate that for the diagnosis of mental retardation, significant limitations in adaptive behavior should be established through the use of standardized measures normed on the general population including people with
disabilities and people without disabilities. On these standardized measures, significant limitations in adaptive behavior are operationally defined
as performance that is at least two standard deviations below the mean
on either (a) one or more of the following three types of adaptive behavior:
conceptual, social, and practical; or (b) an overall score on a standardized
measure of conceptual, social, and practical skills (p. 14).
To illustrate the assessment of adaptive behavior, we briefly summarize
three different assessments that vary in their administration characteristics.
All three measures share an emphasis on the importance of multiple informants who are familiar with the person who is the identified evaluatee. This
means that adequate assessments of adaptive behavior involve more than just
one person. In addition, because of the cognitive limitations of many people
who are the subject of adaptive behavior assessments, third-party observers
(caretakers, parents, etc.) are critical informants and are often regarded as
more reliable than the person herself. Certainly, it is possible to use adaptive behavior scales to support decisions about vocational abilities, aptitude
and judgment, level of independence, and so on, particularly in adults. Here
it may be more reasonable to complete self-reports based on adaptive behavior scales, but individuals with cognitive impairments are often not reliable
informants and may tend to deny their adaptive behavior limitations.
Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-2 (Vineland; Sparrow, Cicchetti, &
Balla, 2005) The second edition of the Vineland assesses adaptive behavior
in four domains: communication, daily living skills, socialization, and motor
skills. It yields a standardized score (M = 100; SD = 15) in each domain, a
composite score, and an optional maladaptive behavior index. Within each
of the domains/index, there are subdomains that permit a more refined
grouping of items. Although containing different names, the domains of the
Vineland line up with the domains recognized in the AAMR (2002) definition. There are three forms of the Vineland that are available, including a
survey interview form, parent/caregiver form, and expanded interview form,
all with norms from birth through 90 years of age, and a teacher rating
form for individuals from 3 to 22 years of age. The Vineland is different from
72
other adaptive behavior instruments in that it is administered through a

semi-structured interview. Vineland items are scored on a 02 scale indicating the degree to which a person habitually performs that described item.
The interviewer uses a starting point in each of the domains to initiate an
interview with a caregiver. For example, in discussing language, the interviewer might say, Tell me about the kinds of words that Billy uses around
the house. From there, additional questions would be asked that would
refine the caregiver responses and used to score the Vineland according to
the basal and ceiling rules. Because of the focus on the semi-structured
interview, the Vineland is never given as a self-report.
The Vineland is standardized on a nationally represented sample of
3,687 individuals who range in age from birth to 90 years and is aligned
with the 2000 census. The internal consistency reliability is very high
(>.90) for the four primary domains and most of the subdomains have
reliabilities above .80. Testre-test reliability for domains ranges from .92
.98. Interviewer reliability in younger children is more variable (.48.92
across subdomains), but .70.74 for older children. There is good control
for measurement bias by virtue of gender and ethnicity. The manual also
presents evidence for concurrent validity relative to other assessments of
adaptive behavior. Importantly, the correlations with intellectual assessments are low, which is important because there should be some independence of IQ and adaptive behavior assessments.
Scales of Independent Behavior: Revised (SIB-R; Bruniniks, Woodcock, Weatherman, & Hill, 1996) In contrast to the Vineland, the SIBR is a highly structured interview that assesses adaptive behavior in
motor, social interaction/communication, personal living, and community living domains. It also has a problem behavior assessment that
is independent of the adaptive behavior assessment. It yields standardized scores in each domain and a composite score (M = 100; SD = 15).
The SIB-R covers the age range from infancy to about 80 years. It has a
long form that takes about an hour to administer and a short form that
takes about 20 minutes to administer. As with the Vineland, the SIBR is typically done with an informant, although with high-functioning
individuals it can be done as a self-report. In contrast to the Vineland, the
items are read to the respondent and then scored by the interviewer.
The SIB-R was normed on a sample of over 2,000 individuals from about
3 months to 90 years of age. It is lined up with the 1990 census data. Internal
consistency coefficients are generally high for the Full Scale and somewhat
lower for the short form. The split reliabilities are above .88 for the four cluster scores and the manual reports good correlations of the SIB-R with other
assessments of adaptive behavior. It has also been highly correlated with the
cognitive ability index from the WoodcockJohnson Cognitive Battery.
Adaptive Behavior Assessment System-2 (ABAS-2; Harrison & Oakland,
2005) The ABAS-2 has been designed specifically to conform to the AAMR
(2002) definitions of adaptive behavior. It is administered in a highly structured format and usually with multiple third-party informants. The ABAS2 includes a teacher form, a parent form, and an adult form. The parent
form has components from birth to 521 years; the teacher form is for 25
years and for 521 years; and the adult form is for 1689 years. In addi-
73
tion to assessing the conceptual, social, and practical domains outlined by

the AAMR, it also breaks into 10 specific adaptive skill areas that underline these constructs and provides a composite score (M = 100; SD = 15).
The respondent completes each on a 03 scoring rubric that indicates
how often the identified patient correctly performs a behavior without help
when behavior is expected to be displayed. Each of the infantpreschool,
school-age, and adult forms has been designed for at least two different
respondents. For each of these forms, the standardization samples range
from 7501690 tied to the 2000 census.
The ABAS-2 has strong psychometric characteristics, with good reliability. The reliability coefficients for the overall composite range from
.97.99 and .91.98 for the adaptive domains. Because, among the adaptive behavior measures, the ABAS-2 is more likely to be used for self-report
purposes, it is important to attend to the reading level required, with Sattler (2002) specifically noting that the reading level required for the ABAS
may be as high as seventh grade. The ABAS has also been found to correlate with an older version of the Vineland at .82. The manual indicates that
it can be completed with high functioning individuals and gives examples
of the use of the ABAS-2 for vocational decisions with individuals who do
not have cognitive impairment. However, the manual is also ambiguous as
to the definition of high functioning, and there are no reliability or validity data presented for self-reports with individuals who have mental retardation. The reliability coefficients for adults with neurological disorders,
such as Alzheimers, are also weak. The construct validity information on
the ABAS-2 does not support its ability to identify ten separate domains
of adaptive behavior; however, there is some evidence that it may measure three separate domains and the best fitting models identify adaptive
behavior as a unitary construct.
These examples of adaptive behavior scales can be used to extend the
results of an interview assessment. As with any other interview procedure,
it is important to take into account factors that influence how a person
is able to demonstrate adaptive behaviors. Level of education, the nature
of the disability, language dominance factors, and other issues should
always be factored into the determination of adaptive behavior level, particularly for a high-stakes clinical diagnosis such as mental retardation.
Moreover, the use of multiple responders is critical for adaptive behavior
assessments, because they are largely based on third parties.
REPORT WRITING
Many novice clinicians find report writing to be a challenge; likely in part due
to inexperience and in part due to differing styles and expectations among
supervisors and colleagues. It is important for report writers to develop a
standard template, particularly when they are learning to write reports.
A standard template that lays out the different parts of the report helps
consolidate the data and the different types of interpretations. In addition,
it helps the novice report writer deal with the biggest problem in writing
reports, which is how to organize the data, which can be voluminous.
74
Organization can also be useful as there is a tendency for report writers

to include data that extend beyond the comprehension of nonpsychological
consumers and to often write reports that are longer than really necessary.
Nonetheless, psychological reports should include all the data that are
available. Interviews are often given in the context of other procedures,
such as assessments of cognitive function. It is important to integrate the
interview information and report it at a construct level, as opposed to individual responses or even detailed discussions of specific scores. A report
is always an opinion by a psychologist that utilizes the test data, but is
tempered by clinical judgment that is informed by the data, behavioral
observations, and relevant history.
To help develop a template, consider a report that includes the following sections: Referral Information, Procedures Employed, Relevant
Background Information, Behavioral Observations, Assessment Results
and Interpretations, Clinical Formulation/Conclusions, and Recommendations. The Referral Information section should be a brief summary that
provides pertinent demographics, identifying the name, age, and ethnicity
of the child. Usually a clinician would include information about the referral source, any specific concerns that led to the referral, and the primary
assessment question. Oftentimes this information can be obtained from
an intake form or interview
The Procedures section is simply a list of all the instruments, interviews, and other tools used to collect data. The information in the Relevant
Background section can come from many sources, including previous evaluations, medical records, unstructured interviews of the child, parent and
teacher rating scales, and other sources. Care should be given in revealing personal information, family conflicts, and other information that may
need confidentiality if a report is going to a school or at some point could
involve a forensic situation. In addition, it is important to apply scrupulous judgment in determining the accuracy of different reports about the
child. The clinician does not need to demonstrate his thought processes
in summarizing this information, but simply provide the most reasonable
summary and indicate whether there are consistencies or inconsistencies
across different sources.
The Behavioral Observations section typically entails a brief mental
status examination of the child that includes appearance, affect, mood,
speech, attention, and any other behaviors that are relevant to understanding the childs presentation and the adequacy of the evaluation.
This section should always conclude with a statement about whether the
results appropriately estimate the childs current level of functioning.
Test Results and Interpretations is the data section of the report. The
areas covered in this section will vary depending on what measures have
been administered. In a typical comprehensive child evaluation, this section
is divided into four different sections: Intelligence, Cognitive Assessment,
Academic Achievement, and Behavioral Adjustment. A review of the components of the first three sections is beyond the scope of this chapter, but helps
put interview information in context. Information derived from an interview
would typically be summarized in the Behavioral section. Focus is on relevant
constructs, particularly because different tests may have complementary
75
information and the job of the clinician is to integrate the data into a coherent statement (e.g., about the childs intellectual or behavioral level). In dealing with the interview, we would typically organize different interviews by the
procedure and discuss the specific results of each interview. This is largely
because we have selected interviews for specific purposes. If the interview
yields data, we will typically refer to significant elevations, although it is not
likely that we would discuss every single scale. Rather, there would be an
effort to provide a coherent accounting of the results of the interview.
The Clinical Formulation/Conclusions section is a precise formulation
of the overall results of the assessment. It should be short and concise,
highlighting the essential components of the findings, while also tying all
relevant pieces of information together. If a diagnostic impression is generated, this will be identified at the end of the Conclusions. Sometimes a
justification of different classifications (diagnosis) is also provided. The Conclusions section should specifically address the referral question. Recommendations follow and are often listed as consecutive numbers that are tied
to the formulation. In general, it is important for the recommendations to
be flexible and to take into account the resources that are available to the
family. It should address all the different dimensions covered in the report.
It is important to write reports that are clear and appropriate for the
person who will be a consumer. For example, many physicians are not
interested in the thought processes of the psychologist and essentially
focus on the Conclusion section. More concise reports are more likely to be
read in full. Other psychologists may wish to actually see more of the data.
In this case, a consent form should be signed and the data could actually be delivered to another psychologist when appropriate and allowed by
state laws. Most state rules as well as the rules of publishers prohibit the
release of raw data to nonpsychologists. The most important component
of a report is the Recommendations. The purpose of doing an evaluation
is to determine interventions that would be helpful to the child and to the
family. The report should be written in a way that supports the recommendations and makes clear the direction recommended by the clinician who
conducted the evaluation.
SUMMARY
As illustrated throughout this chapter, the interview is a critical element of the psychological assessment of a child, allowing for the evaluation
and observation of behavioral and emotional functioning. Unstructured
interviews are conducted as part of most clinical evaluations, however,
(semi- or highly) structured interviews are often preferable for diagnostic and research purposes. The standardization of structured interviews
allows for increased diagnostic reliability and the rigid format permits
administration by laypersons or computers, as well as clinicians. On the
other hand, the strict format may also interfere with reliability and validity, as it may not provide the interviewee with the opportunity to report
all difficulties or explore them in greater depth. As a result, the clinician
using the structured interview may have unanswered questions that need
76
to be addressed in a less-structured format. Another reason clinicians may

choose to use a less-structured format is to allow for the establishment of
good rapport with the child. As this is one of the most important factors
of successful interview administration with children, clinicians should not
immediately commence with an inflexible format as the impersonal nature
may hinder rapport.
The typical layout of structured parentchild interviews is as follows:
an introductory section to gather basic information regarding presenting
problems and history; a disorder-specific section that focuses on symptom presence, frequency, intensity, duration, interference, and diagnostic
formulations. Two of the most commonly utilized highly structured interviews include the DISC and ChIPS, whereas the K-SADS, CAPA, DICA,
ISCA, and ADIS are frequently utilized semi-structured interviews. Each of
these allows for assessment of DSM-IV psychiatric disorders, with varying
diagnoses and age ranges covered, completion times, costs, and training
levels required for administration. Psychometric studies of these interviews suggest acceptable testretest and interrater reliability estimates for
each. Multiple informant reliability is typically poorer, likely due to myriad
influences, and further illustrates the importance of interviewing multiple
informants and interpreting conflicting depictions as informative rather
than problematic. Likewise, results for the validity of these structured
interviews indicate adequate construct and/or criterion-related validity,
but poor concordance for diagnoses generated by diagnostic interviews
and clinicians in other settings.
Once an interview is chosen, the process by which it is given is similar
regardless of whether the format is unstructured or structured. For
example, the first interview is usually conducted as a joint session with
the parent and child followed by time individually to account for any hindrance the others presence may have had upon the informant. Thereafter the primary goal becomes the exploration of the childs presenting
problems. Topics discussed will include symptom presentation, severity,
duration, and so on. Other things to consider when administering child
interviews include the setup of the room, age, developmental level, and the
appropriateness of the use of play-oriented interview techniques.
When interviewing children with disabilities, modifications to the
aforementioned interview process and format are usually required. For
example, using a structured interview with someone who has a comprehension, reading, or language problem is more difficult because the rigid
format does not allow for modification. Therefore, in most cases, unstructured interviews are preferable for children with disabilities. It is also useful to include assessment of the childs adaptive behaviors in instances
when the child has, or is suspected to have, a developmental disability
(e.g., Mental Retardation). Interviews of adaptive behaviors are typically
conducted with the childs parents, and may be of semi-structured (e.g.,
Vineland-2) or highly structured (e.g., SIB-R, ABAS-2) format.
Finally, the discussion of report writing is included as this is the best way
to gather and organize all the data collected during the interview (and any
additional assessment measures given). Recommendations for report writing were reviewed in this chapter. In addition, a suggested report template
77
was discussed and included the following sections: Referral Information,

Procedures Employed, Relevant Background Information, Behavioral Observations, Assessment Results and Interpretations, Clinical Formulation/Conclusions, and Recommendations. The recommendations made at the end of
the report are crucial as the purpose of doing an evaluation is to determine
helpful interventions for the child and family. The inclusion of all of the sec-
APPENDIX A
Sample Developmental History Questionnaire
Childs Name:
Date of Birth:
Age:
Adopted? Yes No
Form Completed by:
Date:
Parents Name:
Parents Name:
Address:
Address
City:
State:
Zip:
City:
State:
Home Phone:
Home Phone:
Work Phone:
Work Phone:
I.
A.
Zip:
FAMILY INFORMATION
Parents
Father:
Mother:
Custodial Agreement:
Age:
Occupation:
Years of Education:
Highest Degree:
Year Married:
If Divorced, Year:
Age:
Occupation:
Years of Education:
Highest Degree:
Year Married:
If Divorced, Year:
B.
Brothers and Sisters
Name
C.
Sex
Age
Grade
Where
living,
Relationship
(full, half,
step)
Family History
Relationship to Child
1. Attention Deficit Disorder

2. Learning Disability
3. Speech/Language Problems
4. Epilepsy
5. Slow Learner
6. Anxiety
7. Depression
8. Bipolar Disorder
9. Conduct Problems
10. Alcohol Abuse
11. Substance Abuse
12. Mental Retardation
13. Schizophrenia
II.
A.
PREGNANCY INFORMATION
Medical Condition
Type
Illness
Hypertension
Bleeding
Diabetes
Exposure to toxic
substance
Exposure to x-rays
Medications
Yes/No
Month of
Pregnancy
Description
B.
79
Labor and Delivery
Was labor normal? _____
Labor lasted _____ hours.
Full Term? Yes No

If no, premature delivery occurred at _____ months of pregnancy.
Delivery was: _____ Vaginal _____ Head first _____ Breech _____ CSection
Birth Weight: _____ lbs. _____ ozs.
C.
Length: _____ inches
Baby
Yes
No
Was normal at birth?

Cried immediately
birth?
following
Needed help breathing?
For how long? _____
Needed oxygen?
For how long? _____
Needed blood transfusion?

Had jaundice during first week?
Was discharged from newborn
nursery at
D.
_____ days of life.
Developmental History
How old (months) was your child when he/she:

Crawled?
Stood?
Spoke in simple
phrases?
Said first
words?
Sat?
Walked?
Did your child ever have difficulty speaking? No Yes - Age? _____
Completed toilet training?
80
III.
A.
MEDICAL HISTORY OF CHILD
Illnesses
Yes/No
Age (yrs.)
Year
Complications/
Results
Complications
Chickenpox
Measles
German Measles
Rheumatic Fever
Pneumonia
Meningitis
Encephalitis
Head Injury
Recurrent Strep
Throat
Sinus/Ear Infections
Asthma
Allergies
Other Illnesses
Other Injuries
B.
Operations
Type
IV.
EDUCATIONAL HISTORY
Current School:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip:
Phone:
Fax:
Principal:
Main Teacher:
What kinds of grades is your child currently getting in school?

Has your childs school performance changed from prior years?
Please complete below, beginning with kindergarten.
**Type of Class. Please indicate whether your child was in Regular,
Gifted/Talented, Special Education, 504, or Other (please explain).
School Year
Grade
Age
81
School
Name
Pass
(Y/N)
Type of
Class**
K
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Has your child been diagnosed with:
Diagnosis
Year
Treatment
ADD/ADHD
Learning Disabilities
Speech or Language Delay
Developmental Delay
Fine or Gross Motor Delay
Pervasive Developmental Delay
Autism
Tourettes Syndrome
Seizure Disorder
Traumatic Brain Injury
Headaches
Visual Problems
Has your child had any of these behavioral problems? (Please circle)
Short Attention Span
Yes
No
Clumsy
Yes
No
Truancy
Yes
No
Overly Active
Yes
No
Fighting
Yes
No
Underachieving
Yes
No
Anxiety/Fearfulness
Yes
No
82
What is your childs current sleeping habits/schedule (e.g., Bedtime,

Time child wakes up in the morning, Nightmares/Sleep Problems)
Abuse History-To your knowledge has your child ever been physically/
sexually abused?
V. MEDICATION HISTORY List prescription medication child

has taken on a regular basis (i.E., Stimulants, antidepressants,
anticonvulsants):
Medication
Dose
Reason for
Medication
Age
VI. FAMILY STRESSORS List any stressors that your childfamily has experienced in the past two years (e.g., death ofpet,
death/illness of family members, school performance issues,
financial stresses):
83
tions provided will provide a comprehensive report of the childs behavioral

and emotional functioning as evidenced from the given assessment.
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Part II
Assessment of Specific
Problems
4
Intelligence Testing
R.W. KAMPHAUS, CECIL R. REYNOLDS,
and KATIE KING VOGEL
Much has changed in intelligence testing technology and application

since the time of Binets (1905) breakthrough. Prior to Wechslers innovation of measuring verbal and performance abilities on a common test,
intelligence tests of the first half of the 20th century typically offered one
composite score and focused on assessment of the general intelligence
construct. Edgar Doll (1953) identified the problem of overapplication and
limitations of intelligence testing for the therapeutic programming for individuals with developmental disabilities in the 1930s and gave us the first
measure of adaptive behavior, the Vineland Social Maturity Scales (Doll,
1935), to act as adjunct information more allied with day-to-day living
skills than provided by formal assessment of intellectual functions.
During the latter half of the 20th century, intelligence tests began to
offer an increasing array of composite or part scores intended to produce
a more comprehensive evaluation of individual cognitive strengths and
challenges. Consequently, interpretation focused more on patterns of abilities within individuals (ipsative test score interpretation) as opposed to
just considering deviance from normative standards (Kamphaus, in press.
At the outset of the 21st century the pendulum is returning to mid-swing
with the concept of general intelligence gathering renewed favor in test
interpretation, due in part to problems with new test overfactoring that
has produced an ever-increasing array of composite scores of dubious
clinical or scientific value (Frazier & Youngstrom, 2007).
These trends have significant implications for the cognitive assessment
of individuals with developmental disabilities. Although some concepts
and principals such as general intelligence are largely unchanged, the
R. W. KAMPHAUS Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. 30302 [email protected]

CECIL R. REYNOLDS Texas A & M University.
KATIE KING VOGEL University of Georgia.

91
92
R. W. KAMPHAUS et al.
tests themselves and interpretive practices and their uses have changed
dramatically. This continuity and change is the focus of this chapter.
THE TESTS
The status of the available intelligence testing technology is vastly improved
over previous generations. In fact, intelligence tests could now be considered
a relatively mature technology in that virtually every test does a good job of
measuring the core constructs of interest, namely general, verbal, and spatial
cognitive abilities (see Table 4.1). Metaphorically speaking, intelligence tests
are mature in the same sense that Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners all work on the same basic principles regardless of the manufacturer
(i.e., Phillips, General Electric, or other manufacturers).
The maturation of intelligence testing technology is made possible by
the emergence of unifying theories of cognitive abilities based on hundreds
of factor analytic studies of various tests, both experimental and commercial ones. We propose Carrolls (1993) as the most important unifying
theory available today because it incorporates general intelligence into the
model while at the same time accounting for the influence of more discrete cognitive abilities. Other popular models, such as the CattellHorn
approach (McGrew, 2005) include virtually identical specific abilities but
eschew the existence of an overarching general intelligence, a construct
that is supported by thousands of investigations and one hundred years
of science (Jensen, 1998; Kamphaus, in press). To understand the abilities
assessed by the newer tests it is important first to give an executive summary of Carrolls theory.
John B. Carrolls tome represents one of the most ambitious undertakings in the history of factor analytic research. Carroll (1993) gathered
hundreds of sets of correlational data for cognitive tests, both experimental and clinical, and reanalyzed the data using factor analysis. This compilation of factor analytic findings is of such breadth and depth that no
distillation of his findings will suffice, including that which follows. There
is no substitute for reading his original text in its entirety.
In its simplest form, the three-stratum theory derives from data,
not clinical or theoretical musings. The data used to generate the theory are the results of over 400 hierarchical factor analyses that yielded
three strata of factors. The first narrow stratum consists of factors that
measure relatively discrete cognitive abilities such as Piagetian reasoning, lexical knowledge, spelling ability, visual memory, spatial scanning,
speech sound discrimination, ideational fluency, rate of test taking, and
simple reaction time. The second broad stratum in the hierarchy represents measures of traits that are combinations of stratum-one measures. The stratum-two construct of crystallized intelligence, for example,
is produced by measuring first-stratum traits such as tests of language
development, verbal language comprehension, and lexical knowledge. The
complete list of second-stratum traits hypothesized by Carroll includes
fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, general memory and learning,
broad visual perception, broad auditory perception, broad retrieval ability,
WISCIV
FS
VCI
PRI
WMI
PSI
RIAS
CIX
VIX
NIX
CMX
KABCII
FCI
Gsm
Gv
Glr
Gf
Gc
SBinet 5
FSIQ
VIQ
NVIQ
FR
KN
QR
VS
WM
General
Intelligence
Fluid
Intelligence
Crystalized
Intelligence
Memory &
Learning
Broad Visual
Perception
Broad Auditory
Perception
Broad Retr
Ability
Broad Cog
Speediness
Table 4.1. Three Statum Theory (Carroll, 1993) Cognitive Abilities Hypothesized to Be Assessed by the
Composite Scores of Modern Popular Intelligence Tests
(continued)
Processing
Speed
INTELLIGENCE TESTING
93
WJIII
Gc
Glr
Gv
Ga
Gf
Gs
Gsm
DASII
VA
NVA
SA
WM
PS
SR
SNC
GCA
General
Intelligence
Fluid
Intelligence
Crystalized
Intelligence
Memory &
Learning
Broad Visual
Perception
Table 4.1. (continued)
Broad Auditory
Perception
Broad Retr
Ability
Broad Cog
Speediness
Processing
Speed
94
95
broad cognitive speediness, and processing speed (i.e., reaction time decision speed) (See Table 4.1). He found equivocal evidence for the existence
of a quantitative reasoning ability factor.
Stratum three represents the concept of general intelligence, the basic
premise of which has been supported in thousands of empirical investigations for nearly eight decades (e.g., see Jensen, 1998). It can be said that
the invention of the correlation coefficient by Charles Spearman (1927)
set the stage for the development of the construct of general intelligence
(g). Spearman made the insightful observation that cognitive tests tended
to positively correlate with one another, a finding well confirmed by Carroll (1993) among many other researchers. This positive manifold, as it is
sometimes called, suggested to Spearman that performance on cognitive
tests was in large part determined by a common latent trait that causes all
cognitive (or intelligence) tests to correlate. He identified this central trait
as g and theorized that the observed positive manifold supports the idea
that this is the most important intellectual trait (also see Jensen, 1998;
Kamphaus, in press; Schmidt & Hunter, 2004).
The exact nature of this latent trait called g is yet to be determined,
thus causing some criticism of the construct. Some work of the last decade, however, purports to have made progress toward understanding this
latent trait and the reason for the observed positive manifold. A couple of
the hypotheses offered to explain psychometric g include reasoning ability
and working memory (Gustafsson, 1999). Reasoning ability is best represented by measures of fluid ability (discussed later). Working memory
capacity has also been cited as a central mechanism of g (Kyllonen, 1996).
Both hypotheses have some empirical support suggesting that progress
will continue to be made.
The important message communicated by the data in Table 4.1 is
that all major modern tests measure general intelligence, crystallized,
spatial, and memory abilities to some extent, and most measure fluid
abilities. Differentiation begins to occur with the remaining abilities in
stratum II, abilities that are less highly correlated with general intelligence, academic achievement, and important life outcomes. And, it could
very well be that these latter factors are not actually measured well by
modern intelligence tests.
Buttressing this point, Frazier and Youngstrom (2007) conducted a
study in which they examined the factor structure of several tests of cognitive ability using minimum average partial (MAP) analysis and Horns
parallel analysis (HPA). They examined tests dating from 1949 to tests currently in use. The purpose of their study was to identify the number of factors per test using MAP and HPA, and compare that number to the number
of factors purportedly measured by each test. Their results indicated that
the number of factors identified through HPA and MAP analyses were significantly less than the number of purported factors, suggesting that overfactoring is indeed occurring. Also, there was a significant increase in the
purported number of factors measured from past to current tests. Finally,
although test length increased marginally, the number of purported factors
increased exponentially.
96
Frazier and Youngstrom proposed several possible causal factors for

overfactoring. First, they suggested that increasingly complex theories of
intelligence, those with a hierarchical order and multiple strata, for example,
may be driving the test authors to try to measure these additional abilities. Second, they point to test publishers and their desire to provide more
clinically useful instruments. Measuring additional abilities can provide
greater interpretative value and lead to more useful recommendations. The
authors also suggest that the publishers are including measures of additional factors, which may not be clinically useful, to appeal to researchers.
Publishers are also driven continually to provide new versions of tests
that are bigger and better (i.e., measure more constructs) than previous
tests. Third, they proposed that overfactoring may be occurring due to the
application of liberal statistical criteria and theoretically driven statistical methods associated with principal component analysis (PCA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) that can
lead to the retention of too many factors.
In order to remedy the growing problem of overfactoring, Frazier and
Youngstrom recommended either (1) increasing test length to measure the
additional purported abilities or (2) simply measuring g with briefer measures of ability. Furthermore, they recommended that if publishers choose
to increase test length, they should increase the number of subtests per
factor, to four in some cases, to increase internal consistency reliability to
an acceptable level. This thorough analysis of factor-analytic procedures
as applied to intelligence test development has many implications, one of
them being that interpretation methods should focus on the well-worn
factors assessed by virtually all intelligence tests (if internal consistency
reliability is excellent at about .90 and above), with less emphasis placed
on occasionally offered composites with fewer indicators, that have less
reliability and criterion-related validity evidence. These points are elucidated in the following section.
INTERPRETATION ISSUES
Profile Analysis
The term profile analysis means interpreting the varying elevations
(i.e., profile) of subtest and index scores on an intelligence test in an effort
to determine cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Many intelligence tests,
such as the Wechsler scales, became popular tools of profile analysis.
Pfeiffer, Reddy, Kletzel, Schmelzer, and Boyer (2000) found that clinicians
often interpret individual subtest scores on measures of intelligence as
cognitive strengths and weaknesses. Although popular among clinicians,
the practice of profile analysis has fallen out of favor with researchers.
In order to conduct a subtest level profile analysis, one must first
derive an ipsative profile, which involves finding the mean subtest scaled
score for an individual examinee. Then, the mean subtest score is subtracted from each subtest scaled score, resulting in a difference score
(see Kaufman, 1994). Because difference scores are relatively unreliable
97
(Kamphaus, in press), a significance test is used to determine whether the

obtained difference is statistically different from zero (usually p .05). If the
difference score exceeds the required value, the subtest can be considered
a cognitive strength or weakness, depending on the direction of the difference. For example, if a client scores significantly higher on the Matrix Reasoning subtest of the WISC-IV than any other subtest, a clinician might
say that that client has a relative strength in logical reasoning and the
ability to recognize patterns. Likewise, if a client scores significantly lower
on the Coding subtest of the WISC-IV, a clinician might conclude that the
client has a relative weakness in the ability to work quickly and accurately
with simple novel stimuli.
As illustrated by these examples, it is somewhat imprecise to make
generalizations about cognitive functioning based upon one subtest score.
Reynolds and Kamphaus (2003) furthered this argument and provided
an efficacious solution by creating a new test, the Reynolds Intellectual
Assessment Scales (RIAS) which emphasized the measurement of general intelligence accompanied by two broad stratum II factors, crystallized and fluid intelligence. Reynolds and Kamphaus (2003) also include
a conormed measure of working and short-term memory, but do not recommend including it in the calculation of the IQ indexes derived from the
RIAS, but nevertheless provide the necessary statistical information and
normative tables to do so for those who prefer to include this construct in
the measurement of intelligence.
Reliability Evidence
Although he still finds value in profile analysis, Sattler (2001) states
that it is problematic at the subtest level because the individual subtests on an intelligence test do not measure unique cognitive processes.
Additionally, he argues that the subtests are not as reliable as the IQs or
indexes. Several researchers have studied the stability of subtest scores
and indexes on intelligence tests.
Livingston, Jennings, Reynolds, and Gray (2003) examined the test
retest stability of subtest profile scores on the WISC-R. Using a referred
sample and mean length of testretest of three years, Livingston et al. calculated the stability of individual subtest scores, IQs, and ipsatized scores.
The reliability coefficients of the individual subtest scores ranged from .53
to .76 and the reliability of the IQs ranged from .48 to .92. In contrast, the
reliability of the ipsatized scores ranged from .29 to .58, indicating that
these scores are relatively unstable. The authors found that profile scores
became more stable when the profile included IQs or indexes. This study
has implications in practice, by showing that the interpretation of indexes
is a more reliable practice than that of interpreting subtest score profiles.
McDermott, Fantuzzo, and Glutting (1990) also discourage the
use of profile analysis by psychologists. They disagree with Wechslers
statement that the Wechsler scales (the WISC-R in particular) can be
both measures of global capacity and specific abilities. McDermott
and colleagues warn against the use of ipsative comparisons with the
Wechsler scales by providing statistical evidence that ipsatization removes
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common variance in all scores. The resulting profile has less predictive
efficiency and less score stability than the conventional subtest scores.
An additional problem with profile analysis, as described by McDermott
and colleagues, is that it is impossible to compare ipsatized scores
across individuals because each is altered by a different amount (the
individuals personal average). Essentially, a profile is unique to each
individual client, and comparisons across clients based upon profiles
cannot be made. Finally, they conclude that ipsatized scores should not
direct treatment decisions because they must sum to zero. If one area
of weakness is identified through ipsative comparison, and that specific
area is improved, it must come at the expense of an area of strength to
continue to sum to zero. Therefore, while attempting to improve a clients
functioning in one cognitive area, the clinician is worsening functioning
in another, as measured by intelligence tests.
Watkins and Canivez (2004) examined the temporal stability of WISCIII subtest scores. School psychologists twice tested 579 children with the
WISC-III as part of the special education eligibility process and IQs, composites, and ipsative scores were compared for each child across testing.
Results indicated that IQs were stable across testing, as well as classification of exceptional student status. However, the temporal stability of
subtest-level strengths and weaknesses was at chance level. Children were
tested with differing testretest intervals (0.56 years) and when interval length was examined, the results remained insignificant. The authors
state that examiners will find interpretable cognitive strengths and weaknesses for most children because of the number of possible subtest combinations. An average of six or seven interpretable cognitive strengths and
weaknesses was found for each student in the present study. The authors
of this study argue against interpreting subtest profiles and using ipsative comparisons to make academic recommendations because of the frequency with which significant profiles occur and the relative instability of
the profile itself.
The predictive ability of profile analysis has also been scrutinized. Watkins and Glutting (2000) conducted a study in which they tested the ability
of profile analysis to predict reading and math achievement scores. School
psychologists typically use profile analysis to form diagnostic impressions
and make academic recommendations, but Watkins and Glutting argue
that in order to make academic decisions based on the profile, it must
actually predict reading and math achievement.
There are three components of a profile that are important to analyze:
elevation, scatter, and shape. Elevation refers to the individual mean score
across subtests. Scatter is essentially the standard deviation of the subtest
scores. Shape is the location of the ups and downs across the profile (i.e.,
higher and lower scores on individual subtests). The current study examines the profiles of Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition
(WISC-III) subtest scores among exceptional and nonexceptional students
and their scores on an achievement measure (Weschler Individual Achievement Test [WIAT] for the nonexceptional sample and WoodcockJohnsonRevised [WJ-R] Achievement for the exceptional sample) to determine if
the profile is predictive of achievement. The results indicate that elevation
99
is predictive of WIAT reading and math scores, explaining 52% and 56%
of the variance, respectively. For the WJ-R, elevation information explains
13% and 37% of the variance. Scatter information is only significant in
the area of predicting WJ-R math, by explaining 1% of additional variance.
Shape information is significant in all four areas, explaining between 5
and 8% of additional variance.
Results of this study indicate that cognitive profiles have some use in
predicting academic achievement, but the majority of the evidence supports the case that predictive capabilities derive from the elevation of the
profile, that is, mostly general intelligence with greater emphasis from
crystallized intelligence and some additional contribution from fluid intelligence. One can assume that most individuals with higher overall IQs are
likely to have higher overall achievement scores as well, so the elevation
evidence is not surprising.
Some (e.g., Siegel, 1989) have argued that intelligence is unrelated
to some important academic outcomes, most importantly, learning to
read. Siegels (1989) assertion that intelligence is unrelated to acquisition of reading is refuted not only by common sense and years of
experience with children in various learning environments but more
importantly by virtually hundreds if not thousands of research studies on the relationship between intelligence and achievement (e. g., see
Jensen, 1998; Kamphaus, in press; Reynolds, 2008; Sattler, 2001) as
well as specific work aimed directly at testing such an hypothesis (Fuchs
& Fuchs, 2006; Fuchs & Young, 2006). This claim is used to support
arguments for dropping assessment of intelligence or other cognitive
abilities as traditionally conceived from the evaluation and diagnosis of
learning disabilities (see Reynolds, 2008, for a discussion and review).
With the exception of tests directly of the academic area of interest (e.g.,
tests of reading and its subskills), intelligence test scores remain some
of the best predictors of academic as well as vocational attainment and
success available to us today. As Schmidt and Hunter (2004, p. 162)
tell us based on a series of empirical studies [g] predicts both occupational level attained and performance within ones chosen occupation and does so better than any other ability, trait, or disposition and
better than job experience. The sizes of these relationships with GMA
[general mental ability] are also larger than most found in psychological
research.
Base Rate Evidence

One would expect that the profiles of gifted students would vary from
the profile of learning disabled students, but research has proven that
assumption incorrect. McDermott et al. (1990) find flaws in many studies
of profile analysis that attempt to identify profiles unique to diagnostic
groups. They point out that groups that have the same or similar diagnoses may not be homogeneous categories, and, therefore, any resulting
profile for the group may not be reflective of the whole group. The authors
further argue that one cannot use ipsative comparisons to both form diagnostic groups and find profiles that define them.
100
Additionally, they state that the measurement error for subtests varies
with age, and that it is erroneous to pool samples across ages, which
researchers to that point had done. Next, the authors caution against
hypothesis testing of subtest profiles because they are not simple linear
relationships as are subtest scores and cannot be measured in the same
way. Finally, the authors point out that a researcher cannot claim to have
discovered a unique profile without comparing it to a null hypothesis (a
commonplace profile in a population of average children). The authors
praised the well-validated studies of core profiles, which enable researchers to determine the uniqueness of profiles.
Fiorello, Hale, McGrath, Ryan, and Quinn (2002) conducted a study in
which they used the regression commonality analysis to find the proportion of variance in FSIQ scores that was predicted by unique contributions
of variables, as opposed to common or shared variance of variables. Scores
from 873 children from the WISC-IIIWIAT linking standardization sample
data were examined. An additional 47 children from an LD sample and
51 from an ADHD sample were added to the overall sample. The profiles
of each child were examined and the sample was divided into variable (n
= 707) or flat (n = 166) profile groups based on variability in index scores
on the WISC-III. The criterion for the variable group was 1 or more index
score that was statistically significant from the others. Unique and shared
variance estimates of FSIQ were calculated for each participant and compared across groups.
Results showed that the FSIQ variance in the flat profile group was
89% shared. The authors stated that interpreting the FSIQ as a general
measure of ability for this group was acceptable based upon the proportion
of shared variance. The amount of variance that resulted from the combination of the four index scores (g) was 64%. For the variable profile group,
36% of the variance was shared, 61% was unique, and g accounted for 2%.
The authors suggested that an interpretation of FSIQ alone for this group
would not provide an accurate reflection of ability and should be avoided.
Similarly, the LD and ADHD groups had g accounting for variance only
3% and 2%, respectively, and unique variance 58% and 47%, respectively.
The authors of this study argue against interpretation of FSIQ only for the
majority of the sample (variable, LD, and ADHD groups, which make up
80% of the sample), and argue that profile analysis is needed to ensure
that FSIQ accurately reflects ones ability.
SCIENTIFIC SUPPORT FOR G

In direct contrast, the scientific support for a single general intelligence
construct has been consistent across the decades. In addition, hundreds of
scientific investigations have shown that measures of g have been found to
be significantly correlated with a vast array of important life outcomes including academic achievement, military training assignments, job performance,
income, unlawfulness, SES of origin, achieved SES, and assortative mating
(Lubinski, 2004; Schmidt & Hunter, 2004). Twin studies in particular have
provided strong support for the existence of a general intelligence factor.
101
Johnson, Bouchard, Krueger, McGue, and Gottesman (2004) have suggested that if there is, in fact, one true measure of intelligence, g, then an
individuals score for g across cognitive assessment batteries should be the
same. In other words, g should not vary, on an individual basis, by test
administered. To test their hypothesis, Johnson et al. used pre-existing data
from the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart (Bouchard et al., 1990).
A total of 436 individuals (multiples themselves, spouses of multiples, and
other family members) were evaluated with three cognitive ability tests, as
well as a multitude of other psychological and physical examinations.
The three cognitive ability tests administered were the Comprehensive
Ability Battery (CAB; Hakstian & Bennet, 1977), the Hawaii Battery, including Ravens Progressive Matrices (HB; Kuse, 1977), and the Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale (WAIS; Weschler, 1955). In order to reduce redundancy,
only those subtests that measured different constructs in different ways
were administered to the participants. Also, some tests from the Educational Testing Service were added to the HB to provide a more thorough
evaluation of abilities. The result of these modifications was that 14 tests
were administered as part of the CAB, 17 from the HB, and 7 from the
WAIS. No two subtests directly overlapped in terms of task completed.
Factor analysis was then performed to determine the number of distinct factors that comprised each test battery. The authors determined
that a 6-factor solution was best for the CAB, and they named the factors
Numerical Reasoning, Figural Reasoning, Perceptual Reasoning, Fluency,
Memory, and Verbal. A 5-factor solution was also found to be the best fit for
the HB, with the factors being Logical Reasoning, Spatial, Fluency, Visual
Memory, and Patterns. The WAIS was found to consist of 3 factors: Verbal
Comprehension, Freedom from Distraction, and Perceptual Organization.
Correlations among the g factors on the three batteries ranged from .99 to
1.00, supporting the authors hypothesis that tests will not vary in their
measurement of g, as g is an underlying element of general intelligence.
Watkins (2006) outlined the use of the Schmid and Leiman (1957)
orthogonalization procedure to determine the amount of variance explained
by the FSIQ and four first-order factor scores of the WISC-IV. Results
of this statistical manipulation showed that the FSIQ factor accounted
for 38.3% of the total variance and 71.3% of the common variance. In
addition, the FSIQ factor explained more variance within each of the 10
subtests than did any other factor score. Each subtest had considerable
unique variance, which, combined with the influence of the FSIQ factor,
explained more variance than did any of the first-order factors. The author
concluded that general intelligence (FSIQ) accounted for the majority of
the variance in the WISC-IV and should be favored over the first-order factors
when making recommendations.
DiStefano and Dombrowski (2006) used exploratory and confirmatory
factor analysis to determine the number of factors best measured by the
Stanford Binet-Fifth Edition (SB-V). The manual of the SB-V only reports
confirmatory factor analysis, with the reason being that the SB-V is a
revision of a previous test (SB-IV) and a theoretical model of factors was
already in place. The authors of the study argued that with the substantial
revisions of this edition may come a new factor model of best fit.
102
The authors conducted separate analyses for each of the five age
groups used in the norming sample of the SB-V and computed correlations between the 20 half-scales of the measure. Confirmatory factor analysis was also conducted by age group, and tested a series of four models:
unidimensional (g), 2-factor (verbal, nonverbal), 5-factor (based on the
CHC theory), and a 4-factor model (Knowledge, Abstract Visual Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Memory) based on the results of the EFA
and previous editions of the SB.
Results of the exploratory factor analysis indicate that the unidimensional model (g) accounted for 46% of the variance across age groups and had
the highest factor loadings. Additionally, the younger age groups (25 years
and 610 years) showed evidence for the 2-factor model measuring verbal
versus nonverbal intelligence. The other models were unsupported by individual age groups and the norming set as a whole. Results of the confirmatory
factor analysis revealed similar findings, suggesting that the unidimensional
model was the best overall model regardless of age group. The 5-factor model
had the best fit indices for the youngest age group (25 years); however, it
added little to the unidimensional model because of nonparsimony. For the
remaining four age groups, the unidimensional model was the best fit. Only
the 1- and 2-factor models could be estimated for the older groups because
of the high correlation (.89.98) between factors. In sum, regardless of age
group and type of factor analysis used, the unidimensional model was the
most representative of intelligence as measured by the SB-V.
Profile analysis is a common practice among practitioners (Pfeiffer
et al., 2000), yet it is highly disputed by researchers (McDermott et al., 1990;
Livingston et al., 2003; Watkins & Canivez, 2004; also see Chapter 1 of
Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2003, for additional review). Research has shown
the results of profile analysis to be unstable and unreliable and most
researchers advise against using profile analysis in practice. In addition to
the reliability problems with profile analysis, there is a base rate problem.
Profiles have not been shown to differ between diagnostic groups (McDermott et al., 1990; Fiorello et al., 2002), making interpretations regarding
deviance or psychopathology untenable.
Factor analytic studies have shown consistently that intelligence tests
measure fewer factors than they purport to measure (DiStefano & Dombrowski, 2006; Frazier & Youngstrom, 2007; Johnson et al., 2004; Watkins, 2000) and interpretation of the overall intelligence score (g) is the
most valid interpretation to be made.
Often, clinicians attempt to determine whether examinees have
very specific strengths or weaknesses in cognitive abilities from an ipsative review of subtest scores on an intelligence battery. A clinician might
conclude based upon such an analysis that an examinee has a weakness
in oral expression or visual perception or in the ability to break visual
elements into their component parts, or some other very narrow cognitive
skill. The evidence is that intelligence tests cannot provide such information reliably and that such interpretations most likely lack validity
when based upon this approach. This does not mean it is not desirable to
assess such narrow skills nor that they are unimportant. It does lead us to
the recommendation that when information about such narrow-band
103
cognitive skills is desired, clinicians should use tests designed specifically

to assess the skill of interest (e.g., Hammill, Pearson, & Voress, 1997; Reynolds, 2002, 2007; Reynolds & Voress, 2007; Reynolds, Voress, & Pearson,
2008; Wallace & Hammill, 2002).
Based on the preponderance of evidence we recommend avoiding
the interpretation of intelligence tests at the level of subtest profiles, and
instead interpreting only composite (part or index) and general intelligence
scores that have long-term support in the scientific literature. In the special case of evaluating individuals with developmental disabilities, the
interpretation of the overall composite or general intelligence test score
is going to be most useful and efficient. Given that individuals with disabilities often have impairments in multiple domains of functioning, we
think that the clinicians time is better spent identifying an individuals
developmental needs and problems in the domains of importance for that
individuals adaptation, rather than parsing cognitive strengths and weaknesses that are not well supported by science. We attempt to demonstrate
this approach in the following case example.
CASE STUDY
Background Information
Darren is a 9-year-old boy who is in third grade at a public school for
students with learning difficulties. He is an only child who lives with this
father and stepmother. According to his father, his birth mother is deceased.
Darrens mother is reported to have experienced significant health problems
during pregnancy. When his mother was pregnant with Darren, she developed cancer for which she received radiation therapy. Darren was born at
28 weeks gestation via Caesarean section because of his and his mothers
distress. Weighing 3 pounds at birth, he was incubated for 3 months and
remained in the hospital for 5 months. He received oxygen for his first year
of life. Darren was delayed in reaching developmental milestones. He began
crawling at 10 months and walking at 2 years. He mastered toilet training at
5 years. He spoke his first word at 2 years of age and began speaking in sentences at the age of 5. In addition, Darren has fine motor skills deficits such
as difficulty using scissors and gripping a pencil.
Darren has also suffered significant hearing loss, which was recently
corrected surgically. According to teacher reports, Darren still has difficulty understanding speech in a classroom setting where there are interfering sounds. At the time of the evaluation, Darren was described as being
in good physical health and was not receiving any medication.
Academic History
Darrens academic delays were noted in preschool. His teacher
observed that he was unable to work at the academic level of his peers and
was therefore grouped with younger children for instruction. Upon entering kindergarten Darren was not able to identify all of the colors, letters,
104
and single-digit numbers that are typical for that age group. He was evaluated for special education in kindergarten and deemed eligible for special
education with a diagnosis of mild mental retardation. He received services
until his transfer to a special needs school in third grade. Darrens current
teachers note that he can recognize and name letters of the alphabet (he
cannot say them in order), and that he can count to 20 by himself.
Previous Psychological Testing

The results of psychological evaluation a few months prior to this
one indicated that Darrens measured intelligence was in the significantly
below average range (standard score of 63 on the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test, second edition). He also scored significantly below the average
range on academic achievement and readiness measures, with standard
scores in the 60s in the areas of reading, spelling, and mathematics (as
measured by the Wide Range Achievement Test, third edition). As a result
of this evaluation, Darren was diagnosed with a mild intellectual delay.
Psychosocial History
At the ages of six and seven, Darren would get easily frustrated and
angry with his parents. His mood and attitude have improved and his parents say that he is now often happy and content. Darren also is described
as having strong spatial skills. Both Darrens parents and his teachers
report attention and hyperactivity as areas of difficulty. He is described as
having a short attention span, being easily distracted, and often jumping
from one play activity to another. He is described as very active by his
parents who say that he is always on the go, as though he is being driven
by a motor. Darren talks excessively and interrupts others conversations.
He also moves about while engaged in normally stationary tasks (e.g.,
watching TV and playing video games). Finally, Darrens parents report
some impulsive behaviors (i.e., touching others) and disorganization. He
has few friends as other children seem put off by his impulsive behavior
and social inappropriateness.
General Behavioral Observations

Darren was happy and in good spirits throughout the testing and rapport was easily established. He appeared healthy and was dressed appropriately for age and setting. During the evaluation, he displayed several
socially immature behaviors such as hiding under the table to grab the
examiners legs and taking test materials from the examiner. Darren did
not appear to have any difficulty hearing test instructions.
Darren was active and impulsive during testing. When distracted,
however, he was easily redirected to the task at hand. His response style
was impulsive, lacked forethought, and gave little indication of concern
or awareness of potential negative consequences. In addition, Darren did
not check his answers for correctness and often made mistakes without
appearing to know it.
105
Evaluation Procedures
Behavior Assessment System for Children Second edition (BASC-2; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004)
Parent Rating Scales Child Form (PRS-C; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004)
Teacher Rating Scales Child Form (TRS-C; Reynolds & Kamphaus,
2004)
Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS; Reynolds & Kamphaus,
2003)
Vineland II Adaptive Behavior Scales Survey Interview Form (Vineland
II; Sparrow, Cicchetti, & Balla, 2006)
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fourth Edition (WISC-IV; Weschler, 2003)
Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Academic Achievement Third Edition (WJ-III
Achievement (Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001)
Test Results and Interpretation

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fourth Edition
(WISC-IV)
The WISC-IV is an individually administered clinical instrument for
assessing the intellectual ability of children aged 6 years through 16 years,
11 months. The childs performance on 10 subtests is summarized in an
overall intelligence score called the Full Scale IQ (FSIQ). The WISC-IV also
yields index scores for Verbal Comprehension (VCI), Perceptual Reasoning
(PRI), Working Memory (WMI), and Processing Speed (PSI). Index scores
have a mean score of 100 with a standard deviation of 15. Scores between
90 and 110 are considered to be within the Average range. Darrens WISCIV index scores appear below.
Index
Standard Score
95% Confidence
Interval
Percentile Rank
Verbal Comprehension
59
5568
0.3
Perceptual Reasoning
55
5166
0.1
Working Memory
56
5267
0.2
Processing Speed
83
7694
13
Full Scale IQ
54
5060
0.1
Each index score is comprised of various subtests. WISC-IV subtest scores

have a mean of 10, a standard deviation of 3, and can range from 1 to 19.
Scores falling between 8 and 12 are considered average. WISC-IV subtest
scores appear below.
106
Verbal Comprehension
Scaled Score
Percentile Rank
Similarities
.13
Vocabulary
.38
Comprehension
Block Design
.38
Picture Concepts
Matrix Reasoning
Digit Span
.13
LetterNumber Sequencing
2.3
Coding
16
Symbol Search
16
Perceptual Reasoning
Working Memory
Processing Speed
Darrens Full Scale composite score on the WISC-IV provides an overall estimate of cognitive development and includes all subtests. Darren
earned a Full Scale score on the WISC-IV of 54 (0.1 percentile), which
places his performance in the significantly below average range of cognitive development. There is a 95% probability that Darrens WISC-IV true
Full Scale IQ falls between 50 and 60.
The Verbal Comprehension Index of the WISC-IV measures verbal
expression and verbal reasoning abilities with subtests that require a
client to define words, answer factual and common sense questions,
and identify similarities between concepts. Darren scored in the significantly below average range on this index with a standard score of 59
(0.3 percentile).
The Perceptual Reasoning Index of the WISC-IV measures nonverbal
reasoning and the ability to solve novel puzzles presented in a nonverbal
format. This index includes activities such as forming designs with blocks,
selecting pictures that share a common characteristic, and identifying a
missing portion of an incomplete matrix. Darrens ability on this index fell
within the significantly below average range with a standard score of 55
(0.1 percentile).
The Working Memory Index of the WISC-IV measures attention, concentration, and ones ability to hold and mentally manipulate verbal information. Activities include repeating numbers and letters in sequences.
Darrens score on this index fell within the significantly below average
range with a standard score of 56 (0.2 percentile).
The Processing Speed Index of the WISC-IV measures written clerical
speed. Activities include searching for the presence or absence of a symbol and copying symbols paired with geometric shapes. Darrens score on
this index fell within the below average range with a standard score of 83
(13th percentile). As this score is clearly higher than the others, this area
represents an area of relative significant strength for Darren, suggesting
107
that simply and highly structured copying and spatial tasks are easier for
him. This scale represents one of the more common areas of strength on
the WISC-IV for children with significantly below average intellectual skills
as it has the lowest correlation of the various WISC-IV indexes with overall
intelligence or g.
Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales (RIAS)

The RIAS is another individually administered intelligence test. Subtest
scores are combined into a number of composite scores dependent upon
the subtests given. The RIAS yields Indexes that are standard scores with
a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15. Darrens RIAS composite
Indexes appear below.
Composites
Standard
Score
95% Confidence
Interval
Percentile
Rank
Composite Intelligence Index (CIX)
62
5969
Verbal Intelligence Index (VIX)
61
5770
<1
Nonverbal Intelligence Index (NIX)
65
6173
Composite Memory Index (CMX)
79
7486
Subtests
Darren scored in the significantly below average range on this measure, with a CIX score of 62 (<0.1 percentile). Although somewhat higher
than his scores on the WISC-IV, the RIAS results still document the presence of significant cognitive impairment. The RIAS results confirm WISCIV results and background information suggesting that Darren finds rote
tasks and some spatial tasks relatively easier to perform.
Adaptive Behavior
Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales,
Second Edition (Vineland-II)
The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition (Vineland-2)
was administered to determine Darrens current level of adaptive skill
development. The Vineland provides a measure of a childs skills in three
domains: Communication (skills involved in receptive and expressive language acquisition); Daily Living Skills (skills involved in self-care, home
and community living); and Socialization (skills needed for relating to others, playing, and coping with the environment). The three domain scales
are combined into an Adaptive Behavior Composite. Domain and composite scores are presented as Standard Scores with a mean of 100 and
a standard deviation of 15. Subdomain scores are presented as v-Scale
scores with a mean of 15 and a standard deviation of 3.
108
Domain
Standard Score
Percentile Rank
Adaptive Level
Communication
67
Low
Daily Living Skills
74
Moderately Low
Socialization
76
Moderately Low
Adaptive Behavior
Composite
71
Moderately Low
Subdomain
Receptive Language
Expressive Language
Written Language
Scaled Score
9
10
8
Adaptive Level
Low
Moderately Low
Low
Personal Living Skills
11
Moderately Low
Domestic Living Skills
13
Adequate
Community Living Skills
Low
Interpersonal Relationships
12
Moderately Low
Play and Leisure Time
10
Moderately Low
Coping Skills
10
Moderately Low
Darrens overall score, as measured by the Adaptive Behavior Composite, fell in the below average range with a standard score of 71 (3rd
percentile). The Communication domain consists of the subdomains of
Receptive, Expressive, and Written Communication, and assesses ones
ability to understand and express verbal and written language. Darren
scored significantly below average on this domain with a standard score of
67 (1st percentile). The Daily Living Domain is a measure of an individuals
ability to perform daily tasks, such as age-appropriate self-care, community awareness and safety, and household chores. Darrens score on this
domain fell in the below average range with a standard score of 74 (4th
percentile). It is noteworthy that Darrens parents report that he has good
skills in the areas of housekeeping, kitchen activities, and safety at home,
but he does not know the names and values of coins and bills.
The Socialization Domain measures ones skill in the area of social
interaction. Darren scored in the below average range on this domain with
a standard score of 76 (5th percentile). These results indicate that Darren
regularly spends time with friends and engages in small talk, but has difficulty maintaining comfortable distances between self and others.
Academic Achievement
WoodcockJohnson Tests of Academic
AchievementThird Edition (WJ-III Achievement)
The WJ-III Achievement is an individually administered achievement
test containing various subtests. The subtest scores are combined into a
number of composite scores dependent upon the subtests given. Some
109
composites could not be calculated in Darrens case because he failed

to successfully complete training items on several subtests. The WJ-III
Achievement yields standard scores with a mean of 100 and a standard
deviation of 15. Darrens composite and subtest scores appear below.
The Basic Reading Skills Composite includes LetterWord Identifica-
Composites
Standard Score
Confidence Intervals
Percentile Rank
Broad Math
59
5465
0.3
Basic Reading Skills
41
3447
<0.1
Math Calculation Skills
49
4058
<0.1
Academic Skills
47
4352
<0.1
Academic Applications
50
4356
<0.1
LetterWord Identification
46
4151
<0.1
Calculation
49
3960
<0.1
Math Fluency
51
3865
<0.1
Spelling
46
3754
<0.1
Passage Comprehension
34
2246
<0.1
Applied Problems
69
6375
Writing Samples
46
2764
<0.1
Word Attack
40
2752
<0.1
Subtests
tion and Word Attack assessing a childs ability to pronounce both real
and nonsense words correctly. Darrens score on this composite fell in
the significantly below average range with a standard score of 41 (<0.1
percentile).
The Math Calculation composite of the WJ-III includes Calculation
and Applied Problems, and measures ones abilities to compute mathematics problems and interpret simple word problems. Darren scored in
the significantly below average range with a standard score of 49 (<0.1
percentile) on this composite. The Broad Mathematics composite includes
Calculation, Math Fluency, and Applied Problems. Darrens score on this
composite also fell in the significantly below average range with a standard
score of 59 (0.3 percentile).
The written language composites were not calculated because Darren
was not administered the Writing Fluency subtest (due to lack of skill in
that area). On the Spelling subtest, Darren was able to print several capital letters and one lowercase letter, but did not write any words correctly.
On the Writing Samples subtest, he correctly wrote his name and the word
cat only.
110
Social/Emotional Adjustment
Behavior Assessment System for ChildrenSecond Edition
(BASC-2)
The Behavior Assessment System for Children-2-Parent Rating Scales
(BASC-2-PRS) and Teacher Rating Scales (BASC-2-TRS) are questionnaires
completed by parents and teachers in order to assess behavior, emotional
and learning problems, as well as social competence. The BASC-2 forms
yield T-Scores with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. Scores
above 70 are considered to be indicative of significant difficulty. Scores
above 60 are considered at risk; that is, that they are not of immediate
concern but may develop into problems in the future. On the Adaptive
Scales, scores below 30 are considered significantly low and scores below
40 are considered at risk.
BASC-2 Rating Scales for Four Informants

Parent and Teacher Rating Scales
T-scores
Clinical Scales
Father
Mother
Teacher 1
Teacher 2
Hyperactivity
74**
83**
64*
83**
Aggression
66*
71**
46
63*
Conduct Problems
70**
65*
42
66*
Anxiety
54
47
45
48
Depression
51
60*
42
42
Somatization
53
67*
43
47
Atypicality
62*
70**
50
53
Withdrawal
44
51
47
41
Attention Problems
61*
69*
68*
62*
Learning Problems
N/A
N/A
70**
70*
46
41
58
52
Adaptive Scales
Adaptability
Social Skills
52
37*
49
51
Leadership
49
38*
42
51
Study Skills
N/A
N/A
34*
36*
Activities of Daily Living
34*
31*
N/A
N/A
Functional Communication
37*
26**
32*
34*
Composites
Externalizing Problems
72**
76**
51
72**
Internalizing Problems
53
60*
42
45
School Problems
N/A
N/A
71**
67*
Behavioral Symptoms Index
62*
72**
54
59
Adaptive Skills
43
32*
42
44
*= At Risk; ** = Clinically Significant; N/A = Not Assessed
111
Parent Ratings
The Externalizing Problems composite score includes scores from the
Clinical Scales of Atypicality, Withdrawal, Hyperactivity, Aggression, and
Conduct Problems. Both parents endorsed items resulting in clinically significant elevations on the Hyperactivity, Aggression, Conduct Problems,
and Atypicality scales. Darren was described as argumentative, purposefully annoying others, and disobedient. His parents also described him
as overactive, frequently impulsive, and as having a tendency to interrupt others in conversation. The elevation on the Atypicality scale was the
result of reports that he acts strangely and confused at times.
The Internalizing Composite consists of the Clinical Scales of Depression, Anxiety, and Somatization. Darrens mother reported At Risk levels of Depression and Somatization, indicating that he is upset easily,
changes moods often, and frequently has headaches.
Also included on the rating scale is a composite representing adaptive
behaviors. This composite reflects the scales of Adaptability, Social Skills, Leadership, Activities of Daily Living, and Functional Communication. Darrens parents described him as having inadequate telephone skills and not responding
appropriately to questions. In addition, Darren was described as struggling to
complete daily routines independently and assist around the house.
Teacher Ratings
Darrens teachers noted concerns with externalizing behavior and
school problems. Specifically, they said that Darren sometimes hits others
and often annoys others purposefully. In addition, Darren was described
as failing to ask permission to use others possessions, is frequently overactive, and is impulsive. Finally, both teachers indicated that Darren
struggles with academics and usually has trouble keeping up in class.
A review of the Content Scales from the BASC-2 PRS and TRS scales
obtained on Darren confirmed significant problems overall with behavioral
control, with his greatest elevation occurring on the Executive Functioning
scale. Although he has conduct problems as seen in the parent and teacher
ratings, these are not particularly targeted as getting his way with others as
his Bullying content scale was elevated barely into the at-risk range (T = 61),
suggesting his problems with conduct and related domains is more related
to his impulsivity and general difficulties with self-regulation.
Summary
Darren is a 9-year-old, third-grade male who was referred because his
parents were interested in learning about his developmental status. Darren currently attends a special program for children with learning difficulties. He has been diagnosed as mild mental retardation previously.
The results of the current evaluation reveal that Darrens overall cognitive
and academic abilities are in the significantly below average range, consistent
with his history of cognitive developmental delay. He does perform slightly
better on rote cognitive tasks that do not require complex decision making.
112
Darrens adaptive behavior was also found to be impaired and consistent with the prior diagnosis of mild mental retardation. Hence, the results
of this evaluation indicate that Darren still meets formal diagnostic criteria for Mild Mental Retardation (Code 317) as delineated in the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSMIVTR).
Darrens teachers and parents indicate that he suffers from inattention and hyperactivity. Specifically, he is described as struggling with sustaining attention, disorganization, distractibility, following instructions,
and listening. Additionally, he displays high levels of impulsivity, hyperactivity, and consistently interrupts others. Darren displays these symptoms
at home and at school and to a degree that is in excess of what would
be expected given his cognitive level. Results from behavior rating scales
and the parent interview indicate that Darren meets formal diagnostic
criteria for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Combined Type (Code
314.01) as delineated in the DSMIVTR.
Recommendations
Darren needs to improve his phonics and sight vocabulary for early literacy skills, but also his functional reading skills. He also needs to learn to
recognize common, everyday written signs and symbols such as road signs
and frequented businesses (e.g., fast-food, grocery stores, clothing stores).
In order to further his academic progress Darrens parents are encouraged to make use of teachable moments at home and in the community.
Teachable moments can include counting out the silverware when setting the
table and identifying the colors of fruits and vegetables at the grocery store.
Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT; Herschell, Calzada, Eyberg, &
McNeil, 2002) is recommended for Darrens family to improve Darrens inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive behaviors at home. PCIT teaches parents
how to interact with their children in such a way to elicit more positive behavior. More information about PCIT can be found at www.pcit.org.
Visual activity schedules are instruction cards with pictures and words
describing the steps one should take in order to complete a daily routine.
They will be useful in helping Darren to independently complete daily living
tasks. For example, the evening routine card could include pictures of
pajamas, a toothbrush, a washcloth, a book, and a bed. Each picture has
a word or two describing the action and the pictures are ordered according to the desired sequence. Darren can have a card for daily routines at
home and at school.
Darrens parents are encouraged to consult Darrens pediatrician to
determine if psychiatric evaluation or medication would be appropriate to
treat his symptoms of ADHD.
Case Conceptualization.
Darrens case describes many principles of intellectual assessment for
children with developmental disabilities. First, the assessment of general
intelligence summarizes well the cognitive impairment possessed by Darren. He does have some areas where he performs in the below average
113
range but he lags the general population in all cognitive and academic
areas. Essentially, norm-referenced conclusions are prioritized over profile-based conclusions in this case or, said another way, his level of performance in all areas is more important for understanding his current
cognitive developmental status versus the shape of his strength and weaknesses profile.
In fact, Darrens scores are consistent with the known structure of
intellectual abilities making his relative strength observed on rote recall
and clerical speed tasks less important to interpret for diagnostic purposes. This strength is consistent with the research of Carroll (1993)
and others, which demonstrates that this ability is less correlated with
important life outcomes due to its poor measurement of general intelligence. Second, this case is consistent with the research on children with
mild mental retardation in that it reflects the higher rate of comorbidity
of psychiatric disorders for children and adults with significant cognitive
impairment (Kamphaus, in press. In this case the symptoms of ADHD are
both normatively and developmentally very inappropriate thus warranting
the diagnosis and associated treatments.
Third, as Doll discovered in the 1930s, intelligence tests are inadequate for describing the full range of skills and deficits for individuals
with developmental disabilities. For intervention or treatment design purposes in particular, the intelligence test results provide less guidance than
the academic achievement, adaptive behavior, and behavior rating scale
results.
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5
Rating Scale Systems for
Assessing Psychopathology:
The Achenbach System of
Empirically Based Assessment
(ASEBA) and the Behavior
Assessment System for
Children-2 (BASC-2)
LESLIE A. RESCORLA
INTRODUCTION
Over the past three decades, standardized rating forms obtained from
multiple informants have become increasingly common in both clinical
and school settings for assessing childrens behavioral and emotional
problems. Two widely used systems that assess a broad range of problems from the perspectives of parents, teachers, and children themselves
are the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA;
Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) and the Behavior Assessment System for
Children (BASC, BASC-2; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1992; 2004). This chapter
first presents the history of the ASEBA and the BASC and then summarizes the similarities between the two systems. The main focus of the
chapter is a review of the important differences between the ASEBA and
the BASC-2. The chapter closes with conclusions and implications.
LESLIE A. RESCORLA Department of Psychology, Bryn Mawr College, 101 N. Merion
Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010.

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LESLIE A. RESCORLA
HISTORY OF THE ASEBA AND THE BASC

ASEBA
The ASEBA originated with efforts to identify syndromes of co-occurring problems reported for disturbed children at a time when the American
Psychiatric Associations (1952) Diagnostic and Statistical ManualFirst
Edition (DSMI) provided only two diagnoses for children (Achenbach,
2006; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2004). In the initial research, behavioral
and emotional problems were scored from a large sample of child psychiatric records (Achenbach, 1966). Factor analyses revealed several patterns
of co-occurring problems or syndromes (e.g., Aggressive Behavior, Somatic
Complaints) that were not identified in DSMI, plus two broadband factors
that Achenbach (1966) designated as Internalizing and Externalizing.
The next step was development of the Child Behavior Checklist
(CBCL), a rating form completed by parents. Items were created and
tested through nine pilot editions from 1970 through 1976. In 1978,
Achenbach and Edelbrock published CBCL findings based on data
obtained for 2,300 4- to 16-year-old children on their intake into 42 mental health services. Factor analysis of these parents ratings yielded many
of the same syndromes identified by Achenbach (1966), as well as the
broadband Internalizing and Externalizing scales. The 1978 CBCL also
included scales designed to measure competencies. The problem and competence scales were then normed on 1,300 randomly selected nonreferred
children whose parents completed the CBCL in a home interview survey.
Research findings for this sample, as well as for a matched clinical sample,
were published in 1981 (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1981).
In 1983, Achenbach and Edelbrock published the first detailed
manual for the CBCL. To obtain information from teachers and adolescents, Achenbach and Edelbrock (1986; 1987) developed the Teachers
Report Form (TRF) and the Youth Self-Report for ages 11 to 18 (YSR) Many
syndromes derived by factor analysis for the TRF and YSR paralleled those
derived for the CBCL. At around this same time, Achenbach (1986) published the Direct Observation Form (DOF), designed to assess problems and
on-task behavior in settings such as classrooms.
In 1991, Achenbach published revised manuals for the CBCL, TRF,
and YSR (Achenbach, 1991a; b; c). New factor analyses identified patterns of co-occurring problems that were common across the CBCL, TRF,
and YSR, as well as across gender and age groups. A set of eight syndromes identified for all three types of informants, many of which had been
found in the previous factor analyses, was normed using data from a new
national sample.
A CBCL for ages 2 to 3 was published in 1992 (Achenbach, 1992),
followed by the Caregiver-Teacher Report Form (C-TRF; Achenbach, 1997).
The Semistructured Clinical Interview for Children and Adolescents (SCICA;
McConaughy & Achenbach, 1994) was developed for assessing childrens
self-reports and behavior during interviews. Additionally, the Young Adult
Self-Report (YASR) and the Young Adult Behavior Checklist (YABCL) were
published in 1997 for ages 18 to age 30 (Achenbach, 1997).
RATING SCALE SYSTEMS FOR ASSESSING PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
119
In 2001, Achenbach and Rescorla published revisions of the CBCL

and TRF (normed by gender for ages 6 to 11 and 12 to 18) and the YSR
(normed by gender for ages 11 to 18). For this revision, six problem items
were changed on the CBCL/6-18 and YSR and three items were changed
on the TRF. Data from a new general population sample and from a new
clinical sample were obtained. Both exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and
confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were used to identify a common set of
eight syndromes across the three forms: Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawn/
Depressed, Somatic Complaints, Social Problems, Thought Problems, Attention Problems, Rule-Breaking Behavior, and Aggressive Behavior. Additionally, a new set of DSM-Oriented Scales was added based on expert ratings
regarding the consistency of ASEBA items with particular diagnostic
categories in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Fourth Edition (DSM-IV;
American Psychiatric Association, 1994). These were designated as Affective
Problems, Anxiety Problems, Somatic Problems, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Problems, Oppositional Defiant Problems, and Conduct Problems.
Achenbach and Rescorla (2000) published revised editions of the
ASEBA preschool forms, McConaughy and Achenbach (2001) published a
revised SCICA (to span ages 6 to 18), and Achenbach and Rescorla (2003)
published revised versions of the forms for young adults (to span ages 18
to 59). Forms for ages 60 to 90+ were also published (Achenbach, Newhouse, & Rescorla, 2004). The Test Observation Form was published in
2004 (TOF; McConaughy, & Achenbach, 2004).
In 2007, four additional scales were published for scoring the CBCL/618, TRF, and YSR based on configurations of existing items that had been
tested by various researchers (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2007a): Positive
Qualities on the YSR, Obsessive-Compulsive Problems and Post-Traumatic
Stress Problems on all three forms, and Sluggish Cognitive Tempo on the
CBCL/6-18 and TRF. Also, in 2007, Multicultural Scoring Options were
added to the ASEBA scoring software, Assessment Data Manager (ADM)
for Ages 6 to 18, for scoring the CBCL, TRF, and YSR according to different
sets of norms based on data from many countries.
BASC
Reynolds and Kamphaus (1992) reported that development of the BASC
occurred over about six years. Lists of problems and positive behaviors solicited from 20 teachers and 500 students were transformed into rating scale
items and added to the many items already created by the authors based on
their review of other behavioral checklists, consultations with professionals, and professional experience. Two phases of item tryouts were followed
by final item selection and scale definition. Covariance structure analysis
(CSA), a form of CFA, was used iteratively to refine the scale structure based
on a starting model created by assigning items to scales.
The 1992 BASC was comprised of a Parent Rating Scale (PRS), a Teacher
Rating Scale (TRS), a Self-Report of Personality (SRP), a Structured Developmental History form (SDH), and a Student Observation System (SOS).
According to its authors, the BASC assessed positive (adaptive) as well
as negative (clinical) dimensions. A key goal of the BASC was to facilitate
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LESLIE A. RESCORLA
differential diagnosis among DSM psychiatric categories as well as among

special education categories. The 1992 BASC was normed on large samples obtained through 116 school sites in 26 states and three Canadian
cities, with Ns ranging from 2,401 for the TRS to 9,861 for the SRP. Norms
for children being served in clinical or school settings for behavioral or
emotional problems were also provided in the 1992 BASC, based on Ns
of 401 for the PRS, 411 for the SRP, and 693 for the TRS. Several validation studies were conducted for the 1992 BASC, including seven involving
1991 versions of the ASEBA forms.
In 2004, numerous modifications were embodied in the BASC-2 (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004). Items that had less than optimal reliabilities
were replaced with new items, and items were adjusted to increase consistency between the TRS and the PRS and across different age levels.
The BASC-2 TRS and PRS have forms for ages 2 to 5, 6 to 11, and 12 to 21.
The BASC-2 SRP has forms for ages 8 to 11, 12 to 21, and 18 to 25 (the latter for young adults in postsecondary school education). When the BASC
was revised, the most changes were made to the SRP, in order to address
concerns about reliability, form length, score distributions, and response
format (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004).
CSA was used to determine which items needed to be eliminated
and to obtain factor loadings for each BASC-2 scale. The BASC-2 added
some new adaptive scales on the PRS and TRS, and some new problem
scales on the SRP. Additionally, seven content scales, comprised of existing items plus some new items, were added to the TRS and PRS and four
content scales were added to the SRP. Two sets of norms were obtained:
General norms, derived from a general population sample recruited
through schools and child care centers, and Clinical norms, derived from
a clinical sample recruited through clinics, hospitals, and special education programs.
Similarities Between the ASEBA and the BASC-2

Both the ASEBA and the BASC-2 assess a broad spectrum of problems as well as positive functioning in children and adolescents from the
perspectives of parents, teachers, and children themselves. In both systems, items from a given scale (e.g., Attention Problems) are dispersed
among items from other scales. Both systems employ Likert scales for rating problems (except for some SRP items), and forms can be either handor computer-scored. Development of both systems involved sophisticated
factor analytic techniques. Both systems display scores for individual
items, narrowband scales, and broadband scales (e.g., Internalizing and
Externalizing, Total Problems/Behavioral Symptoms Index). Additionally,
both systems highlight critical items (e.g., setting fires, thinking about
suicide) that are cause for concern, and both generate narrative reports
of findings for ratings by each informant. Both systems also report strong
testretest reliability, with ASEBA rs ranging from .83 for the YSR to .89
for the CBCL/6-18 and BASC-2 rs ranging from .76 to .84 for the PRS, .79
to .88 for the TRS, and .73 to .83 for the SRP.
121
Both the ASEBA and the BASC-2 provide percentiles and T scores
by age and gender based on large normative general population samples. Both systems also demarcate cutpoints for two levels of risk
(ASEBA: Clinical and Borderline ranges; BASC: Clinically Significant and
At-Risk ranges). Both the ASEBA and the BASC-2 provide scores for
children enrolled in special education programs or attending mental
health facilities and both systems have many points of contact with
DSM-IV diagnoses. Furthermore, both systems have an instrument for
recording direct observations of children in naturalistic settings such
as classrooms.
Despite these important similarities between the ASEBA and the BASC2, the systems differ in many important ways. The next sections focus on
the following major differences between the ASEBA and the BASC-2 for
ages 6 to 18: (a) arrangement and rating of items; (b) approach to assessing adaptive competencies; (c) method of constructing problem scales; (d)
selection of cutpoints; (e) validation procedures; (f) number and variety of
scales; (g) approach to handling possible informant bias; (h) procedures
for cross-informant comparisons; (i) procedures for obtaining a general
population sample; (j) choice of norm groups; (k) research base; and (l)
multicultural applications.
DIFFERENCES IN ARRANGEMENT AND RATING OF ITEMS

ASEBA: Arrangement of Items
The ASEBA places items assessing positive characteristics and
behavioral/emotional problems in separate sections of the form. On the
CBCL and TRF, positive functioning is assessed in a competence/adaptive
functioning portion of the checklist, as well as by the open-ended item,
Please describe the best things about your child/this pupil. The 120
problem items on the CBCL/6-18 and TRF tap a wide variety of behavioral
and emotional difficulties (e.g., 8. Cant concentrate, cant pay attention for
long; 50. Too fearful or anxious), with no items assessing positive qualities
or neutral behaviors.
The YSR also contains a separate section tapping competence, similar
to that on the CBCL. In addition, the 2001 edition of the YSR contains 14
items tapping positive qualities that are dispersed among the 105 problem items. The original YSR (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1987) contained 16
positive qualities items, but two were replaced with new problem items
when the YSR was revised in 2001. The positive qualities items tap characteristics considered to be socially desirable (e.g., I like to help others; I like
to be fair to others). They were included on the YSR to enable adolescents
to endorse positive characteristics and to replace items from the CBCL and
TRF that were not appropriate to ask adolescents. These 14 items are now
scored on a separate Positive Qualities scale, based on research using the
YSR in 24 countries suggesting the clinical utility of this scale (Achenbach
& Rescorla, 2007a; b).
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LESLIE A. RESCORLA
BASC-2: Arrangement of Items

As on the original BASC, BASC-2 items tapping positive characteristics and
those tapping problems are mixed together. For example, of the 139 items on
the TRS for ages 1221, 39 describe positive characteristics (three items
are on Attention Problems and two on Withdrawal, with reverse scoring).
Conversely, two of the five scales tapping positive characteristicsAdaptability and Functional Communicationeach contain two reverse-scored
problem items. A similar mix of positive items and negative items is found
on each BASC-2 form at each age level. Reverse-scored items often state
the opposite of another item on the same scale (e.g., I am liked by others
vs. I feel that nobody likes me; Makes friends easily vs. Has trouble making
new friends).
ASEBA: Rating of Items

The ASEBA uses a 3-level Likert scale for rating items: 0 = Not True
(as far as you know); 1 = Somewhat or Sometimes True; and 2 = Very True
or Often True. Achenbach, Howell, Quay, and Conners (1991) compared
CBCL findings for 3-level versus 4-level item ratings. The 3-level ratings
were obtained by Achenbach and Edelbrock (1981) for 1,300 nonreferred
children and 1,300 clinically referred children. The 4-level ratings were
obtained by Achenbach et al. (1991) for 2,600 nonreferred children and
2,600 referred children. These comparisons revealed that parents of nonreferred children using the 4-level scale tended to avoid the lowest rating (Never or not at all true), whereas parents of referred children tended
to avoid the highest rating (Very often or very much). Scores for referred
children were 2.9 times higher than those for nonreferred children using
3-level ratings (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1981), but only 2.2 times higher
using 4-level ratings (Achenbach et al., 1991), due to differential compression of scores toward the middle with 4-level ratings.
BASC-2: Rating of Items

The BASC-2 uses a 4-level Likert scale for rating items: 0 = Never,
1 = Sometimes, 2 = Often, 3 = Almost Always, except for some dichotomous
(True/False) SRP items. Reynolds and Kamphaus (1992) explained that they
selected a multipoint rather than a dichotomous scale because it attains
an adequate level of reliability using fewer items and because a 4-level
scale does not overwhelm raters with too many choices. However, they did
not report any specific tests of the 4-level version versus other versions, such
as a 3-level version. They did note, however, that to increase readability and
comprehensibility for children, the 1992 SRP utilized a dichotomous scale.
Reynolds and Kamphaus (2004) retained the 4-level scale for the BASC-2
PRS and the TRS, arguing that it can improve measurement at the extremes
of the behavior dimension being measured because Never and Almost always
are extreme ratings (p. 94). However, they decided to use both dichotomous
and 4-level items for the SRP, based on piloting both the previous True/False
format and their standard 4-level format.
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DIFFERENCES IN APPROACH TO ASSESSING

ADAPTIVE COMPETENCIES
ASEBA
Achenbach and Edelbrock (1983) piloted various approaches to
assessing competencies in the CBCL. They rejected the approach of using
bipolar items (e.g., Kind to animals vs. Cruel to animals) because both
characteristics could be true of the same child (i.e., a boy might be nice
to his dog most of the time but occasionally be cruel to it), and because
they found that parents tended to avoid both poles in favor of the middle.
They also rejected using items tapping age-appropriate skills (e.g., crossing the street independently), because such items did not discriminate
well between children referred for help with behavioral/emotional problems and nonreferred children. Using items for rating positive qualities
(e.g., Has a good sense of humor) was also rejected, because parents of
clinically referred children endorsed most of these items almost as much
as parents of nonreferred children.
After rejecting these three alternative approaches, Achenbach and
Edelbrock (1983) settled on an approach to assessing competencies that
involves reporting on the positive activities that children actually engage
in, as well as on relations with others and functioning in school. For the
CBCL/6-18 and YSR, competencies are scored on scales designated as
Activities (participation and skill in sports, nonsports recreational activities, jobs, and chores); Social (participation in group activities such as
clubs, teams, and groups plus relationships with friends, peers, siblings, and parents); School (performance in academic subjects, plus yesor-no reports of remedial services, grade retention, and other school
problems); and Total Competence (sum of scores on these three scales)
(Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). The TRF has two adaptive functioning
scales: Academic Performance (performance in academic subjects) and
Total Adaptive (sum of ratings of how hard the student is working, how
appropriately the student is behaving, how much the student is learning,
and how happy the student is).
BASC-2
The BASC-2 features numerous items assessing positive characteristics
(e.g., Is a good sport; Says please and thank you; Is usually chosen
as a leader). On the TRS and PRS for ages 6 to 18, scales designated as
Adaptability, Social Skills, Leadership, Study Skills, and Functional Communication are summed to yield an Adaptive Composite. Items comprising
these scales vary somewhat across the teacher and parent versions of the
forms and across age levels, but there are many common items. The SRP
also has many items tapping positive qualities, including I enjoy meeting
others; My parents are proud of me; and I am dependable. These items
are scored on scales designated as Relations with Parents, Interpersonal
Relations, Self-Esteem, and Self-Reliance, which are summed to yield a
Personal Adjustment Composite.
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LESLIE A. RESCORLA
DIFFERENCES IN METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING

PROBLEM SCALES
ASEBA
Since the 1960s, factor analysis has been used to derive ASEBA problem syndromes from the bottom-up. The 2001 CBCL/6-18 syndromes
were derived using EFA, principal components analysis (PCA), and CFA
(Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). The sample used to derive the 2001 syndromes included children recruited through the U.S. National Survey of
Children, Youth, and Adults (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001), children from
general population samples in Australia and England, and children from
outpatient and inpatient mental health services in the United States. To
be included in the factor analytic sample, children had to have CBCL Total
Problems scores at or above the median Total Problems score obtained by
children of the same gender and age in the National Survey sample. This
was to ensure that enough problems were reported to permit detection of
clinically important syndromes. Ns were 4,994 for the CBCL/6-18, 4,437
for the TRF, and 2,551 for the YSR.
Ten separate EFAs were performed (i.e., by gender for ages 6 to 11
and 12 to 18 for the CBCL/6-18 and TRF and by gender for ages 11 to 18
for the YSR). These ten EFAs yielded eight factors that were similar across
forms and age/gender groups. Items that had significant (p < .01) loadings of 20 on versions of a factor found in at least five of the ten analyses
were identified. If items met these criteria for more than one factor, they
were assigned to the factor with the highest mean loading across the various age/gender/form combinations. Thus, no cross-loading items were
allowed in the 2001 revision of the ASEBA syndromes. All items loading on
any factor were then included in analyses to test correlated 8-factor models for each gender/age group on the CBCL/6-18 and YSR. For the TRF,
better fit was obtained with a correlated 7-factor model plus a hierarchical model for Attention Problems (i.e., a general Attention Problems factor
plus specific Inattention and Hyperactivity-Impulsivity factors) (Achenbach
& Rescorla, 2001; Dumenci, McConaughy, & Achenbach, 2004).
After the multifactor models were supported in the foregoing analyses, the models with both genders and all ages combined were tested
separately for each form using CFA. The Root Mean Square Error of
Approximation (RMSEA) was .06 for the 8-factor CBCL/6-18 model, .05
for the 8-factor YSR model, and .07 for the 7-factor TRF model, all below
the threshold of .08 for acceptable fit according to Browne and Cudek
(1993). The eight 2001 syndromes (Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawn/
Depressed, Somatic Complaints, Social Problems, Thought Problems,
Attention Problems, Rule-Breaking Behavior, and Aggressive Behavior)
were essentially the same as those derived in 1991 using different data
and PCA only, but two syndrome names were changed slightly (Withdrawn became Withdrawn/Depressed and Delinquent Behavior became
Rule-Breaking Behavior).
Thus, the ASEBA scores the same eight syndromes for the CBCL/6-18,
TRF, and YSR. Although many of the same items comprise these syndromes
125
across the three forms, there are some differences among the items comprising particular syndrome scales on the different forms. Most notably, the TRF Attention Problems syndrome includes 26 items, whereas the
CBCL/6-18 version includes 10 items and the YSR version includes 9 items.
Second-order factor analyses of the correlations between the eight 2001
syndromes for the CBCL/6-18, TRF, and YSR yielded a broadband Internalizing group of syndromes (Anxious/Depressed, Withdrawn/Depressed,
and Somatic Complaints) and a broadband Externalizing group of syndromes (Rule-Breaking Behavior and Aggressive Behavior), which was
exactly the same pattern found for the 1991 versions of the syndromes.
The Social Problems, Thought Problems, and Attention Problems syndromes did not load as strongly on either the Internalizing or Externalizing
factors as the other syndromes did and are therefore not scored on either
broadband scale, as was also true in the 1991 versions.
The 2001 editions of the CBCL/6-18, TRF, and YSR are also scored
on DSM-oriented scales, which were developed to facilitate cross-walks
between ASEBA data and DSM-IV diagnoses. The DSM-oriented scales
were constructed from the top down by having international panels of
expert psychiatrists and psychologists from 16 countries identify ASEBA
problem items that they judged to be very consistent with particular DSMIV categories (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). Items that were identified by
a substantial majority of experts as being very consistent with a DSM-IV
category were used to construct Affective Problems, Anxiety Problems,
Somatic Problems, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Problems, Oppositional Defiant Problems, and Conduct Problems scales, plus Inattention
and Hyperactivity-Impulsivity subscales scored from the TRF. The DSMoriented scales were normed on the same samples as the empirically based
syndrome scales.
Some empirically based syndromes are quite similar to a DSM-oriented
scale with a similar name (e.g., Attention Problems and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Problems). However, in other cases, a single empirically
based syndrome combines items that the DSM-IV separates into different
diagnostic categories (e.g., the Anxious/Depressed syndrome vs. Affective Problems and Anxiety Problems). In still other cases, two empirically
based syndromes differentiate between kinds of problems that the DSMIV combines in a single diagnostic category (e.g., Rule-Breaking Behavior
and Aggressive Behavior syndromes vs. Conduct Problems). Rather than
manipulating the empirically based syndromes to reflect DSM-IV categories, the ASEBA developed a parallel set of scales constructed explicitly to
reflect DSM-IV diagnostic constructs.
Table 5.1 summarizes the Cronbachs (1951) alpha coefficients for
empirically based syndromes, DSM-oriented scales, and Internalizing,
Externalizing, and Total Problems scales on the CBCL/6-18, TRF, and
YSR. Table 5.1 also displays alphas for the four new scales introduced in
2007. Alphas on the three broadband scales (Internalizing, Externalizing,
and Total Problems) were >.90 for all three forms. Mean alphas across
syndromes and DSM-oriented scales were .84 (CBCL), .87 (TRF), and .80
(YSR). Mean alphas for CBCL and YSR competence scales were .70 and
.67, but the alpha for TRF Total Adaptive was .90.
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LESLIE A. RESCORLA
Table 5.1. Internal Consistency Alpha Coefficients for

CBCL/6-18, TRF, and YSR Scales
Scale
Broadband Scales
Total Problems
Internalizing
Externalizing
Syndromes
Anxious/Depressed
Withdrawn/Depressed
Somatic Complaints
Social Problems
Thought Problems
Attention Problems
Inattention Subscale
Hyperactivity/Impulsivity Subscale
Rule-Breaking Behavior
Aggressive Behavior
DSM-Oriented Scales
Affective Problems
Anxiety Problems
Somatic Problems
Hyperactive Impulsive Subscale
Oppositional Defiant Problems
Conduct Problems
Problem Scales mean alpha
Competence/Adaptive Scales
Total Competence
Activities
Social
School
Total Adaptive
Competence Scales mean alpha
2007 Scales
Obsessive-Compulsive Problems
Posttraumatic Stress Problems
Sluggish Cognitive Tempo
Positive Qualities
CBCL
TRF
YSR
.97
.90
.94
.97
.90
.95
.95
.90
.90
.84
.80
.78
.82
.78
.86
.86
.81
.72
.82
.72
.95
.93
.93
.95
.95
.84
.71
.80
.74
.78
.79
.76
.73
.80
.94
.94
.90
.90
.83
.87
.81
.67
.75
.77
.85
.94
.82
.72
.75
.84
.86
.91
.84
.79
.69
.68
.63
.81
.86
.70
.90
.80
.75
.72
.55
.70
.90
.90
.55
.74
.53
.58
.74
.76
.67
.65
.75
.75
BASC-2
The BASC took a very different approach to construction of problem
scales (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1992). Collections of items were written to
conform to an initial set of constructs chosen by the authors. Although
factor analyses were performed, items were moved or deleted from factors
to improve consistency of items across age levels and forms, to ensure sufficient items for each factor, and to be consistent with the authors clinical
judgment about the hypothesized factors. For example, Says I want to
die or I wish I were dead was retained on the Depression scale despite
low loadings because of its clear relevance (p. 72). Also, some scales were
127
separated even though they appeared to form a single factor (e.g., Depression
and Withdrawal; Hyperactivity and Attention Problems; p. 80).
The same approach of conceptualizing a priori scales and then refining
them through statistical analysis and the authors judgments was used for
the BASC-2. As reported by Reynolds and Kamphaus (2004, p. 55), the
a priori scales were designed to sample the symptomatology associated
with popular diagnostic nosologies, namely the DSM-IV and the special
education categories of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA; 1997).
The factor structure of the original BASC was used as the starting
model for the BASC-2. CSAs were then carried out on each scale. After each
CSA, the Modification Indexes (MIs) were examined to see if model fit would
be improved by moving or deleting items. Items with the highest loadings
on their assigned scale were generally retained, but items considered to
be critical indicators of the construct being measured were kept even if
their statistical properties were not strong (p. 96). Items were added or
dropped from each scale until no further gains could be obtained in
reliability or scale coverage. After each scale was finalized, CSAs were performed for each form using the whole set of scales and their constituent
items. Each item was placed on only one scale but scales were allowed to
intercorrelate. Inspection of MIs at this stage led to dropping a few items
(<10%) due to low loadings on their assigned scale or comparable loadings
on two scales. No RMSEAs are reported in the BASC-2 manual for these
analyses, making it impossible to judge the fit of the model whereby items
were assigned to factors.
Once all the scales were finalized, CSAs were performed testing various versions of the entire BASC-2 model (i.e., items assigned to factors and
factors assigned to composites). These versions differed in the broadband
scales or composites to which some factors were assigned (e.g., Adaptability
assigned to Internalizing vs. Adaptive Skills). As Reynolds and Kamphaus
explain (p. 145), This process was repeated until all substantial improvements to fit were explored. For the final model of each form, the RMSEAs
reported for each BASC-2 form were as follows: PRS = .16 (p. 177); TRS
= .16.17 (p. 145); SRP = .11.12 (p. 209). Although Reynolds and Kamphaus (2004) describe the model fit as only moderate, these RMSEA values are far above the .08 threshold for acceptable fit according to Browne
and Cudek (1993).
As on the ASEBA forms, some BASC-2 scales did not end up on a
broadband scale. Thus, the Atypicality and Withdrawal scales are not part
of the Internalizing, Externalizing, or School Problems scales. Whereas
ASEBA Total Problems score is calculated by summing all problem items
on a form, the Behavioral Symptoms Index on the BASC-2 is calculated
by summing scores from only the following six of the ten problem scales:
Hyperactivity, Aggression, Depression, Attention Problems, Atypicality,
and Withdrawal.
Table 5.2 displays the Cronbach alpha coefficients for all scales on the
PRS and the TRS for the General norm group, with mean alphas calculated
from the alphas provided for four age groups in the BASC-2 manual. Alphas
for composite scales were all .90. Mean alphas for PRS and TRS problem
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LESLIE A. RESCORLA
Table 5.2. Internal Consistency Alpha

Coefficients for BASC-2 PRS and TRS Scales
Scale
Composites
Behavioral Symptoms Index
Intrernalizing Problems
Externalizing Problems
Adaptive Skills
Clinical Scales
Hyperactivity
Aggression
Conduct Problems
Anxiety
Depression
Somatization
Atypicality
Withdrawal
Attention Problems
Learning Problems
Problem Scales mean alpha
Adaptive Scales
Adaptability
Social Skills
Leadership
Activities of Daily Living
Functional Communication
Study Skills
Adaptive Scales mean alpha
Content Scales
Anger Control
Bullying
Developmental Social Disorders
Negative Emotionality
Emotional Self-Control
Executive Functioning
Resiliency
PRS
TRS
.95
.90
.93
.95
.97
.90
.97
.97
.83
.86
.86
.83
.87
.83
.82
.80
.87
.94
.92
.92
.81
.85
.82
.84
.83
.94
.87
.90
.87
.82
.87
.84
.74
.86
.87
.92
.87
.83
.89
.91
.89
.73
.83
.82
.74
.80
.82
.83
.82
.91
.89
.77
.81
.86
.87
Note: each entry represents mean alpha across ages 618, calculated
from the BASC-2 Manual entries for age groups separately
scales were .87 and .90, whereas mean adaptive scale alphas were .83 and
.89. On the SRP, mean alphas were .82 for problem scales and .80 for adaptive scales. These high alphas for BASC-2 scales are to be expected given that
items were shifted following each CSA until no better fit could be achieved.
DIFFERENCES IN SELECTION OF CUTPOINTS

ASEBA
The ASEBA demarcates T = 70 (>97th percentile) as the Clinical range
cutpoint and T = 65 (>93rd percentile) as the Borderline range cutpoint
129
for syndromes and DSM-oriented scales. The downward adjustment from

the 1991 Borderline cutpoint of T = 67 was designed to identify slightly
more children as at risk. The ASEBA cutpoint on the Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems broadband scales is T = 64 (>90th percentile) for
the Clinical range and T = 60 (>84th percentile) for the Borderline range.
ASEBA broadband scales include a larger number of items and hence
reflect more generalized and diverse aspects of functioning than each
narrowband scale. Therefore, cutpoints are less conservative. Cutpoints
for the adaptive/competence scales are reversed, as low scores indicate
poor functioning (<3rd percentile and <7th percentile for Clinical and
Borderline ranges for narrowband scales and <10th percentile and < 16th
percentile for Total Competence/Adaptive).
BASC-2
The BASC-2 uses T = 70 (>97th percentile) as the Clinically Significant
cutpoint and T = 60 (>84th percentile) as the At-Risk cutpoint for narrowband problem scores. Because the 84th percentile cutpoint for the BASC-2
At -Risk range is lower than the 93rd percentile cutpoint for the ASEBA
Borderline range, the BASC-2 tends to identify a larger percentage of children as At-Risk on its narrowband scales than are identified in the Borderline range on the ASEBA. For composite scores (e.g., Behavioral Symptoms
Index, Internalizing, etc.), the 84th percentile BASC-2 At-Risk cutpoint
is similar to the 84th percentile ASEBA Borderline cutpoint, whereas the
97th percentile BASC-2 Clinically Significant cutpoint is higher than the
90th percentile ASEBA Borderline cutpoint. Thus, more children are likely
to be identified as in the Clinical range on ASEBA broadband syndromes
than in the Clinically Significant range on BASC-2 broadband syndromes.
As on the ASEBA, cutpoints for the BASC-2 adaptive scales are the reverse
of those for problem scales.
DIFFERENCES IN VALIDATION PROCEDURES

Both the ASEBA and the BASC-2 manuals report correlations between
their scales and scales from other behavior rating forms, such as the
Conners Rating Scales (Conners, 1997). Each manual also reports correlations between comparable scales on parallel ASEBA/BASC-2 instruments. Table 5.3 displays the rs reported between the CBCL and PRS
and between the TRF and the TRS for scales with comparable names
and constituent items. Comparisons between the YSR and the SRP are
not included in this table, because they have fewer counterpart scales.
As shown in Table 5.3, the rs were comparable in the two studies and
across informants (mean rs of .69 to .73). Of the 60 rs calculated, only
two fell below Cohens (1988) benchmark for large effects of .50, and 26
of the 60 rs were >.60. Thus, these pairs of ASEBA and BASC-2 scales
appear to measure quite similar constructs, indicating strong reciprocal
convergent validity.
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LESLIE A. RESCORLA
Table 5.3. Correlations Between Comparable Scales for the CBCL/PRS and the
TRF/TRS
Scale Pairs
ASEBA manual
BASC-2 manual
Total Problems & Behavioral Symptoms Index

Internalizing
Externalizing
Syndromes/Scales
Anxious/Depressed & Anxiety
Anxious/Depressed & Depression
Withdrawn/Depressed & Withdrawal
Somatic Complaints & Somatization
Attention Problems & Attention Problems
Aggressive Behavior & Aggressive Behavior
DSM-Oriented Scales/Scales
Affective Problems & Depression
Anxiety Problems & Anxiety
Somatic Problems & Somatization
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity & Hyperactivity
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity & Attention Problems
Conduct Problems & Conduct Problems
Mean r
.89 (P), .85 (T)

.83 (P), .75 (T)
.88 (P), .74 (T)
.83 (P), .76 (T)

.75 (P), .74 (T)
.78 (P), .76 (T)
.54
.60
.58
.80
.82
.72
(P),
(P),
(P).
(P),
(P),
(P),
.54
.56
.62
.79
.80
.85
(T)
(T)
(T)
(T)
(T)
(T)
.71
.64
.67
.63
.73
.75
(P),
(P),
(P),
(P),
(P),
(P),
.68
.51
.73
.68
.64
.69
(T)
(T)
(T)
(T)
(T)
(T)
.77
.55
.80
.70
.75
.79
.73
(P),
(P),
(P),
(P).
(P),
(P),
(P),
.48
.46
.78
.81
.67
.84
.70
(T)
(T)
(T)
(T)
(T)
(T)
(T)
.61
.76
.63
.55
.66
.70
.69
(P),
(P),
(P),
(P),
(P),
(P),
(P),
.81
.59
.63
.70
.65
.77
.69
(T)
(T),
(T)
(T)
(T)
(T)
(T)
ASEBA
Since 1983, the ASEBA has been validated by testing the ability of its
problem and competence scales to discriminate between nonreferred children and children referred for mental health or special education services.
Children comprising the nonreferred sample are drawn from the normative sample so as to match the referred sample on age, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES), which is essential because clinical samples are
not demographically representative of the general population. Strong
ability to discriminate between nonreferred and referred children has been
demonstrated for ASEBA forms since their inception (e.g., Achenbach &
Edelbrock, 1983). For the 2001 ASEBA, referred versus nonreferred comparisons were based on samples of N = 3,210 for the CBCL/6-18, N =
3,086 for the TRF, and N = 1,938 for the YSR.
As displayed in the 2001 ASEBA manual, problem T score means were
consistently higher and competence/adaptive T score means were consistently lower for referred than for nonreferred children. The discriminative
validity of the competence and problem scales was tested using multiple
regressions, with referral status, SES, ethnicity, and age as predictors.
Referral status accounted for 36% of the variance for CBCL/6-18 Total
Competence, 28% for YSR Total Competence, and 29% for TRF Total Adaptive, all large ESs based on Cohens (1988) benchmarks (small = 213%,
medium = 1326%, large >26%). For the 17 problem scales of the CBCL,
five ESs were 30% (for DSM-oriented Conduct Problems, Total Problems, Externalizing, Aggressive Behavior, and Attention Problems), and
the smallest ES was 9% (DSM-oriented Somatic Problems). On the TRF,
19 of the 21 referral status ESs were 10%, with the largest ESs for Total
Problems (26%) and Attention problems (22%). Referral status ESs were
131
generally smaller on the YSR, ranging from 5% for DSM-oriented Anxiety

Problems to 17% for Externalizing.
Additionally, all competence/adaptive functioning items and all problem items discriminated significantly (p < .01) between referred and nonreferred children on at least one form and generally on all forms where the
item appeared (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). The item that discriminated
best between referred and nonreferred samples was 103. Unhappy, sad,
and depressed, with referral status ESs of 29% on the CBCL, 15% on the
TRF, and 14% on the YSR. The extremely strong discriminative power for
this item has been found in many samples, both in the United States and
in the Netherlands (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001).
Within each age/gender group, age effects did not exceed chance
expectations. On competence/adaptive functioning scales, the largest ES
for SES was 6% on the TRF Academic Performance scale. SES ESs were
significant but even smaller ( 2%) for 5 of 17 CBCL/6-18 problem scales
and for 15 of 21 TRF problem scales. No SES ESs were significant for the
YSR. With SES controlled, no ESs for ethnicity exceeded chance expectations on the CBC/6-18 or YSR, but a few small ESs (<2%) for ethnicity were
significant on the TRF, with white students obtaining higher scores than
African American students on adaptive functioning items. The small but
significant SES differences on ASEBA scales underscore the importance of
matching referred and nonreferred groups on SES when testing validity.
ASEBA scales have also been validated via categorical analysis. Children in the same matched referred and nonreferred samples were classified with respect to whether their scores on each ASEBA scale were in the
deviant range (Borderline and Clinical ranges combined) versus the normal
range. This classification was used as a risk factor to predict referred
versus nonreferred status, with the outcome expressed as an odds ratio
(OR). As displayed in Table 5.4, children who scored in the deviant range
on CBCL Total Problems were 14 times more likely to be in the referred
group than children who scored in the normal range. It is noteworthy that
the OR was higher for Externalizing than for Internalizing on the CBCL
(12 vs. 8) and that ORs were highest for the CBCL, lowest for the YSR, and
intermediate for the TRF.
BASC-2
The Clinical samples for the BASC-2, which were larger than those
for the original BASC (N = 577 to 799 for ages 6 to 11 and N = 789 to 950
for adolescents), included children with learning disability (LD), ADHD,
speech/language impairment, mental retardation, emotional behavioral/
disturbance, hearing impairment, pervasive developmental disorder, and
other impairments (orthopedic, visual, etc.), as defined by special education disability categories of the IDEA (1997). As noted by Reynolds and
Kamphaus (2004), the Clinical sample was not representative of the U.S.
general population, due to higher concentrations of boys and children from
African American and Hispanic families (p. 125). It is most likely that the
Clinical sample was also of lower SES, given the racial/ethnic differences,
but this was not reported in the BASC-2 manual.
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LESLIE A. RESCORLA
Table 5.4. Odds Ratios (ORs) for Predicting Referral

Status from Deviant Scores on ASEBA Scales
Scale
Broadband Scales
Total Problems
Internalizing
Externalizing
Syndromes
Anxious/Depressed
Withdrawn/Depressed
Somatic Complaints
Social Problems
Thought Problems
Attention Problems
Hyperactivity/Impulsivity Subscale
Rule-Breaking Behavior
Aggressive Behavior
DSM-Oriented Scales
Affective Problems
Anxiety Problems
Somatic Problems
Hyperactive Impulsive Subscale
Oppositional Defiant Problems
Conduct Problems
Competence/Adaptive Scales
Total Competence
Activities
Social
School
Academic Performance
Total Adaptive
CBCL
TRF
YSR
14
8
12
9
5
7
5
4
4
9
10
6
11
12
12
5
4
2
6
6
7
5
5
6
9
5
4
4
4
4
5
6
6
2
6
6
5
7
8
6
3
4
5
12
16
13
8
4
10
13
17
15
8
10
15
4
6
4
6
9
10
6
8
9
Note. N = 3,210 for CBCL, 1,938, and 3,086 TRF equally divided between
referred and nonreferred children matched on age, gender, SES, and race/
ethnicity.
The BASC-2 manual contains many tables and graphs depicting T

scores for the Clinical samples based on norms for the General sample.
T scores are also presented for 10 clinical subgroups (e.g., ADHD, learning disability, bipolar disorder, depression, speech-language impairment,
etc.). For the PRS, Ns for these clinical subgroups ranged from 2 (depression for ages 6 to 11) to 293 (ADHD for adolescents), with Ns < 40 for seven
of the 20 subgroups. For the TRS, Ns for these clinical subgroups ranged
from 7 (bipolar disorder for ages 6 to 11) to 275 (LD for adolescents), with
Ns < 40 for nine of 19 subgroups. For the SRP, Ns for clinical subgroups
ranged from 8 (bipolar disorder for adolescents) to 292 (ADHD for adolescents), with Ns < 40 for nine of 19 subgroups.
133
Children in the Clinical sample generally had lower scores on adaptive

scales and higher scores on problem scales than children in the General
sample, but no adjustments were made for demographic differences between
the two samples. Mean scores in the two groups appeared to differ by .1 to
.8 of a SD across scales and forms. No statistical tests of BASC-2 scores for
the General versus the Clinical samples that would demonstrate discriminative validity are reported in the manual. Mean T scores are also provided
for the different clinical subgroups at each age level, but Ns for many of the
clinical subgroups are too small to provide representative samples.
DIFFERENCES IN NUMBER AND VARIETY OF SCALES

ASEBA
The same eight empirically based syndromes, three broadband scales
(Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems), and six DSM-oriented
scales are scored on the CBCL/6-18, TRF, and YSR. In addition, empirically based and DSM-oriented Inattentive and Hyperactive-Impulsive subscales are scored for the TRF. As described earlier, four new scales were
added in 2007. The YSR Positive Qualities was already described, but the
new Obsessive-Compulsive Problems (OCP), Posttraumatic Stress Problems
(PTSP), and Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) scales are described next.
Using 11 CBCL items reflecting symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Nelson, Hanna, Hudziak, Botteron, Heath, and Todd (2001)
conducted PFA with three demographically matched groups (children diagnosed with OCD, clinically referred without OCD, and nonreferred children from the 1991 CBCL national normative sample, total N = 218). Eight
of the 11 items had large loadings (.49 to .70) on the first principal factor
(e.g., 9. Cant get his/her mind off certain thoughts; obsessions (describe);
31. Fears he/she might think or do something bad; 32. Feels he/she has to
be perfect; 66. Repeats certain acts over and over; compulsions (describe).
This 8-item OCP scale yielded high sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value for discriminating between the
OCD group and the other groups. Similar findings were reported by Geller
et al. (2006) using the same three-group design with another sample. In
samples of thousands of Dutch and American 7- to 12-year-old twins,
Hudziak et al. (2004) found that genetic factors accounted for about 55%
of the variance in scores on the 8-item OCP scale, whereas nonshared
environmental factors accounted for about 45%.
Wolfe, Gentile, and Wolfe (1989) identified 20 CBCL items corresponding to diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Parents
of two groups of sexually abused Canadian children endorsed these items
much more frequently than parents in the CBCL normative sample (Wolfe
& Birt, 1997; Wolfe et al., 1989). The 20 CBCL items identified by Wolfe
et al. (1989) were further analyzed by Ruggerio and McLeer (2000) in U.S.
samples of sexually abused children, children who were receiving outpatient
psychiatric services, and children recruited from schools. Significant rs were
found with the number of posttraumatic stress symptoms reported during
134
LESLIE A. RESCORLA
diagnostic interviews or significant discrimination was obtained between

abused children who did or did not meet criteria for PTSD for 14 items (e.g.,
9. Cant get his/her mind off certain thoughts; obsessions (describe); 31. Fears
he/she might think or do something bad; 47. Nightmares; 50. Too fearful or
anxious; 52. Feels too guilty; 69. Secretive, keeps things to self). Therefore,
these 14 items were chosen to comprise the ASEBA PTSP scale. Wolfe and
Birt (2006) found that this scale discriminated well between sexually abused
and nonabused community children, but not between sexually abused children and nonsexually abused children in the care of child protection agencies when effects of SES, physical abuse, and neglect were controlled.
Using factor analysis of various problem items, Lahey et al. (1988)
obtained a factor comprising sluggishness, drowsiness, and daydreaming that they labeled Sluggish Tempo. Subsequent research has shown
that what is now called Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) problems are
associated with the Inattentive type of ADHD. Based on TRF ratings of
2,744 mostly Hispanic students, Carlson and Mann (2002) identified five
TRF items for measuring SCT: 13. Confused or seems to be in a fog; 17.
Daydreams or gets lost in his/her thoughts; 60. Apathetic or unmotivated;
80. Stares blankly; and 102. Underactive, slow moving, or lacks energy.
Students rated by teachers as ADHD Inattentive type who also had high
scores on the TRF SCT items differed significantly on several other TRF
scales from ADHD Inattentive type children with low scores on SCT.
In a study of 6- to 11-year-olds attending elementary schools in San
Juan, Puerto Rico, Bauermeister et al. (2005) compared three groups:
Combined ADHD, Inattentive type ADHD, and non-ADHD. SCT was measured with the five TRF items identified by Carlson and Mann (2002) and
the four counterparts of these items on the CBCL (which lacks TRF item
60. Apathetic or unmotivated is omitted). The ADHD Inattentive children
scored significantly higher than both the ADHD Combined group and the
non-ADHD group on the SCT scale.
BASC-2
The BASC-2 features 10 new content scales developed using a rational
and empirical approach to supplement interpretation of the PRS, TRS,
and SRP (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004). The content scales are scored
from the same item pools as the BASC-2 primary scales. Only the ASSIST
Plus software program for the BASC-2 (vs. the more basic scoring program) includes the utility to generate scores for content scales.
The seven PRS and TRS content scales include: Anger Control, which
measures the tendency to become angry and to lack self-control of emotion; Bullying, which measures the tendency to be cruel and threatening;
Developmental Social Disorders, which measures the tendency to show
deficits in social skills, communication, interests, and activities; Negative
Emotionality, which measures the tendency to react in an overly negative
way to changes in routine; Emotional Self-Control, which measures the
ability to regulate affect in response to environmental events; Executive
Functioning, which measures the ability to plan, anticipate, inhibit, and
maintain goal-directed activity; and Resiliency, which measures the ability to access internal and external support systems to relieve stress and
135
overcome difficulties. Anger Control plus three additional content scales

are provided for the SRP: Ego Strength, which measures emotional competence, self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-identity; Mania, which
measures the tendency toward extended periods of arousal, activity, and
alertness; and Test Anxiety, which measures the tendency to worry about
taking tests.
Reynolds and Kamphaus (2004) first decided what clinically relevant
areas of content should be captured by the new scales and then determined
if additional BASC-2 items were needed for these scales. The item composition of each scale was refined by examining rs among items. Content scale
alpha reliabilities for genders combined for ages 6 to 18 in the General
norms sample ranged from .70 to .85 on the PRS, from .74 to .92 on the
TRS, and from .67 to .87 on the SRP. The BASC-2 manual does not present
any research findings validating the new content scales against other scales
measuring the same constructs or using relevant clinical groups.
DIFFERENCES IN APPROACH TO HANDLING

POSSIBLE INFORMANT BIAS
ASEBA
According to Achenbach and Rescorla (2001), informants ratings may
be affected by many factors, including motivation, carefulness, candor,
past experience, values, and goals. Even when each informant is motivated to respond as honestly and conscientiously as possible, their ratings
are likely to differ because each informant interacts with the child in a
different context or in a different way. For this reason, the ASEBA underscores the importance of systematically comparing reports from multiple
informants to identify both agreements and disagreements.
As long as an informant does not leave more than eight problem items
unscored, the ASEBA form is considered valid from the point of view of
computing scores. If an informant rates problems much lower than other
informants, this may suggest that the informant is denying problems, unaware
of problems, or trying to minimize problems. Conversely, if an informant
rates problems much higher than other informants, this may suggest that
the informant is trying to exaggerate problems or has a very low threshold
for what constitutes a problem. However, discrepant scores may also be
clinically meaningful and important. For example, if a fathers CBCL indicates many more problems for an adolescent than the mothers CBCL, three
TRFs, and the YSR, then it may be that the adolescents interactions with
the father are much more troubled than his interactions with other adults.
Similarly, one teachers ratings may be much lower than ratings by several
other teachers because the target child has a particularly good relationship
with that teacher or a special affinity in that teachers class.
In addition to believing that informant differences are best examined
through cross-informant comparisons, the authors of the ASEBA chose not
to include validity scales because research has raised questions about their
value. For example, Peidmont, McCrae, Riemann, and Angleitner (2000)
found higher correlations between scores on two personality inventories,
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LESLIE A. RESCORLA
higher correlations with observer reports, and comparable differentiation

of aberrant and normal personality for participants whose scores were
flagged as less valid versus valid on validity scales.
BASC-2
Unlike the ASEBA, both the BASC and the BASC-2 contain a variety
of validity scales to deal with possible informant bias. The BASC-2 PRS,
TRS, and SRP each include an F Index, a Consistency Index (CI), and a
Response Pattern Index (RPI); the SRP also includes a Lie Index and a V
Index. The only one of these fives scales for which the BASC-2 manual
provides validation data is the CI.
The F (fake bad) index, designed to flag informants who may be
excessively negative, is a scale of 20 items (15 on the SRP) that were
endorsed by < 3% of respondents. It is scored by summing the problem
items on the scale rated as Almost always plus the positive items rated as
Never. Caution cutpoints are set at the 95th to 98th percentile across forms
and age groups, whereas the Extreme caution cutpoints are at about the
99th percentile across forms and age groups. The CI, designed to identify
random responding, is comprised of 20 pairs of contradictory items. High
CI scores indicate that an informant has responded inconsistently to items
measuring essentially the same content. To test validity of the CI, a series
of random datasets were computer generated. Using CI index scores in the
Caution or Extreme Caution range, about 66% of the cases with computergenerated random responses were identified. The RPI, designed to identify
forms on which the respondent was inattentive to the item content, is
the sum of the number of times a response differs from the response to the
previous item. Caution-High and Caution-Low ranges were set at the .5th
percentile and the 99.5th percentiles, approximately.
The SRP L index is obtained by summing the number of times the
child responded True or Almost Always to an unrealistically positive item
plus the number of times the child responded False or Never to a mildly
negative statement endorsed by most children. Caution cutpoints are at
about the 9th and 5th percentiles for children and adolescents, respectively, whereas Extreme Caution cutpoints are at the 1st percentile for both
age groups. Finally, the SRP also has a V Index, designed to flag forms on
which the child or adolescent endorsed nonsensical items.
DIFFERENCES IN PROCEDURES FOR

CROSS-INFORMANT COMPARISONS
ASEBA
Because informants typically have different perspectives on a childs
problems, the ASEBA considers systematic cross-informant comparisons
to be essential for comprehensive assessment. Meta-analyses of many
studies of various assessment instruments have yielded a mean correlation
of .60 between reports of childrens problems by pairs of informants who
137
play similar roles in relation to children, including pairs of parents, teachers, mental health workers, and observers (Achenbach, McConaughy, &
Howell, 1987). The mean correlation was .28 between reports by informants who play different roles in relation to children, such as parents versus
teachers versus mental health workers. Between childrens self-reports
and reports by adults, the mean correlation was .22. Although all these
correlations were statistically significant, their modest magnitude indicates that no one informant can substitute for all others.
The ASEBA software provides three ways to quickly compare data
obtained from different informants. First, the ASEBA software prints Q
correlations between each pair of informants ratings for problem items, as
well as the 25th percentile, mean, and 75th percentile Q correlations found
in large reference samples for similar informant pairs. Second, the ASEBA
software prints a bar graph for each of the 17 problem scales common to
the CBCL/6-18, TRF, and YSR scale showing the T scores obtained from
ratings by up to eight informants. The bar graphs enable the clinician to
quickly identify how children and adolescents function in different contexts
and how they are perceived by different informants. Third, the software
prints side-by-side comparisons of the 012 ratings obtained from each
informant on each problem item of each scale, enabling the clinician to
quickly identify items that are endorsed by all, some, or no informants.
BASC-2
The original BASC did not provide cross-informant scoring options. It was
therefore necessary for users to visually compare profiles or tables of scores
printed for different informants. However, the BASC-2 scoring program prints
a Multi-Rater T Score Profile which superimposes on a single graph the
profile obtained from each parent and teacher respondent (up to a maximum
for five raters). Because the scales for the SRP are different, this output does
not allow simultaneous display of PRS, TRS, and SRP profiles. When profiles
are displayed for more than three informants, the overlapping graphs are
somewhat difficult to decipher, making the table under the figure listing the T
scores and percentiles for each informant on each scale especially useful. The
multi-informant utility also provides correlations between pairs of raters and
indicates which differences between informants are significant at p < .05.
DIFFERENCES IN PROCEDURES FOR OBTAINING

A GENERAL POPULATION SAMPLE
ASEBA
The general population sample used to norm the 2001 ASEBA was
recruited in 1999 and 2000 using multistage national probability sampling, which ensures that all individuals in the target population have
similar probabilities of being selected. First, Listing Areas of about 150
households were randomly selected in 100 sites that were collectively representative of the 48 contiguous states with respect to region, ethnicity,
138
LESLIE A. RESCORLA
SES, and urbanicity. Eligible participants were then identified by interviewers who went door-to-door to all households in a listing area to determine the age, gender, and eligibility of residents. From the residents thus
identified, a stratified random sampling procedure was used to select
candidates for the survey.
Once eligible participants had been selected, a trained interviewer
then contacted the candidate interviewees. A parent was initially administered the CBCL/6-18. With parental consent, TRFs were sent to teachers
and the YSR was administered to 11- to 18-year-olds. Parent interviewees
were also asked whether their child had received mental health, substance abuse, or special education services in the preceding 12 months.
To create nonclinical normative samples (called healthy samples in epidemiology), ASEBA forms for children who had received services in the
preceding 12 months were excluded from the samples used to norm the
ASEBA scales.
The ASEBA manual reports completion rates, namely the percentage of parents, teachers, and youths invited to participate who actually completed the CBCL/6-18, TRF, or YSR (Achenbach & Rescorla,
2001). High completion rates are very important because they help
guard against selection biases. Without knowing the completion rate, it
is impossible to evaluate how representative a sample is. For ages 6 to
18, 93% of the selected parents completed the CBCL/6-18. YSRs were
completed by 96% of the 11- to 18-year-olds whose parents completed
the CBCL/6-18. After 14% of the CBCL sample and 15% of the YSR
sample had been excluded because they had received services in the
past year, the Ns for the final normative samples were 1,753 for the
CBCL and 1,057 for the YSR.
The completion rate was lower for the TRF than for the CBCL and
YSR, possibly owing to the need to mail TRFs to teachers. Completed
TRFs were received for 72% of the children whose parents gave consent for the TRF (N = 1,128). Of this group, 152 children (14%) were
excluded from the normative sample because they had received services in the past year. Because the resulting N = 976 would have been
somewhat small, the feasibility of including TRF data from the 1989
TRF national normative sample (completion rate = 76%) was tested
statistically. When mean scores on adaptive functioning and problems
were compared for 1989 and 1999, no differences exceeded chance
expectations (p < .01). Consequently, 1,343 TRFs from the 1989 sample were added to the 976 from the 19992000 sample, yielding a
normative sample of 2,319. The CBCL, TRF, and YSR samples all corresponded very well with U.S. Census parameters. The samples comprised 44% boys for the CBCL/6-18, 48% boys for the TRF, and 52%
boys for the YSR. Across forms, SES based on parents occupations
was 3238% upper class, 4653% middle class, and 16% lower class.
For the CBCL/6-18 and YSR, ethnicity was 60% white, 20% African
American. 89% Latino, and 1112% mixed or other; for the TRF, ethnicity was 72% white, 14% African American, and 7% in each of the
other two categories.
139
BASC-2
A total of 375 sites in 40 states were used to collect the General
sample and Clinical sample. Rather than using probability-based sampling
of households, the BASC-2 recruited its general population sample through
schools. Site coordinators were hired to recruit teachers for participation in
the project. Once a teacher consented to participate, parents of all the children in that class received a background information form and a consent
form. Teachers typically completed forms for no more than four children in
a class, but PRS forms were initially sent to all parents who consented and
SRP forms were initially administered to all children whose parents consented. As the data collection proceeded from 2002 to 2004, PRS and SRP
forms were only obtained from participants needed to fill certain demographic cells, as defined by age, gender, SES, ethnicity, and region. The data
collection continued until the targets for all cells had been reached.
This approach to sampling is sometimes referred to as poststratification. That is, once the data have been collected, participants are selected
from all those providing data so as to match U.S. census parameters.
Because poststratification was used, the BASC-2 General normative sample had exactly even numbers of children in each age/gender group
(e.g., 600 children age 6 to 7, 50% of whom were boys) and closely matched
U.S. Census parameters. Across all ages and forms, 6066% of the sample
was white, 1520% of the sample was African American, and 1620% was
Hispanic. SES was measured by mothers education level, with the breakdown 1416% < 11th grade, 3134% high school graduates, 2932% some
post-high school education, and 2224% four or more years of college.
The BASC-2 manual does not provide any information on completion
rates. It is therefore impossible to know how representative the sample
was of the participating school classes. Furthermore, no data are provided
on how many teachers invited to participate declined, how many parents
invited to give consent declined, how many parents who gave consent
actually completed forms, or how many children whose parents provided
consent completed the SRP.
DIFFERENCES IN CHOICE OF NORM GROUPS

ASEBA
As noted previously, ASEBA norms are based on the scores obtained
by children from the general population sample who had not received mental health, substance abuse, or special education services in the past year.
For the CBCL and TRF, separate norms are provided by gender for ages
6 to 11 and 12 to 18. YSR norms for ages 11 to 18 are provided by gender. Age differences within the broad age groups are not sufficient to warrant norms for narrower age bands. The rationale for the ASEBA norms is
that the most appropriate and useful comparison group for a given childs
scores consists of a large sample of healthy children of the same gender
and age group in a national probability sample.
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LESLIE A. RESCORLA
BASC-2
BASC-2 General norms and Clinical norms are available for both
genders combined and for each gender separately. The age ranges for all
norm sets are 6 to 7, 8 to 11, 12 to 14, and 15 to 18. Although the General
norm group was recruited through general education classrooms, 17.4 to
23.3% of the children had been classified through their schools as having
learning, behavioral, developmental, or other problems qualifying them for
special education services (p. 121). Thus, unlike the ASEBA, the BASC-2
General norm group is not restricted to healthy children. In addition to
providing norms for the full Clinical sample, the BASC-2 provides norms
separately for LD (N = 471) and ADHD (N = 483) subgroups at both the
child and adolescent levels.
Reynolds and Kamphaus (2004) state that the General combinedsex norms will be the preferred norms, and they are recommended for
general use (p. 13). Their explanation is that the combined norms reflect
the fact that boys typically obtain higher scores for certain scales (e.g.,
Aggression), whereas girls typically obtain higher scores for other scales
(e.g., Social Skills). The combined norms indicate how commonly a score
was obtained by children of the same age regardless of gender, whereas
the gender-specific norms indicate how commonly a score was obtained
by children of the same age and gender. The combined norms have the
tendency to make a childs score more deviant on a scale typical for that
childs gender but less deviant on a scale atypical for that childs gender.
For example, on the TRS Aggression scale, the combined norms yield T = 70
for a raw score of 12, which is more deviant than a boy would score using
male norms (T = 66) but less deviant than a girls would score using female
norms (T = 77).
DIFFERENCES IN RESEARCH BASE

ASEBA
Over the past three decades, many empirical studies using ASEBA
forms have been published. The Bibliography of Published Studies Using
ASEBA Instruments (Brub & Achenbach, 2008) lists references for over
6,500 publications from 67 cultures by over 8,000 authors. References
are listed according to some 450 topics (e.g., ADHD, Learning Disability, Conduct Disorder, Anxiety, Depression, Drug Studies, Outcomes, and
Substance Abuse).
Numerous studies have reported significant associations between
ASEBA scales and psychiatric diagnoses (e.g., Edelbrock & Costello, 1988;
Kasius, Ferdinand, van den Berg, & Verhulst, 1997). In an outpatient clinic
sample, CBCL/6-18 empirically based problem scales correlated from .49
to .80 (mean r = .62; N = 65) with scores on a checklist of DSM-IV criteria
(Hudziak, 1998) and correlated from .27 to .53 (mean point biserial r = .39;
N = 134) with DSM-IV diagnoses recorded in the childrens clinic records
(Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001).
141
ASEBA scales have also been widely used in cluster analytic and latent
class analytic studies. Using cluster analysis of CBCL syndrome profiles,
Edelbrock and Achenbach (1980) identified and replicated six profile types
for boys and seven for girls. Compared to children with other profile types,
children with the Hyperactive profile type had significantly lower scores
on the CBCL School scale and children with the Aggressive-Cruel profile type had significantly lower scores on the CBCL Social scale. More
recent studies have used latent class analysis with sets of ASEBA items.
For example, Hudziak, Wadsworth, Heath, and Achenbach (1999) compared
assignment to one of four latent classes derived from the CBCL Attention Problems scale for children in demographically matched referred and
nonreferred samples (N = 2,100 per sample). In the nonreferred sample,
84% to 90% fell into the none or mild classes, whereas in the referred
sample 74% to 83% fell into the moderate or severe classes.
A rapidly growing research area involves use of ASEBA scales as phenotypic markers in genetic studies. For example, the Aggressive Behavior
syndrome has yielded high heritability estimates in many studies (e.g., 53%
to 75% in Eley, Lichtenstein, & Stevenson, J. (1999) ) and has significant
associations with serotonergic activity (Hanna, Yuwiler, & Coates, 1995),
dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH) levels (Gabel, Stadler, Bjorn, Shindledecker, & Bowden, 1993), and testosterone (Scerbo & Kolko, 1994). In 1,481
Dutch twin pairs examined from ages 3 to 12 (Bartels et al., 2004), heritability for Internalizing scores decreased with age, whereas heritability
for Externalizing changed less with age and was somewhat greater for
boys than girls at most ages. In 2,192 Dutch twin pairs, heritability for
Attention Problems was very high for all age/gender groups (70% to 74%)
and accounted for most of the variance in longitudinal stability (Rietveld,
Hudziak, Bartels, Beijsterveldt, & Boomsma, 2004).
ASEBA scales have been used extensively in longitudinal research. For
example, parallel studies of representative samples of thousands of American and Dutch children have yielded large correlations between syndrome
scores obtained at intervals of six years (Achenbach, Howell, McConaughy,
& Stanger, 1995; Verhulst & van der Ende, 1992). Child and adolescent
ASEBA scores also predicted adult substance abuse, trouble with the law,
suicidal behavior, and referral for mental health services (Achenbach, Howell,
McConaughy, & Stanger, 1998; Ferdinand & Verhulst, 1995). A Dutch
longitudinal study that spanned 14 years showed that childhood scores
on the Anxious/Depressed, Thought Problems, and Delinquent Behavior
(Rule-Breaking Behavior) syndrome scales were exceptionally good predictors of adult problems, including DSM-IV diagnoses (Hofstra, van der
Ende, & Verhulst, 2002).
BASC-2
In part because the BASC was first published only in 1992, fewer
research studies have been published than for the ASEBA. At the time of
publication of the BASC-2, the original BASC had been used in some 125
studies (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004; p. 10). Fewer than 50 published
empirical articles are listed in the BASC/BASC-2 Research Bibliography
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LESLIE A. RESCORLA
(http://ags.pearsonassessments.com/psych/bib.asp), with most of the

references being dissertation abstracts, conference presentations, reviews
of the BASC, or overview chapters on child assessment measures. Reynolds
and Kamphaus (2002) provide useful summaries of numerous research
studies using the BASC.
Several studies have used the BASC with children diagnosed with
ADHD. For example, Manning and Miller (2001) reported that children with
ADHD had significantly higher scores than control children on numerous
PRS and TRS scales, although their scores on many scales fell below the
At-Risk cutpoint. Using a sample of 301 children identified through a
large school sample, Ostrander, Weinfurt, Yarnold, and August (1998)
found that the PRS was more efficient than the CBCL at differentiating
children with and without ADHD and for identifying the ADHD-Combined
subtype, whereas the CBCL was more efficient in identifying ADHD-Inattentive students. Doyle, Ostrander, Skare, Crosby, and August (1997) and
Vaughn, Riccio, Hynd, and Hall (1997) found that the BASC and the CBCL
were roughly equivalent in identifying Combined type ADHD, but Vaughn
et al. found that the BASC was better at identifying Inattentive type ADHD.
Sullivan and Riccio (2006) reported data for an 18-item BASC scale they
described as tapping frontal lobe/executive functioning (FLEC). Children
with ADHD and children with other diagnoses had higher FLEC scores
than controls, but the ADHD and non-ADHD groups did not differ from
each other.
Cluster analytic studies of scales on the TRS (Kamphaus, Huberty,
DiStefano, & Petolsky, 1997) and PRS (Kamphaus et al., 1999) have
yielded seven and nine clusters, respectively. As noted by Kamphaus
et al. (1999), many of the clusters resembled those found using the CBCL
(e.g., children with good adjustment, children with primarily internalizing
problems, children with high levels of problems across most scales, children with attention problems, and so forth). DiStefano, Kamphaus, Horne,
and Winsor (2003) replicated the seven TRS clusters in two independent
samples of children.
Several studies have examined BASC scores in children with medical
problems, such as survivors of childhood leukemia. For example, Shelby,
Nagle, Barnett-Queen, Quattlebaum, and Wuori (1998) reported that
childhood survivors did not differ on the PRS from the normative sample,
whereas adolescent survivors had significantly higher BASC scores (e.g.,
38% scored in the At-Risk range on the Behavioral Symptoms Index).
DIFFERENCES IN MULTICULTURAL APPLICATIONS

ASEBA
ASEBA instruments have been translated into over 85 foreign languages. Users can order Spanish versions of the CBCL/6-18, TRF, and YSR,
and other translations are available by contacting ASEBA (www.ASEBA.
org). More than 1,800 cross-culturally relevant ASEBA studies have been
published from over 67 countries (Brub & Achenbach, 2008). Some of
143
this research is summarized in Multicultural Understanding of Child and

Adolescent Psychopathology: Implications for Mental Health Assessment
(Achenbach & Rescorla, 2007b).
Many early cross-cultural studies reported rigorous statistical comparisons of ASEBA item and scale scores in large epidemiological samples
for another culture vis--vis the United States (e.g., Lambert, Lyubansky,
& Achenbach, 1998). Crijnen, Achenbach, and Verhulst (1997) pioneered
a new approach to multicultural research when they compared 12 cultures on CBCL Total Problems, Externalizing, and Internalizing scores.
Later studies compared CBCL syndrome scores in the same 12 cultures
(Crijnen, Achenbach, & Verhulst, 1999) and YSR scores in seven cultures
(Verhulst et al., 2003).
More recently, Rescorla et al. (2007a,b,c) analyzed scale scores, item
scores, and age and gender differences on CBCLs from 31 societies (N =
55,508), TRFs from 21 societies (N = 30,957), and YSRs from 24 societies
(N = 27,206). Effects of society were significant for most problem scales,
but ESs were generally <10%. There was much greater variation in
scores within societies than between societies. Furthermore, many societies differing in geographical region, ethnicity, religion, and political/
economic system had very similar scores, and most societies had mean
scores close to the overall mean for all societies. Correlations between all
pairs of societies for mean item scores indicated a great degree of consistency across societies with respect to which items tended to receive
high, medium, and low ratings. There was also great consistency across
societies in some striking patterns of gender differences. For example,
boys obtained significantly higher Attention Problems scores than girls
on the TRF and CBCL in almost every society, but not in any society on
the YSR.
In a parallel set of studies using the same datasets, Ivanova et al.
(2007a,b,c) tested the ASEBA syndrome model in each society using CFA.
RMSEAs within the range for acceptable to good fit were obtained for every
society for every form. In addition, most items loaded significantly on their
predicted factors for most societies. Thus, the empirically based syndrome
model derived from data collected in the United States, Britain, and Australia showed good fit to data collected using ASEBA forms in societies as
different as Iran, Germany, Ethiopia, Iceland, Japan, Poland, the Netherlands, China, Turkey, and Italy.
With publication of ADM with Multicultural Options (Achenbach &
Rescorla, 2007a), ASEBA users can choose to have a childs profile displayed in relation to norms from low-scoring, intermediate-scoring, or highscoring societies. For example, ASEBA scale scores for an immigrant child
can be displayed in relation to one set of norms that includes the childs
home culture and in relation to a different set of norms that includes the
host culture where the child resides.
BASC-2
A few published studies have reported BASC scores for children from other
societies. For example, when Zhou, Peverly, Xin, Huang, and Wang (2003)
144
LESLIE A. RESCORLA
compared SRP scores for Chinese American adolescents in New York City
(N = 106), Mainland Chinese students (N = 120), and European American
students (N = 131), they found that Chinese American students had the
most negative attitudes toward school, teachers, and their own learning.
Jung and Stinnett (2005), who compared BASC SRP and PRS scores for
120 Korean, Korean American, and Caucasian American children ages 8
to 11, reported that Korean children had higher Internalizing scores than
American children and that Korean American children had more adjustment difficulties. Cho, Hudley, and Back (2003), who used the SRP with
51 Korean American adolescents, reported elevated social and emotional
distress relative to norms.
Chapter 16 of the BASC-2 manual describes the development of the
Spanish versions of the forms and presents tables regarding the Spanish-form samples, alphas, and correlations among scales. Although the
manual does not report any empirical studies using the Spanish versions,
McCloskey, Hess, and DAmato (2003) compared PRS scores for 55 Hispanic children with scores from the normative sample. Some differences in
associations were found for four scales on the Behavioral Symptom Index
as well as for the Adaptive Composite.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

The ASEBA and the BASC-2 both provide comprehensive systems for
assessing behavioral and emotional problems and positive functioning in
children and adolescents from the perspectives of parents, teacher, and
children themselves. Both systems report scores for items, narrowband
scales, and broadband scales. Furthermore, both systems report good
testretest reliability and were normed on large samples demographically
representative of the U.S. population. Both systems also report scores for
clinical samples.
Despite the many similarities between the ASEBA and the BASC-2,
they also differ in the following ways. (a) The ASEBA separates problem
items and adaptive/competence items and uses a 3-level problem rating
scale, whereas the BASC-2 mixes these two kinds of items and uses a
4-level scale; (b) the ASEBA assesses competence in the areas of activities, social relationships, and school functioning, whereas the BASC-2
has more adaptive scales and uses descriptors of positive behaviors; (c)
ASEBA syndrome scales were derived by factor analysis and DSM-oriented
scales were constructed using expert judgment, whereas BASC-2 scales
were constructed based on a combination of author judgment and statistical refining; (d) because some cutpoints differ between the ASEBA and
the BASC, the BASC-2 is likely to identify more children as At-Risk on
narrowband scales than the ASEBA identifies as Borderline, whereas the
ASEBA is likely to identify more children in the Clinical range on broadband scales than the BASC-2 identifies as Clinically Significant; (e) the
ASEBA manual reports extensive validation procedures involving differentiation of referred from nonreferred children, whereas the BASC-2
presents scores for both General and Clinical groups but does not report
145
any statistical tests of these differences; (f) the ASEBA has 17 problem
scales common to all forms, plus four new scales on some forms, whereas
the BASC-2 has few scales common to the PRS/TRS and the SRP and has
10 new content scales; (g) the ASEBA addresses possible informant bias
using cross-informant comparisons, whereas the BASC-2 employs several
validity scales, only one of which is itself validated; (h) the ASEBA yields
cross-informant bar graphs for up to eight informants on the 17 scales
common to all three forms, tables of ratings by all informants on all items,
and correlations between all pairs of raters, whereas the BASC-2 yields
overlapping profiles for up to five informants on the PRS and SRP, tables
with scores for all informants, and correlations between pairs of informants; (i) the ASEBA recruited its normative sample using probability sampling and reported completion rates that are very high for the CBCL and
YSR and moderate for the TRF, whereas the BASC-2 recruited its General
sample through schools, used poststratification, and reported no completion rates; (j) ASEBA norms are based on a healthy sample and separated
by gender and age group, whereas BASC-2 norms for both General and
Clinical samples are provided with genders pooled and genders separated;
(k) More than 6,500 research studies report use of ASEBA forms, whereas
fewer than 50 studies report use of BASC and BASC-2 forms; and (l) more
than 1,800 studies report ASEBA findings from other cultures, allowing
development of multicultural scoring norms, whereas only a few international studies have been published using the BASC.
Awareness of these differences is important for trainers in clinical and
school psychology as well as for experts in test construction and psychometrics. However, the many differences between the ASEBA and the BASC-2
may vary in their importance depending on the needs and preferences of different users. For example, the ASEBAs strong research base, empirical derivation of syndromes, probability sampling with high completion rates, and
extensive validation may be particularly important features for some users.
Conversely, the BASC-2s mix of problem and positive items, approach to
measuring adaptive functioning, validity scales, and content scales may be
particularly attractive features for other users. Practitioners who assess children and adolescents should consider which differences are most relevant
to their needs as they decide on which of the two systems is best for their
professional use.
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6
Neuropsychological
Disorders of Children
WM. DREW GOUVIER, AUDREY
BAUMEISTER, and KOLA IJAOLA
There is one fundamental axiom that governs the practice of neuropsychological assessment of children. That is that they are not little adults. Every
aspect of the evaluation process must be changed to adapt to this fact. A special
set of adapted techniques must be used to get background history and clarify
the referral question; different strategies are needed to build rapport and maintain cooperation throughout the evaluation; the interpretation of assessment
results is modulated by principles of dynamic localization (Vygotsky, 1960) and
neuroplasticity (Stein, Brailowsky, & Will, 1995), and the reporting and communication of results is invariably a multiparty process quite different from a
typical doctorpatient consultation (Ryan, Hammond, & Beers, 1998).
There are a variety of reasons why a child might be referred to a neuropsychologist for an assessment. These include examining the impact of congenital neurodevelopmental disorders, determining the effects of acquired
injuries and tracking their recovery, or simply to better understand current
learning and behavior issues and to understand how to best remediate them
or mitigate their deleterious influences (Baron, 2004). This is particularly true
for children who are experiencing academic problems in school or behavioral
problems due to ADHD, learning disorders, or other conditions that place
them neuropsychologically at risk. Neuropsychological assessments are
requested by parents, teachers, counselors, and medical professionals when
a child is noted to be developmentally off track in terms of cognitive, sensory,
or motor development, and typically include but go beyond the normal rating
scale assessment by others for social and behavioral problems, and the more
comprehensive individually administered psychoeducational evaluation
conducted for circumscribed academic problems.
WM. DREW GOUVIER, AUDREY BAUMEISTER, and KOLA IJAOLA
logy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803.
Department of Psycho-

151
152
WM. DREW GOUVIER et al.
It should be clear, therefore, that not all problems assessed by a

neuropsychologist are necessarily neurological in nature. For example, in
the conduct of a psychoeducational examination, it is incumbent on the
psychologist to establish which of several possible reasons account for the
question of why Johnny cant read? Possible answers include poor schooling,
poor general health, specific health conditions such as strabismus or nystagmus, poor attentional abilities, focal learning disability, low intellect, poor
memory, low motivation or apathy, comorbid psychiatric problems, or even
effortful motivation to appear impaired. Any of these vectors could result in
the behavioral presentation of impaired reading, even though many have
nothing to do with the neurological pathways involved in reading per se.
There are numerous journals and scholarly textbooks that address
the field of pediatric neuropsychology, and it is a field far too broad to be
represented in any single chapter. The reader is referred to several excellent recent texts that provide a more thorough introduction and review
of the field than is possible here. These include Rourke, van der Vlugt,
and Rourkes (2002) Practice of Child Clinical Neuropsychology: An Introduction, Barons (2004) Neuropsychological Evaluation of the Child, and
the edited volumes by Segalowitz and Rapin (2003) entitled Handbook of
Neuropsychology (2nd ed.). Volume 8: Child Neuropsychology, Parts I and
II. Also noteworthy are the edited volumes by Farmer, Warschausky, and
Donders (2006) Treating Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Clinical Research
and Practice and Hunter and Donders (2007) Pediatric Neuropsychological
Intervention, and the lifespan developmental perspective offered in Goldstein and Reynolds (2005) edited Handbook of Neurodevelopmental and
Genetic Disorders in Adults. Given the immensity of the field, the present
chapter limits its focus to identifying and reviewing some of the more common sources of neuropsychological dysfunction in children.
DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

Speech and Language
Language impairment has been cited as one of the most frequent
reasons for outpatient neuropsychological evaluation of children (Baron,
2004). Language is a broad construct referring to the communication of
meaningful symbols (Benson & Ardila, 1996) whereas speech is a more limited subset involving the mechanical aspect of oral communication (Baron,
2004). Analysis of language behavior can provide a window for establishing the presence of a variety of psychological disorders. When considering
the autistic spectrum, for example, a child with comprehension deficits,
language formulation deficits, but relatively intact single-word production
may fit the profile of childhood autism, whereas the presence and utilization of the prosodic component of speech along with pragmatic language
may be more indicative of a child with Aspergers syndrome.
It is noteworthy that the DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000) lists only two types of
formal developmental language disorders. There is the expressive language
disorder and the mixed receptive/expressive language disorder. Following
NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS OF CHILDREN
153
the logic of the computer programmers dictum garbage in, garbage out
there is no stand-alone receptive language disorder. Thus, the appearance
of an isolated receptive language problem in a child mandates a search for
an acquired rather than developmental etiology.
The speech and language portion of a neuropsychological evaluation
typically includes assessment of the following: conversational fluency, phonological processing, generative fluency, comprehension, repetition, naming,
reading, writing, spelling, calculation, and oral motor praxis. The following
may be evaluated through general conversation: fluency and fluidity of word
usage, articulation and clarity, rate, rhythm, intonation, grammar, syntax,
level of vocabulary, length or utterance, and comprehension. Paraphasia
(production of unintended syllables, words, or phrases during the effort
to speak) is rarely observed in childhood, whereas impaired word finding
(dysnomia), dyscalculia, and impaired written formation is more common
among children. Shyness, stranger anxiety, and elective mutism must be
ruled out as possible confounds (Baron, 2004).
In brain injured children, aphasia may be prominent in acute stages,
but typically resolves into a subtle deficit, whereas visuospatial functions
appear more vulnerable to lasting deficit (Marsh & Whitehead, 2005).
The relatively quicker recovery of acquired language deficits in children
is taken as evidence supporting the notion of greater cerebral plasticity at
early ages. Flight of function to the nonaffected hemisphere is often seen
in children under age 5, who after receiving focal left hemispheric injury,
demonstrate organized language development in homotopic areas of the
injury-free right cerebral hemisphere (Baron, 2004).
ADHD and Learning Disabilities

As ADHD is often comorbid with LD, numerous attempts have been
made to differentiate between children with ADHD versus LD based on
their academic, social, and neuropsychological profiles (Hynd, Lorys, Semrud-Clikeman, Nieves, Huettner, & Lahey, 1991). Van der Meere, van Baal,
and Sergeant (1989) used a continuous performance test (CPT) and found
that children with LD had lower abilities in the memory search and decision processes aspects (e.g., is that a signal or not?), whereas children with
hyperactivity showed poorer motor-decision abilities (e.g., do I respond to
this or not?). In a longitudinal CPT study of omission and commission
error rates, Kupietz (1990) compared LD and ADHD children and found
no initial differences in the number of correct detections and commission
errors, but with increasing age, the LD group improved more than the
ADHD group, and that children with comorbid ADHD and LD are much
more affected by distracters than children with either ADHD or LD only.
In the area of ADHD specifically, Barkley (1997) offered a broad reinterpretation of the core deficits seen in children with ADHD combined type.
He proposed that these children suffered a deficit in generalized executive
functioning more so than simple deficits in attentional or inhibitory abilities. A developmental model of executive functioning, offered by Anderson
(2002), describes this aspect of cognitive processing as involving four discrete but interrelated domains. Attentional control, cognitive flexibility, goal
154
setting, and information processing are thought to operate in a coordinated

manner to enable executive control of behavior to be exercised and regulated. According to this formulation, the developmental maturation of these
domains proceeds along a predictable path, with attentional control emerging in infancy and maturing quickly thereafter, whereas cognitive flexibility,
goal setting, and information processing skills begin their critical period of
development between ages 7 and 9, and reach maturity by 12 years of
age. Only after these components are in place and relatively developed can
executive control abilities be observed, beginning with the start of adolescence and not completing their development until full myelination of the
prefrontal areas is completed in the early 20s.
Despite the elegance and plausibility of Barkleys theory, research
aimed at its support has been lacking. In a recent study of 43 seven- to
eleven-year-old children with ADHD combined or inattentive types, executive functioning profiles were not significantly related to symptoms of
their ADHD, but only to comorbid symptoms of depression and autism
symptomology (Jonsdottir, Bouma, Sergeant, & Scherder, 2006). Teacher
ratings of inattention were not correlated with executive functioning profiles either, but were robustly predicted by the childrens language skill.
Another study offered similar findings (Geurts, Verte, Roeyers, & Sergeant,
2005). Using groups of 16 boys with no ADHD, ADHD inattentive type, and
ADHD combined type, carefully matched for age, IQ, and the presence of
oppositional defiant and conduct disorders, no differences between the
two ADHD groups were observed on any of the five executive functioning domains under study, and significant between-group differences were
noted only between the control children and the ADHD combined group
on measures related to inhibition but not on the other four domains of
executive functioning.
The topic of executive functioning has received attention in the area
of learning disabilities as well. In a study comparing 42 children with
dyslexia and 42 nondyslexic children, Reiter, Tucha, and Lange (2005)
describe a number of deficits in the children with dyslexia that were far
more than simple reading problems. For example, these children showed
obvious differences in their working memory capacity, their inhibitory
capabilities were impaired on demanding, but not simple gono go tasks,
and they showed significant impairment in both verbal and figural fluency
functions. Although concept formation skills were equivalent between the
groups, actual problem-solving skills (initiating a response to the concepts)
were poorer among the children with dyslexia.
A number of authors have proposed that the core deficit in developmental dyslexia results from phonological impairments, that is, difficulties processing the sound structure of language (Peterson, McGrath,
Smith, & Pennington, 2007), and this suggestion has received considerable
support in the literature. For example, the posterior areas of the reading
network have been observed to show a lack of activation in functional
neuroimaging (fMRI) during word and pseudoword reading conditions in
persons with familial dyslexia, and this activation deficit persists whether
the family members have learned to compensate for their deficit or not
(Brambati et al., 2006). Anatomic research from this same group has
155
shown corresponding regional reductions in the volume of grey matter in

the posterior reading network areas among other persons with familial
dyslexia (Brambati et al., 2004).
Several classification schemes have been offered to expand on the 3
Rs set of learning disorders outlined in the DSM-IV. In addition to the traditional reading disorder, mathematics disorder, and disorder of written
expression, Rourke and his colleagues have spent decades developing an
alternative scheme that offers a potential to account for the verbal and
performance discrepancies often seen in the profiles of children referred
for evaluation due to academic or behavioral problems (Rourke et al., 2002;
Drummond, Ahmad, & Rourke, 2005). He suggests that the pie can be
sliced into Basic Phonological Processing Deficits (BPPD) and Nonverbal
Learning Disabilities (NLD). Classification rules that were generated, tested,
and well validated on children between 9 and 15 have been developed, and
now extended for use with younger children in the 7- to 8-year-old range
(Drummond et al., 2005). Such rules can be useful for helping to determine
whether a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation is warranted, and
might be useful in guiding future research into the relatively less studied
phenomena of NLDs.
In another massive effort, DAmato, Dean, and Rhodes (1998) sought
to subtype childrens learning disabilities empirically. Using a sample
of 1,144 school-age children with learning disabilities, all of whom had
completed extensive neuropsychological, intellectual, and academic evaluation, a cluster analysis was performed to identify coherent groupings
among the children. Four interpretable clusters were identified, which the
authors labeled as (1) Verbal-Sequential-Arithmetic, (2) Motor Speed and
Cognitive Flexibility Deficits, (3) Mixed Language-Perceptual Deficits, and
(4) No Deficit Subtype. They describe these subtypes as showing unique
profiles, and also each having distinct differences in their developmental
etiology. This approach, although showing clear empirical promise, failed
to generate much interest in formulating a new approach to classifying the
learning disabilities.
In keeping with recent trends toward support-based rather than
deficit-based models of disability, DAmato and colleagues have recently
taken another stab at reformulating our way of viewing the area of learning
disorders (DAmato, Crepeau-Hobson, Huang, & Geill, 2005). This recent
paper contends that children with learning disabilities are better served
when their evaluation and educational intervention are conceptualized
within an ecological perspective rather than a deficit-based one. Taken
this way, instead of considering the problem as residing within the child,
better results and more favorable outcomes will occur when the problem is
analyzed with the child viewed as just one part of a learning environment
in an educational system that possesses (and lacks) certain resources.
Viewed from this ecological neuropsychology perspective, a strengthbased analysis that considers the child and the resources available within
his or her educational environment as part of an interconnected and reciprocally influenced system, can be conducted. One thing is clear, however.
No matter how far the pendulum swings to a response to treatment model
rather than a deficit-focused model, the more thoroughly our health care
156
and educational professionals understand the organism that lies between

the stimulus and response, between the blackboard and the test paper,
the better equipped those people will be to act as effective agents of change
in the childs life (Silver et al., 2006).
Regarding verbal memory, children with ADHD have shown deficits
on memory tasks requiring organized, deliberate rehearsal strategies,
whereas LD children have shown a more general verbal deficit (Douglas
and Benezra, 1990). In contrast Robins (1992) found no neuropsychological differences on tasks requiring verbal memory, verbal learning to trials,
or sustained attention between ADHD and LD children. However, behavioral symptoms did differentiate between the groups; children with ADHD
showed more impulsive behavior, impaired accuracy on timed tasks,
aggression, and poor ability to work independently in the classroom.
Korkman and Pesonen (1994) devised a study using the Neuropsychological Assessment of Children (NEPSY). They tested 60 eight-year-old
children to compare deficits among children who met criteria for ADHD
(N = 21), LD (N = 12), or comorbid ADHD and LD (N = 27). The examiners used
the 19 NEPSY subtests which focus on attention, learning, language, sensorymotor, visualspatial, and memory functions. Reading and spelling
abilities were also assessed. Children with ADHD demonstrated deficiencies
in phonological awareness, verbal memory (digit) span, storytelling, and
verbal IQ. Children with comorbid ADHD and LD showed more pervasive
attention problems and greater visualmotor problems. All three groups
showed impairment in visualmotor precision and name retrieval.
Although these impairments were shared, it was suggested that different mechanisms underlie these impairments. Linguistic impairment
was believed to be the cause of name retrieval deficits in the LD group,
and would also contribute to their noted reading and spelling problems.
Attention problems and poor active memorization were blamed for nameretrieval deficiencies in the ADHD group, which were interpreted as unrelated to specific reading and spelling problems. The comorbid group showed
a double dose of disability, with features of both core problems present in
their profiles. These findings validated earlier studies that found impaired
control and inhibition of impulses to be the main symptom of ADHD,
whereas phonological and linguistic deficiencies were prevalent among
those with LD (Boliek & Obrzut, 1997).
Hypotheses regarding neurological dysfunction associated with ADHD
have implicated various areas of the brain from the brain stem to the frontal
lobes, but little evidence points to any specific causal area (Reynolds &
Fletcher-Janzen, 1997). Other hypotheses have implicated neurochemical
dysfunction as a cause of ADHD. Both norepinephrine and dopamine have
been implicated in the pathophysiology of ADHD (Calis, Grothe, & Elia,
1990). At this time many controversies remain on the subject, although
with rapid advances in psychopharmacological treatment and increasingly
sensitive psychometrics, the underlying neurological aspects of ADHD may
soon be clarified (Reynolds & Fletcher-Janzen, 1997).
Several studies have found ADHD to be related to thyroid abnormalities. Evidence has shown that between 46 and 70% of children who have
a generalized resistance to thyroid hormone (GRTH) also meet diagnostic
157
criteria for ADHD (Hauser et al., 1993; Refetoff, Weiss, & Usala, 1993).
The pathophysiologic relationship between GRTH and ADHD is not fully
understood but it has been shown that those with comorbid GRTH and
ADHD are afflicted with altered brain glucose uptake (Hauser, Zametkin,
Vitiello, Martinex, Mixson, & Weintraub, 1992). It has also been theorized
that the brains exposure to high levels of thyroid hormone may result in
ADHD, which is reasonable given that thyroid hormone is known to have
powerful stimulant properties.
Relatively few neuroimaging studies have been conducted with children,
although many of these have focused on the neuroanatomical correlates of
ADHD. In a group of pure ADHD Hyperactive Type children, cerebral blood
flow (rCBF) neuroimaging techniques were used and significant hypoperfusion in the right striatum of the caudate nucleus was identified. When
methylphenidate was administered to these children, a significant increase
in perfusion occurred in the right and left stratum, but more so in the left
striatum (Lou, Henriksen, Bruhn, Bomer, & Neilsen, 1989). Others have
found a smaller left caudate nucleus in ADHD children when compared to
normal children (Hynd et al., 1993; Lou et al., 1989). This may result in
a right-sided bias in choline acetyltransferase and dopamine, which has
been associated with increased motor activity (Hynd et al., 1993).
The corpus callosum has also been a structure of interest as it plays a role
in interhemispheric coordination and regulation (Lassonde, 1986). An early
MRI study found the genu (anterior aspect of the corpus callosum) was significantly smaller in children with ADHD than normal controls (Hynd et al.,
1991). This is particularly significant, as this is the structure that connects
homologus areas of the premotor, orbitofrontal, and prefrontal regions of the
brain. Hynd et al. note that the smaller genu in children with ADHD correlates
with frontal lobe deficits in motor regulation, persistence, and inhibition. Several studies have found children with ADHD to demonstrate behavior similar
to adults with frontal lobe damage (Gualtieri & Hicks, 1985).
Shue and Douglas (1992) administered a test battery to children with
ADHD and normal controls, which included measures of motor control as
well as complex problem-solving skills. These tests had previously shown
sensitivity to frontal lobe damage. Children with ADHD had significantly
more difficulty than controls across tasks and their patterns of performance
were similar to patients with frontal lobe damage. Children with ADHD were
not able to inhibit motor responses as well as normal controls. Performance
deficits shown by the ADHD children did not reflect generalized cognitive
impairment, but impairment specific to those with frontal lobe dysfunction.
INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY AND AUTISM

SPECTRUM DISORDERS
New techniques in neuroscience research are being applied more and
more frequently in trying to enhance our understanding of these severely
disabling childhood problems (Temple, 2002). Disorders classified along the
Autism Spectrum (previously known as Pervasive Developmental Disorders)
are described as impairment in social reciprocity, communication, and
158
cognition (Cook & Leventhal, 1992). Whereas children with intellectual

disability (previously known as mental retardation) tend to show delayed
development across a broad range of functions, autistic children often show
relatively higher scores on visualspatial tests and rote memory, while showing poorly developed verbal comprehension (Dawson & Castelloe, 1995).
Children with autism demonstrate high rates of retardation (70%), epilepsy
(25%), attentional deficits, and aggressive and impulsive disorders (Cook
& Leventhal, 1992). They have also been described as sharing behavioral
similarities with children with Tourettes syndrome (Comings, 1990) as well
as comorbid sleep disturbances and mood disorders (APA, 1994).
Older analytic theories cited parentchild relationships as the causal factor in the development of autism, and later behavioral theories suggested the
abnormal behaviors seen among persons with autism were learned, however, neurodevelopmental theories have now come to the forefront. There
are numerous research reports suggesting a role of EEG abnormalities (APA, 1994), hippocampal abnormalities (Minshew & Goldstein, 1993),
ventricular enlargement (Bigler, 1988; Hauser, Delong, & Rosman, 1975),
cortical atrophy (Bigler, 1989), rightleft asymmetry abnormalities (Prior &
Bradshaw, 1979), reticular activating system dysfunctions (Rimland, 1964),
and limbic system, brain stem, and cerebellar abnormalities (Courchesne,
1989, 1997). Evidence has shown that autistic children do not show typical patterns of hemispheric specialization and dominance (Escalante-Mead,
Minshew, & Sweeney, 2003), and also that autistic children are chronically
overaroused, with such arousal adversely affecting information processing abilities (Teeter & Semrud-Clikeman, 1997). Children with autism have
demonstrated lower levels of executive control and frontal lobe function
(Bishop, 1993). Such results have been evidenced through high error count
on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task as well as inefficient completion of the
Tower of Hanoi (Ozonoff, Pennington, & Rogers, 1990).
Among individuals with intellectual disabilities, differences can be
identified among various subgroups. For example, among persons with
Downs syndrome, a unique profile of cognitive abilities emerges during development, with performance in visuospatial abilities often better
developed than verbal/linguistic abilities. Further deficiencies in motor
development (e.g., greater clumsiness) are observed in this group than
in similarly affected persons with etiologies other than Downs syndrome
(Vicari, 2006). One other group does share a propensity to show pronounced motor problems along with occasional intellectual disabilities.
Among girls with Turners syndrome, decreased motor speed is frequently
observed, and a careful analysis of this phenomenon has shown it to be a
problem of muscle initiation and not one of motor planning (Nijhuis-Van
der Sanden, Eling, Van Asseldonk, & Van Galen, 2004). Curiously, even
among persons with Turners syndrome who are of normal intelligence,
spatial disorientation is commonly seen, and these individuals often show
poor performance on nonverbal and visuomotor tests and mathematics
tests, even though their verbal scores are often average or higher (Berkow
& Fletcher, 1992). But even in persons with intellectual disability, not
all cognitive functions are impaired. Singh et al. (2005) offer data from
a group of 20 children with mild mental retardation that shows their
159
capacity for facial recognition and interpretation of facial expressions are

quite similar to those of children in the general population.
Although spastic cerebral palsy (SCP) is often regarded as a circumscribed motor system problem, neuropsychological analysis of children shows otherwise. Many of the executive functions described above
involve motor planning, inhibition, and the capacity to choose optimal
paths toward goals, an activity that typically involves direct action upon
some persons or entities within the childs environment. White and Christ
(2005) used this reasoning to hypothesize that SCP would not disrupt
the associative aspects of learning and memory, but would interfere with
the executive aspects such as the imposition of efficient learning strategies, strategic processing, and effective inhibition of irrelevant responses.
Their predictions were confirmed; controlling for general verbal ability,
their children with SCP and normal controls performed comparably on
measures of initial learning and retention over time, suggesting intact
medial temporal brain processing in both groups. But the children with
SCP showed impairment in benefiting from repeated trials (learning strategy) and in inhibiting inappropriate intrusive responses, especially among
the younger children in the SCP group. These findings suggest a developmental delay in the maturation of the prefrontally mediated executive
aspects of learning and memory.
Prenatal Substance Exposure

Studies have shown that over 100,000 babies are born each year with
exposure to cocaine and/or other drugs (Chasnoff, Landress, & Barrett,
1990). Cocaine is both water and liposoluble and passes easily through
the placenta (Woods, Plessinger, & Clark, 1987). The fetus may actually
be exposed to the drug for a longer period of time than adults because of
the quicker excretion time in the drug-abusing host than in the resident
fetus (Singer, Garber, & Kliegman, 1991). Cocaine also causes vasoconstriction in the uterus, resulting in reduced blood and oxygen flow into the
fetus (Woods, et al., 1987). Newborn children vary in their expression and
severity of cocaine exposure symptoms. Koren (1993) suggests that differences in frequency of use and individual metabolic abilities account for
such variation. Maternal cocaine use has been associated with spontaneous abortions, premature placental detachment, and meconium-stained
amniotic fluid (Frank et al., 1988).
Given these untoward effects, it is not surprising that higher rates
of prematurity have also been found among these children (MacGregor,
Keith, Bachicha, & Chasnoff, 1989), and these abnormalities may also
be linked to the early neurodevelopmental delays shown by these children (Oro & Dixon, 1987). Smaller head size and slower brain growth
have also been demonstrated in these children (Coles, Platzman, Smith,
James, & Falek, 1991; Eisen et al., 1991). Neurological abnormalities
found among neonates exposed to cocaine prenatally include cerebral
infarcts, as well as EEG and brainstem auditory evoked response (BAER)
abnormalities (Chasnoff, Griffith, MacGregor, Dirkes, & Burns, 1989;
Dixon & Bejar, 1989).
160
Studies have shown that children exposed to cocaine in utero can

display subtle language delays as well as diminished development of
problem-solving skills (Hawley, Halle, Drasin, & Thomas, 1995). When
purely cocaine exposed infants are compared to alcohol or marijuana-only
exposed infants, no differences were found in global scores on the Bayley
Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition or the Stanford Binet Intelligence ScaleFourth Edition at age 3, although a difference was found between prenatal drug exposed groups and nonexposed groups (Griffith, Azuma, &
Chasnoff, 1994). Receptive language impairments have been found among
children of mothers involved in drug rehab programs (Malakoff, Mayes,
& Schottenfeld, 1994). Sensory and behavioral deficits have also been
found (Chasnoff et al., 1989; Coles et al., 1991; Neuspiel et al., 1991).
Limited research is available regarding long-term effects of prenatal drug
exposure, although given the subtle language deficits and problem solving
difficulties found, it is possible that these may develop into later difficulties in executive functioning and language processing (Teeter & SemrudC1ikeman, 1997).
Perhaps even more teratogenic than cocaine is the influence of maternal
alcohol abuse (Riley et al., 2003). Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is caused
by prenatal exposure to alcohol and is evidenced by growth deficiency,
facial anomalies, and sympathetic nervous system dysfunction (Streissguth, 1994). Children with FAS typically exhibit delayed development,
overactivity, motor clumsiness, attention deficits, learning problems, cognitive retardation, and seizure disorders. FAS is estimated to occur in 1
to 3 per 1,000 live births (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 1990), although rates have been reported to be much higher on
Native American reservations (May, Hymbaugh, Aase, & Samet, 1983) and
in Russia (Mattson, Riley, Matveeva, & Marintcheva, 2003).
Severity of FAS has been related to how much alcohol is consumed,
the period of gestation during which the mother drank, how frequently she
drank, and age of mother (Overholser, 1990; Russell et al., 1991). Streissguth, Sampson, and Barr (1989) found that children exposed to alcohol
before birth demonstrated cognitive delays, memory and attention deficits, motor difficulties, organizational and problem-solving difficulties, as
well as social and adaptive behavior problems. Anatomical studies of the
brains of children diagnosed with FAS have shown decreases in total brain
size, especially in the cerebrum and cerebellum, along with smaller basal
ganglia and diminished volume, or occasional agenesis, of the corpus callosum (Mattson et al., 1994). Only 28% of samples show normal head size
(Streissguth, Randels, & Smith 1991). Newborns of alcoholic mothers have
shown delay in their response to the environment and typically have low
birth weight (Day, 1992; Greene et al., 1991). A long-term outcome study
of children with FAS found that the majority of children showed borderline
or mild intellectual disability and that their IQs remained low and stable
over time (Steinhausen, Willms, & Spohr, 1994).
In a study of adaptive behavior skills, Streissguth, Clarren, and Jones
(1985) found that daily living skills, although below expectations for given
age, were often an area of strength for FAS children, whereas socialization
skills were most deficient. Areas that were particularly difficult for children
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included acting without considering consequences, taking initiative, inability to read social cues, and inability to establish social relationships.
Psychopathology appears to create great difficulty in adolescence and
adulthood for persons with FAS patients (Dorris, 1989). Problems with disinhibition and executive control, characteristic of the prefrontal problems
noted in other groups with cognitive disabilities are present among persons with FAS, but one cannot chalk all of the social and behavioral deficits of these persons to neuropsychological dysfunction. Very few groups
come from a more troubled or dysfunctional family environment (Teeter
& Semrud-Clikeman, 1997). Regarding psychosocial factors Streissguth,
Aase, Clarren, Randels, LaDue, and Smith (1991) found that 69% of biological mothers of FAS children were deceased at a 5- to 12-year follow-up,
and 33% of FAS children are given up for adoption or abandoned at the
hospital. Indeed, FAS children experience tumultuous home environments.
Academic problems abound in these children as well. In a study of
adolescents with FAS, Streissguth, Randels, and Smith (1991) found that
arithmetic and word attack skills were most impaired. Regarding school
placement, 6% were in regular education with no support, 28% were
in self-contained special education classrooms, 15% were not in school
or were working, and 9% were in sheltered workshops. Regarding language skills, FAS children have not been found to be especially deficient,
as once again, language development seems to often proceed more normally, even at the expense of delayed development in other key areas
(Greene et al., 1990).
ACQUIRED NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

Abuse and Neglect
Neuropsychological techniques have also been used to differentiate
among children from another class of children who are multiply at risk
for dysfunction. The role of potential maternal prenatal alcohol or drug
consumption was not controlled in this study, however, the report of Nolin
and Ethier, (2007) is enlightening all the same. Using a neuropsychological battery that measured motor functions, attention, memory and learning, visuomotor integration, language, intelligence, and frontal/executive
functions, these authors reported that discriminant analysis could successfully use the neuropsychological profiles to accurately distinguish
between children who suffered neglect with physical abuse, children who
were neglected but not physically abused, and normal control children, all
of whom were matched for age, gender, and annual family income.
Relative to the control children, the children who were merely neglected
showed relative deficiencies in auditory attention and visuomotor integration, and those who were neglected and physically abused showed these
deficits and more; problem solving, abstraction, and planning were all
impaired in this more seriously maltreated group. This finding suggests a
doseresponse curve in which neuropsychological functioning appears to
be sensitive to the severity of horrific childhood experiences.
162
Acquired Brain Injuries

Kraus (1995) reported that approximately 180 per 100,000 children
under age 15 experience Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Lescohier and DiScala (1993) found that among hospital-treated cases, approximately 75%
are mild and 135 are severe. For children under age 5, there is a similar
level of risk across genders. Risk rises for boys through childhood and
adolescence (Kraus, 1995). Regarding cause of injury, younger children
are more frequently injured in falls and abuse, whereas older children and
adolescents are more likely injured in collisions, sports activities, and other
types of violence (Warschausky, Kewman, Bradley, & Dixon, 2003). Severe
TBI typically leads to increased intracranial pressure. This increased pressure results in diminished cerebral blood flow which can cause ischemic
and hypoxic injury (Warschausky, Kewman, & Selim, 1996).
The assessment of the severity of TBI typically includes examination
of the depth of coma, differentiation between the damage due to diffuse
versus focal injuries, level of elevated intracranial pressure, length of posttraumatic amnesia, presence or absence of hypoxic insult, and pupillary
reactivity. The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS: Teasdale & Jennett, 1974) is
used to assess the depth of coma using specific ratings of eye opening and
movement as well as verbal and motoric responses. Neuroimaging typically involves a CT scan and less frequently an MRI. Several instruments
are available to assess posttraumatic amnesia (where the patients ability
to consolidate and retain new memories is impaired). One such test is
the Childrens Orientation and Amnesia Test (COAT: Ewing-Cobbs, Levin,
Fletcher, Minerm, & Eisenberg, 1990) which includes a brief set of questions that may be administered on a daily basis.
As a child undergoes recovery, behavioral symptoms, such as high
levels of agitation may occur. The Rancho Los Amigos Scale (Hagen, Malkmus, & Durham, 1979) provides an ordinal description of levels of cognitive and behavioral recovery ranging from coma to purposeful/appropriate
functioning. One prevalent finding in pediatric TBl patients is slowed
processing speed. The WISC-III processing speed index has demonstrated
the highest sensitivity among the WISC- III index scores, showing strong
correlation with severity of injury measured by depth and length and
depth of coma. On the other hand, digit span tasks are not sensitive to TBI
(Warschausky et al., 1996), and should not be mistaken as a measure or
even a screener for memory functions.
Executive dysfunction is also common among TBI patients and has
been differentially associated with severity of injury, brain lesion volume
size, and location of the primary lesions (Levin et al., 1997). Severity of
injury has also been associated with magnitude of memory impairment
on the California Verbal Learning Test-Childrens Version (Delis, Kramer,
Kaplan, & Ober, 1994). Regarding academic achievement difficulties, no
evidence exists of a specific learning disability pattern following TBI, however, moderate to severe injury is associated with a decline in general adaptive functioning, therefore assessment of adaptive behavior is critical for
individuals sustaining these more severe injuries (Max, Koele, Lindgren,
et al., 1998).
163
In a recent study of children with mild developmental learning disabilities who then sustained head trauma, Wood and Rutherford (2006)
report that there were only minimal between-groups differences between
the LD group and non-LD but head-injured comparison group. These were
on two measures of complex speeded information processing, the Trails B
and the Digit Symbol subtest from the Wechsler scales. Much more pronounced were the neurobehavioral problems evident among the LD group.
These participants reported greater adjustment problems with higher levels of anxiety and depression, mood swings, and more frequent instances
of impulsive aggression. This finding reflects the same process of a double
dose of disability described in earlier sections, and probably represents
support for the neuronal reserve theory of recovery from brain damage
(Stein, Brailowsky, & Will, 1995).
There is some disagreement about whether there is a generalized
impairment in cognitive skills resulting from early head injury, or whether
the deficits are more circumscribed. In support to the former, is the report
of Levine and colleagues (Levine, Kraus, Alexander, Suriyakham, & Huttenlocher, 2005) who describe a group of 15 children who sustained TBI before
age 7. IQ testing was conducted on each child at age 7, and repeated several
years later. They report that post-7 IQ scores were significantly lower than
pre-7 IQ scores, and this effect was present whether the lesion size was
large or small. In fact, those with largest lesions showed the lowest pre-7
IQ scores, whereas those with the smallest lesions had the highest pre-7 IQ
scores but showed the greater IQ decline over time. Perhaps this is because
they had more to lose following their initial injury, but these findings show
dramatically that the cognitive outcome of TBI in children, even those producing relatively small lesions, changes over time.
On the other hand Marsh and Whitehead (2005) report that among
children who sustain skull fracture during infancy, when tested five years
later against the performance of matched controls, the only deficit they
showed was in memory for faces and in the domain of visual attention.
Their performance equaled that of the controls in language skills, sensory motor abilities, visuomotor and visuospatial functions, grades, and
parent/teacher reports.
Nonetheless, there is a substantial body of research that supports the
presence of persisting memory deficits following childhood TBI (Lowther
& Mayfield, 2004; Alexander & Mayfield, 2005), and it is probably true
that enduring deficits in inhibitory control persist as well (Levin, Hanton,
Zhang, Swank, & Hunter, 2004). Nothing is simple, however, and as in the
Nolan and Ethier (2007) study of abused and neglected children, the contribution of the family environment within which the child is raised cannot
be dismissed as having some causative or moderating role.
For example, Goldstrohm and Arffa (2005) examined the premorbid,
neurocognitive, behavioral, and familial functioning of 33 preschoolers who
sustained mild to moderate TBI, compared to 34 matched controls. Despite
the matching procedures, substantial premorbid differences emerged, with
the TBI children having higher rates of premorbid behavior difficulties,
lower cognitive functioning, poorer preacademic skills, and greater reported
situational issues and life stressors among the parents than the control
164
children and their families. It causes one to speculate about whether these
differences represent risk factors that resulted in the childrens injuries in
the first place, by mechanisms such as being too harried or rushed to worry
about seatbelts or tricycle helmets and the like.
Some evidence has shown that early in recovery, nonverbal functions
such as visuoperceptual and visuoconstructive skills are more severely
impaired than verbal functions. Donders (1997) found a strong association between severity of injury and the WISC- III perceptual organization index. Although verbal intellect and vocabulary are relatively spared
early in recovery, discourse cohesion and capacity to draw inferences have
shown impairment following injury. Such impairments may in turn have
adverse effects on social interactions (Lezak, 1978a).
TBI can lead to numerous psychological, behavioral, and social changes.
Those with TBI compared with controls have shown higher levels of affective
instability, aggression, rage, inattention, impaired social judgment, and apathy (Brown, Chadwick, Shaffer, Rutter, & Traub, 1981; Taylor, Yeates, Wade,
Drotar, Klein, and Stancin, 1999). Additionally, among children with severe
injuries, up to 25% of children show depressive symptomatology and receive
their first psychiatric diagnoses post injury (Kirkwood et al., 2000; Max,
Koele, Smith, et al., 1998). Personality changes have been demonstrated in
TBI at levels as high as 40% (Max et al., 2000), and are often regarded as
more disabling than any of the acquired neurocognitive changes that may
persist (Lewinsohn & Graf, 1973; Lezak, 1978b).
TBI may also result in the development of posttraumatic seizures;
however this occurs only in about 2% of the population (McLean, Kaitz,
Kennan, Dabney, Cawley, & Alexander, 1995). This incidence of seizures
goes up dramatically when there is a fracture to the skull, however, and
even greater still when it is a depressed fracture. New onset of seizure disorders become the rule rather than the exception when the insult involves
any sort of compound depressed fracture or gunshot wound (Hauser &
Hesdorffer, 1990; Lezak, Howieson, & Loring 2004).
Epilepsy
Seizure disorders are a common concomitant with many of the
developmental and medical disorders of childhood. Epileptic disorders
can be idiopathic or acquired, but given that the peak lifetime prevalence
of epilepsy occurs between 10 and 50 years of age, it is merely the authors
choice to discuss epilepsy under the section of acquired disorders. This
is reasonable, but not fair, because even among epilepsy syndromes
that emerge later in life, most do not have a clearly identifiable etiology,
although numerous risk factors are known to accrue over time (Hauser &
Hesdorffer, 1990).
Our understanding of seizure disorders is evolving as more sophisticated
neuroscience research on the topic is completed. As with many other neuropsychiatric disorders that were initially conceptualized as either present
or absent, the evolving concept of the epilepsy spectrum disorder has been
gaining ground among many professionals as well (Hines, Kubu, Roberts,
& Varney, 1995). Rather than regarding epilepsy as a disease that is simply present or absent, spectrum theorists assert that there are subclinical
165
variants of epilepsy that exist without stereotypic spells, but that do involve
paroxysmal affective, psychosensory, and cognitive symptoms.
Because of the on againoff again phenomenology of these symptoms,
such as memory gaps, episodic irritability, jamais vu and dj vu, auditory
or visual illusions, abrupt mood shifts, abnormal somatic sensations, intrusive thoughts, and parasomnias to name a few, this condition has often been
considered some form of a cycling mood disorder such as a bipolar or cythlothymic variant, and treated with mood stabilizing medications (Varney,
Garvey, Campbell, Cook, & Roberts, 1993). It is more than a mere coincidence that these same medications, when used in neurological settings are
classified as anticonvulsants, and there is little doubt that the etiology of
these conditions lies at the borderland between psychiatry and neurology
(Varney, Hines, Bailey, & Roberts, 1992). But more on this follows later.
The child with epilepsy is three times more likely to experience cognitive problems than children with other neurological pathologies for at
least three different reasons: the effect of the epilepsy itself contributing
to brain dysfunction, any associated deficit due to the structural or functional lesion responsible for the epileptic focus, and the neurodepressant
side effects of antiepileptic medications (Campo-Castello, 2006).
Generally speaking, children with epilepsy show diminished reaction
times and reduced capacity for speeded information processing, along
with impairments in the domains of attention, language, and memory, but
different specific epilepsy syndromes differentially have an impact on the
neuropsychological and intellectual performance profiles of the affected
children, with a direct relationship between measures of the severity of
the epilepsy (based on age of onset, duration of active epilepsy, seizure
frequency, the number of episodes of status epilepticus, and the use of
polypharmacotherapy), and the resultant profile of intellectual and neurocognitive deficits (Nolan et al., 2003).
Among the children most likely to receive psychiatric rather than
neurologic diagnoses, are the ones with temporal lobe epilepsy. Although
these children typically have normal IQs, they are likely to show deficits
relative to matched controls on measures of attention, complex speeded
information processing, complex problem-solving, and a broad range of
verbal learning and memory problems (Guimareaes et al., 2007).
Even among children with subclinical paroxysmal discharges, expected
patterns of lateralization can be observed, with relatively superior visuospatial functioning among those whose primary discharge focus was in the left
hemisphere, and relatively superior planning and executive functioning
among those whose primary focus was in the right hemisphere (CarvajalMolina Iglesias-Dorado, Morgade-Fonte, Martin-Plasencia, & Perez-Abalo,
2003). One procedure useful for evaluating hemispheric differences in persons with epilepsy spectrum disorders is the dichotic listening procedure, in
which the typical right ear advantage phenomenon is directly affected by the
hemispheric side of the primary focus of abnormal electrical activity (Roberts,
Varney, Paulsen, & Richardson, 1990). This procedure has proven useful in
working with children with formal epilepsy diagnoses as well, and can be
used to help distinguish between the primary and secondary (mirror) focus
in cases of generalized seizures when the testing is administered during the
relatively quiet interictal intervals (Korkman, Granstrm, & Berg, 2004).
166
Specific Medical Conditions

Tumors
Numerous other conditions can lead to the development of seizures
as a corollary symptom of the condition and not as the primary disorder
itself. Most notable among these are brain tumors, which have a peak
lifetime prevalence of diagnosis in children between the ages of three and
nine years (Carpentieri & Mulhern, 1993). Although few studies have
investigated the psychosocial effects of CNS tumors (Mulhern, Hancock,
Fairclough, & Kun, 1992) between 1,200 and 1,500 new cases are diagnosed each year (Kun, 1992).
Risk factors for the development of brain tumors include genetic factors such as neurofibromatosis and tuberous sclerosis, family history of
epilepsy and stroke, as well as immunosuppression prior to organ transplant (Cohen & Duffner, 1994). Treatments typically involve whole-brain
radiation, chemotherapy, and/or surgical interventions, and with such
treatments, 50 to 60% of children are cancer-free after five years (Carpentieri & Mulhern, 1993). The highest survival rates occur in children with
an astrocytoma in the cerebellum, and the lowest survival rates are among
those with a brain stem glioma (Duffner et al., 1986).
The most commonly diagnosed tumor type is the astrocytoma (Cohen
& Duffner, 1994). In children under age two, the most common types are
the medulloblastoma (in the medulla portion of the brain stem), low-grade
astrocytomas, and ependymomas (which arise from the lining of the ventricles and spinal cord or ependyma). In children ages five to nine, the most
common types of tumors include the low- and high-grade astrocytomas,
cerebellar astrocytomas, and medulloblastomas (Cohen & Duffner, 1993).
Prompt and accurate diagnosis of brain tumors is crucial for successful survival (Price, Goetz, & Lovell, 1992). Studies have shown that
brain tumors cause behavioral, personality, academic, intellectual, and
neuropsychological deficits in children (Mulhern, Kovnar, Kun, Crisco, &
Williams, 1988). Depending on the type, size, and location of the tumor, as
well as the presence or absence of hydrocephalus and/or increased intracranial pressure, different manifestations occur (Price et al., 1992). Nausea,
headaches, visual deficits, lateralized sensory or motor impairments, vomiting, or seizures may precede the tumor, and presence of such symptoms
warrants referral to a child neurologist who may recommend CT, MRI, or
other neurological scans (Teeter & Semrud-Clikeman, 1997). Neurological
signs may not always appear early, as low-grade (less malignant) tumors
tend to have a slow gradual effect on displacement and compression of
neural tissue (Carpentieri & Mulhern, 1993).
Regarding cognitive effects of cancer treatment, it has been found that
children diagnosed under the age of seven show a mean loss of 27 IQ
points across the first two years (Radcliff et al., 1992). Older children do
not demonstrate such a decrease. Moore, Copeland, Reid, and Levy (1992)
found that children receiving cranial radiotherapy in addition to chemotherapy presented with more compromised neuropsychological functioning
than those with chemotherapy without radiation or those who received no
form of CNS treatment. Other predictors of neuropsychological functioning
167
include pre- and postoperative mental status, need for shunt, extent of
tumor, and postoperative infections (Packer, Meadows, Rourke, Goldwein
and DAngio, 1987).
The readers are cautioned by Butler and Haser (2006) that the trends
toward increasing survival and decreasing morbidity among children with
cancer render these older data suspect, and the older studies from 1995
and earlier probably overestimate the morbidity of cancer and its successful treatment, and underestimate the survival rates of treatment itself.
Support for this position can be seen in a recent paper on outcomes in
children successfully treated for leukemia via chemotherapy or combined
chemotherapy plus radiation (Reddick et al., 2006).
The treated children, compared to their siblings as controls, showed
statistically significant deficits in nearly every domain of neuropsychological performance, however, only in the domain of attention was a clinically significant effect size of one standard deviation obtained. The degree
of impairment was directly correlated with anatomic measures of white
matter volume, and this anatomic measure was significantly diminished
among those children who received irradiation therapy in addition to their
chemotherapy.
The strongest links between declines in intelligence and cranial radiation among children have been found among measures of verbal fluency,
visual attention, memory skills, and the Picture Arrangement and Block
Design subtests of the WISC (Garcia-Perez, Sierransesumaga, NarbonaGarcia, Calvo-Manuel, & Aguierre-Vantallo, 1994). Such declines varied
with level of radiation dose, even when controlling for the direct effects of
the tumor. Other studies have replicated these results (Moore, Ater, & Copeland 1992; Morrow, OConner, Whitman, & Accardo, 1989; Riva, Milani,
Pantaleoni, Ballerini, & Giorgi, 1991; Teeter & Semrud-Clikeman, 1997).
Regarding specific brain structures, Dennis et al. (1991) found that
among children and adolescents with brain tumors with specific damage
to the putamen and/or globus pallidus, deficits in all memory skills were
found. Dennis et al. theorized that the putamen and globus pallidus may
serve as a final common pathway for memory functions. Packer et al.
(1987) found that survivors of medulloblastomas of the posterior fossa
held IQs and reading abilities in the average range, but demonstrated deficits in mathematics. Significant memory deficits were also found in 73% of
their sample, in addition to delayed motor speed, dexterity, and visuomotor skills.
Sickle Cell Disease

This disturbance of the red blood cells is unique among persons of
native African descent. It typically does not become disabling until early
adulthood, and then usually only in those individuals homozygous for the
trait. This later disability is usually due to compounding influence of the
progressive worsening of their chronic anemia, coupled with the accumulation of untoward vascular events such as pulmonary emboli, occlusion
of vessels supplying vital areas, renal failure, and intercurrent infections
(Berkow & Fletcher, 1992).
168
Pediatric sickle cell disease is not without consequence. In fact,

children with sickle cell disease are at increased risk for acquired deficits
in intellectual functioning, attention and executive functioning, memory,
language, visuomotor abilities, and academic achievement (Berkelhammer
et al., 2007). The etiology of these deficits appears to be due to the childrens increased risk of cerebral infarction (stroke), and these often occur
without externally seen or internally perceived symptoms, a phenomenon
known as silent infarction. Their impact on performance depends on the
brain regions that are affected. When the infarcts are in the region of the
frontal lobes, affected children show performance patterns of behavioral
disinhibition also seen in children with frontal TBI, and are not observed
in children with sickle cell disease who do not have cerebral infarctions
(Christ, Moinuddin, McKinstry, DeBaun, & White, 2007).
Neuropsychological deficits accrue and worsen as the disease progresses
through a series of frank and/or silent infarcts, eventually affecting a
broad range of functions including attention and concentration, executive
functioning, visuomotor speed, and coordination (Kral, Brown, & Hynd,
2001).
Meningitis
The meninges are a layer of tissue that surrounds the spinal cord
and the brain. This layer protects the brain from infection, cushions it
from injury, and serves as a barrier to foreign objects. Meningitis results
when the meninges (particularly the arachnoid and pia mater layers)
become inflamed or infected. The infection may be related to sinusitis,
ear infections, and other abscesses. Infection may also be acquired by
neonates in the birth canal (Teeter & Semrud-Clikeman, 1997). The most
common form, bacterial meningitis, affects nearly 40,000 people per year
in the United States (Green & George, 1979). Among children, the most
frequently involved are those between ages one and five (Taylor, Schatschneider, & Reich, 1992). Hemophilus (Hib) meningitis has been related
to significant developmental disability (Jadavji, Biggar, Gold, & Prober,
1986; Klein, Feigin, & McCracken, 1986), and occurs among 30 to 70
per 100,000 children (Snyder, 1994). The highest incidence rates have
been found among the Navajo and Alaskan Yupik Eskimo ethnic groups
(Coulehan et al., 1976; Fraser, 1982).
Young children afflicted with meningitis tend to present with fever,
low appetite, nausea, irritability, jaundice, respiratory problems, and a
bulging fontanel (Snyder, 1994). Older children tend to present a fever,
headache, generalized seizure activity, nausea, vomiting, a stiff neck, and
depressed consciousness. Visual field defects, facial palsy, ataxia, paralysis, and seizure activity, all demonstrative of cranial nerve deficits, may
also occur. Additionally, CT scans may show hydrocephalus, edema, or
cortical atrophy (Taylor et al., 1992).
For diagnosis, a sample of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is taken. If meningitis is present, the CSF is generally cloudy and pressure is elevated. For treatment, usually high doses of antibiotics, often ampicillin, are given for ten
days. Fluids are closely monitored and CT, MRI, and EEG scans are ordered
as needed (Schaad et al., 1990).
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The effects of meningitis depend on age of onset, length of time prior to

diagnosis, nature of infectious agent, severity of infection, and treatment
used (Weil, 1985). Neonatal patients experience the highest risk for mortality
due to meningitis. Children experiencing coma and subdural infections
experience the most severe neurological and neuropsychological deficits
(Lindberg, Rosenhall, Nylen, & Ringner, 1977). Children experiencing seizures prior to meningitis onset experience the poorest cognitive result
posttreatment (Emmett, Jeffrey, Chandler, & Dugdale, 1980; Klein et al.,
1986). Sell (1983) examined the long-term effects of meningitis in children
and found that 50% of patients showed significant cognitive and physical
difficulty, language deficits, hearing problems, cognitive and motor delays,
and most frequently, visual impairments. Given the neuropsychological
deficits that may arise, comprehensive neuropsychological batteries are
recommended in addition to repeated hearing and vision screenings
(Teeter & Semrud-Clikeman, 1997).
Encephalitis
Encephalitis is a general inflammatory state of the brain, and is often
associated with inflammation of the meninges. Encephalitis occurs in
1,400 to 4,300 individuals per year in the United States (Ho & Hirsch,
1985). The disease is typically caused by viruses and can occur perinatally
or postnatally. For most cases, the direct cause cannot be identified; however, Herpes simplex and insect bites are known culprits (Adler & Toor,
1984). Acute and chronic forms have been reported, where acute forms
are evidenced within days or weeks of infection, and chronic forms can
take months to become symptomatic. Diagnosis typically involves examination of CSF for viral agents, as well as CT scans and EEG analysis.
Encephalitis symptoms include fever, headache, vomiting, loss of
energy, lassitude, irritability, and depressive symptoms. Increased confusion and disorientation are seen as the disease progresses. Paralyses or
muscle weakness, gait problems, and speech problems have also been
documented (Hynd & Willis, 1988). Mental retardation, irritability and
lability, seizure disorder, hypertonia, and cranial nerve involvement can
occur in more severe cases (Ho & Hirsch, 1985). Treatment for encephalitis typically involves antiviral agents if a viral cause has been verified. If no
virus has been identified, treatment involves antibiotics and monitoring of
the disease process.
Cardiac, Circulatory, and Pulmonary Problems

Children who survive surgical treatment of congenital heart defects
typically develop normal memory and intellectual functioning and no
abnormal psychiatric or behavioral functioning, but show weaknesses in
language and motor development. It is not clear whether attentional and
executive functioning are affected; some studies show an effect and others
do not, but none show a protective or enhancement effect of heart surgery
on these functions, so there probably is an effect that is inconsistently
observed (Miatton, De Wolf, Francois, Thiery, & Vingerhoets, 2006).
170
Children with migraine headaches may be referred for neuropsychological evaluation, but a recent study showed relatively normal
neurocognitive profiles among pediatric migraineurs, with deficits only on
a measure of simple visual reaction time. The degree of this deficit was
significantly correlated with increased frequency of headache attack and
reduced interictal interval. No differences were observed between children
whose migraines were preceded by an aura versus those without aura,
and both types showed a profile of internalizing problems in the Child
Behavior Checklist (Riva et al., 2006).
Among children with sleep-related breathing disorders, deficits in visual attention and executive functioning have been observed, as well as
deficits in phonological awareness, a skill crucial to the development of
proficient reading. It is not clear whether these findings reflect neurocognitive dysfunction secondary to hypoxia or due to sleep fragmentation,
but there is evidence to support a role of the latter in the negative correlation between neurocognitive abilities and daytime arousal level. (OBrien
et al., 2004). Certainly hypoxic exposure can have an impact, however.
Among children who survive severe burn injuries, the neuropsychological
and emotional outcomes of those who sustain hypoxic episodes in the
course of their injuries are much poorer than the outcomes of children
who suffer equivalent burn injuries without hypoxic injuries (Rosenberg
et al., 2005).
Psychiatric Disorders
Nowhere on the borderland between psychiatric disorders and neurologic disorders is the atmosphere more murky than when investigating the neuropsychological profiles of children with psychiatric disorders.
Although there may appear to be a clear border between the two domains
when viewed from a great distance, the closer one looks, the blurrier and
grayer the differences become. For example, in a voxel-based morphometric study of the brains of children with obsessive compulsive disorder
(OCD) compared to a matched group of healthy children, clear and reliable
structural differences emerged in terms of decreased cingulate area and
frontal gray matter, and decreased bilateral frontal white matter densities.
These regions have been extensively related to action monitoring and error
signal processing, and this studys authors (Carmona et al., 2007) go so
far as to suggest that these structural brain abnormalities represent the
primary cause of deficit in cases of childhood OCD. Children with symptoms of both anxiety and depression have been studied and found to have
deficiencies in sequencing, alternation, and problem-solving compared to
their healthy peers (Emerson, Mollison, & Harrison, 2005). Children with
depression alone have been shown to have problems comprehending the
prosodic and nonverbal emotional aspects of speech (Emerson, Harrison,
& Everhart, 1999), and also show corresponding asymmetry in the grip
strength portion of the psychomotor examination (Emerson, Harrison,
Everhart, & Williamson, 2001).
As we move further along the spectrum of depression severity, numerous
studies have identified substantial neuropsychological deficits in youngsters
171
with bipolar disorder. With matching controls for ADHD, age and gender, bipolar disorder produced large effect sizes, with affected participants
showing significant deficits in sustained attention, working memory, and
processing speed, and deficits of a moderate effect size on measures of
interference control, abstract problem-solving, and verbal learning (Doyle
et al., 2005). Another recent study has shown that children with bipolar
disorder demonstrate deficits in attentional set shifting and visuospatial
memory (Dickstein et al., 2004). The clinical and neuropsychological characteristics of child and adolescent bipolar disorders have recently been
reviewed, and the reader is referred to Kyte, Carlson, and Goodyear (2006)
for this excellent review that offers a comparison of the similarities and differences between childhood, adolescent, and adult onset bipolar disorders
and mania syndromes.
A similar comparison between adolescent onset and adult onset
schizophrenia examined the neuropsychological profiles and subsequent
cognitive development of cohorts of early onset versus young adult onset
persons with schizophrenia and matched healthy adolescents and young
adults. Quite simply, the earlier the onset of schizophrenic symptoms,
the greater were the resultant deficits in working memory, language, and
motor functioning. (White, Ho, Ward, OLeary, & Andreasen, 2006). This
provides a plausible neuropsychological account of why prognosis in persons with schizophrenia is inversely related to age of onset.
Even persons with problems more typical of the personality disorders
of Axis II have not escaped neuropsychological scrutiny. In a study of 325
school-age boys who were classified by cluster analysis into one of four
groups: controls, childhood limited antisocial traits, adolescent limited
antisocial traits, and life-course persistent antisocial traits, any participants who exhibited antisocial traits during childhood (childhood-limited
and life-course groupings) showed persisting impairment on measures of
visuospatial and memory functioning. (Raine et al., 2005). These deficits
were robust despite controlling statistically for abuse, psychosocial adversity, head injury, and hyperactivity. To paraphrase the words of neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, no matter where you feel it or what it is, if its
happening to you, its happening in your brain (LeDoux, personal communication, October, 2007, Baton Rouge, LA).
ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES IN PEDIATRIC

NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
The following is a good example of preliminary assessment for a child
adapted largely from Ryan et al., 1998. Baron (2004) suggests an approach
that involves preliminary screening of the child along a number of dimensions of behavior, and then a more focused examination to follow up on
deficit areas identified in the preliminary exam. This is best conducted
using a flexible approach to testing, although most of these same domains
can be more thoroughly covered in the initial stage by using a comprehensive battery such as the Halstead Neuropsychological Test Battery for
Children from 9 to 14 years old (Reitan & Davison, 1974), the Reitan Indiana
172
Neuropsychological Test Battery for Children (Reitan, 1974) or the Luria

Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery for Children (Golden, 1981, 1997).
In either approach, the important challenge is to ensure adequate coverage of the listed domains, with representative screening measures suggested for each, as per Ryan et al., 1998 and others.
ATTENTION: WISC-III Digit Span, Continuous Performance Testing, Seashore Rhythm
Test d2 Test of Attention
MOTOR SPEED/EYE HAND COORDINATION/FINE MOTOR DEXTERITY:
Finger
Oscillation Test, Grooved Pegboard, Purdue Pegboard
PSYCHOMOTOR EFFICIENCY/SPEEDED INFORMATION PROCESSING:
WISC-III
Coding
LEARNING AND MEMORY: Wide Range Assessment of Memory and
Learning, Test of Memory and Learning, California Verbal Learning Test
ChildrensVersion, Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure (immediate and delayed
memory trials)
VISUOCONSTRUCTIONAL SKILLS: WISC-III Block Design, WISC-III
Object
Assembly, Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure (copy trial); Clock Drawing
Test
EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS/MENTAL FLEXIBILITY: Trail Making Test,
WISC-III
Mazes, Tactual Performance Test
HYPOTHESIS TESTING/REASONING: Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Childrens
Category Test
ACADEMIC ACHEIVEMENT: Wide Range Achievement Test; Wechsler
Individual
Achievement Test
GENERAL INTELLIGENCE: Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales;
Short Form
WISC-III (Information, Comprehension, Picture Completion, Block Design),
Test of Nonverbal Intelligence-III
LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION AND EXPRESSION: Aphasia Screening
Test, Token Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Controlled Word Association Test
The reader is referred to Spreen and Strauss (1998), Lezak et al.
(2004), and Strauss, Sherman, and Spreen (2006) for comprehensive references detailing the administration, normative referencing, and informed
commentary on each of the above-mentioned measures. It is at the point
of completing the screening battery that the assessment process becomes
truly interesting, for the real detective work, involving the formulation
and testing of hypotheses about the nature of the underlying dysfunction,
begins in earnest. This process involves using and adapting additional
measures in an attempt to tease out the reason why certain tests are
failed, and to identify what specific supports or props might be used to
173
allow a deficient skill to be expressed and developed. This creative use of

evaluation procedures has direct relevance to the development of recommendations for teachers and other professionals who work to support the
success of these children in educational and other community settings.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Neuropsychological testing offers clinical practitioners an exquisitely
sensitive window into the functioning of the brain. As the reader completes
this review, he or she might be impressed, not just with the sensitivity of
neuropsychological testing, but also with its lack of specificity. Fortunately
for all of us and our patients, the early years of neuropsychology, where
neurosurgeons sought our opinion about where in the brain to cut, are
behind us now, and the role of neuropsychology has evolved to become
more of a discipline that focuses on the identification of strengths and
weaknesses for the purposes of planning more effective treatments and
making disability determinations to help guide the appropriate granting of
accommodations in the educational or workplace settings.
Frontal lobe and executive functioning problems appear in nearly every
section of this chapter. These brain regions and the corresponding functions
dependent on the integrity of those regions are vulnerable for a number of
reasons. They are among the last to mature and myelinate developmentally, and thus, their successful development is at least in part dependent on the successful development of all other structures and functions
that emerge along the developmental course beforehand. They are also
positioned most precariously within the cranial vault. No region is more
vulnerable to acceleration/ deceleration insults than the diagonal axis that
cuts through the anterior frontal and anterior temporal lobes, regardless of
where the acceleration/deceleration forces are applied, and the underside
of these structures, rich with connections to the limbic system, are ripe for
contusion whenever the brain is jostled about on the cribiform plate.
Whenever a patient has trouble getting together the resources to do
something, such as saying what needs to be done, planning how to do it,
deciding what to do next, or bringing the task to completion, the problem
is likely in the frontalprefrontal executive functions system. When the
problem appears to be more a lack of comprehension or understanding,
the first place to look is at the posterior half of the brain and perceptual
recognition and language comprehension systems that are dependent on
posterior brain integrity.
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PART III
Assesment of Specific
Psychopathologies
7
Assessment of Conduct
Problems
NICOLE R. POWELL, JOHN E. LOCHMAN,
MELISSA F. JACKSON, LAURA YOUNG,
and ANNA YAROS
The completion of this chapter has been supported by grants to the

second author from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA 08453;
DA 16135), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (R49/CCR
418569), and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
(2006-JL-FX-0232). Correspondence about this paper can be directed
to: John E. Lochman, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Box 870348,
The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487.
ASSESSMENT OF CONDUCT DISORDERS

Conduct Disorder is one of the most common reasons for referral of
a child or adolescent for psychological or psychiatric treatment (Nelson,
Finch, & Hart, 2006). The prevalence and the nature of Conduct Disorder and other disruptive behavior problems exact a high cost to identified
children and their families, as well as to the educational system, the community, and society at large. As a result, the need for services for children
displaying serious behavior problems is clear, and a thorough comprehensive
assessment is a critical first step in making an accurate diagnosis and
identifying key factors that serve to maintain or exacerbate symptoms. In
this chapter, we define Conduct Disorder and related behavior problems,
provide information on associated factors, and describe relevant issues in
the assessment of these problems in children and adolescents.
NICOLE R. POWELL, JOHN E. LOCHMAN, MELISSA F. JACKSON, LAURA YOUNG,
and ANNA YAROS Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL.

185
186
NICOLE R. POWELL et al.
Conduct Disorder and Related Problems

Conduct disorders, aggression, and delinquency are all terms that refer
to antisocial behaviors that indicate an inability or failure of an individual to
conform to his or her societal norms, authority figures, or respect the rights of
others (Frick, 1998; Lochman, 2000). These behaviors can range from chronic
annoying of others and argumentativeness with adults to stealing, vandalism,
and physical harm to others. Although these behaviors cover a broad spectrum of problems, they are highly correlated, with few children showing one
type of behavior in the absence of others (Frick et al., 1993). This relatedness
of behaviors is considered to be indicative of a single psychological dimension,
generally referred to as antisocial behaviors or conduct problems.
Antisocial behaviors of children and adolescents have long been a
major concern of society, in part because of the enormous public costs. The
costs of a life of crime include government expenditures for criminal justice
investigation, arrest, adjudication, and incarceration; as well as costs to
victims, such as medical costs, time missed from work, the value of stolen
property as well as loss of life, and costs that accrue to the criminal and
his or her family, such as lost wages (Foster, Jones, & Conduct Problems
Prevention Research Group [CPPRG], 2005). The social cost of adolescent
delinquency exceeds $70,000 over a seven-year period (Foster et al., 2005).
As a result, society has given increased attention to juvenile correction
facilities, early intervention programs such as Fast Track developed by the
CPPRG (2004a), and evidence-based intervention programs that have been
found to produce reductions in delinquency and serious conduct problem
behavior (Chamberlain & Reid, 1998; Henggeler, Melton, & Smith, 1992;
Lochman & Wells, 2004). Aggressive and disruptive behaviors are among
the most enduring dysfunctions in children, and if left untreated, frequently
result in high personal and emotional cost to the child, the family, and to
society in general. As a direct result, much research has investigated the
causes, treatment, and prevention of conduct problems.
As a clinical syndrome with a broad list of symptoms, it is logical to
expect much heterogeneity within the group that falls under the umbrella
term of conduct problems. In addition to heterogeneity in the type of conduct problems manifested, children with conduct problems also can differ
in the causal factors involved, the developmental course of the problems,
the response to treatment, and the interaction between any of these.
There is strong agreement that children with conduct problems are
a very heterogeneous group, however, there is significantly less consensus about the most appropriate method of classifying conduct problems
into meaningful subtypes. One of the most widely used and accepted
classifications of disruptive behavior disorders is in the fourth edition of the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; American
Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994). The criteria employ a two-dimensional approach with an explicit symptom list for making a diagnosis. This
system divides conduct problems into two syndromes: Conduct Disorder
(CD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD).
CD encompasses symptoms that fall into one of four classes of behavioral problems consisting of: aggressive conduct that threatens physical
harm to other people or animals (bullies, threatens, or intimidates others;
ASSESSMENT OF CONDUCT PROBLEMS
187
often initiates physical fights; uses a weapon), nonaggressive conduct that

causes property loss or damage (fire setting; property destruction), deceitfulness and theft (stealing; breaking into someones house or car), and
serious violations of rules (truancy from school; running away from home).
The diagnosis of CD is made if the child or adolescent has displayed at
least 3 of the 15 symptoms during the past twelve months.
The DSM-IV also distinguishes between children who begin showing conduct problems in early childhood from those who begin showing conduct problems closer to adolescence. If any symptoms are present prior to age 10, with
the child meeting criteria for CD, he or she is classified as Childhood-Onset
Type. However, if criteria are met for CD and no symptoms are present prior
to age 10, the child is classified Adolescent-Onset Type. CD children with
childhood-onset are more likely to display the aggressive component of the
disorder, are more likely to drop out of school, and are more likely to persist
in their conduct problems over time (Nelson et al., 2006).
Although childhood-onset conduct problems tend to reflect aggressive behavior, adolescent-onset conduct problems tend to reflect more
delinquent behavior such as vandalism and theft (Zoccolillo, 1993).
This distinction between Childhood-Onset and Adolescent-Onset CD is
consistent with Moffitts (1993) identification of youth with life-course
persistent antisocial behavior, in contrast to other delinquent youth
who have adolescent-limited antisocial behavior. Youths with life-course
persistent antisocial behavior are at early risk because of combined biological and family factors. Conversely, children classified as Adolescent-Onset
type typically display disruptive behaviors, particularly in the company of
peers, but do not usually exhibit severe behavior problems or continued
conduct problems into adulthood.
Conceptually there seems to be an important relationship between CD
and ODD. ODD is defined as a recurrent pattern of negativistic, defiant, disobedient, and hostile behavior toward authority figures. ODD behaviors are
usually apparent in the preschool years, and have been linked to problematic temperaments in infancy and childhood. Research indicates that CD is a
developmentally advanced form of ODD, and that there are similar correlates
for both ODD and CD. Both children with ODD and children with CD come
from lower socioeconomic status (Frick et al., 1992; Keenan, Loeber, Zhang,
Stouthamer-Loeber, & Van Kammen, 1995), are more likely to have a parent
with a history of Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD; Faraone, Biederman,
Kenean, & Tsuang, 1991; Frick, et al., 1992), and to have parents who use
ineffective discipline practices (Frick et al., 1993).
Undoubtedly, the frequency with which children or adolescents manifest clinically significant and impairing levels of conduct problems is greatly
determined by the definition used for such conduct when surveying populations. The DSM-IV notes a prevalence ranging between 2 and 16% for
ODD (APA, 1994). For CD, rates of 616% for males and 29% for females
have been cited (APA, 1994). Sex ratios in research studies have been
approximately 34:1(males to females) for both ODD and CD. Both disorders, therefore, occur more commonly in males than in females, but ratios
vary widely as a function of both the age of the child and the definition of
the disorder (APA, 1994; Hinshaw & Anderson, 1996). The higher rate for
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boys is associated primarily with childhood-onset; the male to female ratio

evens out in adolescence. Characteristic symptom patterns tend to differ
as well. Males with CD are especially likely to develop substance abuse
problems and APD in adulthood (Nelson et al., 2006)
Children who meet criteria for ODD or CD are likely to meet criteria
for other disorders as well. This co-existence of more than one disorder is
referred to as comorbidity. Comorbidity with ODD and CD is the rule rather
than the exception, especially with regard to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD). In clinic samples of children with CD, 7590% had cooccurring ADHD (Abikoff & Klein, 1992). Comorbidity with ADHD seems to
affect the manifestation and course of conduct disorders. The presence of
ADHD in CD/ODD children produces more severe, chronic, and aggressive
conduct problems and increased peer rejection (Abikoff & Klein, 1992). CD
and ODD can also be comorbid with anxiety (6075% of clinic-referred CD
children) and depression (1531% of CD children; Hinshaw, Lahey & Hart,
1993). For these comorbid children, affect regulation difficulties may lead
to co-occurring problems with childrens expression of anger, anxiety, and
depression.
Researchers are beginning to identify psychological features in some
antisocial youth that are linked to subsequent psychopathy (Barry, Frick,
DeShazo, McCoy, Ellis, & Loney, 2000). These youth who have psychopathic
features display manipulation, impulsivity, and remorseless patterns of
interpersonal behavior, are usually referred to as callous/unemotional,
and are considered to be conceptually different from youth diagnosed with
CD who do not have these features (Hart & Hare, 1997). Low levels of fearfulness have been associated with higher levels of the callous and unemotional traits in delinquent adolescents (Pardini, Lochman, & Frick, 2003).
One of the most distressing qualities of conduct disorders is the
enduring stability of these disorders over the course of childhood and adolescence and even potentially into adulthood. Aggression may be one of
the most enduring forms of psychopathology in children (Frick, 1998).
Longitudinal research has indicated that CD is often a precursor of APD
in adulthood (Myers, Burket, & Otto, 1993). It is estimated that 80% of
youth who have severe antisocial behavior are likely to have future psychiatric disorders (Kazdin, 2004), and approximately half of children with CD
will develop significant APD symptomatology. Two factors that predict the
development of APD are the number of CD symptoms the child exhibits
and early age of onset of symptoms (APA, 1994). In addition, ODD and CD
children who show pervasive symptoms in a variety of settings (e.g., home,
school, community) are at risk for a wide range of negative outcomes in
adolescence including, truancy, substance use, early teenage parenthood,
and delinquency (Lochman & Wayland, 1994).
Contributing Factors
Empirical research has identified numerous factors associated with
the development and maintenance of aggressive and disruptive behaviors. These contributing factors can be conceptualized within a contextual social-cognitive model (Lochman & Wells, 2002), which describes how
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certain family and community characteristics influence conduct problems

directly, as well as indirectly through their impact on mediating processes.
The contextual social-cognitive model posits that stressors within the family
and neighborhood can adversely affect childrens behavior; in addition,
these stressors affect parenting practices, influencing child psychological
and social processes and, in turn, resulting in behavioral consequences
such as aggression, delinquency, and substance abuse.
For clarity of presentation, contributing factors encompassed in the
contextual social-cognitive model of child conduct problems are presented
in two categories: contextual factors and child-level factors. Although several of these factors are malleable and represent clear targets for assessment and intervention, others are less susceptible to change. Nonetheless,
it is useful to assess for each of these factors as part of a thorough case
conceptualization that can guide treatment planning and goals.
Contextual Factors
Family Factors
Disruptive behavior problems in children have been associated with
family characteristics such as low SES and poverty, low levels of maternal education, and teenage parenthood (Keenan et al., 1995; McLeod &
Shanahan, 1996; Nagin & Tremblay, 2001). Parents who experience mental
health issues such as depression (e.g., Barry, Dunlap, Cotton, Lochman,
& Wells, 2005), substance abuse (e.g., Loeber, Green, Keenan, & Lahey,
1995), and APD (e.g., Lahey et al., 1995) are more likely to have a child
with disruptive behavior problems. Conduct problems are also more common in children whose families experience stressful life events (e.g., Barry
et al., 2005), marital discord (e.g., Erath, Bierman, & CPPRG, 2006), and
multiple changes in family composition (Ackerman, Brown, DEramo, &
Izard, 2002). This set of risk factors can lead to less effective parenting
practices and, as a result, increased child behavior problems.
Parenting Factors
The relation between parenting practices and child behavior problems
is reciprocal and ongoing; poor parenting can exacerbate child behavior
problems, and on the other hand, negative, oppositional child behaviors
can elicit ineffective reactions from parents (e.g., Fite, Colder, Lochman,
& Wells, 2006). Specific parenting practices that are associated with child
behavior problems include punitive discipline practices, spanking, physical aggression, inconsistency, low levels of warmth and involvement, and
poor monitoring (e.g., Haapasalo & Tremblay, 1994; Stormshak, Bierman,
McMahon, Lengua, & CPPRG, 2000).
Peer Factors
Similar to the reciprocal relation between parenting practices and
child conduct problems, peer relations and child behavior also affect each
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other in a bidirectional manner (CPPRG, 2004b). Aggressive children are at

increased risk of peer rejection (Cillessen, Van IJzendoorn, Van Lieshout,
& Hartup, 1992), and aggressive children who are rejected by their peers
demonstrate increasing conduct problems over time (e.g., Coie, Lochman,
Terry, & Hyman, 1992). Children and adolescents who are rejected by
peers in general are more likely to associate with a deviant peer group,
leading to modeling, reinforcement, and increased opportunity for antisocial behaviors (Dishion, Andrews, & Crosby, 1995).
Community Factors
The broader environmental context also has an effect on child behavior
prolems, and certain neighborhood and school characteristics are associated
with increased conduct problems in children. With regard to neighborhood
factors, high levels of community violence can lead directly to increased child
conduct problems and can influence childrens beliefs about the acceptability of aggression (Guerra, Huesmann, & Spindler, 2003). Neighborhood
problems can also exacerbate child behavior problems through their negative
effect on parenting practices (Pinderhughes, Nix, Foster, Jones, & CPPRG,
2001). Other neighborhood risk factors for conduct problems include high
levels of residential instability, poverty, and elevated unemployment rates
(see Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000 for a review).
In the school setting, children who are exposed to high levels of peer
aggression tend to increase their own aggressive behavior (Barth, Dunlap,
Dane, Lochman, & Wells, 2004). Over the course of several grades, children
who spend more time in classrooms characterized by high rates of aggression exhibit more aggressive behavior than peers who have less exposure
to classroom aggression (Thomas, Bierman, & CPPRG, 2006). Childrens
attitudes about school can also affect their behavior, and those who are
poorly bonded to their schools are also at risk for increased behavior problems and substance abuse (Maddox & Prinz, 2003).
Child-Level Factors
Social-Cognitive Factors
Children and adolescents who exhibit conduct problems have been
shown to demonstrate characteristic deficits in their cognitive processing
of interpersonal situations. The social-information processing model presented by Crick and Dodge (1994) provides a useful framework to describe
the difficulties exhibited by disruptive children. This model encompasses
six steps, and, as a group, aggressive children have been shown to have
problems at each of these; however, individual aggressive children generally exhibit deficits at only a few steps (Orobio de Castro, Veerman, Koops,
Bosch, & Monshouwer, 2002).
The steps of the social-information processing model include: (1) encoding of relevant cues, (2) interpretation of cues, (3) identification of social
goals, (4) response formulation, (5) selection of a response, and (6) behavioral enactment. In the first step, disruptive children tend to selectively
191
recall aggressive, rather than neutral, cues related to an event, to display

a pronounced recency effect in their recall of cues, and to recall fewer
relevant cues overall (Crick & Dodge, 1994). In the second step, disruptive children tend to ascribe hostile intent to others actions in neutral or
ambiguous situations (i.e., hostile attribution bias; Orobio de Castro et al.,
2002), but underestimate their own aggressive behavior (Lochman, 1987;
Lochman & Dodge, 1998).
When identifying their social goals in an interpersonal interaction,
the third step of processing, disruptive children are more likely to pursue
goals of retaliation and dominance over social affiliation and constructive
problem-solving goals (Erdley & Asher, 1996). In the fourth step of processing, response formulation, disruptive children display deficiencies in both
the quantity and the quality of solutions they generate (Lochman, Meyer,
Rabiner, & White, 1991). Although most disruptive children are able to
formulate an adequate number of possible social problem-solving solutions,
the most seriously aggressive youth produce fewer options (Lochman &
Dodge, 1994). Qualitatively, solutions to interpersonal problems generated
by disruptive children tend to be less developmentally advanced and less
effective in preserving relationships. For example, disruptive children tend
to identify more direct-action and help-seeking solutions, and fewer solutions involving verbal assertion and compromise (Larson & Lochman, 2002).
In the fifth step of processing, selection of a response, individuals must
identify and evaluate the consequences of each possible solution, then use
this information to select the response that is most consistent with an
identified goal. Aggressive and disruptive children tend to view aggression as a useful and acceptable solution that will help them to achieve
their goals, and may be more likely to select an aggressive response to an
interpersonal problem (Larson & Lochman, 2002). Behavioral enactment,
the final processing step, may present a challenge for disruptive children
who are more likely to have difficulties in carrying out prosocial behaviors
(Dodge, Pettit, McClaskey, & Brown, 1986).
In the assessment of conduct problems, an awareness of these potential social-cognitive deficiencies is important in identifying the specific
processes that may influence and maintain disruptive behaviors in a given
child, which has useful implications for treatment. For example, a child
who displays a strong hostile attribution bias can be helped to view frustrating situations in a more productive way through perspective-taking
exercises, whereas a child who displays an overreliance on direct-action
or help-seeking responses to interpersonal conflict can be coached in the
use of verbal assertion and compromise.
Self Regulation and Self Control

Strong, unregulated emotional arousal and impulsivity have been
associated with disruptive behavior problems in children (Larson &
Lochman, 2002). Compared with nonaggressive children, children with
disruptive behaviors have been shown to display more intense reactions
on physiological indicators in response to provocation and frustration
(van Goozen, Matthys, Cohen-Kettenis, Gispen-de Wied, Wiegant, & van
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Engeland, 1998; Williams, Lochman, Phillips, & Barry, 2003). Under conditions of emotional arousal, aggressive children tend to problem-solve in
an automatic, reactive manner, generating less competent, direct-action
solutions than when they are calm and able to use more deliberate problem-solving strategies (Rabiner, Lenhart, & Lochman, 1990). Increases in
physiological arousal may also lead to more pronounced cognitive distortions
(Williams et al., 2003). In the absence of adequate self-regulatory and selfcontrol skills, disruptive children may quickly become overaroused in conflictual situations, leading to problematic cognitive processes and behaviors.
ASSESSMENT OF BEHAVIOR
Rating Scales
The assessment of behavior via rating scales allows for a standardized
means of obtaining information regarding the childs symptoms and behaviors. These ratings can be used to compare the childs symptom levels across
time, as well as to compare her symptom level to that of other children her
age. The accuracy of reports obtained through rating scales depends on the
scales reliability and validity, as well as the reporters ability to rate the child
openly, honestly, and adequately. Amidst the various scales used to assess
for conduct disorders, there are opportunities to obtain self-, teacher-, and
parent-reports of behaviors. Although many scales only utilize one informant, the Achenbach rating forms, Conners rating forms, and the Behavior
Assessment System for Children represent three sets of assessment instruments that include parent, teacher, and self-report versions.
Within the set of Achenbach measures, the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991a) is a parent-report measure, the Teachers
Report Form (TRF; Achenbach, 1991b) relies on teacher-report, and the
Youth Self Report (YSR; Achenbach, 1991c) is a self-report measure. Each
of these measures assesses externalizing and internalizing problems in
children and adolescents. The CBCL is a 120-item measure, scored on a
3-point scale, with nine subscales intended for ages 4 to 18 years. The TRF
also contains 120 items scored on a 3-point scale, but it has only eight
subscales (it does not include the sex problems subscale) and is intended
for ages 6 to 18 years. Both the CBCL and TRF take approximately 10 to
15 minutes to complete. They also both produce an externalizing score
(the sum of the delinquent behavior and aggressive behavior subscales),
an internalizing score, and a total problem score. The YSR, which can
be completed in approximately 30 minutes, contains 119 items scored
on a 3-point scale and is intended for ages 11 to 18 years. It contains
nine scales that include social problems, attention problems, delinquent
behavior, and aggressive behavior. The internal consistency of the various
measures range from .56 to .92 for the CBCL, .63 to .96 for the TRF, and
.59 to .90 for the YSR. All three scales are thought to have satisfactory
validity. Whereas the Achenbach set of measures allows for a crossinformant assessment, some of the scales have rather low reliability. This
measure should be viewed as a broad-based screening measure.
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The Behavior Assessment System for Children-Second Edition

(BASC-2; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2005) includes the BASC-2 Parent
Rating Scale (BASC-2 PRS), Teacher Rating Scale (BASC-2 TRS), and
Self-Report of Personality (BASC-2 SRP). Each measure is intended to
assess psychological functioning in children and adolescents, including
adaptive and problem behaviors.
The BASC-2 PRS can be completed in about 20 minutes, consists of
134 to 160 items, is scored on a 4-point scale, and is intended for ages
2 to 21 years. From these items, 14 subscales (including aggression
and conduct problems subscales) and four composite scores (including an
externalizing problems composite, adaptive skills composite, and behavioral symptoms index) are created.
The BASC-2 TRS contains 109 to 148 items scored on a 4-point scale,
is intended for ages 4 to 18 years, and is typically completed within 30
minutes. The BASC-2 TRS contains 15 subscales (including aggression
and conduct problem subscales) and five composite scores (including an
externalizing problems composite, adaptive skills composite, and behavioral
symptoms index).
The BASC-2 SRP has 139 to 176 items, with some items scored on
a 4-point scale and some using a truefalse scoring method. This selfreport measure is intended for ages 8 to 21 years, and it takes about 30
minutes to complete. The BASC-2 SRP contains 16 subscales (including
hyperactivity, interpersonal relations, school adjustment, and social stress
subscales) and five composite scores (including inattention/hyperactivity,
personal adjustment, and school problems composite scores).
The internal consistency of the BASC-2 measures ranges from .80 to
.95 for the BASC-2 PRS, .62 to .95 for the BASC-2 TRS, and .78 to .94
for the BASC-2 SRP. This set of BASC measures also allows for crossinformant assessment, and is particularly strong at evaluating externalizing problems.
The Conners Rating Scales-Revised (CRS-R; Conners, 1997) have
a primary emphasis on externalizing problems. Within this set of
instruments are the Conners Parent Rating ScaleRevised (CPRS-R), the
Conners Teacher Rating Scale-Revised (CTRS-R), and the ConnersWells
Adolescent Self-Report Scale (CASS). Each measure has a short and long
form version.
The CPRS-R has a 27-item short version with four subscales (including oppositional and hyperactivity scales) and an 80-item long version with
ten subscales (including those listed in the short form plus such scales as
the social problems subscale). Both versions use a 4-point rating scale and
are intended for use with children aged 3 to 17 years. The short version
takes approximately 5 to 10 minutes to complete, and the long version
will typically take 15 to 20 minutes. The CTRS-R includes a 28-item short
form with four subscales and a 59-item long form with nine subscales.
The short and long form versions of the CTRS-R are similar to the CPRS-R
in terms of subscales and length of administration.
The CASS is designed for ages 12 to 17 years, has both a 27-item short
form with five subscales and an 87-item long form with eight subscales,
and utilizes a 4-point rating scale.
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Both forms have conduct problems, anger control problems, and

hyperactive-impulsive subscales. The internal consistency of the Conners
scales ranges from .73 to .96 for the CPRS-R and CTRS-R and from .75
to .92 for the CASS. The measures have satisfactory to good convergent
and discriminant validity. The CRS-R scales in general are quite useful
for evaluating externalizing problems. However, although the CASS may
be useful in determining general distress, its focus is limited to social and
emotional problems.
Parent Informant Scales

In addition to the sets of measures described above, the Devereux
Scales of Mental Disorders and the Personality Inventory for ChildrenSecond Edition are parent-report measures useful for assessing conduct
disorders. The Devereux Scales of Mental Disorders (DSMD; Naglieri, LeBuffe, & Pfeiffer, 1994) can be used with children ages 5 to 18 years, and
consist of 110 (adolescent version) or 111 (child version) items that can be
completed in 15 minutes and are scored on a 5-point scale. Both the child
and adolescent versions create externalizing, internalizing, and critical
pathology composite scores. Additionally, they both contain six subscales,
which include conduct and attention subscales for children, and conduct
and delinquency subscales for adolescents. Although the DSMD has limited validity, its internal consistency ranges from .70 to .99.
The Personality Inventory for Children-Second Edition (PIC-2; Wirt,
Lachar, Seat, & Broen, 2001) is a 275-item truefalse measure of behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal adjustment in children and
adolescents ages 5 to 19 years old that takes approximately 40 minutes
to complete. The PIC-2 consists of 21 adjustment subscales and nine
adjustment scales, including a delinquency scale. The adjustment scales
internal consistency ranges from .75 to. 91 and its convergent and discriminant validity are satisfactory. The PIC-2 covers a range of problems and
provides validity scales.
Teacher Informant Scales

The Devereux Scales of Mental Disorders (DSMD) utilize the same
exact measure for the parent- and teacher-informant versions. As such,
see the above discussion of the DSMD for details regarding the teacherinformant version of this measure. Among teachers, the DSMD has internal
consistency ranging from .76 to .98.
The Revised Behavior Problem Checklist (RBPC; Quay & Peterson,
1996) is an 89-item measure intended for ages 5 to 18 years that takes
approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete. The RBPC focuses primarily
on externalizing problems, with six subscales including conduct disorder,
socialized aggression, and attention problemsimmaturity. Items are rated
on a 3-point scale. Internal consistency ranges from .68 to .95 and validity
is satisfactory.
The Student Behavior Survey (SBS; Lachar, Wingenfeld, Kline, & Gruber,
2000) contains 102 items, is meant for ages 5 to 18 years, and contains
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three sections with 14 total subscales. The adjustment problems and

disruptive behavior sections include such subscales as verbal aggression,
physical aggression, behavior problems, oppositional defiant, and conduct
problems. All subscales are scored on a 4-point scale, except for the performance subscale which uses a 5-point scale. The internal consistency of
the SBS ranges from .86 to .95, and its convergent and discriminant validity are satisfactory. Although its validity is satisfactory, the SBS should be
used cautiously, as some of its scales demonstrate low testretest reliability
(ranging from .29 to .94).
Self-Report Scales
The Personality Inventory for Youth (PIY; Lachar & Gruber, 1995a,b)
is a companion measure to the parent-reported PIC-2. The PIY contains
270 truefalse items, takes 30 to 60 minutes to complete, and is intended
for youth aged 10 to 18 years. Among its nine scales are an impulsivity and distractibility scale, delinquency scale, and social skills deficits
scale. These nine scales are broken down further into 24 subscales which
include impulsivity, antisocial behavior, dyscontrol, noncompliance, and
conflict with peers. Its internal consistency ranges from .71 to .90, and it
has satisfactory validity.
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent (MMPIA; Butcher et al., 1992) can provide useful information on adolescent
psychopathology. It is designed for adolescents ages 14 to 18 years old,
contains 478 truefalse items, takes 60 to 90 minutes to complete, and has
10 basic scales, 7 validity scales, and 15 content scales. The basic scales
include a psychopathic deviate scale, and the content scales include an
anger scale and conduct problems scale. The internal consistency is low to
moderate, ranging from .40 to .89, as is the validity. MMPI-A can only be
used with a limited age range, and some items may be difficult for younger
adolescents to understand. It may provide useful information on psychopathology, however, users should be aware of the MMPI-As low reliability and
validity and be sure to consult the manuals for interpretation purposes.
The Adolescent Psychopathology Scale (APS; Reynolds, 1998a,b) and
Adolescent Psychopathology Scale-Short Form (APS-SF; Reynolds, 2000)
assess externalizing and internalizing disorders in children and adolescents ages 12 to 19 years. The APS has 346 items, takes 45 to 60 minutes
to complete, measures the 25 DSMIVTR disorders as well as various
social and emotional problems, and contains 40 scales (including Conduct
Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Anger, Aggression, Interpersonal
Problem, and Emotional Lability scales). The APS-SF has 115 items, takes
15 to 20 minutes to complete, assesses 12 central components of social
and emotional functioning, and has 14 subscales (including Conduct
Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Anger/Violence Proneness, and
Interpersonal Problems subscales). Both the APS and APS-SF have variable rating scales throughout their subscales. The internal consistency
ranges from .69 to .95 for the APS and .80 to .91 for the APS-SF, and both
scales have good validity. Both of these scales provide strong assessments
of critical components of adolescent psychopathology.
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Interview Measures
Another way of obtaining information regarding a childs presenting
problems is through a clinical assessment interview. These interviews
can take on various forms. They may be an unstructured interview in
which the interviewee is encouraged to describe concerns with some guidance from the interviewer. This form of interview allows the interviewer
to structure the time as desired and to follow up on statements made by
the interviewee. The semi-structured interview provides guidelines for the
interview, but still allows for the examiner to rephrase as needed, follow
leads, and have more liberty when interpreting results.
The Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV; Forth, Kosson, & Hare, 2003) is an example of a semi-structured interview that assists
with the assessment of psychopathology in adolescents. It is intended
for ages 12 to 18 years and takes approximately 90 to 120 minutes to
complete the interview section and 60 minutes to complete the collateral
review 20-item rating scale. The PCL:YV measures interpersonal, affective,
behavioral, and emotional features related to psychopathy.
Another semi-structured interview is the Child Assessment Schedule
(CAS; Hodges, Kline, Stern, Cytryn, & McKnew, 1982). This interview
includes a parent and child version and is intended for use in assessing
children ages 7 to 16 years. Responses are scored on a 3-point scale.
This interview contains 11 content scales addressing overall functioning
and psychopathology, including measurements of mood and behavior,
acting out, and social relationships. The CAS has adequate reliability
and validity.
Structured interviews are highly structured with set protocols for the
progression through the interview. These stringent guidelines are used
to increase reliability and validity of the interviews and decrease interviewer bias and clinical inference. These interviews require some specialized training.
The Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA; Angold
et al., 1995) is a structured interview with versions for children ages
9 to 18 years and their parents. It is divided into 15 domains, including a
disruptive behavior disorders domain which includes assessment of symptoms related to ODD, CD, Delinquency, and ADHD. The interview can be
completed in approximately 90 minutes and allows a detailed examination
of symptom ratings.
The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version IV (DISC-IV;
Shaffer, Fisher, Lucas, Dulcan, & Schwab-Stone, 2000) is a structured
interview that assesses current and lifetime childhood disorders. The parent-informant version is intended for children ages 6 to 17 years, and
the youth-informant version is intended for children ages 9 to 17 years.
This interview is composed of 358 standard questions and 1,341 optional
probes. It is divided into six diagnostic sections, including a section for
disruptive behavior disorders. The administration time varies on level of
symptom endorsement and may range between 70 minutes and 120 minutes.
This measure has high reliability and validity. However, it is often thought
to have an overly rigid structure.
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The Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents-Revised (DICAR) was created in 1998 to classify DSMIIIR categories of disorders and
represents a revised version of the DICA (Herjanic & Reich, 1982). There
are child and parent versions of the DICA-R, intended for ages 6 to 17
years. The interview elicits yes or no responses and takes approximately
60 minutes to administer. The sections of the DICA-R cover several mental
disorders including conduct disorders.
ASSESSMENT OF ASSOCIATED FEATURESCHILDREN

AND ADOLESCENTS
Measures of Peer Relations
Sociometrics
Children with conduct disorders often have impairments in social
functioning that play out in their relationships with peers. Several types
of assessments exist for evaluating how children with conduct disorders
get along with their peers. The first type, peer-referenced assessments,
involves the childs peers in the evaluative process. This usually takes the
form of sociometric peer nominations, which measure social acceptance
or social status at school (Coie, Dodge, & Coppotelli, 1982). Children are
asked to rank their peers, often in a class at school, on items such as like
most, and like least. Using this type of assessment, children who have
CD are often identified as disliked by their peers.
Although this is the only widely used peer-referenced assessment
technique, it can be used to ask a variety of types of questions about
children. Using a similar nomination method, clinicians can also ask
peers about various other impressions of a child. Other questions that
have been employed in sociometric instruments include items about
other forms of social status such as power and popularity (Vaillancourt &
Hymel, 2006). Other questions can ask peers about impressions of child
characteristics and behaviors, such as attractiveness and aggressiveness
(Coie et al., 1982). Reliability data suggest that these types of questions
about social status and child behaviors ( = .76 to .91) may have more
internal consistency than the classic like most/like least questions
( = .65; Coie et al., 1982; Vaillancourt & Hymel, 2006). The drawback of
using such an assessment is the level of effort required to get information on one child for clinical purposes.
Social Skills Measures

Measures of social skills are easier to collect than sociometrics, but
less informative about a childs real-life peer relationships. The connection
often observed between rejection by peers and conduct disorders may, in
some cases, be linked to deficits in social skills. Several measures evaluate
social skills in children with CD. Some omnibus measures of child behavior include items that relate directly to social behavior.
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As described above, the BASC-2 (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2005) contains

a variety of questions pertaining to primary features of conduct disorders,
but also includes scales measuring social skills. Similarly, the CBCL, the
TRF, and the YSR (Achenbach, 1991a,b,c) include questions pertaining
to childrens social skills, which make up the Social Problems subscale.
Some of these ask teachers, parents, and children to rate the extent to
which the child Acts too young for his/her age and Gets teased a lot.
Measures developed entirely to evaluate childrens social skills are also
a good option for determining skill levels and deficits in children with conduct disorders. The Social Skills Rating Scales (SSRS; Gresham & Elliot,
1990) is one such social skills measure that includes checklists for the
teacher, parent, and child. It is a good measure of social skills, while
also containing scales of problem behaviors and academic competence.
The internal consistency of the SSRS is = .83 indicating that it has adequate reliability, although interrater reliability across parent, teacher, and
child report forms is generally poor (r = .03 to .29; Disperna & Volpe, 2005).
The Social Behavior Assessment Inventory (SBAI) is another measure
of social skills, but only as they occur in one setting. It asks teachers to
report on childrens social behavior in a variety of school-related contexts.
Psychometrics of this test indicate good reliability and validity (Kelley, Reitman, & Noell, 2003). Finally, the Home and Community Social Behavior
Scale (HCSBS; Merrell & Calderella, 2002) and the School Social Behavior
Scale (SSBS; Merrell, 2002) make up the Social Behavior Scales (SBS).
The two components of the SBS differ primarily in the settings where
they are administered and both include Social Competence and Antisocial Behavior subscales. Internal consistency of the SBS is excellent, with
alpha coefficients as high as .98.
MEASURES OF SOCIAL COGNITION

As indicated in previous sections of this chapter, aggression and related
behaviors in conduct disorders are associated with elements of social cognition. Several instruments have been developed to measure the stages of
social-information processing, but few show strong reliability and validity
across extensive utilization.
Attending to social cues is a first step of processing information in
interpersonal situations. A test of attention to social cues is the Recall Task
developed by Milich and Dodge (1984). The test presents children with a
series of neutral, positive, and hostile statements intermixed. The child
then reports what he or she can recall. In aggressive children, responses
often tend toward the recall of the hostile statements and the addition of
hostile rephrasing of the neutral and positive statements.
Tests of childrens processes during the interpretation step in the social
information processing model often rely on measures of hostile attribution bias. One measure of hostile attribution bias is Dodge et al.s (1986)
measure using vignettes to assess how children interpret ambiguous cues.
Children report whether they interpret the antagonist in the vignettes as
doing things accidentally or with hostility. Subsequent adaptation of the
199
measure has yielded a collection of vignettes that have alpha coefficients

above .70 and that reliably distinguish aggressive from nonaggressive
children (Lochman & Dodge, 1994). Leff and colleagues (2006) have also
developed a cartoon-based hostile attribution measure designed expressly
for African American girls. The measure showed strong internal consistency
( = .76) and testretest reliability (r = .79 to .82) in an African American
sample of urban girls aged 9 to 10 years.
The goal-setting step of social cognition can be measured using the
Child Social Goal Measure (Lochman, Wayland, & White, 1993). The scale
uses vignettes of parentchild and childpeer conflict to assess what children hope to gain from their attempt to resolve the conflict. Choices reflect
goals of avoidance, dominance, revenge, and affiliation.
The stage of the social information processing model involved in response
access and response decision is supported by a robust group of measures of
child problem-solving. To test childrens access to various responses, clinicians can use the Means-Ends Problem-Solving Procedure (MEPS; Spivack,
Shure, & Platt, 1985). The measure presents the child with a story that
includes a problem and its resolution and asks the child to develop the solution that led to the resolution. Reliability ( = .80 to .84) and validity of this
measure support its utility in assessment of children with CD.
Measures of response decision typically rely on self-report of how a
problem was solved. The Problem Solving Inventory (PSI; Heppner, 1988),
although developed for adults, can also be used with adolescents (Baker
& Roberts, 1989). Scales of the PSI measure Problem-Solving Confidence,
Personal Control, and Approach-Avoidance Style. Additionally, strong
internal consistency ( = .72 to .85) and testretest correlations (r = .83 to .89)
make it a good choice for a clinician wanting to quickly measure problem
solving abilities. The Problem-Solving Measure for Conflict (PSM-C; Lochman & Dodge, 1994) uses vignettes missing their middle parts in the same
way that the MEPS does. Responses are coded for problem-solving strategy
used (e.g., Verbal Assertion, Direct Action, Help Seeking). This measure
exhibits interrater reliability kappas above .66 and is able to discriminate
between aggressive and nonaggressive children. An important use of measures of social cognition in children with conduct disorder is to gain qualitative information about symptoms in social situations; however, measures
of social cognition are unlikely to be useful in making diagnoses because
most lack norms and cutoff scores.
Record Review
School Records
Beyond teacher and parent reports of childrens behavior, records
from schools and courts provide insight into how children with conduct
disorders are functioning in their environment. School records often provide data about disruptive behaviors that contribute to an accurate diagnosis of conduct disorders. School records take various forms and differ
widely across different schools. Some of the most informative records are
childrens grades, attendance records, and discipline records.
200
Because children with conduct disorders often struggle to succeed

in school, grades are an important indicator of the childs functioning.
However, grades are affected not just by academic competence, but also
by a variety of behavioral factors. Many children with conduct disorders
fall behind in coursework because they are sent out of the class and/or
suspended due to disruptive behavior. As such, poor grades are not always
valid measures of ability in children who have conduct disorders.
Attendance records give clinicians data about truancy that may be
hard to gather based on self-report or parent-report assessments. Behaviorally disordered youth and their parents may be reluctant to admit truant
behaviors to clinicians, and, furthermore, children and adolescents with
conduct disorders may be truant without the knowledge of their parents.
Attendance issues brought to light by school records also suggest that
possible deviant behaviors might occur during truant times, when monitoring is absent.
Discipline records provide information on symptoms of conduct disorders, such as aggression, vandalism, and deception. These records can
help a clinician pinpoint behaviors that occur at school, as well as evaluate institutional responses to these behaviors. By understanding what
type of discipline has been tried at school, and under what conditions, an
evaluator can make informed treatment recommendations to pass on to
the childs parents and school.
Court Records
Public records of arrests, charges, and convictions of crimes verify the
existence of actions consistent with conduct disorders and help researchers track recidivism of children with juvenile records. For the clinician,
court records can offer detailed information of an incident that might not
otherwise be available or easy to recall. Similarly, a childs juvenile justice
records provide clues to the severity and frequency of antisocial behavior.
Still, it is important to note that court records do not provide information
about behaviors and practices for which a child has yet to be caught.
ASSESSMENT OF ASSOCIATED FEATURESCAREGIVERS

Although the diagnostic criteria for ODD and CD are based on features presented by the child, the assessment of associated caregiver variables is useful in determining treatment goals and caregiver features that
may exacerbate and/or contribute to the childs symptoms. The assessment of caregiver features should be theoretically driven and should utilize
multiple assessment methods and multiple informants whenever possible
(McMahon & Metzler, 1998). Parenting skills, familial and environmental
stress, and caregiver mental health conditions are the three areas that
need to be considered as a part of a comprehensive assessment. Given
the personal nature of the caregiver variables being investigated and the
potential for misunderstandings about the purpose of such questions, this
portion of the assessment must be handled with great care and sensitivity.
201
Prior to delving into the following areas, it is recommended that clinicians

give informants an explanation about the importance and relevance of
these factors in the assessment of the childs behavior problems.
Parenting Skills
As summarized above, certain parenting practices are associated
with child behavior problems and may play a causal, maintenance, and/
or exacerbating role in childrens disruptive behaviors (Hinshaw & Lee,
2003). As such, it is important that assessment of parenting behaviors
(e.g., discipline practices, supervision, and monitoring) and the parent
child relationship be included in a comprehensive evaluation for conduct
problems. Parenting skills should be evaluated through multiple informants utilizing multiple methods such as structured and/or unstructured
observations, the clinical interview, and measures specific to evaluating
parenting behaviors.
Observing the interactions of the caregiver and child throughout the
evaluation is vital and should be considered a part of the assessment
battery. Structured observation techniques may also be useful, although
they can be time-consuming and may involve more complex techniques
(i.e., including a blind rater). Structured observation techniques may
include teaching activities (e.g., asking the parent to teach the child a
new math concept) and/or family play activities. Although observations
are considered to be the most complex and time-consuming techniques
to assess parenting skills, research has demonstrated that observations
are more sensitive than other methods and are more consistent (Zaslow
et al., 2006).
The clinical interview should include questions related to parenting
style. One way this can be evaluated is by asking the caregiver to describe
situations that resulted in the child being disciplined. Specifically, the
caregiver might be asked about the context of the situation, the specific
incident, why this incident was a problem for the parent, how the parent
handled the situation, how the child reacted, and how the situation was
resolved. This method allows the evaluator to determine whether the
caregivers expectations are developmentally appropriate and whether the
discipline techniques being used are appropriate and effective.
Familial and Environmental Stress

Familial and environmental stress have been shown to be associated
with behavior disorders in children (Haapasalo & Tremblay, 1994; Schachar & Tannock, 1995). Stressors should be evaluated through multiple
informants utilizing the clinical interview and standardized measures. The
clinical interview with the caregivers might include questions to gather
information related to daily hassles, marital problems, financial problems,
and child-related stressors (e.g., absent from work due to school conferences). Two specific measures have been used frequently to measure
caregiver stress: the Parenting Stress Index, Third Edition (Abidin,
1997) and the Daily Life Experience Checklist (DLE, Stone & Neale, 1982).
202
The Parenting Stress Index has been used to assess child and caregiver
characteristics that place a family at risk for dysfunctional interactions.
The DLE is a checklist that includes daily stressors, yielding a rich source
of information on parents current life stressors. These measures used
together as part of a familial and environmental stress assessment battery may yield important information relevant to assessment and treatment.
Caregiver Mental Health

Children whose caregivers have severe psychopathology are at an
increased risk of experiencing caregiverchild interactional difficulties, poor
monitoring, and other maladaptive caregiver behaviors (Hinshaw & Lee,
2003). As noted above, depression, substance abuse, and antisocial behavior patterns in caregivers have been shown to be related to child behavior
problems (Hinshaw & Lee, 2003; Murray, Sinclair, Cooper, Ducournau,
& Turner, 1999). A comprehensive evaluation of caregiver mental health
would include a clinical interview with questions related to family criminal
and arrest history; family mental health history; a broadband measure of
caregiver functioning; disorder-specific measures to further assess scales
that came out clinically significant on the broadband measure; and a followup interview to determine the severity of the caregivers pathology, in the
cases where significant mental health issues do arise.
SUMMARY
In this chapter, we have provided an overview of conduct problems
and relevant contributing factors, and have presented a number of techniques and instruments for use in the evaluation of conduct disorders.
Serious behavior problems in children and adolescents may present in any
number of ways and, for youth with conduct disorders, the clinical picture
tends to be complex. Due to the multifaceted nature of these problems and
their contributing factors, thorough comprehensive assessment is critical
for accuracy in diagnosis and in identifying targets for intervention. Specifically, features of the family, school, and community environments, peer
relationships, and child social-cognitive functioning should be considered
in addition to the referred childs behavioral functioning.
It is important to note that childrens strengths should not be overlooked in such assessments; positive qualities are areas to capitalize on in
clinical work with disruptive youth, and may represent valuable sources
of motivation for behavior change (as in the case of an athletically gifted
adolescent motivated to remain in school to play on a basketball team).
Therefore, any evaluation involving conduct problems should also include
an assessment of personal strengths and positive interests. As the first
step in clinical work with children with conduct problems, comprehensive
assessment can provide an invaluable guide to case conceptualization,
treatment planning, and intervention.
203
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8
Evidence-Based
Assessment of
Attention-Deficit/
Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD)
PAULA SOWERBY and GAIL TRIPP
Following recognition of the need for evidence-based treatments for

childhood disorders there is increasing awareness that the assessment
procedures we use with children should also be evidence-based. In this
chapter we briefly review what is known about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) before considering the informants, methods, and
measures that can be used to conduct evidence-based assessments for
children presenting with problems suggestive of ADHD. We also consider
the difficulties in combining data across informants and measures and the
important issue of incremental validity: that is, when does more assessment
lead to better assessment and outcome? Although the focus of the chapter
is the assessment of ADHD in school-aged children we briefly address the
assessment of ADHD in preschoolers, adolescents, and adults. In preparing
this chapter we have been guided by Mash and Hunsleys description of
PAULA SOWERBY
ADHD Research Clinic, Department of Psychology, University of
Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
GAIL TRIPP
ADHD Research Clinic, Department of Psychology, University of Otago,
Dunedin, New Zealand and Human Developmental Neurobiology Unit, Okinawa Institute
of Science and Technology, Okinawa, Japan.

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evidence based assessment, assessment methods and processes that

are based on empirical evidence in terms of both their reliability and validity
as well as their clinical usefulness for prescribed populations and purposes
(Mash & Hunsley, 2005, p. 364).
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder has been the subject of a great
deal of research attention over the last three decades with many research
articles and books published describing its nature, assessment, and
treatment. It is not possible to do justice to this extensive literature in a
single chapter. Where appropriate, throughout the chapter we refer the
reader to more detailed sources. We recommend those planning to conduct
evidence-based assessments with children referred for difficulties consistent
with ADHD consult these sources.
BACKGROUND
Description of ADHD and Current Diagnostic Criteria
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is the diagnosis given to children, adolescents, and adults who display developmentally inappropriate
levels of inattention, overactivity, and impulsivity. These symptoms cause
significant impairment in the individuals functioning in both the home and
school or work environments (American Psychiatric Association, APA, 2000)
The criteria set out in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental DisordersText Revision (APA, 2000) are the current
standard for the diagnosis of ADHD in the United States of America and
increasingly throughout the rest of the world. These criteria are reproduced in Table 8.1. The current criteria include two 9-item symptom lists;
the first includes nine symptoms of inattention, and the second, six symptoms of hyperactivity and three of impulsivity.
Briefly, in order for an individual to meet DSMIV criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD the following are required: (a) the individual must exhibit
six or more symptoms of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity
which have been present for at least six months and which are present
to such a degree that they are maladaptive and inconsistent with the
individuals developmental level; (b) some symptoms causing impairment
appeared before seven years of age; (c) some impairment from symptoms
is apparent in two or more settings (e.g., home and school/work); (d) there
must be clear evidence of clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning, and (e) the symptoms are not better
accounted for by another disorder nor do they occur exclusively during
the course of Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Schizophrenia, or other
Psychotic Disorder.
Three subtypes are recognized, predominantly inattentive (six or more
symptoms of inattention but fewer than six symptoms of hyperactivity/
impulsivity), predominantly hyperactive/impulsive (six or more symptoms
of hyperactivity/impulsivity but fewer than six symptoms of inattention),
and combined type (at least six symptoms of inattention and six symptoms
of hyperactivity/impulsivity) (APA, 2000).
EVIDENCE-BASED ASSESSMENT OF ATTENTION-DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY
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Table 8.1. DSMIVTR Diagnostic Criteria for ADHD.

A. Either (1) or (2)
(1) Six (or more) of the following symptoms of inattention have persisted for at least 6
months to a degree that is maladaptive and inconsistent with developmental level:
Inattention
(a) Often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work, or other activities
(b) Often has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities
(c) Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly
(d) Often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork,
chores, or duties in the workplace (not due to oppositional behaviour or failure to
understand instructions)
(e) Often has difficulty organising tasks and activities
(f ) Often avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained
mental effort (such as schoolwork or homework).
(g) Often loses things necessary for tasks or activities (e.g. toys, school assignments,
pencils, books, or tools)
(h) Is often easily distracted by extraneous stimuli
(i) Is often forgetful in daily activities
(2) Six (or more) of the following symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity have persisted
for at least 6 months to a degree that is maladaptive and inconsistent with developmental level
Hyperactivity
(a) Often fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat
(b) Often leaves seat in classroom or in other situations in which remaining seated is
expected
(c) Often runs about or climbs excessively in situations in which it is inappropriate
(in adolescents or adults, may be limited to subjective feelings of restlessness)
(d) Often has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly
(e) Is often on the go or often acts as if driven by a motor
(f ) Often talks excessively
Impulsivity
(g ) Often blurts out answers before questions have been completed
(h) Often has difficulty awaiting turn
(i) Often interrupts or intrudes on others (e.g., butts into conversations or games)
B. Some hyperactive-impulsive or inattentive symptoms that caused impairment
were present before age 7 years.
C. Some impairment from the symptoms is present in two or more settings (e.g., at school
[or work] and at home).
D. There must be clear evidence of clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or
occupational functioning.
E. The symptoms do not occur exclusively during the course of a Pervasive Developmental
Disorder, Schizophrenia, or other Psychotic Disorder and are not better accounted for by
another mental disorder (e.g., Mood Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Dissociative Disorder, or
a Personality Disorder)
The World Health Organizations International Classification of Disease

tenth edition (WHO, 1992) also provides criteria for the diagnosis of Hyperkinetic Disorder. These criteria emphasize the presence of abnormal levels
of inattention and hyperactivity in the home and school settings together
with the direct observation of inattention or hyperactivity. Unlike the
DSMIV, the ICD-10 criteria do not allow for comorbid mood, anxiety, or
psychotic disorders.
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Despite the differences between the DSMIV and ICD-10 there appears
to be substantial overlap among the groups formed by these criteria
(Lahey et al., 2006; Tripp, Luk, Schaughency, & Singh, 1999). Tripp et al.
(1999) found most children with hyperkinetic disorder met criteria for
DSMIV ADHD, whereas slightly less than half of those meeting criteria
for ADHD also met criteria for hyperkinetic disorder. In the Lahey et al.
(2006) study, all children who met full criteria for hyperkinetic disorder
also met full DSMIV criteria for ADHD, and only 26% of those with ADHD
met criteria for hyperkinetic disorder. The DSMIV criteria for ADHD identify a broader group of children than those identified by ICD-10 criteria.
Lahey et al. (2006) report both the ICD-10 and DSMIV criteria exhibit
predictive validity over a six-year period.
Epidemiology of ADHD
ADHD is one of the most frequently diagnosed disorders of childhood.
Published prevalence rates vary widely reflecting differences in study populations, assessment methods, diagnostic criteria, and their application.
Barkley (2006) provides a detailed summary of prevalence estimates from
studies from a number of countries utilizing different research methodologies. The DSMIV Text Revision reports prevalence rates of 37% in
school-aged children. Follow-up studies indicate as many as 80% of those
diagnosed as hyperactive in childhood continue to evidence significant
symptoms in adolescence (Faigel, Sznajdeerman, Tishby, Turel, & Pinus,
1995; Hechtman, 1991). Community studies in New Zealand using clinical
diagnostic criteria report prevalence estimates of 23% in 15-year-olds
(Fergusson, Horwood, & Lynskey, 1993; McGee et al., 1990). The results
of a population screen of American adults indicate 2.9% meet narrowly
defined criteria for ADHD (Farone & Biederman, 2005). A slightly higher
rate of 4.4% was identified amongst participants in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (Kessler et al., 2006).
Epidemiological studies investigating the different subtypes of ADHD
report the Inattentive subtype is the most common, with prevalence estimates
ranging between 4.5 and 9% of children in the general population. Rates of
between 1.9 and 4.8% are reported for ADHD combined type, whereas only
1.7 to 3.9% of children meet criteria for ADHD predominately hyperactiveimpulsive type (Brown, 2000). These subtype prevalence estimates contrast
with the subtype diagnoses made in clinical samples, where ADHD Combined type is by far the most common. This discrepancy probably reflects the
fact that children presenting with hyperactive-impulsive symptoms in addition
to inattentive symptoms are more likely to be identified with problematic
externalizing behavior symptoms (Eiraldi, Power, & Nezu, 1997).
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is more commonly identified in
boys than girls. In epidemiological studies the reported ratio for boys to girls
is around 3:1. This increases up to 9:1 in clinical settings (APA, 2000). In
their meta-analysis of gender differences in ADHD, Gaub and Carlson (1997)
reported that compared to boys, girls with ADHD were found to exhibit greater
intellectual impairment, and fewer symptoms of hyperactivity and other
externalizing behaviors. This finding raises questions about the validity of the
DSMIV-TR criteria for identifying significant ADHD symptoms in girls.
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Comorbidity and Associated Difficulties

Both epidemiological and clinical studies indicate that ADHD is associated with significant comorbidity (Biederman, Newcorn, & Sprich, 1991,
Biederman et al., 1998; Fergusson et al., 1993; Jensen, Martin, & Cantwell,
1997; Kadesj & Gillberg, 2001; Steinhausen et al., 2006). As with prevalence
rates for ADHD, reported rates for coexisting psychiatric disorders/problems
vary as a function of study population and methodology.
Irrespective of these methodological variations, available studies indicate co-existing problems are common in ADHD, and indeed, having a
diagnosis of ADHD increases the risk of having one or more additional psychiatric diagnoses (Brown, 2000). Across studies investigating comorbidity
in ADHD, rates for anxiety disorders are in the range 2535%, mood disorders
932%, ODD/CD 4584% (Barkley, 2006), and as many as 25% are likely to
have coexisting learning difficulties (Tannock & Brown, 2000).
In addition to experiencing high rates of comorbid diagnoses, children
meeting criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD, and those with elevated levels of
ADHD symptomatology, frequently experience a range of associated difficulties. These associated difficulties are often what precipitates presentation to
clinical services and may include: social difficulties, emotional lability, low
frustration tolerance, bossiness, an excessive need for attention from others,
insistence that things be done their way, strong reliance on routine and
structure, poor self-esteem and academic under-achievement (APA, 2000).
Etiology
Despite decades of active research to identify the cause of ADHD the
disorders etiology remains unknown. The weight of available evidence
indicates that the disorder has a neurobiological basis, however, no single
cause has been identified (Swanson et al., 1998; Biederman, 2005; Nutt
et al., 2007). Although environmental factors such as exposure to toxins,
and pregnancy and birth complications (including prematurity) have been
associated with the development of ADHD symptomatology, the childs psychosocial environment is not considered to be causal (Biederman, 2005).
It has been suggested, however, that the ADHD phenotype, including the
presence of comorbid disruptive disorders, may reflect the influence of the
childs environment acting upon genetic factors (Nutt et al., 2007).
The disorder shows strong familial links being more common amongst
relatives than in the general population (Biederman, Faraone, Keenan,
Knee, & Tsuany, 1990, Biederman et al., 1992; Biederman, 2005; Faraone
et al., 1992, 2005). A number of candidate genes have been identified,
however, their individual contributions to the disorder are small and
researchers suggest that ADHD symptomatology may be caused by multiple genes of small effect (Asherson, Kuntsi, & Taylor, 2005; Faraone et
al., 2005; Waldman & Gizer, 2006). A recent review of the past decade of
molecular genetic studies found that the dopamine D4 and D5 receptors,
and the dopamine and serotonin transporters are all significantly associated with ADHD (Bobb, Castellanos, Addington, & Rapoport, 2005).
Imaging studies have shown variation in anatomical brain structures
in children with ADHD involving the fronto-striato-cerebellar circuitry,
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namely, reduced brain volumes in frontal regions, the caudate nucleus,

the splenium of the corpus callosum, and the cerebellum (Valera, Faraone,
Murray, & Seidman, 2007). Imaging studies have also identified different
activation patterns in children with and without ADHD. When undertaking tasks designed to assess response inhibition, children with ADHD
show inefficient recruitment of frontal-striatal regions (Bush, Valera, &
Seidman, 2005; Scheres, Milham, Knutson, & Castellanos, 2007). However, it is unclear what these differences in neuronal functioning reflect.
The effectiveness of a range of stimulant, and more recently, nonstimulant, drugs in the management of symptoms of ADHD suggest some dysfunction in neurotransmitter and neuromodulator systems in the brains of
those with ADHD (Biederman, 2005; Chamberlain, Robbins, & Sahakian,
2007). As previously identified, many of the candidate genes associated with
ADHD involve the dopamine system, and most psychotropic treatments
for ADHD act on the dopamine and norepinephrine systems (Waldman &
Gizer, 2006; Arnsten, 2006).
Neuropsychological studies of children and adolescents with ADHD have
shown that some children with ADHD perform poorly on tasks that assess
executive functioning skills, namely: response inhibition, vigilance, working
memory, and planning (Willcutt, Doyle, Nigg, Faraone, & Pennington, 2005). In
the past decade there has been considerable research investigating the possible
role of executive functioning deficits in the development of ADHD symptomatology. A recent review of these studies, however, found a lack of universality of
executive functioning deficits in children diagnosed with ADHD, and suggests
that executive functioning deficits should be viewed as an associated difficulty,
rather than a cause of ADHD symptoms (Willcutt et al., 2005).
The complexity of the disorder and its varied presentation suggest that
there may well be multiple pathways leading to the symptoms that are
defined as ADHD.
ASSESSMENT OF ADHD
Purpose of Assessment
The reason an individual presents or is referred for assessment will
influence the assessment strategy. In research settings focusing on a particular disorder or group of disorders a standard predetermined assessment
plan is likely to be followed, with additional assessment being conducted
as appropriate when resources permit. In such settings individuals with
similar presenting problems are likely to be referred or recruited. A primary
goal of assessment may be diagnosis to aid the formation of homogeneous
groups to address specific research questions.
In clinical practice, patient groups are likely to be more heterogeneous.
In these settings initial assessment findings will guide the nature, breadth,
and depth of subsequent assessment. In these settings diagnosis will also
be an assessment goal, however, the focus may be on carrying out a functional analysis of the individuals presenting problems to aid in treatment
planning and intervention and subsequent outcome evaluation.
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Planning the Assessment

Whatever the assessment setting and purpose assessment practices
should follow guidelines for evidence-based assessment. Hunsley and
Mash (2007) define evidence-based assessment as that which emphasizes the use of research and theory to inform the selection of assessment
targets, the methods and measures used in assessment, and the assessment process (p. 29). In addition to considering the reliability and validity
of individual assessment instruments they emphasize the importance of
the context in which the instruments are used, their appropriateness for
different genders and populations, and the purposes for which they were
designed (e.g., single versus multiple administrations). They also argue
that issues of incremental validity, and clinical utility should be considered throughout assessment.
In planning and undertaking assessment with a child referred for an evaluation of ADHD or whose reported difficulties suggest symptoms of ADHD,
the clinician or researcher should consider the essential information required
(a) to make or exclude a diagnosis of ADHD, and (b) to develop and monitor
an appropriate intervention plan. The assessor should remain mindful that
referral information may not match closely the childs presentation. Preassessment planning should be regarded as tentative and open to change.
Diagnosis of ADHD
In order to determine if a childs behavior meets DSMIV criteria for
ADHD the clinician or researcher requires information on the number,
type (inattentive, hyperactive, impulsive), and duration of DSMIV symptoms of ADHD that are developmentally inappropriate. Information on
symptom frequency and severity is useful in determining whether a childs
behaviors are developmentally appropriate. The assessor must also obtain
information regarding the presence and severity of impairment from current symptoms across settings, together with the age of onset of symptoms
of ADHD which caused impairment in the childs functioning. Finally, the
clinician or researcher must obtain sufficient background information to
rule out alternative medical, sensory, psychiatric, or psychosocial explanations for the presence of symptoms of ADHD which cause impairment.
Treatment/Management of ADHD
Most clinicians would agree that children diagnosed with ADHD
present to helping services, not only because of the presence of symptoms
of ADHD, but because of associated difficulties which frequently co-occur
with ADHD. As a consequence any assessment carried out to inform treatment planning is necessarily broader in scope than a diagnostic assessment.
In addition to the information described above, for treatment purposes the assessment should identify all presenting problems and areas of
impairment, including comorbidity and associated difficulties. This information can then be used to prioritize targets for intervention. A functional
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behavioral analysis (FBA) should then be carried out on those presenting

problems/areas of impairment targeted for intervention. This FBA may
help to identify both resources to support intervention, and potential barriers to its implementation (e.g., family functioning, comorbid psychiatric
problems).
Below we address the who (which informants) and how (which methods
and measures) of assessment of ADHD. This is followed by a discussion
of the issues surrounding combining information across informants and
methods and the extent to which additional sources of information (informants and methods) contribute to better assessment (incremental validity).
From Whom Should We Seek Information?

Irrespective of the methods and measures used to collect diagnostic and background information the selection of informants should take
account of the length of time they have known the child (to establish if
symptoms meet minimum duration criteria) and their familiarity with the
childs behavior in a given setting. Parents and teachers are seen as natural informants in the child assessments (Collet, Ohan & Myers, 2003a,b;
Jensen et al., 1996, 1999). Practice guidelines for ADHD recommend the
use of multiple informants in the assessment of ADHD (American Academy of Pediatrics, AAP, 2001, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, AACAP, 2007) and certainly DSMIV criteria require the
presence of impairment from symptoms in more than one setting. The
extent to which parents and teachers contribute unique information to
the assessment process is considered in the later discussion of incremental validity. Opinions differ regarding the usefulness of child informants
with respect to externalizing symptoms, with children typically being seen
as better able to provide information regarding their internal state (e.g.,
Loeber, Green, & Lahey, 1989) and less willing than adults to report their
externalizing behavior (Jensen et al., 1999). Irrespective of whether the
child being assessed is required to complete formal assessment measures
they should participate in the assessment process.
How Should We Obtain Assessment Information?

Interviews
Clinical interviews are probably the most widely utilized form of data
collection in research and clinical practice. They provide the clinician
or researcher with the opportunity to collect information on presenting
problems and symptoms, including the context in which these occur,
their onset, frequency, severity, chronicity, and impact on functioning. The interview also provides an opportunity to collect information
about the childs medical and developmental history and significant life
events. In addition interviews permit the clinician to form an impression of the parents and childs functioning (social, emotional, cognitive)
and if interviewed together, the nature and quality of the parentchild
interactions.
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Interviews vary in the degree of imposed structure ranging from

unstructured interviews which are highly flexible without a preset
agenda through semi-structured interviews that provide general, but flexible, guidelines for the collection and recording of information through
to highly structured interviews that specify the wording and order of
questions and the manner in which the obtained information is recorded
(Sattler & Mash, 1998).
Unstructured interviews have a long history in the assessment of childrens behavioral and emotional difficulties. Numerous texts are available
detailing their form and use with children and adults (e.g., Hughs & Baker,
1990; McConaughy, 2005; Sattler, 1998). Although such interviews allow the
clinician to follow up leads and change direction as necessary, this freedom
makes it difficult to establish their reliability and validity. The information
collected by different interviewers or the same interviewer across cases is not
standardized and the interviewer may omit important questions. There is
also opportunity for the clinicians biases to influence attention to, or interpretation of, the responses given (Sattler & Mash, 1998). Diagnoses made
by clinicians using unstructured interviews are thought to be subject to a
number of biases including: making a diagnosis prior to the collection of all
relevant information; selective collection of information to confirm diagnoses;
nonsystematic approaches to combining different types of information; and
allowing familiarity with particular problems or disorders to influence decision making (McClellan & Werry, 2000).
Structured interviews were developed as a means of reducing variability in the manner in which interviews were conducted in an effort to
increase the reliability of the information elicited (McClellan & Werry,
2000). Despite their structure Sattler and Mash (1998) question the extent
to which structured interviews are reliable, identifying several possible
sources of unreliability and variability.
Several structured and semi-structured interviews are now available
for use with parents and children which are designed to elicit the information required to make specific DSMIV diagnoses. Some were developed
for administration by trained lay interviewers and others, typically the
semi-structured interviews, require clinical training. In 2000 the Journal
of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry included a
series of articles on the most widely used and researched structured and
semi-structured research psychiatric diagnostic interviews for assessing
psychopathology in children and adolescents. This series of articles provides a useful starting point for anyone considering the use of diagnostic
interviews. Six interviews are described including their target populations,
requirements for administration, known psychometric properties and
access details.
Three structured interviews are included: the NIMH Diagnostic
Interview Schedule for Children Version IV (NIMH DISC-IV) is a highly
structured diagnostic interview that can be administered by trained lay
interviewers. The DISC-IV assesses over 30 psychiatric disorders which
may occur in children and adolescents (Shaffer, Fisher, Lucas, Dulcan, &
Schwab-Stone, 2000); the Childrens Interview for Psychiatric Syndromes
(ChIPS) is another highly structured interview for use by trained lay
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interviewers. It screens for 20 Axis I disorders and psychosocial stressors

(Weller, Weller, Fristad, Rooney, & Schecter, 2000); the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA) is an interviewer-based structured
psychiatric interview which collects information on symptom onset, duration, frequency, and intensity. The interviewer is required to continue
asking questions until a decision is reached regarding symptom presence
(Angold & Costello, 2000).
Three semi-structured interviews are included: the Diagnostic Interview
for Children and Adolescents (DICA) previously described as a structured
interview can be used in semi-structured format with interviewer judgment
required (Reich, 2000); the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (K-SADS) is a semi-structured interview
requiring substantial interviewer training. It assesses current, past, and
lifetime diagnostic status in children and adolescents (Ambrosini, 2000);
the Interview Schedule for Children and Adolescents (ISCA), previously the
Interview Schedule for Children, is a semi-structured symptom-oriented
inventory designed for administration by experienced clinicians trained in
the use of semi-structured interviews (Sherrill & Kovacs, 2000). As a useful supplement to this series of articles Anastopoulos and Shelton (2001)
provide useful commentary on the psychometric properties together with
the advantages and disadvantages of the DISC-IV, DICA-IV, and K-SADS
in the comprehensive assessment of ADHD.
Although structured and semi-structured diagnostic interviews are
useful for determining the presence of symptoms required for specific
diagnoses they offer limited information for use in treatment planning (i.e.,
the nature and degree of impairment from symptoms and associated difficulties, a functional analysis of presenting problems, child and family
resources, and potential barriers to intervention). This information, along
with the childs developmental, educational, and medical history either
needs to be collected as part of a supplementary unstructured interview or
through the use of appropriate questionnaires.
Pelham and colleagues have questioned whether the resources required
for the use of structured and semi-structured diagnostic interviews are better utilized in the collection of information required for treatment planning
and monitoring. They suggest psychometrically sound symptom rating
scales can provide the same diagnostic information more economically
and efficiently (Pelham, Fabiano, & Massetti, 2005). As far as we are aware
there are currently no published studies available that directly compare
the accuracy of diagnoses made using rating scales and questionnaires
with diagnostic interviews.
Current DSMIV criteria require some impairment from symptoms in
two or more settings. As children spend significant time in the school setting
teachers are important participants in the assessment process. Clinicians
regularly request that teachers complete broadband and narrowband rating
scales for children undergoing assessment. Interviews with teachers can
also provide important assessment information on childrens relationships
with teachers and peers, academic skills and progress, and ability to follow rules and directions. This information may be especially important for
identifying impairment and targets for intervention. DuPaul and Stoner
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(2003) offer useful suggestions on the type and nature of information which
should be collected from teachers. To the best of our knowledge structured
diagnostic interviews for teachers are not currently available.
Most structured and semi-structured interviews for DSMIV provide
child/adolescent versions, however, our experience is that children at the
lower end of the age ranges for which these are recommended often struggle
to provide meaningful answers to the questions posed. Thus clinicians
and researchers planning to use such interviews should consider carefully
if such practices are appropriate for a given child. Those unfamiliar with
interviewing children are likely to find the texts on interviewing children
referenced above helpful.
Rating Scales and Questionnaires

Another commonly used method for obtaining information for diagnosis and to establish baseline symptom levels to monitor intervention, is the
use of questionnaires and rating scales. Rating scales or questionnaires
used in the assessment ADHD can be divided into two categories, broadband and narrowband. Broadband scales are designed to identify a wide
range of psychopathology, including hyperactivity/impulsivity, aggression,
conduct problems, depression, anxiety, inattention, somatic difficulties,
and in some cases, adaptive functioning. Narrowband scales are specific
to ADHD, or at least to externalizing behaviors, and the actual items are
often based around diagnostic symptoms. Some narrowband scales are
effectively symptom lists from the DSMIV diagnostic criteria for ADHD,
which the respondent rates according to presence and severity.
When undertaking an evidence-based assessment of ADHD, the choice
of rating instrument needs to take into account the reliability and validity
of the rating scale, and the purpose to which it is being applied (Winters,
Collett, & Myers, 2005). For example, in a situation where repeated administrations of the questionnaire are required (e.g., pre-and postintervention)
issues such as testretest reliability are of special consideration.
Where data from different respondents will be collected during
the assessment, interrater reliability may be important. The validity of the
measures to be used is also critical from an evidence-based perspective, and
can provide important information regarding incremental validity and the
clinical utility of the data collected. A scale that has a very high convergent
validity score with a rating scale already used in the assessment would suggest information redundancy. Equally, a scale that shows limited discriminant validity, the ability to distinguish clinical from nonclinical groups, may
be of limited clinical utility (Winters et al., 2005). The reader is referred to
Pelham et al. (2005) and Collett et al. (2003a,b) for extensive reviews of the
reliability and validity of rating scales/questionnaires typically used in the
assessment of ADHD.
Other important considerations regarding the purpose to which a
rating scale is applied concerns the ethnicity, sex, and age of the child
being assessed. Many of the commonly used broadband and narrowband scales were developed and normed in the United States of America.
The ethnicity of the normative samples is generally at best reflective of
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the ethnic make-up of the American state or states in which the norming procedures were undertaken. This said, many of these rating scales
have been extensively translated and used cross-culturally, with some of
these studies undertaken including sufficiently large samples to provide
normative data for these additional populations. The broadband Child
Behaviour Checklist rating scale (Achenbach, 1991; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) has been especially widely used, having been translated into
75 languages, and used in over 67 different cultures. The Achenbach
System for Empirically Based Assessment (ASEBA) website provides a
list of all translations and multicultural studies using the CBCL. With
respect to sex and age, most broadband questionnaires provide norms
specific to both gender and broad age categories.
Broadband Scales
Popular broadband scales have both teacher- and parent-respondent forms, or a single form that can be used in both school and home
settings. Commonly used broadband scales that evidence good reliability
and validity include: The Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL, Achenbach &
Rescorla, 2001); the Behaviour Assessment System for Children, Second
Edition (BASC-2, Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004); and the Conners Parent
and Teacher Rating Scales Revised (CRS-R, Conners, Sitarenios, Parker,
& Epstein, 1998a,b). The CBCL and BASC-2 questionnaires have both
recently been updated and renormed, and although the authors report
reasonable reliability and validity data, there is currently little external
published research regarding these updated editions. The CRS- R long
form can be considered a broadband questionnaire, however, its heavy
loading of ADHD-specific items means that it is often used as a narrowband ADHD-specific measure. A notable feature of the CRS-R is that care
was taken to obtain norms for African Americans, which increases the
clinical utility of this instrument when working with this population.
Broadband rating scales are not advised as a sole means of diagnosing
ADHD (Clinical Practice Guidelines, AAP, 2001), however, these assessment
guidelines, along with the recently updated guidelines of the American
Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP, 2007) indicate a role for
broadband questionnaires in screening for ADHD-type difficulties and level
of impairment. Given the high prevalence of ADHD the AACAP guidelines
recommend all children presenting in a clinical setting should be screened
for symptoms of ADHD. Recent research using the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL, Achenbach, 1991, Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001) suggests that
broadband scales such as the CBCL may be useful in identifying possible
comorbid difficulties in children already diagnosed with ADHD (Biederman,
Monuteaux, Kendrick, Klein, & Faraone, 2005). These questionnaires may
also be useful in the differential diagnosis of ADHD and Bipolar disorder.
Narrowband Scales
Narrowband rating scales are largely based on the DSMIV symptoms
of ADHD. Popular ADHD rating scales that are both reliable and valid
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include the ADHD rating scale IV: home and school versions (DuPaul,
Power, Anastopoulos, & Reid, 1998), the Vanderbilt Rating Scale (Wolraich,
2003; Wolraich, Feurer, Hannah, Baumgaertel, & Pinnock, 1998; Wolraich
et al., 2003), and the Attention Deficit Disorders Evaluation Scale, 3rd
edition (ADDES-3, McCarney & Arthaud, 2004). From an evidence-based
perspective, an advantage of the ADDES-3 is that items are rated on the
basis of symptom frequency counts and allow the rater to identify when
an item is not observed because it is not within the childs developmental
ability (i.e., 0 = Not developmentally appropriate for age; 1 = not observed;
2 = one to several times per month; 3 = one to several times per week; 4 =
one to several times per day; 5 = one to several times per hour). This feature not only increases rater reliability, but also adds to the scales clinical
utility by providing a quantifiable indication of impairment.
Other DSMIV criterion-based scales such as the current version of the
SNAP or Swanson, Nolan, & Pelham rating scale (Atkins, Pelham, & Licht,
1985; Swanson et al., 2001) and the Disruptive Behaviour Disorders rating
scale (DBD, Pelham, Evans, Gnagy, & Greenslade, 1992; Pelham, Griener,
& Gnagy, 1998) are also extensively used, although Pelham et al. (2005)
and Collett et al. (2003a,b) note that there are limited normative data available for these measures, and there are also no convergent and discriminant
validity data available on the DBD. An advantage of the DBD, however, is
that it assesses the presence of ADHD, ODD, and CD symptomatology,
which are commonly co-occuring externalizing behavior disorders.
Rating Scales to Assess Impairment

Although both broadband and narrowband rating scales provide
some indication of impairment from symptoms, with the exception of
the ADDES, this information is often nonspecific and of limited utility
in terms of guiding intervention. Winters et al. (2005) recently reviewed
rating scales designed to assess functional impairment in children.
Their review includes summaries of rating scales which assess global
functioning and impairment (e.g., Childrens Global Assessment Scale
[CGAS], Shaffer et al., 1983; Columbia Impairment Scale [CIS], Bird et al.,
1993) and multidimensional scales assessing adaptive functioning and
impairment.
Scales designed to assess adaptive functioning that have good reliability and validity include the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales (VABS,
Sparrow, Cicchetti, & Balla, 1984), the Adaptive Behaviour Assessment
Systemsecond edition (ABAS-2, Harrison & Oakland, 2003), and the Child
and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale (CAFAS, Hodges, 1994).
The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales have been revised and renormed
(VABS-2, Sparrow, Cicchetti, & Balla, 2005) and although the VABS-2 has
maintained a questionnaire format for teacher-respondents; the parent/
caregiver version is better described as a semi-structured interview. These
multidimensional adaptive functioning scales provide specific information regarding the childs level of functioning in different behavioral and
social domains (e.g., daily living skills/motor skills, communication, social
skills). As it is often difficulties in these domains that lead to a childs
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presentation for assessment and treatment, this information is often the

most pertinent in guiding intervention (Pelham et al., 2005).
A recently developed scale that may be of particular utility in the
assessment of impairment in children with ADHD is the Impairment Rating
Scale (IRS) developed by Fabiano et al. (2006). The IRS parent and teacher
versions include items which are based upon domains of behavior known
to be often impaired in ADHD, including: relationship with peers; relationship with siblings/parents/teacher; academic progress; self-esteem;
influence on family functioning; and overall impairment. Fabiano et al.
(2006) found the IRS to demonstrate reasonable testretest reliability over
a one-year period, for both parents and teachers, even when completed by
two different teachers.
The IRS has also demonstrated good concurrent validity with the
parent-completed Diagnostic Interview for Children (DISC) and teachercompleted Disruptive Behaviour Disorders (DBD) questionnaire. The teachercompleted IRS demonstrated incremental predictive validity in predicting
a rating of global impairment one year later. Using cut-off scores, the IRS
also accurately discriminated between children with and without ADHD.
As Fabiano and colleagues note, however, this assessment measure is still
very new, and requires the collection of further normative data from larger
populations. They also note that the assessment of impairment in ADHD
that is unique to ADHD symptoms is challenging given that all stages of a
diagnosis of ADHD require evidence of impairment.
Social Skills Assessment

One of the most common difficulties associated with ADHD symptomatology is problems in social interactions. Such difficulties are likely
to be identified during the interview stage of the assessment, and may be
highlighted through the use of broadband questionnaires. Should further
investigation of social skills be required, questionnaires such as the Social
Skills Rating System (SSRS, Gresham & Elliot, 1990) and the Matson
Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY, Matson, Rotatori, &
Helsel, 1983b) may be useful. The SSRS is described as having good reliability and validity, and was normed on a moderate-sized North American
sample of school-age children (Kelley, Reitman, & Noell 2003).
The SSRS provides teacher, parent, and self-report scales designed to
assess social skills, problem behaviors, and academic competencies (Kelley
et al., 2003). The Social skills questions are the major focus, and include
items covering the three domains of Cooperation, Assertion, and Self-Control.
The SSRS comes with an Assessment-Intervention Record (AIR) which can
be used to integrate information across informants, and provides a useful
summary of the composite data (Kelley et al., 2003).
The MESSY consists of teacher- and self-report rating scales. Norms,
reliability, and validity are all good, although it is noted that the original
normative population was largely Caucasian. The items are described
as being concrete, easily observable behaviors which provide good face
validity (OCallaghan & Reitman, 2003). The number of factors identified by the MESSY differs between the teacher and self-report forms.
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The self-report form identifies five factors: Appropriate Social Skills,

Inappropriate Assertiveness, Impulsive/Recalcitrant, Overconfident, and
Jealousy/Withdrawal; whereas the teacher-report identifies only two:
Appropriate Social Skills and Inappropriate Assertiveness. The MESSY
is described as quick and easy to administer and score (OCallaghan &
Reitman, 2003). The specificity and high face validity of the items provide useful information regarding social skills and behavior. The MESSY
has been translated into Chinese and Spanish with these translations
continuing to provide good clinical utility. It has been noted, however,
that the factor structure of the MESSY is not consistent across different
populations and studies (Teodoro et al., 2005).
Background Information Questionnaires

Questionnaires may also be useful in collecting information regarding
the childs developmental and medical history. There are numerous questionnaires available which fulfill this role, including those from the BASC2 and Achenbachs CBCL assessment series. The questionnaires provide
standardized items regarding maternal pregnancy (including adverse
events during pregnancy), early development and milestones, child medical history, and family medical and psychiatric history. These questionnaires can be sent out to families prior to the parent interview, with the
proviso that any difficult-to-complete items can be reviewed during the
interview.
This allows parents and extended family to more readily confer regarding questions that may be difficult to recall when on the spot. It may
also reduce maternal discomfort when answering items relating to possible alcohol or drug consumption during pregnancy. Having these questionnaires completed prior to the parental interview can reduce the time
required for the parental interview by up to an hour. An obvious disadvantage of using such questionnaires is that recording such complicated
information requires a certain degree of literacy. There is also increased
potential for data to be misplaced or lost.
Direct Observation
The information obtained through interviews and behavioral rating
scales may be subject to the biases of the interviewers, interviewees, and
respondents. Observational measures are seen as providing more objective
information about a childs behavior and their interactions with others.
A number of behavioral coding systems have been developed for use with
children with ADHD and other externalizing behavior problems. These are
designed for use in natural (e.g., classroom) or analogue settings to code for
the presence of a range of behaviors such as negative vocalizations, off-task
behavior, and motor activity. In general these coding systems demonstrate
adequate reliability and validity. They are able to discriminate between
children with and without ADHD, subtypes of ADHD, and are sensitive to
the effects of intervention (see Pelham et al., 2005 for a brief review of the
nature and psychometric properties of several such coding systems).
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Although the direct observation of behavior, especially in the school

setting, provides valuable information on the nature and frequency of
problem behaviors, observational methods have a number of limitations
which preclude or limit their use in routine clinical practice. Direct observation is time consuming and costly, raters require training, and multiple
observations over time and across settings are required to ensure representative samples of behavior are obtained. Low-base rate, but significant,
behaviors are difficult to observe with the time sampling procedures typically used in behavioral observation. Many behavioral observation coding systems lack extensive normative data, and the behavior observed in
clinical analogue settings may not be representative of the childs usual
behavior (Anastopolos & Shelton, 2001; DuPaul & Stoner, 2003; Pelham
et al., 2005).
In light of these difficulties Pelham et al. (2005) suggest cost-effective
measures such as having teachers track how much work a student produces may be an effective proxy measure of on-task behavior. They also
describe the Individualized Target Behavior Evaluation (ITBE), an observational system using parent or teacher frequency counts as proxies for
extensive observations by independent raters, in which target behaviors
are operationalized and criteria for each behavior set and evaluated. The
ITBE is reported to be reliable with acceptable temporal stability (Pelham
et al., 2005).
In carrying out an assessment clinicians and researchers informally
observe the childs behavior during interview and testing procedures.
Edwards, Schulz, Chelonis, Philyaw, Gardner, and Young (2005) recently
evaluated the validity and utility of such unstructured clinical observations
in the assessment of ADHD. They found clinician ratings of hyperactiveimpulsive and inattentive behaviors correlated significantly with parent,
but not teacher, ratings of these behaviors. Clinician ratings showed
higher specificity (probability that a child without ADHD will not show
observable levels of ADHD behaviors in the clinic setting) than sensitivity
(probability that a child diagnosed with ADHD will show observable levels
of ADHD behaviors in the clinic). Clinician observations correctly classified
between 23 and 44% of children identified as ADHD (by different measures) and 75 and 94% of those identified as not having ADHD. The authors
concluded their findings provide limited support for the validity and utility
of unstructured observations in the assessment and diagnosis of ADHD.
They went on to interpret their findings as evidence that clinic observations are not a suitable substitute for assessing childrens behavior in the
school setting.
Functional Behavioral Analysis (FBA)

A functional behavioral analysis (FBA) of presenting problems is
essential when conducting any psychiatric assessment where the goal is
psychosocial intervention. An FBA evaluates the roles of antecedents and
consequences in the development and maintenance of problematic behavior. That is, it assesses whether an individuals personal characteristics,
or factors within the individuals environment, influence the likelihood
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of a particular problematic behavior occurring, and then reoccurring. An

FBA can provide information that can be directly targeted in treatment
planning. It may also provide differential diagnostic information by demonstrating that factors in the individuals environment, rather than internal
psychopathology are primarily responsible for the onset and maintenance of
a problematic behavior. Northup and Gulley (2001) review the contribution of
functional analysis to the assessment of behaviors associated with ADHD.
Psychological and Laboratory Tests

Where there are concerns that lowered general cognitive ability is
contributing to presentation, or is thought to be responsible for a childs
symptoms, a standardized assessment of intellectual ability is indicated
to establish current levels of cognitive functioning. Assessment of intellectual ability may also be indicated to establish if coexisting academic difficulties, which are common in children with ADHD, are due to comorbid
learning difficulties or are secondary to the symptoms of ADHD.
When an assessment of intellectual functioning is necessary the
clinicians choice of assessment instrument should take account of
the measures psychometric properties and the populations for whom
norms are available. All other things being equal, the possibility of
repeat assessments, administration time, clinician experience with the
measure, and the experience for the child should be considered. Sattler (2001) reports that the scales designed to assess intellectual functioning with the highest reliability and validity, which are well-normed,
and up to date include the Wechsler series (i.e., Wechsler Preschool
and Primary Scales of Intelligence-Third Edition (WPPSI-III, Wechsler,
2002) 26 years; Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV, Wechsler, 2003) 616 years; Wechsler Adult Intelligence
Scale-Third Edition (WAIS-III, Wechsler, 1997) 16 years to adult; the
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales 285+ years (Roid, 2003); and the Differential Ability Scales 2 years to 18 years (Elliot, 2006). Difficulties with
the Stanford-Binet and DAS scales include the lack of a comparable battery of subtests across the different age ranges which can be assessed
with these measures (Sattler, 2001).
Along with the intelligence tests described above, numerous standardized scales are available for the assessment of academic achievement
(see Sattler, 2001 for a review). The choice of test selected will depend on
a number of factors, including the age of the respondent, what area of
achievement is the focus of the assessment, and which other cognitive
measures have been administered.
The administration of comprehensive neuropsychological test batteries
is not recommended in the routine assessment of ADHD (AACAP, 2007).
Gordon, Barkley and Lovett (2006) review several neuropsychological
tests that are commonly employed in the assessment of individuals with
or suspected of having ADHD. These include measures assessing various
aspects of executive function as well as those designed to assess symptoms
of attention and impulsivity. With the possible exception of continuous
performance tests (CPT), which have been extensively studied and show
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reasonable sensitivity and specificity, none of the tests reviewed are

recommended for diagnostic use.
When reports from parents or teachers, including school reports, or
performance on tests of intellectual ability suggest specific areas of cognitive deficit then the clinician may consider further neuropsychological
testing to more fully describe and evaluate areas of strength and weakness
with respect to treatment planning. Under these circumstances the clinician should select tests which assess the domains of interest that have
appropriate standardization samples and good psychometric properties.
Nichols and Waschbusch (2004) recently reviewed evidence for the
criterion validity, discriminant validity, and response to treatment of currently
used laboratory measures of ADHD symptoms. They concluded, No lab
tasks can yet be recommended as valid for clinical purposes.
Medical Evaluation
As part of any assessment for ADHD, particularly with children, where
there is any indication of sensory disturbance, vision and hearing tests
should be undertaken. It is also important to consider whether there are
any factors in the individuals daily environment that may have a direct
influence on symptom presentation (e.g., anti-histamine medications; specific foods; disturbed sleep). This information should be identified through
a functional behavior analysis of problem behavior. If a child has not
recently been evaluated by a physician then a medical checkup should be
considered to rule out any medical or physical causes for their symptom
presentation. There are of course currently no medical or laboratory tests
for ADHD.
Pearl, Weiss, and Stein (2001) suggest there are some medical conditions
that include ADHD symptomatology as part of their presentation (i.e.,
neurofibromatosis, fetal alcohol syndrome, and lead poisoning), whereas
other conditions are commonly comorbid, or may require differential
diagnosis (e.g., Tourettes syndrome, learning disabilities, mental retardation). These authors suggest that when undertaking an assessment for
possible ADHD the clinician or researcher should be particularly mindful
of possible sleep disorders (especially obstructive sleep apnoea), epilepsy
(especially absence-type seizures), and thyroid disorder.
Incremental Validity
Incremental validity refers to the issue of whether more information
(informants and/or methods) contributes unique information to decision
making and whether this information improves diagnostic accuracy or
treatment planning. Although multiple informants and multiple methods are recommended in the evaluation of ADHD, Johnston and Murray
(2003) note that for the empirical evidence that exists, multiple sources
and types of information contribute incrementally to the child assessment
process. In acknowledging the limited empirical literature dealing with
incremental validity in child assessment they make a number of suggestions for determining if a given piece of evidence or information contributes
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incrementally to the assessment process. They suggest: the usefulness of

multiple informants may vary with a childs age, as will the value of assessing different constructs (developmental and contextual issues); the extent
to which additional information has incremental validity may depend on
uses of the information (criterion uncertainty); the incremental validity
of a given piece of information may depend on what other information is
available (specificity of incremental validity). For low base rate disorders
they acknowledge it may be difficult to demonstrate incremental validity.
For ADHD, the available evidence suggests the incremental validity
of multiple informants is a function of informant age and the purpose to
which the information is put, that is, ruling in versus ruling out a diagnosis
of ADHD. Parent and teacher reports of externalizing behaviour problems
show higher correlations with outcome than child-reports (Loeber, Green,
Lahey, & Stouthamer-Loeber, 1991), whereas adolescent self-report does
not predict adolescent behavior beyond parent-reports (Smith, Pelham,
Gnagy, Molina, & Evans, 2000). Power et al. (1998) found a single informant approach was most useful in ruling out a diagnosis of ADHD, with a
multi-informant approach being best for positively diagnosing the disorder.
Tripp, Schaughency, and Clarke (2006) found parent- and teacher-completed rating scales contributed differently to confirmatory and differential
diagnosis of ADHD providing further support for the inclusion of multiple
informants in the assessment process.
The incremental validity of multiple methods in the assessment of
ADHD is less well established. In preschool children with ADHD standardized ratings of disruptive behavior during testing demonstrated incremental
validity in predicting impairment over and above demographic characteristics and parent and teacher reports (Willicutt, Hartung, Lahey, Loney, &
Pelham, 1999). Tripp et al. (2006) interpreted the imperfect performance
of parent and teacher rating scales in predicting ADHD diagnostic status
as support for the need to include other assessment methodologies in the
diagnosis and differential diagnosis of ADHD.
Making a Diagnosis of ADHD

Once diagnostic information has been collected from the different
informants (e.g., parents, teachers, and child) using the methods described
above the clinician or researcher must use this information to reach a
decision regarding whether the childs behavior meets current criteria for a
diagnosis of ADHD. Here the decision-maker faces two related challenges:
how to combine or integrate data across informants and how to apply the
DSMIV diagnostic criteria in practice. How these tasks are carried out will
influence which children ultimately receive a diagnosis of ADHD. Although
the diagnosis itself may not affect how a clinician decides to treat a given
child or familys difficulties it may influence access to further services and/
or the nature of those services.
Although the DSMIV criteria for ADHD have been described as having
the strongest evidence-base in the history of the diagnosis (Barkley, 2003),
these criteria are not without problems. Reported concerns include: (a)
the number of symptoms required for a diagnosis, and whether these
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symptom cut-off scores are appropriate across all ages; (b) the appropriateness of symptom content for the wide age range covered by the criteria;
(c) insufficient information regarding what is considered developmentally
inappropriate behavior for a given age; (d) whether both symptom cut-off
scores and content are appropriate for girls as well as boys; (e) whether
there is sufficient evidence to justify the age of onset criterion; and (f) the
lack of guidance supplied by the DSMIV criteria with regard to what constitutes evidence of impairment in two settings (Barkley, 2003).
In addition the DSMIV does not provide clear guidance on how the
criteria for ADHD should be applied in practice, including how symptom
counts should be obtained across informants (Barkley & Edwards, 2006).
As a consequence there is variability in the manner in which clinicians and
researchers apply these criteria. In a recent study Wolraich et al. (2004)
assessed the effect of different methods for combining parent and teacher
reports to obtain symptom counts on the diagnosis of ADHD. This varied from combining parent- and teacher-reported symptoms to achieve a
total symptom count of at least six symptoms in either dimension (lenient
criteria) through to requiring a minimum of six symptoms reported by both
parents and teacher (strict criteria). Their results clearly showed the method
used to combine parent and teacher reports influenced ADHD prevalence.
This single aspect of applying the DSMIV criteria for ADHD has implications for the number of children who are diagnosed with ADHD and the
issue of subtypes. In consulting the literature clinicians and researchers
are advised to consider how studies of interest applied diagnostic criteria.
Reaching a decision regarding whether a given childs behavior meets
criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD is a complex process even when there
is agreement between informants regarding the nature and severity of a
childs difficulties. In practice informant discrepancies are common in the
assessment of child psychopathology (e.g., Achenbach, McConaughy, &
Howell; 1987; De Los Reyes & Kazdin, 2005). Although such discrepancies may reflect problems with the reliability or validity of the different
information sources, it is generally assumed that each piece of assessment
data provides unique or additional information that will assist the assessment process (Johnston & Murray, 2003). As yet we lack adequate models
regarding how discrepant information across informants is best integrated
into the diagnostic decision-making process.
To assist clinicians and researchers with the diagnostic decision-making
process Anastopoulos and Shelton (2001) devote a chapter of their book,
including worked case examples, to the process of applying the DSMIV
diagnostic criteria for ADHD. This includes useful consideration of the
order in which the assessor should address the various criteria. Those
unfamiliar with applying the DSMIV criteria will find this chapter very
helpful, those more experienced may benefit from further consideration of
how a diagnoses of ADHD is reached.
Assessment Strategies for Different Age Groups

An important consideration when assessing the reliability and
validity of rating scales, questionnaires, and structured and semi-structured
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interviews is the age-appropriateness of the items for the population

being assessed. An underlying problem in the assessment of ADHD in
divergent age groups is that the DSMIV diagnostic criteria for ADHD are
strongly biased towards school-age individuals. The majority of assessment measures have been developed for school-age children, and there
are obvious difficulties with using these measures with younger and older
age groups.
Preschoolers
Measuring ADHD-type behaviors in preschool-age children is especially problematic given the issue of what should be considered developmentally inappropriate. As McLellan and Speltz (2003) point out, studies
that have applied DSMIV criteria to preschoolers have produced inflated
levels of externalizing behavior disorders and mood disorders. They raise
a concern that applying psychopathological criteria to what may be transient developmental problems could led to inappropriate treatment.
Although caution is needed in the assessment of ADHD symptoms in
children under 45 years of age, diagnosis and treatment may sometimes
be necessary for child safety or to address family and caregiver stress in
response to the childs behavior.
There are limited narrowband rating scales available to assess ADHD
symptomatology in children under five years of age. The ADDES-3 (McCarney
& Arthaud, 2004) was normed on children aged 4 through 18 years of age.
Given the facility for the respondent to indicate that a symptom is outside
the childs developmental range, this measure can be used with a younger
population. Caution should be exercised, however, as many of the ADHD
symptoms may not be applicable (e.g., rushes through assignments with
little or no regard for the accuracy or quality of work).
A number of broadband questionnaires have age-appropriate forms
that have been normed on a younger age group; the most commonly used
of these are the CBCL and the BASC-2. The Child Behaviour Checklist preschool form covers ages 18 months through to 5 years. Preschool norms
are available from the original 1991 sample, with the more recent edition being normed on an additional 700 children. The BASC-2 preschool
version was normed as a part of the normative population sample (aged
221 years). The BASC-2 preschool version shows good internal reliability,
reasonable testretest reliability, and good interrater reliability. There are
limited validity data available.
The Early Childhood Inventory-4 (ECI-4, Gadow & Sprafkin, 1997;
Sprafkin, Volpe, Gadow, Nolan, & Kelly, 2002) is another broadband questionnaire that assesses ADHD symptomatology, ODD, CD, Peer Conflict, Anxiety, Depression, sleep problems, elimination problems, feeding
problems, and pervasive developmental disorder. The parent and teacher
ECI-4 checklists were normed with reasonable sized samples, n = 431
and n = 398, respectively. The normative population was predominantly
Caucasian, although there was a reasonable socioeconomic distribution. The ECI-4 reports reasonable testretest reliability for the parent
checklist for some, but not all of the indices over a three-month period.
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Similarly, the predictive and concurrent validity were adequate for only
the more commonly occurring disruptive behavior disorders (Kelly et al.,
2003). It is suggested the ECI-4 would serve as an adequate screening
tool for identifying common difficulties in preschool-aged children, but
that there is insufficient support for its ability to identify less common
difficulties, such as Generalised Anxiety disorder.
Adolescents
As Wasserstein (2005) and Brown (2000) point out, a key issue when
assessing ADHD symptoms in adolescence is often the complexity of the
presentation. These authors suggest that when ADHD is first assessed in
adolescence there are likely to be more comorbid problems, such as substance abuse, antisocial behavior, mood/anxiety disorders, and learning
disabilities that may disguise symptoms of ADHD. Robin (1998) argues
that not only is the adolescents presentation more complex, environmental
factors, such as adversity, family structure, parental psychopathology,
and parental problem-solving skills are more complex, and need to be
thoroughly assessed due to their impact upon treatment effectiveness. In
this age group any intervention strategies need to target not only ADHD
symptoms, but also family dynamics (Robin, 1998). Care must also be
taken at all stages of assessment and treatment to maintain a collaborative
relationship between the clinician/assessor and the adolescent patient, to
motivate the adolescent to remain engaged in treatment.
The assessment techniques for measuring ADHD symptomatology in
adolescence differ little from those for assessing children. The assessor should
be aware, however, that symptoms of overactivity are often not as overt as
in childhood. As a consequence the role of self-report becomes more important in the assessment of the adolescent. Research suggests that although
adolescents may underestimate the degree of difficulty they experience due
to ADHD symptomatology and externalizing behavior, adolescent self-report
is the most reliable means of obtaining information relating to internalizing symptoms and covert behaviors (e.g., Achenbach et al., 1987; Andrews,
Garrison, Jackson, Addy, & McKeown, 1993; Cantwell et al., 1997). Both
the BASC-2 and Achenbach series provide self-report rating scales for adolescents which report good reliability. The BASC-2 provides a Self-Report
of Personality rating scale for ages 811 years, and 1221 years; whereas
Achenbachs CBCL series includes the Youth Report for ages 11 to 18 years.
The majority of parent- and teacher-respondent rating scales are
normed on a wide age range that encompass the adolescent period. Of
note, the BASC-2 provides a separate measure and norms for adolescents
between 12 and 18 years of age, and the Conners ADHD rating scales has
adolescent and adult forms, which may allow for increased age-appropriateness of items.
Adults
As with adolescents, the DSMIV diagnostic criteria for ADHD are not
readily applied to adults (McGough & Barkley, 2004). Given the increasing
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acceptance that ADHD symptoms persist into adulthood, it is likely that

diagnostic criteria in the DSMV will include items more relevant to adult
ADHD. Until this time, any assessment of possible adult ADHD needs to
include a thorough assessment of differential diagnostic possibilities, and
also demonstrate a clear developmental history of ADHD symptomatology. Differential diagnostic factors to consider include the obvious medical
causes such as head injury, epilepsy, hyper- or hypothyroidism, and sleep
disorders. Careful assessment of drug and alcohol use should also be
undertaken. Differential diagnosis becomes particularly difficult in cases
where personality disorders, such as Borderline Personality Disorder, have
been previously diagnosed. In these situations the developmental history
and a family psychiatric history are essential. Strong evidence of childhood ADHD symptoms and a diagnosis of ADHD in a first-degree relative
would help form a strong case for ADHD, which may or may not be comorbid with a personality disorder.
A number of rating scales have been developed to assess ADHD in
adulthood (Murphy & Adler, 2004). The Brown Attention Deficit Disorders
Scales (Brown, 1996) largely focus on inattentive and executive functioning
type difficulties. The Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scale (CAARS, Conners,
Erhardt, & Sparrow, 1999) includes inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity items, and provides self-report and observer rating scales. The long
form of the CAARS also includes measures of impulsivity/emotional lability
and problems with self-concept.
The Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS; Ward, Wender, & Reimherr,
1993) relies on retrospective self-report of adults to describe their childhood
ADHD symptoms. Although this measure correlated highly with parent
reports of childhood ADHD symptoms, it is reported to have poor discriminant validity (McCann, Scheele, Ward, & Roy-Byrne, 2000). McCann et al.
(2000) found that although the WURS correctly identified 72% of patients
with a diagnosis of ADHD, its ability to discriminate adults without a diagnosis was little better than chance, suggesting poor specificity.
The Adult Self Report Scale (ASRS; Adler, Kessler, & Spencer, 2004)
is based around the DSMIV-TR items but incorporates more adult-appropriate item examples. The ASRS also provides a six-item Adult ADHD
Self-Report Scale screener (ASRS-v1.1; Adler et al., 2004) which can be
obtained from the website listed in the references. Nutt et al. (2007) suggest that rating scales alone are insufficient for the diagnosis of ADHD,
but may be helpful as part of a broader assessment. They recommend the
use of measures to assess the presence and severity of comorbid symptoms, and general impairment rating scales.
CONCLUSIONS
In the preceding sections we have attempted to provide a framework
for planning and conducting evidence-based assessments with children
whose presentation is suggestive of ADHD. We have also included some
details on the assessment of ADHD in other age groups. The specific form
an assessment takes will be influenced by the characteristics of the child,
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the purpose of the assessment, and the available resources. Clinicians

and researchers are reminded that evidence-based assessment involves
more than the use of psychometrically sound methods and measures.
The context in which these measures are used, their incremental validity,
and their clinical utility must all be considered.
The empirical literature on incremental validity in the assessment of
ADHD is limited. However, the available research supports recommendations to obtain information from multiple informants. Given the DSMIV
requirement of evidence of impairment from symptoms across settings, the
frequently reported academic and social difficulties of children with ADHD,
and the significant time children spend in the school setting, teachers are
an obvious and appropriate source of information in addition to parents
and the referred child.
There is also some empirical support for the use of multiple assessment
methods in ADHD evaluations. A number of broadband and narrowband
rating scales are available that have acceptable psychometric properties.
Narrowband scales contribute to diagnostic decision making through
identification of symptom presence or absence. Broadband scales provide
important additional information on comorbid difficulties and impairment.
They can also assist in determining the developmental appropriateness of
behavior. Data collection via questionnaires and rating scales is time efficient and cost effective, however, it remains an empirical question whether
symptom rating scales could or should replace the currently favored
structured and semi-structured interviews for the collection of diagnostic
information. There appear to be a number of psychometrically sound
scales available that can be successfully used to collect information on
functional impairment. Such information is important to both diagnosis
and treatment planning.
Specialized assessment procedures, for example, formal behavioral
observations and comprehensive neuropsychological assessment procedures,
are not recommended as a routine part of assessment. Such assessment
procedures should be included when their results are likely to clarify the
nature and extent of a childs difficulties contributing to diagnosis and/or
treatment planning. When academic difficulties are present the assessment of general intellectual ability may be appropriate to help clarify the
nature of these difficulties. The use of laboratory measures to assess ADHD
symptoms in clinical practice is not currently supported by the literature.
If the child has not had a recent medical evaluation one should be considered to rule out the contribution of any medical conditions to symptoms.
In short the assessment of children who present with difficulties suggestive of ADHD should include informants who know the child sufficiently
well to provide reliable and valid information regarding his or her behavior.
The methods and measures used to collect information must be psychometrically sound and appropriate for use in the given assessment context.
Information should be collected that allows for the ruling in as well as the
ruling out of a diagnosis of ADHD. This includes careful consideration of
alternative explanations for the presence of symptoms consistent with a
diagnosis of ADHD. The clinician or researcher should consider issues
of incremental validity and clinical utility remembering at the end of the
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assessment decisions will need to be made regarding diagnostic status

and appropriate intervention.
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9
Assessment of Mood
Disorders in Children and
Adolescents
C. EMILY DURBIN and SYLIA WILSON
The research literature on mood disorders in children and adolescents

has grown considerably over the past 20 years, following empirical demonstrations that children and adolescents can present with classic signs
of mood disorders as evinced by adults (Carlson & Cantwell, 1980), and
that depressive disorders identified in adulthood often onset at a relatively
young age (Kessler, Avenevoli, & Merikangas, 2001). Although developmental psychopathology research on depression has lagged behind that
on externalizing disorders, considerable data regarding the phenomenology,
course, and correlates of mood disorders in children and adolescents
has accumulated. This literature has pointed to a number of issues and
challenges related to the conceptualization and assessment of depression
across the lifespan. In this chapter, we review key issues in the measurement of depression in children and adolescents as they relate to phenomenology, etiology, course, and treatment outcome.
Existing data indicate that the prevalence of frank mood disorders
exhibits a strong developmental trend, with very low rates in preschoolaged children (Kashani & Carlson, 1987), increasing slightly in the elementary school age (Fleming & Offord, 1990; Cohen et al., 1993), and rising
to levels similar to that among adults in adolescents (Kessler et al., 1994;
Lewinsohn, Rohde, & Seeley, 1998). Therefore, researchers and clinicians
working with depressed children and adolescents must keep in mind that
the base rates of threshold levels of these disorders are quite low. Nonetheless, it appears that early onset mood disorders and depressive symptoms
in childhood and adolescence are linked to a number of indicators of poor
outcome, including later psychopathology and impairment in important
C. EMILY DURBIN and SYLIA WILSON WCAS Psychology, 2029 Sheridan Road #1202,
EV2710, Northwestern University, 633 Clark Street, Evanston, IL 60208.

241
242
life domains (Harrington, Fudge, Rutter, Pickles, & Hill, 1990; Luby, Todd
& Geller, 1996; Birmaher et al., 1996; Rudolph, Hammen & Burge, 1994).
Therefore, depressive disorders and symptoms present an important
assessment issue for clinical and research work with children and adolescents, and the assessment of childhood onset of these disorders is relevant
to understanding course and outcome among adult samples.
In this chapter, we review key issues in the assessment of depressive
disorders (Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Dysthymic Disorder (DD) )
in children and adolescents with the aim of providing broad guidelines
derived from the empirical literature on depression in children and adolescents, as well as developmental science regarding emotion, mood, and selfreport in youngsters. We describe the best validated measures across broad
categories (diagnostic interviews, questionnaires, etc.) in order to illustrate
some of the important considerations and questions in the measurement of
depressive disorders that are specific to children and adolescents. Finally,
we detail areas in which assessment questions illuminate substantive
issues in the study of depression in young populations.
GENERAL DEVELOPMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS

It is important for assessment in both research and clinical contexts
that assessors are attuned to developmental norms for moods and behaviors
when judging the presence and severity of particular depressive symptoms.
Given the relative paucity of research on the presentation of depression in
younger samples, it behooves clinicians and researchers to keep in mind
the dual concerns of maximizing the information value of existing research
on depression in adults when assessing depression in youngsters, and the
necessity of incorporating a truly developmental perspective into the assessment of mood disorders and related phenomena in children and adolescents. We propose that best practice assessment of mood disorders should
proceed from an understanding of the body of evidence related to mood disorders across the lifespan, taking into account evidence (when existing) on
developmental specificity in clinical samples of children and adolescents, as
well as incorporating information from basic science on mood, motivation,
and self-report in children and adolescents when clinical research is lacking
regarding a particular assessment issue.
TAILORING ASSESSMENT DECISIONS

TO ASSESSMENT NEEDS
Psychological assessments are conducted for a variety of purposes, and
the procedures and measures selected should provide the optimal match
to the goals of the assessment. Therefore, evaluation of existing assessment measures and development of new measures can only be conducted
in the context of the match between an assessment need and a particular
measure. Assessment may be conducted in order to derive a diagnosis consonant with a specific classification system, to evaluate factors predictive
ASSESSMENT OF MOOD DISORDERS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
243
of prognosis, to measure potential treatment targets, to track treatment

progress, to evaluate treatments, and to evaluate client suitability for particular interventions. It is important to note that the validity and utility
of any particular assessment measure may vary across these different
assessment contexts, as well as across specific populations (e.g., children
vs. adolescents, different ethnic/racial groups), or the setting in which the
assessment is conducted (e.g., primary medical setting vs. specialty mental
health clinic). As a result, researchers and clinicians alike must consider
the suitability of a particular instrument for a specific assessment purpose
and setting, rather than making global judgments about the validity of a
particular instrument.
Assessment for Diagnostic Purposes

Since the seminal work of Carlson and Cantwell (1980), the field
now recognizes that adolescents and young children can exhibit classic
symptoms of mood disorders, including MDD and DD. Moreover, existing
studies indicate that the symptom presentation of these disorders tends
to be quite similar in children and adolescents, compared to adults, with
some minor differences in the prevalence of particular symptoms across
age groups (e.g., Ryan et al., 1987). For example, somatic complaints
and low self-esteem appear to decrease with age, whereas anhedonia and
psychomotor retardation increase (Carlson & Kashani, 1988).
Minor efforts have been made to adjust diagnostic criteria for younger
individuals, with only two such modifications instituted in the current
incarnation of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Fourth Edition (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994).
First, irritability may be substituted for the core depressed mood symptom among children and adolescents for both MDD and DD; unfortunately,
there is no literature exploring the validity of this substitution or its impact
on the rates of mood disorders in young samples (Kessler et al., 2001).
Second, for DD, the total duration of the syndrome need be only one year,
compared to two in adults. Therefore, in terms of the constructs assessed,
diagnosis of unipolar mood disorders in children and adolescents is quite
similar to that for adults.
Despite similarities in the symptom and course requirements for mood
disorders across development, assessment of these conditions must take
into account the ways in which each criterion may be influenced by a childs
developmental stage. First, the typical symptom profile may be influenced
by childrens level of cognitive, social, and physical maturity. Current DSM
criteria for MDD and DD may not all be applicable to the life context and
experiences of young children in particular (Luby et al., 2002). Although very
young children may exhibit negative moods (such as sadness or irritability),
fatigue, and difficulty with sleep and appetite, they may be less likely to exhibit
classic indicators of guilt, hopelessness, suicidality, and problems with libido
(Garber & Horowitz, 2002).
Clinical research on the developmental course of these and other
symptoms, as well as basic research on the development of processes
underlying these systems may prove useful for articulating more
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developmentally sensitive guidelines for assessing depressive symptoms in

children and adolescents. For example, Luby et al. (2002) recently demonstrated initial construct validity for modifications to existing DSMIV criteria
for MDD in preschoolers. Specifically, they found that anhedonia, as expressed
by lack of pleasure in play and activities, as well as death- or suicide-related
themes in play, appeared to be valid markers of mood disturbance, along
with typical vegetative signs (activity, appetite, and sleep changes).
Absent such data for all developmental periods, clinicians and
researchers must draw upon existing knowledge of normal development
in order to probe for symptoms and impairment across domains that are
relevant to younger depressed individuals, as well as to distinguish symptoms of pathology from developmentally normative expressions. For example, anhedonia may be more likely to take the form of social withdrawal
and disinterest in play activities in younger children, and low self-esteem
may be more salient among all adolescents regardless of mood disorder
status. Thus, diagnostic assessment must attend to the developmental
context, both for defining the areas of behavior and functioning in which
depressive symptoms may manifest, as well as for making the distinction
between normal and abnormal behavior.
Unfortunately, for many constructs relevant to depression, basic normative data are lacking. Clarifying these boundaries between normal and
pathological expression is important for assessment, but also for core substantive questions regarding the nature of depression and its relationship
to normal functioning (i.e., whether it is continuous with normal processes
or discrete). Moreover, in addition to training interviewers in developmental
context and putative developmentally specific manifestations of mood
disorders, clinicians and researchers must also make decisions about who
will be the source of information for diagnostic decisions. As discussed
below, diagnostic interviewing may be complicated by the existence of differences across reporters in the salience and information value of their
reports of children and adolescents mood symptoms.
Assessing Comorbidity
Mood disorders in children and adolescents tend to be highly comorbid
conditions, most commonly associated with anxiety disorders (Kovacs &
Devlin, 1998; Angold, Costello, & Erkanli, 1999), but also with externalizing/
disruptive disorders (Angold et al., 1999). Assessment of depressive disorders
and comorbid problems requires careful attention to features specific to
depression and those that are common across multiple disorders.
Because depressive and anxiety disorders share components of negative
affectivity/distress (Clark & Watson, 1991; Lonigan, Phillips, & Hooe, 2003),
distinguishing among these disorders can be challenging, particularly when
assessment data consist of questionnaires or ratings scales. Many self-report
questionnaires measuring depression and/or anxiety are heavily loaded with
items/scales that tap the shared distress components of these disorders,
relative to the unique aspects of depression. In interview assessment, careful
attention to temporal parameters and course may be particularly important
for distinguishing between anxiety and depression. There is some evidence
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that anxiety disorders may temporally precede depressive disorders in

children and adolescents (Kovacs, Gatsonis, Paulauskas, & Richards, 1989;
Avenevoli, Stolar, Li, Dierker, & Merikangas, 2001). This pattern of temporal
ordering could represent a distinct etiological pathway wherein depression
develops in response to earlier psychological problems. Such a patterning
may have implications for treatment decisions.
The presence of comorbid externalizing problems is an important arena
of assessment for depression. This is particularly the case for depressed
children and adolescents, who appear to exhibit greater comorbid externalizing problems, particularly conduct disorder, compared to depressed
adults (Avenevoli et al., 2001). Given that externalizing problems are often
more salient to informants (such as parents or teachers) than are internalizing problems, assessors should keep in mind that mood disorders that
co-occur with exernalizing problems may be underrecognized by others in
the childs environment.
Proper diagnostic assessment of mood disorders in youngsters involves
the challenge of distinguishing among mood, substance, and behavioral
disorders, both for differential diagnosis and for documenting co-existing disorders that may affect treatment planning and/or be predictive of
prognosis. Comorbidity among depressed children and adolescents has
several important implications. First, comorbidity is important in a practical sense, as it predicts poorer treatment response, less benign course,
greater overall impairment, and may potentially obscure the identification
of another disorder. Second, although empirical data for treatment matching is lacking, depressed children and adolescents with comorbid conditions may be less responsive to treatments developed to target depression
alone, and therefore require treatment modifications. Finally, when selecting assessment instruments for the purpose of diagnosis, researchers and
clinicians must also attend carefully to the measurement properties of
instruments for assessing other conditions in addition to depression (such
as anxiety or externalizing problems).
Assessment for Treatment Planning and Evaluation

In addition to determining whether a child meets diagnostic criteria
for MDD and DD (and therefore is suitable for empirically validated treatments for those conditions), treatment planning for depressed children
and adolescents likely should also include some measures of important
prognostic indicators. Unfortunately, very little is known about factors
that predict responsiveness to treatment among depressed youngsters or
characteristics associated with differential response to distinct interventions. Therefore, treatment planning might be limited to collecting baseline
measures of symptom severity and impairment for the purpose of identifying targets for treatment and serving as a baseline measure against which
to compare scores during and after treatment.
However, treatment decisions may be guided by knowledge of a
depressed youngsters profile on known predictors of poorer course of the
disorder. Specifically, a number of variables have been linked to poorer
outcome among depressed youngsters, including comorbidity, early age of
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onset, suicidality, comorbid MDD/DD, adverse family environment characteristics, depressotypic cognitions, stressful life events, and familial
loading for mood disorders (Birmaher, Arbelaez, & Brent, 2002). Thus,
clinical assessment should include some measurement of these factors in
order to identify those children whose mood episodes are likely to have a
poorer course. As the mechanisms linking these factors to outcome are not
well understood, these indicators may not be ideal candidates for treatment targets, but they may inform decisions about termination, maintenance sessions, or other aspects of clinical care.
Decisions regarding assessment for the purposes of treatment monitoring
and evaluation will necessarily be influenced by treatment goals and the
form and type of intervention conducted. However, a few general issues are
relevant. First, dimensional measures are more appropriate for the assessment
of change over time than are dichotomous measures, such as diagnoses.
Therefore, rating scales, questionnaires, or clinician severity ratings are
among the possibilities for tracking change and outcome in treatment.
Second, repeated administration of the same measure results in attenuation effects that are not specific to depression, but present across a range
of measures of psychopathology (Egger & Angold, 2004). Obviously, this
indicates that severity may appear to decrease over the course of treatment
for spurious reasons. Thus, clinicians should keep in mind that decreases
in measures of disorder severity may be inflated by this process.
Third, given that parents and children often disagree about problems
that could be the focus of treatment (Yeh & Weisz, 2001), it may be important to track changes across multiple dimensions that are relevant to both
child/adolescent clients and important family members who are actively
involved in treatment.
Finally, measuring changes in levels of depression and related phenomena may be complicated by the high stability of these constructs in
children and adolescents (e.g., Tram & Cole, 2006). To the extent that
measures of depression exhibit high stability, there will be (1) less change
evident in these measures, and (2) less remaining variance in these measures to be predicted by other measures. As a result, it may be difficult to
determine predictors of change in depression over time, particularly in
naturalistic follow-up studies.
Assessing Prognostic Indicators, Risk Factors,

and Correlates of Depression
Correlates of child depression include impairment in family, social, and
academic domains, as well as neurobiological correlates, which have
important clinical and theoretical implications. From a clinical perspective,
evidence that psychosocial factors may influence the course and maintenance of depression suggests that the development of treatment plans
should incorporate not only a clinical assessment of diagnosable depression or depression symptoms, but should also include a comprehensive
evaluation of family, social, and academic factors. Assessing for increased
family conflict, family and peer relationship difficulties, and/or problems
in academic functioning can not only provide the clinician with a greater
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sense of the degree of depression experienced by the child, but also informs
clinical practice in terms of areas on which to focus additional treatment
interventions, while illuminating existing family or social environments
that may impede or facilitate treatment gains.
From a theoretical perspective, research on correlates of depression,
and, in particular, investigation into the temporal nature of these correlates (i.e., whether they precede the development of depression, suggesting
causal effects, or whether they develop subsequent to the development
of depression, suggesting contributions to the course or maintenance of
the disorder) further informs our conceptualization of depression, both in
children and in adults.
Depression is associated with significant family dysfunction, including
lower family support (Sheeber, Hops, Alpert, Davis, & Andrews, 1997),
increased family conflict and sibling discord (Cole & McPherson, 1993;
Kaslow, Deering, & Racusin, 1994; Sheeber et al., 1997), and abuse or neglect
(Kashani & Carlson, 1987), as well as negative family circumstances, such as
stressful life events and parental divorce or loss (Goodyer, Wright, & Altham,
1988; Hammen, Adrian, Gordon, Jaenicke, & Hiroto, 1987). Research investigating these correlates has focused both on the impact of the family environment on the development and maintenance of depression symptoms in
the child, as well as the impact of the childs depressive symptomatology on
the family environment. Further research regarding the transactional nature
of family relationships, and, in particular and as discussed below, research
utilizing multimethod, multi-informant approaches will greatly improve our
understanding of the temporal and likely bidirectional effects of child depression and the family environment (e.g., Hammen, Burge, & Stansbury, 1990;
Radke-Yarrow, 1998; Messer & Gross, 1995).
In addition to experiencing significant impairment within the family
environment, children with depression also appear to be significantly
impaired in social domains. Common social correlates of depression include
difficulties in interpersonal relationships, as well as maladaptive social
problem-solving, coping, and emotion regulation (Hammen & Rudolph,
2003). Research indicates that not only do children with depression
perceive themselves to be less socially competent and as having poorer peer
relationships and friendships (for reviews, see Gotlib & Hammen, 1992;
Weisz, Rudolph, Granger, & Sweeney, 1992), they are also rated as less
socially competent than children without depression by teachers (Rudolph
& Clark, 2001), parents (Goodyer, Wright, & Altham, 1990; Puig-Antich et
al., 1993), and independent observers (Rudolph et al., 1994). Furthermore,
compared to children without depression, children with depression exhibit
less prosocial and more hostile problem-focused strategies (Quiggle,
Garber, Panak, & Dodge, 1992; Rudolph, Kurlakowsky, & Conley, 2001),
more passive and helpless coping when faced with challenges (Ebata &
Moos, 1991; Herman-Stahl & Petersen, 1999; Rudolph et al., 2001), and
difficulty with emotional regulation in situations of high arousal (ZahnWaxler, Klimes-Dougan, & Slattery, 2000).
Academic impairment also appears to be a correlate of child depression,
although the literature is somewhat inconsistent, with some research suggesting that depression is associated with perceived, as opposed to actual,
248
academic competence, and other research suggesting an association with

both perceived and actual academic competence. Depressive symptoms
are generally associated with poorer academic grades (Forehand, Brody,
Long, & Fauber, 1988), decreased academic achievement and concentration problems (Ialongo, Edelsohn, Werthamer-Larsson, Crockett, & Kellam,
1996; Puig-Antich et al., 1993), and increased behavior problems at school,
along with poorer relationships with teachers (Puig-Antich et al., 1993).
Although the potential benefit to assessing for psychosocial correlates
is clear, how, exactly, they should be assessed is less straightforward. As
noted, and as discussed in greater detail below, information gathered
from multiple informants is likely to result in discrepant information.
The use of a single informant when assessing psychosocial correlates
assumes not only that the informants perspective on family or peer relationships, or the academic environment, is convergent with others perspectives on these areas, but also that the informant is unbiased in his
or her perspective (Cole & McPherson, 1993). These assumptions are of
particular relevance when doing clinical work or conducting research
with children with depression, as considerable evidence suggests that,
like adults, children with depression may demonstrate significant cognitive distortions, particularly regarding conceptualizations of the self and
others in social situations, as well as biases in interpersonal information processing (Rudolph, Hammen, & Burge, 1997; Shirk, Van Horn, &
Leber, 1997), and decreased perceptions of academic competence (Kendall, Stark, & Adam, 1990).
As with the assessment of depression in children, discussed in
greater detail below, the assessment of these common psychosocial and
functioning correlates is improved through the use of a multimethod, multiinformant approach. Such an approach should go beyond an overreliance
on child self-report by utilizing, for example, observational measures of
interpersonal functioning (e.g., Sheeber et al., 1997), as well as including
information obtained from multiple informants, such as the child, family
members, peers, and/or teachers (e.g., Cole & McPherson, 1993; Rudolph
& Clark, 2001).
ISSUES IN THE ASSESSMENT OF DEPRESSION AND RELATED

CONSTRUCTS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
Measurement of depression and related constructs in children and
adolescents poses some unique challenges that must be taken into account
when selecting, implementing, and interpreting the findings of assessment
instruments. Aside from methodological considerations, these issues also
raise intriguing substantive questions about the nomological network of
depression and about assessment of children and adolescents in general.
These issues, discussed below in detail, include: (1) cross-informant convergence and specificity, (2) normal developmental change in childrens
ability to report on their internal states, and (3) understanding depressive
phenomena in the context of developmental science on mood, motivation,
and cognition in children and adolescents.
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Cross-Informant Convergence and Specificity

Depression in children may be assessed by seeking information from
a variety of informants, including clinician-administered diagnostic interviews with children and/or parents; rating scales that are completed by
clinicians or self-reported through questionnaires with children, parents,
teachers, or siblings; peer-nomination inventories; and observational
measures. In this section, we provide a brief overview of findings pertaining
to different informants, including cross-informant convergence, specificity
of informant reports, and predictors of agreement between informants.
Effects of Different Informants

Obtaining information from multiple informants, using multiple
assessment methods, is generally considered advantageous for the accurate
assessment of psychopathology in children as it results in increased reliability and generalizability of the assessed information. As noted by Cantwell,
Lewinsohn, Rohde, and Seeley (1997), obtaining information from multiple
informants is particularly important when assessing children, for a number
of reasons. Children may not be developmentally capable of accurately and
reliably assessing their psychological functioning or may minimize or deny
socially undesirable symptoms. Parents may be unaware of internal and
nonexpressed symptoms, or of situations in which children may display
problematic behavior, such as school. Discrepant reports may be obtained
from children, parents, and teachers to the extent that they hold different beliefs regarding what constitutes normative behavior. Finally, children
may exhibit different symptoms or behaviors in different settings, producing
different behavioral samples for reporters in those distinct contexts.
Low agreement among different informants regarding indices of
psychopathology in children is the norm, rather than the exception. In a
classic meta-analysis of multi-informant studies of child psychopathology,
Achenbach, McConaughy, and Howell (1987) reported a mean crossreporter correlation of .28 for reports of child behavioral and emotional
problems by different informants (e.g., parents and teachers), compared
to .22 between self-reports by children and informant report. Recent studies
confirm these results (e.g., Crowley, Worchel, & Ash, 1992; Sourander,
Helstela, & Helenius, 1999). Furthermore, interrater agreement appears
to be particularly poor for internalizing, as opposed to externalizing,
problems (Achenbach et al., 1987; Hodges, Gordon, & Lennon, 1990;
Kolko & Kazdin, 1993; Sourander et al., 1999; Yeh & Weisz, 2001), perhaps
because symptoms of internalizing disorders are more difficult to observe
and are generally less disruptive to the family and classroom environment
than externalizing disorders, making them less salient to observers.
It is important to note that low interrater agreement may be due to
general subjective and situational biases (Berg-Nielsen, Vika, & Dahl,
2003), and, as such, a lack of interrater agreement regarding the childs
symptoms does not necessarily reflect inaccuracies on the part of the
informants. Rather, it may be due to real differences in child behavior
across settings; differences in each informants perspective on the child,
250
gained through observations of and interactions with the child in different

environments and contexts; differences in standards of judgment; and differential effects of each informant on the childs behavior (Schaughency &
Rothlind, 1991). Although low interrater agreement is common, evidence
suggests that both child- and parent-reports (as well as those from teachers and clinicians) are valid indicators of child psychopathology (Jensen
et al., 1999).
In contrast, evidence regarding the relative predictive validity of child,
parent, and teacher-reports has been somewhat inconsistent, with some
researchers concluding that child- and parent-reports each account for
unique variance in predicting relevant outcomes (Ferdinand et al. 2003;
Verhulst, Dekker, & van der Ende, 1997) and others suggesting that
the use of child- and teacher-reports, as opposed to parent, results in
improved prediction of preadolescent depression (Mesman & Koot, 2000).
The proper diagnosis of depression or assessment of depressive symptom
severity often involves obtaining and integrating information from multiple
sources, which may include the child.
Parent-report may also be obtained through diagnostic interviews
with parents or parent questionnaires assessing the childs symptoms.
Although parents may be less aware of their childs internal states than
the child him- or herself, they may nonetheless be able to provide a broader
and more stable perspective of the childs depressive symptoms (Cole &
Martin, 2005), drawing on observable behavior in the home and family
environment, as well as through information gleaned from the child or
others, such as teachers or siblings (Tarullo, Richardson, Radke-Yarrow, &
Martinez, 1995). When the parent and child complete comparable assessment measures, responses from each may be compared and integrated
for a more comprehensive assessment. (Approaches to the combination of
information from multiple informants are discussed below.)
Furthermore, and as discussed in greater detail below, information
from both mothers and fathers may be useful. Each may provide unique
information about the child, depending on his or her perceptions of the
child, the amount of time spent with the child, or knowledge of the childs
activities both in and outside the home (Verhulst & Van der Ende, 1992).
However, the assessing clinician must review discrepant mother, father, and
child information carefully. As discussed in detail below, characteristics
of the child and his or her parents, as well as the parents own life circumstances and psychological functioning, may influence parent-report of
depressive symptoms in the child.
Teacher-reports allow for yet another perspective on the childs
functioning. Along with professional insight into age and developmentally appropriate behaviors, teachers also have the opportunity to observe
the child in both structured and unstructured settings, as well as note
his or her competence in academic and social realms (Epkins, 1995).
Furthermore, as discussed previously, some evidence suggests greater
predictive validity of teacher-, as opposed to parent-, report for preadolescent depression (Mesman & Koot, 2000). As might be expected, greater
teacher familiarity with the child is associated with greater childteacher
agreement of depressive symptoms (Ines & Sacco, 1992).
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Although less frequently utilized, the childs siblings or peers may also
provide valuable information. Young children often spend a substantial
amount of time with their siblings, and siblings may be particularly useful
informants regarding the childs behavior within the family environment.
School-age children also spend a majority of each day in the company
of their peers, and often participate in a wide range of structured and
unstructured activities with them. However, sibling and peer reports may
be somewhat unreliable, particularly if the respondents are young ( (Epkins
& Dedmon, 1999; Younger, 1999); Younger, Schwartzman, & Ledingham,
1985), or, in the case of peers, subject to reputation effects, where the
child is rated based on his or her popularity rather than observable behavior (Weiss, Harris, & Catron, 2002).
Several methods may be employed to address discrepancies among
informant reports. For example, the or approach assumes the presence
of a symptom or diagnosis if any informant reports it, whereas the and
approach requires symptom or diagnosis endorsement by multiple
informants. In addition, a number of statistical approaches to aggregating
data obtained from different informants have been proposed (e.g., Baillargeon
et al., 2001; Kraemer et al., 2003; Rubio-Stipec, Fitzmaurice, Murphy, &
Walker, 2003). In general clinical practice, a procedure is usually followed
whereby information from multiple informants is integrated by the clinician,
using general guidelines for prioritizing discrepant information, such as
the preference for self-report regarding internalizing symptoms (Ferdinand,
van der Ende, & Verhulst, 2004; Klein, Dougherty, & Olino, 2005). Although
such an approach may decrease reliability, as different clinicians may
utilize different information, evidence from the adult literature suggests
that diagnoses made using such a best estimate approach often have
high reliability (Klein, Ouimette, Kelly, Ferro, & Riso, 1994).
Given the frequent occurrence of discrepant information, research
informing which information to consider and which to disregard is critical.
Although low interrater agreement is often the result of situational
specificity, wherein the interaction or observation of the child by different
informants in different contexts influences their reports (Achenbach et al.,
1987), research is beginning to further investigate informant variables that
may affect the accurate assessment of depression in children. Variables
that have been examined as potentially influencing informant report and
interrater agreement include the childs age and sex, the parents sex,
and the psychological functioning of the informant.
In general, research examining parentchild agreement on child
depressive symptoms has found that adolescents both report more symptoms
than their parents and that parentchild agreement regarding depressive
symptoms decreases with age (Achenbach et al., 1987; Handwerk, Larzelere,
Soper, & Friman, 1999; Kolko & Kazdin, 1993; Seiffge-Krenke & Kollmar,
1998; Sourander et al., 1999; Tarullo et al., 1995; Verhulst & Van der Ende,
1992; but see also Epkins, 1996; Renouf & Kovacs, 1994). Decreasing
childparent symptom convergence may be the result of reduced parental
influence and contact as youths enter into adolescence (Brown, 1990;
Sourander et al., 1999). A similar pattern of results is found for adolescent
and teacher reports (Stanger & Lewis, 1993; Thomas, Forehand, Armistead,
252
Wierson, & Fauber, 1990). Decreases in childteacher convergence may

be due to secondary school academic schedules wherein adolescents have
classes with multiple teachers for short periods each day (Cantwell et al.,
1997), such that each teacher has less experience with the child than would
a primary school teacher.
Research examining the effect of the childs sex on interrater agreement
has been mixed. Some research finds greater parent agreement with girls
than boys self-reported depressive symptoms (Epkins & Meyers, 1994; Kazdin, French, & Unis, 1983), perhaps due to an inclination to notice internalizing symptoms more in girls than in boys because of gender stereotyping or
because depression is more common in girls than boys. In contrast, some
researchers find greater parentchild agreement for internalizing symptoms
in boys than in girls (Sourander et al., 1999; Tarullo et al., 1995), which
may be the result of a greater focus on sex-atypical disorders. Research
examining teacher-report has thus far found no sex differences in teacher
child agreement (Epkins & Meyers, 1994; Ines & Sacco, 1992).
The parents sex may also influence reports of the childs symptoms,
either alone or in interaction with the childs sex. For example, SeiffgeKrenke and Kollmar (1998) found that both parent and child sex significantly influenced parentchild agreement in a sample of adolescents.
Specifically, mother and fatherchild agreement was higher for daughters
than for sons, with fatherson agreement particularly low.
This finding may indicate that, although adolescents are increasingly
disinclined to confide in their parents, they may nonetheless continue to
discuss some personal issues with their mothers, as opposed to their fathers.
However, given that research on clinical child and adolescent psychopathology
typically involves mothers, to the relative exclusion of fathers (Phares, 1992),
very little research has yet been done in this area. The few studies examining
interrater agreement in the assessment of depression in children that
have included fathers have generally found that motherfather agreement
decreases as children age, and that mothers report more symptoms than
fathers (Achenbach et al., 1987; Jensen, Traylor, Xenakis, & Davis, 1988;
Tarullo et al., 1995, but see also Stanger & Lewis, 1993).
The finding that mothers tend to report more depressive symptoms in their
children than do fathers may be a function of maternal adjustment. Research
indicates that parental factors, including depression (Briggs-Gowan,
Carter, & Schwab-Stone, 1996; Najman et al., 2000; Youngstrom, Loeber,
& Stouthamer-Loeber, 2000), as well as family factors, such as high levels of stress or conflict (Kolko & Kazdin, 1993; Seiffge-Krenke & Kollmar,
1998; Youngstrom, Loeber, & Stouthamer-Loeber, 2000), are associated
with low agreement on child depressive symptoms between parents and
other informants. The underlying mechanisms explaining the effects of
parental depression on parents report of childrens symptoms has been
controversial, with the main issue being whether parental depression
results in greater acknowledgment of depressive symptoms in offspring, or
if depression results in cognitive distortions that inflate parental report of
child depressive symptoms (Briggs-Gowan et al., 1996; Richters, 1992).
In summary, obtaining multimethod, multi-informant information is
optimal for the assessment of depression in children, as such information
253
is more reliable and generalizable than that obtained through single

measures. Furthermore, there are potential advantages to obtaining
information from multiple informants. Children, parents, teachers, siblings,
and peers all may provide unique information regarding the childs internal
state or external behavior across different situations. The usefulness of
multireporter assessment would be increased by knowledge of how best to
integrate information from different reporters. Unfortunately, there is not a
body of literature exploring actuarial methods of combining these sources
of data for assessing depression in children and adolescents. Absent such
empirical guidance, clinicians and researchers alike must be guided by
existing knowledge regarding the factors that influence agreement and
disagreement across reporters when deciding how to integrate assessment
information across informants.
Childrens Self-Reports
Given that subjective elements of internalizing disorders may be most
validly tapped by obtaining information from youngsters themselves, it is
important to consider the skills and limitations children and adolescents
possess with regard to reporting on their mood, psychiatric symptoms, and
the timing of these experiences. Child-report of depressive phenomena may
be obtained through diagnostic interviews or self-report questionnaires.
Child-report uniquely accesses aspects of the childs internal, subjective
state, which is important for tapping many mood phenomena that are not
necessarily evident behaviorally.
As with all self-reported information, child self-report may be subject
to respondent or social desirability biases. Child-reports also appear to
be somewhat unreliable, particularly for younger children and regarding features of depression such as symptom duration and time of onset
(Edelbrock, Costello, Dulcan, Kalas, & Conover, 1985; Schwab-Stone,
Fallon, Briggs, & Crowther, 1994). Furthermore, As with adults, childreports may be influenced by the childs current mood or circumstances
(Cole & Martin, 2005) or dependent on the childs level of linguistic ability and cognitive sophistication. Furthermore, given the private nature of
internalizing symptoms, the child may have no frame of reference regarding others mood or depressive experience with which to compare his or
her levels of depressive symptoms for normative characteristics (Tarullo
et al., 1995).
Very young childrens reports of their mood states may be limited by
their ability to utilize language relevant to emotion. There are few longitudinal studies of childrens use of emotion language in spontaneous speech,
but existing data suggest that use of emotion words (but not understanding) is rare prior to the preschool years (Bretherton, Fritz, Zahn-Waxler,
& Ridgeway, 1986). Emotion recognition and labeling skills develop considerably across childhood, such that younger children use more global
terms to describe their emotions, rather than employing specific terms
such as angry or sad (Widen & Russell, 2003). Therefore, one would
expect younger children to be less likely to endorse the specific emotions of
depression or irritability than would older children. More basic research on
254
the validity of young childrens self-reports of their emotional state would

help to guide the development and evaluation of assessment measures for
depression in young children.
Developmental Science on Childrens Emotions

The assessment of depressive disorders in both children and adolescents,
particularly for diagnostic purposes, involves distinguishing normative moods
and emotions from pathological emotional experiences. Unfortunately, basic
developmental science regarding the developmental trajectory of emotions
and moods across childhood and adolescence is very limited, providing
little guidance for researchers and clinicians who must make distinctions
between normal and abnormal mood experiences. Similarly, the study of
depressive disorders in children may also inform our understanding of
normal emotional development. Absent such data, clinicians must rely upon
a careful assessment of the childs moods and the contexts in which they
occur, as well as their understanding of developmental norms.
Assessment Instruments for Measuring Depression

in Children and Adolescents
The choice of instrument depends on the purpose of the assessment,
the setting in which the assessment occurs, and what aspect of depression is being assessed (e.g., symptoms, diagnosis, risk factors, correlates,
impairment). We now review the different types of instruments that may
be used in the assessment of depression in children, as well as the appropriateness of each for different assessment purposes or settings, before
reviewing some of the more commonly used assessment instruments.
Screening instruments are used to identify individuals at higher likelihood of having a disorder, and may be used in both research and clinical
practices. They are particularly useful when a complete assessment is
impractical to conduct with a full sample or with each client. Results of
screening indicate whether additional assessment is warranted. Many
screening instruments assess for multiple types of psychopathology using
one instrument. Although a number of the instruments reviewed here could
theoretically be used to screen for depression, screening instruments are
ideally brief, user-friendly, and easily administered to large numbers of
participants or populations by lay interviewers. Given the low base rates
of depressive disorders in community samples of children and adolescents
(six-month prevalence rates of 1 to 3% in school-aged children, 5 to 6% in
adolescents; lifetime prevalence rates of 15 to 20% in adolescents; Garber
& Horowitz, 2002; Lewinsohn & Essau, 2002), screening may be particularly important for efficient assessment of the disorder in research on community samples and in large-scale prevention efforts.
Diagnostic interviews are used to determine whether the respondent
meets criteria for a particular diagnosis, and may be unstructured, fully
structured, or semi-structured. Unstructured interviews, wherein format,
duration, focus, and coverage vary by clinician, are subject to missed
information, are less comprehensive than structured or semi-structured
255
interviews, and generally result in widely variable information (Klein et al.,

2005). Such interviews are, therefore, not typically recommended when
assessing for depression in children.
In contrast, fully structured interviews consist of probes/questions
that are read exactly as written, with responses recorded without further
clarification or interpretation by the interviewer. These interviews are
appropriate for administration by lay interviewers, and are useful in epidemiological studies, where the assessment of large numbers of participants
may make clinician training prohibitive.
Finally, semi-structured interviews, which utilize clinical knowledge
and judgment to evaluate information provided by the respondent, are
designed to be administered by appropriately trained and experienced clinicians. Structured and semi-structured interviews may be used to assess
mood disorder criteria only, or a broader range of psychopathology. Existing interviews vary in the extent to which they may be used in a modular
fashion or the ease with which they may be adapted to assess a narrower
range of disorders and related phenomena, such as depressotypic cognitions and schemas. The use of the semi-structured interview format with
children as respondents has advantages and disadvantages. This format
allows the interviewer to follow up the childs responses in order to ascertain the childs level of understanding of each question or to probe further
for clarification (Hodges, 1990). On the other hand, a full diagnostic interview may be long and tiring, particularly for younger children.
Questionnaires are often used to measure depressive symptom severity.
Although they are a cost- and time-efficient strategy for obtaining supplemental information from one or more informants, given that questionnaires are less comprehensive than diagnostic interviews, they should
not be used as the primary diagnostic instrument. Questionnaires are
generally self-administered by the respondent, but they may also be read
aloud to younger children. Many questionnaires developed for use with
one informant (e.g., the child) are also modified for use with other informants (e.g., parents, teachers, or siblings). Information obtained through
comparable questionnaires completed by multiple informants may be easily compared and integrated for a more comprehensive assessment.
Peer-nomination inventories and observational measures may also provide valuable information regarding the childs depressive symptoms and
functioning. Peer-nomination inventories typically involve the presentation
of a number of behavioral characteristics to each student within a classroom; the student then chooses which of his or her peers best matches each
characteristic. The Peer Nomination Inventory of Depression (PNID; Lefkowitz & Tesiny, 1980), for example, is a 19-item sociometric index of depression, happiness, and popularity developed for use with children in grades 3
to 5. Scores reflect peer ratings of the child on each of these three indices.
Observational measures include laboratory or performance-based
tasks, which allow for the assessment of depressive symptoms in controlled
laboratory settings. These measures are a source of rich observational
data, and, depending on what is being assessed by the task (e.g., information-processing, psychological functioning, social interactions with family members or other important social figures), may provide important
256
information regarding the childs functioning in a number of areas.

Although observational measures have certain advantages, they are also
particularly time consuming, labor intensive, and expensive (Epkins &
Dedmon, 1999; Garber & Kaminski, 2000). As such, they are rarely practical for use in clinical settings. For more detailed information regarding
specific observational measures, the interested reader is referred to Garber and Kaminskis (2000) review of laboratory and performance-based
measures of depression in children.
We now briefly review some of the more commonly used child and
adolescent depression assessment instruments (for more comprehensive
reviews, see Angold & Fisher, 1999; Brooks & Kutcher, 2001; Myers &
Winters, 2002; Silverman & Rabian, 1999). Although there are a number
of instruments developed for use with adults that are also widely used with
adolescents, the present review is limited to those instruments designed
for and used primarily with children and adolescents.
Screening Instruments
Pediatric Symptom Checklist (PSC)
The PSC (Jellinek, Murphy, & Burns, 1986) is a 35-item questionnaire
developed for use by pediatric care providers during routine pediatric visits. It assesses internalizing, externalizing, and attention domains, and
empirically derived cut-off points assist the pediatric care provider in identifying youths in need of additional psychological evaluation. Originally
developed for use with parents regarding their school-age children, the
PSC has also been modified for use with youths (Pagano, Cassidy, Little,
Murphy, & Jellinek, 2000). In addition, a brief, 17-item version of the PSC,
the PSC-17, has been developed for use with parents (Gardner et al., 1999)
and youths (Duke, Ireland, & Borowsky, 2005).
The PSC has demonstrated excellent interrater reliability ( = .82;
Murphy, Reede, Jellinek, & Bishop, 1992) and excellent testretest reliability (r = .80; Navon, Nelson, Pagano, & Murphy, 2001). Research assessing concurrent and criterion validity has demonstrated correlations with
clinician diagnosis and other validated measures (Jellinek et al., 1988;
Murphy et al., 1992; Navon et al., 2001; Walker, LaGrone, & Atkinson,
1989). Validity for the internalizing subscale of the youth version of the
PCS has been demonstrated through moderate correlation with the Child
Depression Inventory (CDI; Kovacs, 1992; see below; Pagano et al., 2000).
The internalizing subscale of the PSC-17 has also demonstrated validity
through correlation with clinician diagnosis and other validated measures
of depression (Gardner et al., 1999), as well as evidence of predictive validity (Gardner, Campo, & Lucas, 2004).
Structured and Semi-Structured Diagnostic Interviews

Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC)
The DISC (Costello, Edelbrock, Dulcan, Kalas, & Klaric, 1984) is a fully
structured interview developed by the National Institute of Mental Health
257
for use with children aged 6 to 17 years. A parent version is also available. The DISC assesses multiple types of psychopathology according to
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( the DSM-IV and
International; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD; World Health Organization [WHO],
1993) criteria, including depressive disorders, over the past year. Information regarding the onset and duration of symptoms is also assessed for
many items. The DISC has been revised several times, with more recent
versions intended to address shortcomings of earlier versions: the DISCRevised (DISC-R; Shaffer et al., 1993), the DISC-2.1 (Fisher et al., 1993),
the DISC-2.3 (Shaffer et al., 1996), and the DISC-IV (Shaffer, Fisher, Lucas,
Dulcan, & Schwab-Stone, 2000). Given the highly structured nature of the
interview, the DISC may be administered by lay interviewers with only
brief training. Administration time of the DISC typically ranges from 1 to 2
hours, depending on the level of psychopathology endorsed by the child.
Although the DISC may be a useful instrument for epidemiological
research in that it is easily administered by lay interviewers, it has not
demonstrated particularly good reliability and validity. Previous research
suggests excellent interrater reliability (rs ranging from .94 to 1.00; Costello et al., 1984), poor to good testretest reliability (s ranging from .44
to .72; Costello et al., 1984; Edelbrock et al., 1985), poor to excellent internal consistency (as ranging from .41 to .67; Williams, McGee, Anderson,
& Silva, 1989; ICCs ranging from .30 to .81; Edelbrock et al., 1985), and
poor to good concordance of MDD diagnoses for child and parent versions
(s ranging from .14 to .50; Costello et al., 1984).
Preliminary results from studies examining the reliability of the most
recent version are somewhat more promising (e.g., Shaffer et al., 2000).
Research assessing concurrent and criterion validity has likewise been
inconsistent. Some research has demonstrated moderate correlation of
the depression scale of the DISC with clinician diagnosis and other validated measures of depression (Angold, Costello, Messer, & Pickles, 1995;
Costello et al., 1984) and discriminate validity for psychiatric and pediatric
referrals (Costello, Edelbrock, & Costello, 1985). In contrast, other studies
suggest less than adequate validity when used with clinical samples (Pellegrino, Singh, & Carmanico, 1999; Weinstein, Stone, Noam, Grimes, &
Schwab-Stone, 1989).
Diagnostic Interview for Children and Adolescents (DICA)

The DICA (Herjanic & Reich, 1982) was originally developed as a fully
structured interview, although the most recent versions, the DICA-R (Reich
& Welner, 1988) and the DICA-IV (Reich, 2000), are semi-structured. The
DICA-R/IV assesses multiple types of psychopathology according to DSM
IV criteria across a lifetime time frame. The DICA-R/IV includes separate
interviews for children (aged 6 to 12 years), adolescents (aged 13 to 17
years), and parents. It may be administered by either clinicians or lay
interviewers with appropriate training. Administration time of the DICAR/IV typically ranges from 1 to 2 hours, depending on the level of psychopathology endorsed by the child.
258
The DICA, particularly the DICA-IV, has demonstrated inconsistent

reliability, with evidence of poor to fair interrater reliability (s ranging
from .38 to .47; Granero Perez, Ezpeleta Ascaso, Domenech Massons, & de
la Osa Chaparro, 1998), poor to excellent testretest reliability (s ranging
from .00 to .77; Boyle et al., 1993), and poor to fair concordance of MDD
diagnosis for child and parent versions (s ranging from .21 to .57; Boyle
et al., 1993). Preliminary results from studies examining the reliability of
the most recent version are somewhat more promising (e.g., Reich, 2000).
Research assessing concurrent and criterion validity has demonstrated
poor to moderate correlations with clinician diagnosis and other validated
measures of depression (Ezpeleta et al., 1997; McClure, Rogeness, &
Thompson, 1997).
Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment (CAPA)

The CAPA (Angold, Prendergast et al., 1995) is a semi-structured interview for use with children aged 9 to 17 years. A parent version is also available. The CAPA assesses multiple types of psychopathology according to
DSMIV and ICD-10 criteria, including depressive disorders, over the past
three months. It also assesses impairment in areas relevant to functioning in family, peer, school, and leisure environments, and has a component
allowing for interviewer-based observations of the childs social and affective
behavior. The inclusion of an extensive glossary detailing operational definitions of specific symptoms and distress and frequency ratings allows for
the administration of the CAPA by either clinicians or lay interviewers with
appropriate training. Administration time of the CAPA ranges from 1 to 2
hours, depending on the level of psychopathology endorsed by the child.
Little research evaluating the reliability and validity of the CAPA has yet
been conducted, although what does exist is promising. The depression
subscale of the CAPA has shown excellent testretest reliability ( = .90;
ICC = .88; Angold & Costello, 1995). Interrater reliability and internal
consistency have not yet been adequately examined. Validity has likewise not
yet been adequately assessed, although some research suggests preliminary
evidence of validity (Angold & Costello, 2000; Thapar & McGuffin, 1998).
Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for

School-age Children (K-SADS)
The K-SADS (Puig-Antich & Chambers, 1978) is a semi-structured interview adapted from the adult Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS; Endicott & Spitzer, 1978). The original K-SADS has been
revised several times, resulting in a number of different versions: the KSADS-Epidemiologic version (K-SADS-E; Orvaschel, Puig-Antich, Chambers,
Tabrizi, & Johnson, 1982) assesses both past and current episodes of psychopathology; the K-SADS-Present Episode version (K-SADS-P; Chambers
et al., 1985) assesses the childs current state; and the K-SADS-Present and
Lifetime version (K-SADS-PL; Kaufman et al., 1997) is an update and combination of the K-SADS-E and the K-SADS-P. The K-SADS is appropriate for
use with children aged 6 to 17 or 6 to 18 years, depending on the version
259
used. Each version assesses multiple types of psychopathology according to

DSMIV criteria. The administering clinician bases diagnostic decisions on
his or her integration of all available sources of information. As such, the
K-SADS requires substantial clinical training and experience, and should
only be administered by qualified clinicians. Administration time of the
K-SADS typically ranges from 30 minutes to 2.5 hours, depending on
the level of psychopathology endorsed by the child.
The depression and internalizing components of the K-SADS, particularly the more recent versions, have shown good to excellent interrater
reliability ( = .54; ICCs ranging from .51 to .88; Chambers et al., 1985),
excellent testretest reliability (s ranging from .90 to 1.00; Kaufman
et al., 1997), and good to excellent internal consistency (as ranging from
.68 to .89; Ambrosini, Metz, Prabucki, & Lee, 1989; Chambers et al., 1985).
Research assessing concurrent validity has demonstrated moderate correlations with other validated measures of depression (Kaufman et al., 1997;
McCauley, Mitchell, Burke, & Moss, 1988). The K-SADS has also demonstrated evidence of predictive validity (McGee & Williams, 1988).
Questionnaires
Childrens Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS)
The CDRS (Poznanski & Mokros, 1999) is a clinician-administered
observer-rated scale adapted from the adult Hamilton Rating Scale for
Depression (Hamilton, 1960). The 17-item CDRS assesses current depressive symptom severity in cognitive, somatic, affective, and psychomotor
domains. The CDRS was developed for use with children aged 6 to 12
years (although it is also commonly used with adolescents), and is administered to both the child and a second informant, usually a parent, with
the interviewer using clinical judgment to then combine information from
each informant. The CDRS may be administered by clinicians or appropriately trained lay interviewers. Administration time of the CDRS typically
ranges from 15 to 20 minutes for each informant.
The CDRS has demonstrated inconsistent reliability, with evidence of
poor interrater reliability (rs ranging from -.01 to .42; Mokros, Poznanski,
Grossman, & Freeman, 1987), excellent testretest reliability (r = .86; Poznanski et al., 1984), and poor to excellent internal consistency (rs ranging
from .38 to .88; Poznanski, Cook, & Carroll, 1979). Research assessing
concurrent and criterion validity has demonstrated good to excellent correlations with other validated measures of depression (Shain, Naylor, &
Alessi, 1990) and some evidence of discriminate validity (Shain, King, Naylor, & Alessi, 1991), but its sensitivity for assessing change in severity of
depression appears less than optimal (Stark, Reynolds, & Kaslow, 1987).
Child Depression Inventory (CDI)

The CDI (Kovacs, 1992) is a self-reported rating scale originally adapted
from the adult Becks Depression Inventory (Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock,
& Erbaugh, 1961). The 27-item CDI assesses depressive symptom severity
260
over the past two weeks across a broad range of domains, focusing in
particular on cognitive symptoms. A 10-item short version of the CDI is also
available (Kovacs, 1992). The CDI was developed for use with children aged
7 to 17 years, and it typically takes about 10 to 20 minutes to complete. The
CDI has shown poor to excellent testretest reliability (rs ranging from .38 to
.88; Blumberg & Izard, 1986; Kovacs, 1980/1981; Finch, Saylor, Edwards,
& McIntosh, 1987; Saylor, Finch, Spirito, & Bennett, 1984; Smucker,
Craighead, Craighead, & Green, 1986) and high internal consistency (as
typically over .80; Crowley et al., 1992; Nelson, Politano, Finch, Wendel,
& Mayhall, 1987; Smucker et al., 1986). Research assessing concurrent
and criterion validity has demonstrated good to excellent correlations with
other validated measures of depression (Birleson, 1981; Reynolds, 1987;
Shain et al., 1990), although research examining the ability of the CDI
to discriminate between depressed and nondepressed youths has been
mixed (Costello & Angold, 1988; Lobovits & Handal, 1985; Moretti, Fine,
Haley, & Marriage, 1985; Weissman, Orvaschel, & Padian, 1980). The CDI
also appears to be a useful instrument for assessing change in severity of
depression (Fine, Forth, Gilbert, & Haley, 1991; Garvin, Leber, & Kalter,
1991; Stark et al., 1987).
Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ)

The MFQ (Angold, Costello et al., 1995) is a 32-item self-reported rating scale developed to assess depressive symptom severity based on DSMIV
criteria over the past two weeks. A 13-item short version of the MFQ is also
available (Angold, Costello et al., 1995), as well as parent versions of both the
full and the short versions. The MFQ was developed for use with children
aged 8 to 18 years, and typically takes about 10 minutes to complete.
The MFQ has shown good testretest reliability (ICCs ranging from .75
to .78; Costello, Benjamin, Angold, & Silver, 1991; Wood, Kroll, Moore, &
Harrington, 1995) and excellent internal consistency (s ranging from .85
to .94; Angold, Costello et al., 1995; Wood et al., 1995), but poor concordance for child and parent versions (rs ranging from .25 to .30; Angold,
Costello et al., 1995). Research assessing concurrent and criterion validity
has demonstrated poor to moderate correlations with clinician diagnosis
and other validated measures of depression (Angold, Costello et al., 1995;
Pellegrino et al., 1999; Thapar & McGuffin, 1998; Wood et al., 1995) and
evidence of discriminate validity (Kent, Vostanis, & Feehan, 1997; Thapar
& McGuffin, 1998). The ability of the MFQ to assess change in depressive symptoms has not yet been adequately investigated, with research
conducted thus far mixed (Vostanis, Feehan, Grattan, & Bickerton, 1996;
Wood, Harrington, & Moore, 1996).
Reynolds Child Depression Scale (RCDS) and Reynolds

Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS)
The RCDS (Reynolds, 1989) and the RADS (Reynolds, 1987) are 30-item
self-reported rating scales developed to assess depressive symptoms over
261
the past two weeks based on DSMIV criteria. The RCDS and the RADS
were developed for use with children aged 8 to 12 and 13 to 18, respectively, and each typically takes about 10 minutes to complete.
The RCDS and RADS have shown good to excellent testretest reliability (rs ranging from .79 to .86; Baron & DeChamplain, 1990; Reynolds, 1987) and excellent internal consistency (as ranging from .87 to
.94; Nieminen & Matson, 1989; Reynolds, 1987; Reynolds & Miller, 1985).
Research assessing concurrent and criterion validity has demonstrated
good to excellent correlations with clinician diagnosis and other validated
measures of depression (Reynolds, 1987; Shain et al., 1990), although the
sensitivity of the RCDS and the RADS in detecting depression appears to
be somewhat poor (Reynolds, 1987). In addition, although the RCDS and
the RADS appear to be somewhat able to assess change in depressive
symptoms, other rating scales may be more sensitive in this regard (Reynolds & Coats, 1986; Stark et al., 1987).
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
The assessment of depression in children and adolescents is an area
ripe for development. A number of strategies and instruments that have
been developed for diagnosis and the measurement of symptom severity
demonstrate adequate reliability and validity, and some of the aspects that
may influence assessment (i.e., reporter differences) have been identified.
However, many instruments in wide use have less than optimal reliability and/or validity, and some depression-related constructs and developmental periods (e.g., preschool years) are not well addressed by existing
measures.
Further refinement of existing measures and the construction of new
assessment instruments and procedures should be guided by both the
needs of the growing research base on depression in children and adolescents, as well as the knowledge generated by the field. First, the existence
of cross-reporter differences in information regarding depressive phenomena in children and adolescents calls for a better understanding of how
best to integrate information across reporters.
Second, there is a great need for research on predictors of the course
of depressive disorders and treatment response in depressed children and
adolescents; such information will allow for more refined prediction of outcome and perhaps for advances in treatment matching and planning. This
can only occur in the context of refined methods for assessing course and
measuring change in depressive symptoms over time.
Third, as research interest in exploring the question of continuity among child, adolescent, and adult depression grows, it will become
increasingly important to address issues of how to provide comparable
measures of depression across these developmental stages, as well as to
test measurement invariance of instruments across developmental periods. Finally, assessment of depressive disorders will primarily benefit
from growth in the larger literature on the phenomenology and etiology of
262
depression across the lifespan, as well as that on developmental change in

the manifestation of depression at different ages.
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443466.
10
Assessment of Bipolar
Disorder In Children
STEPHANIE DANNER,
MATTHEW E. YOUNG, and MARY A. FRISTAD
Awareness of early-onset bipolar spectrum disorders (BPSD) has

grown rapidly in recent years. Parents increasingly approach mental
health clinicians questioning whether their childrens mood swings constitute BPSD. Childhood-onset BPSD, like other early-onset brain disorders,
are associated with worse prognosis and higher levels of interference with
functioning than adult-onset BPSD (Kyte, Carlson, & Goodyer, 2006;
Perlis et al., 2004). In comparison to those with adult-onset BPSD, children
with BPSD experience more difficulties at school, at home, and with peers
earlier in their development resulting in less time spent accomplishing
developmental goals (Geller, Bolhofner, Craney, Williams, DelBello, &
Gunderson, 2000). Some parents describe these children as being difficult
from birth and describe significant difficulties with peers in early child
care and preschool. Therefore, an accurate timely diagnosis is essential
to develop appropriate interventions, the goals of which are to decrease
interference and improve functioning across various settings.
In addition to increased awareness of childhood-onset BPSD,
controversies about the diagnosis have grown, as well. This chapter presents
current trends in the field; recent findings from longitudinal studies concerning the risk, comorbidity, and course of childhood-onset BPSD; a description of bipolar spectrum diagnoses; similarities and differences between
child and adult manifestations of BPSD; diagnostic challenges presented
by childhood-onset BPSD; and strategies for assessing BPSD. The latter
STEPHANIE DANNER-OGSTON
MATTHEW E. YOUNG
MARY A. FRISTAD
The Ohio State University

273
274
STEPHANIE DANNER et al.
includes a review of multiple informants, screening measures, structured

interviews, mood symptom severity scales, a psychosocial history timeline,
family history of mental illness, and mood charts. The chapter closes with
a vignette illustrating the assessment process and highlighting numerous
aspects of the review outlined above.
CONTEMPORARY ISSUES
Trends in the Field
Undoubtedly, the most significant recent trend in the field of childhoodonset BPSD has been increased recognition and diagnosis of this disorder. In
the past, manic symptoms were considered extremely rare, if not nonexistent
in prepubertal children (Anthony & Scott, 1960). Recently, research on
BPSD in children and adolescents has increased dramatically in frequency.
For example, a recent search of MEDLINE and PsychInfo databases found
26 journal articles and book chapters on childhood BPSD prior to 1980,
36 in the 1980s, 66 in the 1990s, and 46 in the first two years of this
decade (Lofthouse & Fristad, 2004). The diagnosis has received increasing
media attention (Lofthouse & Fristad, 2004; Pavuluri, Birmaher, & Naylor,
2005). Public awareness of childhood BPSD has dramatically increased as
well. A recent Google Internet search for childhood bipolar disorder and
childhood mania produced 483,000 and 248,000 results, respectively
(Leffler & Fristad, 2006). These trends have led some to suggest that
BPSD has become a fad diagnosis, and is being overdiagnosed in
children (e.g., Hammen & Rudolph, 2003). This argument may hold some
merit, inasmuch as the increase in academic and public interest in BPSD
in children and adolescents has advanced faster than clinical training
in evidence-based methods of assessment and treatment (Lofthouse
& Fristad, 2004). Despite concerns about overdiagnosis, a growing body
of evidence suggests that BPSD occurs in children and adolescents more
frequently than has been estimated in the past (Youngstrom, Findling,
Youngstrom, & Calabrese, 2005).
A community sample of adolescents in Oregon found a lifetime prevalence of 0.12% for Bipolar Disorder-I (BP-I), 1% each for Bipolar Disorder-II
(BP-II) and Cyclothymia, and 5.7% with subthreshold symptoms, comorbid
conditions, and significant impairment based on self-report of symptoms
(Lewinsohn, Klein, & Seely, 1995). This last group, referred to by the authors
as core positive, exhibited levels of impairment similar to the BP-I and
BP-II groups (Lewinsohn et al., 1995). The core positive group may meet
criteria for Bipolar Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (BP-NOS; Lofthouse &
Fristad, 2004). The diagnosis of BP-NOS in these core positive groups may
have increased the incidence of BPSD.
Another trend may also account for some of the increased incidence
of childhood BPSD: each generation born after World War II has displayed
increased rates and earlier onset of mood disorders (Findling, Kowatch,
& Post, 2003). In addition, stimulant and antidepressant medications
increasingly have been prescribed to younger children, and can precipitate
ASSESSMENT OF BIPOLAR DISORDER IN CHILDREN
275
mood fluctuations in those with a genetic predisposition to mood disorders

(Findling et al., 2003). These lines of evidence suggest childhood BPSD
may be actually increasing in frequency, rather than the incidence being
inflated by overdiagnosis. Diagnostic trends and uncertainty about methods
of assessment may lead to overdiagnosis in some settings, whereas lack of
recognition of the disorder may simultaneously lead to underdiagnosis in
other settings.
Recent Findings
Given the increased interest in childhood BPSD in recent years, questions have been raised about the course of illness. It remains unclear what
the long-term outcome is for children. Will their symptom presentation
change over time? As they reach adolescence and puberty, will their illness
begin to resemble classic adolescent- or adult-onset bipolar disorder, or
will the atypical symptom presentation characteristic of many children
with BPSD (i.e., lack of clearly defined episodes, less likely to meet full
diagnostic criteria for Bipolar I Disorder) persist? In an attempt to answer
these questions and accurately characterize the phenomenology of BPSD
in children and adolescents, researchers have enrolled a large sample (N =
438) of participants in the multisite Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth
(COBY) study (Birmaher et al., 2006; Axelson et al., 2006). Participants in
this naturalistic longitudinal study must meet diagnostic criteria for BP-I,
BP-II, or an operational definition of BP-NOS (a discussion of the definition
is included later in the chapter), and are being followed for a period of up
to ten years.
Preliminary findings from the COBY cohort indicate that participants
in all diagnostic groups showed high rates of elated mood (i.e., 80% or more).
Those diagnosed with BP-NOS most often failed to meet duration criterion
for mania, rather than having too few symptoms (Axelson et. al, 2006).
Preliminary longitudinal results from a subset of the COBY sample indicate
that over a two-year period, participants were symptomatic most of the time.
Approximately one-fourth of youth with BP-NOS progressed to a diagnosis
of BP-I or BP-II within two years (Birmaher et al., 2006). Comorbid conditions
and maternal depression were associated with poorer family functioning
among COBY participants (Esposito-Smythers et al., 2006). Participants
with childhood-onset, as opposed to adolescent-onset, bipolar disorder were
more likely to be male, have lower socioeconomic status, have comorbid
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and were less likely to
receive a diagnosis of BP-I or live with both biological parents. Adolescents
reporting onset before age 12 also displayed higher rates of anxiety disorders (Rende et al., 2007). Almost one-third of the COBY sample endorsed a
lifetime suicide attempt, with older and more severely impaired participants
having the highest risk (Goldstein et al., 2005). Family history of mania was
not associated with age of onset, but younger onset of illness was associated
with significantly higher rates of a number of other mental illnesses in firstand second-degree relatives (Rende et al., 2007).
The COBY study represents an important step in research on child
and adolescent BPSD. It provides prospective data on a large cohort of
276
youth, whereas many previous studies have relied on retrospective report

of onset (e.g., Geller & Luby, 1997; Perlis et al., 2004). Preliminary results
are consistent with studies that have utilized smaller samples (Carlson,
Bromet, Driessens, Mojtabai, & Schwartz, 2002; Craney & Geller, 2005;
Geller & Tillman, 2005; Geller, Tillman, Craney, & Bolhofner, 2004), suggesting that prepubertal-onset BPSD is associated with high rates of
comorbidity, psychosocial impairment, mixed states, and family history of
psychopathology.
To extend the knowledge collected by studies such as COBY, researchers
at four academic sites (Case Western Reserve University, the Ohio State
University, University of Cincinnati, and Western Psychiatric Institute
and Clinic) are enrolling participants in the NIMH-funded Longitudinal
Assessment of Manic Symptoms (LAMS) study. Children presenting for
an evaluation in outpatient clinics are screened with the Parent-General
Behavior Inventory-Short Form (Youngstrom, Meyers, et al., 2005; which
is discussed later in the screening measures section) for the presence
of possible manic symptoms. Children whose parents or guardians rate
them above a specified threshold will be followed for a period of up to five
years, regardless of their Axis I diagnoses. In fact, because the LAMS study
intends to recruit a sample at risk for BPSD, the screening threshold has
been set low enough that most children in LAMS do not have any mood
disorder diagnoses. Over time, the LAMS study will provide prospective
data on the prevalence of manic symptoms in clinical settings and features
associated with increased risk of developing BPSD over time. Future data
from longitudinal samples such as COBY and LAMS will provide valuable
information about the course and outcome of this illness that clinicians
can integrate into assessment procedures.
Summary
The field of childhood-onset BPSD has developed at a rapid pace in the
past decade. Increased awareness of the disorder has led to more frequent
diagnosis. This has led some clinicians and researchers to question whether
this trend has gone too far, leading to overdiagnosis of BPSD in children.
However, longitudinal studies, such as COBY and LAMS, are underway
and will provide critical information needed to clarify the prevalence, clinical
characteristics, and long-term outcome of childhood-onset BPSD.
PHENOMENOLOGY OF EARLY-ONSET BPSD

DSMIVTR Description of BPSD
The Diagnostic and Statistical ManualIVText Revision (DSMIVTR;
American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000) describes two categories of
symptoms for the diagnosis of mania/hypomania. There are no distinct
criteria for children and adolescents compared to adults. Criterion A is
the presence of elevated or irritable mood for a period of at least one week
for mania or four days for hypomania. Criterion B describes accompanying
277
symptoms, including: grandiosity; decreased need for sleep; pressured

speech; flight of ideas; distractibility; increased goal-directed activity in
social, academic, or sexual arenas or psychomotor agitation; and high-risk
behaviors.
For a Manic or Hypomanic Episode, the child needs to have either elevated mood and three accompanying symptoms, or irritable mood and four
accompanying symptoms. In addition to longer duration, mania causes
marked impairment in functioning at home, at school or with peers, may
have psychotic features, and/or may require psychiatric hospitalization.
Hypomania is associated with a change from baseline functioning, but
less severe impairment. A Mixed Episode is diagnosed when criteria for a
Major Depressive Episode (except duration) and a Manic Episode are met
nearly every day for at least one week and cause marked impairment in
functioning (APA, 2000).
The four BPSD can be distinguished by the severity and frequency of
depressive and manic symptoms (see Table 10.1). Bipolar Disorder I (BP-I)
is the most severe and consists of at least one Manic or Mixed Episode with
or without the presence of a Major Depressive Episode or depressive
symptoms. Subtypes of BP-I can be distinguished by the type of episode
which occurred most recently (Manic, Hypomanic, Mixed, Depressed, or
Unspecified). Bipolar Disorder II (BP-II) is the presence of at least one
Major Depressive Episode and at least one Hypomanic Episode, without
a history of Manic or Mixed episodes. Cyclothymic Disorder is characterized by less intense highs and lows, periods where several hypomanic
symptoms are present and periods where several depressive symptoms
are present, although not enough to meet a Hypomanic or Major Depressive Episode. Cyclothymic Disorder has a longer duration of at least one
year in children and adolescents (two years in adults) with no remittance
of symptoms for a period of more than two months. Bipolar Disorder
Not Otherwise Specified (BP-NOS) captures the variants of problematic
affective highs and lows that do not fit into the other three categories.
The longitudinal studies described in the previous section (i.e., COBY
and LAMS) have developed an operational definition of BP-NOS. This
definition was developed because of equivocal language in the DSMIV
TR definition of BP-NOS, and to document the presence of significant
symptom severity, often with short duration, and functional impairment
in this diagnostic group (See Table 10.2). This operational definition also
aids researchers in monitoring diagnostic progression from BP-NOS
to Cyclothymia, BP-II, or BP-I.
Table 10.1. Bipolar spectrum disorders

Bipolar I
Bipolar II
Cyclothymia
M (+ D, d, or none)
hM + D
m + d (duration of at least 1 year)
M Manic Episode, hM Hypomanic Episode, D Major Depressive

Episode, d depressive symptoms that do not meet criteria for a Major
Depressive Episode , m manic symptoms that do not meet criteria for a
Manic or Hypomanic Episode
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Table 10.2. Two Definitions of Bipolar Disorder Not Otherwise Specified

DSMIVTR (APA, 2000)
The Bipolar Disorder NOS
category includes disorders
with bipolar features that
do not meet criteria for any
specific Bipolar Disorder.
Operational Definition from Longitudinal Research

Studies (COBYa, LAMSb)
A. Intensity:
Distinct period of abnormally elevated, expansive,
or irritable mood
At least 2 additional associated symptoms of mania
if elated mood is present or at least 3 additional
symptoms if irritable
Change in functioning (decreased or increased;
similar to DSMIV guideline for hypomania)
B. Duration of Episode:
A total of 4 hours within a 24-hour period
C. Total Number of Episodes:
Lifetime: 4 days of above-noted symptom intensity
and duration. Days need not be consecutive.
COBY Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth

LAMS - Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms
Childhood- Versus Adult-Onset BPSD

Many children with BPSD do not fit the template for BP-I, BP-II, and
Cyclothymic Disorder used for diagnosis in adults and described in
DSMIVTR. In children, symptom frequency, symptom presentation, typical
onset as manic versus depressive, prognosis, and even gender ratios differ
from those seen in adults. For adults, decreased need for sleep is almost
universal, whereas less than half of children with BPSD experience sleep
problems (Biederman et al., 2005; Geller et al., 2004). In contrast to the
euphoric, expansive manic episodes frequently seen in adults, childrens presenting problems often include outbursts of mood lability, irritability, reckless behavior, and aggression that last hours to days (American Academy
of Child Adolescent Psychiatry [AACAP], 2007).
Some children and adolescents experience a waxing and waning of
moods that are frequent, intense, and unrelated to environmental events,
but lack true episodes (Lofthouse & Fristad, 2004). Increased rates of
more psychosis, poorer prognosis, slower recovery times, more recurrence of episodes, higher comorbidity, and higher suicide incidence have
been reported for youth with BPSD (Findling et al., 2001; Kyte et al.,
2006; Lewinsohn et al., 1995). Patel and colleagues (2006) reported more
psychomotor retardation, psychotic features, substance use, weight loss,
and thought disorder in children compared to adults with BPSD. Also,
children with BPSD have more mixed episodes, rapid cycling, and comorbidity with ADHD compared to adults (approximately 75% versus 1020%;
Findling et al., 2001). Childhood-onset BPSD is characterized by having a
usual onset of manic or mixed episodes, rather than depression, which is
more common in adults with BPSD (Kyte et al., 2006).
Finally, more boys than girls are diagnosed with early-onset BPSD,
whereas gender representation is equal in typical-onset BPSD (Biederman
et al.). These differences have led some to argue that childhood-onset
279
BPSD is not the same condition as adult-onset BPSD, but is another

disorder altogether. In fact, although several longitudinal studies are in
progress, none as of yet has tracked childhood-onset BPSD into adulthood
to determine if it progresses into the classic adult disorder (AACAP, 2007),
however, many adults with BPSD can identify symptoms they exhibited
during their early lives (Lish, Dime-Meenan, Whybrow, Price, & Hirschfeld,
1994; Perlis et al., 2004).
Risk Factors
Risk factors for developing BPSD include having a Major Depressive
Disorder, having a family history of affective disorders, or experiencing an
antidepressant-induced manic episode. As many as 20 to 48% of youth
with childhood-onset major depressive disorder will develop a BPSD
(Geller, Fox, & Clark, 1994; Geller, Zimmerman, Williams, Bolhofner, &
Craney, 2001). Children whose depressive episodes have rapid onset,
psychomotor retardation, and psychotic features are more likely to develop
BPSD than those without these characteristics (Kowatch, Youngstrom, et al.,
2005; Strober & Carlson, 1982). Also, children with a family history of
affective disorders, especially BPSD, have a higher risk of developing BPSD
(Geller et al., 1994, 2001; Jones, Tai, Evershed, Knowles, & Bentall, 2006).
Children who have experienced an antidepressant-induced manic episode
are also more likely to develop BPSD (Baumer, Howe, Gallelli, Simeonova,
Hallmayer, & Chang, 2006; Faedda, Baldessarini, Glovinsky, & Austin,
2004; Strober & Carlson, 1982).
Symptom Presentation
As the assessment of depressive disorders is described in a previous chapter, this chapter focuses on assessing manic symptoms and
episodes. Diagnosing BPSD in children is difficult. Symptom manifestation
is somewhat different for youth compared to adults because of societal
and parental limits placed on childrens behavior and access to activities
(e.g., a credit card for a shopping spree or multiple sexual partners). Many
symptoms of mania are developmentally appropriate in specific age groups
and/or overlap with other common childhood mental disorders.
Some Criterion B symptoms are present in typically developing children. To determine whether behavior is deviant, one must be familiar with
normal social-emotional development. Behavior is pathological when it is
not appropriate to the context, represents a change from the childs baseline behavior, and is functionally impairing (Geller, Zimmerman, Williams,
DelBello, Frazier, et al., 2002). The FIND criteria, (Kowatch, Fristad et al.,
2005, p. 215) Frequency, Intensity, Number, and Duration of symptoms, can
assist in determining whether a behavior is abnormal (Table 10.3). Typical
and atypical behaviors are described in Table 10.4. Finally, to make a
diagnosis of BPSD, manic symptoms have to coalesce over time (Kowatch,
Fristad, et al., 2005).
In addition to being familiar with child development themselves, child
clinicians need to assess parental knowledge of the same. For example,
280
Table 10.3. FIND guidelines

F requency
I ntensity
N umber
D uration
Symptoms occur most days in a week

Symptoms are severe enough to cause extreme disturbance in one
domain (home, school, or peers) or moderate disturbance in two
or more domains
Symptoms occur three to four times per day
Symptoms occur 4 or more hours a day, total, not necessarily
contiguous
NB: This information is presented in Kowatch, Fristad et al. (2005, p. 215).
a mother who expects her preschooler to practice the piano for an hour
without getting up may indeed be frustrated when the child stops every few
minutes to pursue other activities. However, the childs behavior is developmentally on target and it is the mother who needs to change her perspective.
This mothers report that her child episodically loses attentional capacity
should not be taken at face value; rather, behavioral descriptors should be
sought so the clinician can apply a developmental filter, as needed. When
conducting a comprehensive evaluation (as described below) clinicians
need to ask for concrete examples of behavior to place the childs behavior
into a developmental context.
Childrens manifestation of manic symptoms is modulated not only
by their developmental status, but also by their parents behavior and
societal rules. For example, most children possess neither credit cards
nor independent means of travel and therefore cannot spontaneously
purchase $2,000 worth of tennis outfits. However, they can go to school
with prized trading cards and give them all away over recess in an expansively generous manner. A general description and specific examples of each
symptom in children and adolescents appear below. Additional examples
of childrens manic symptoms are provided as atypical behaviors in
Table 10.4.
Euphoric or Expansive Mood

This symptom is an extreme version of the happy mood a child
experiences when looking forward to upcoming events. Nonpathologic
euphoric/expansive mood is frequently noted in giddy or silly behavior
on Christmas, birthdays, going on vacation, or other special occasions.
Pathological euphoria occurs in the absence of one of these triggers or
is an intense overreaction to the situation. Euphoric or expansive mood
can also result from some medications or illegal drug use. Many children,
87% in one study, experience concurrent elated mood and irritability
(Geller, Zimmerman, Williams, DelBello, Bolhofner, et al., 2002).
Irritability
This symptom often manifests as periods of extreme rage or displays of
intense aggravation over trivial requests (Kowatch, Fristad, et al., 2005).
However, clinicians must be aware that irritability is to childrens mental
281
Table 10.4. Examples of developmentally typical and atypical behaviors

Typical
Atypical
Elated mood An 8-year-old who is highly energetic A 7-year-old who feels he is the
and happy on Thanksgiving Day
luckiest child on earth, that everywhen he sees his cousins
thing is wonderful and happy in his
life and acts in an exaggerated
manner as a result
Irritability
A 5-year-old who, after a full day of
A 10-year-old who runs through the
playing, stomps up the stairs when
house knocking everything off of
her parents tell her she is being
tables and throwing toys after his
cranky and needs to go to bed
mother tells him to go take a shower
Grandiosity A 9-year-old child vehemently
An 8-year-old who searches for
argues that he is the best runner
colleges on the Internet because
in his school
she plans to start college in the fall
rather than 3rd grade
Decreased
A 9-year-old cannot sleep the night
A 7-year-old who goes to his room for
need for
before his 10th birthday party and
bed at 8 PM, but organizes his toys
sleep
is energetic the whole day despite
and draws pictures until 2 AM and
getting 6 hours of sleep, but falls
wakes up ready for the day at 6 AM
into bed at 7 PM after the party
Flight of
An 8-year-old who jumps from
A 14-year-old who repeatedly becomes
Ideas
math to gym to art back to math
so distracted as he describes events
in the description of his
that even friends and family cannot
school day
understand him
DistractA 10-year-old who has difficulty
A 10-year-old normally calm student
ibility
focusing on her work and
cannot remain seated and attenfrequently leaves her seat the day
tive for 30 minutes and gets up to
before holiday break
sharpen her pencil or get a different
book every 5 minutes
Increase
A high school student zooms
A high school student collects college
in goalaround collecting college
information, starts an art project for
directed
information because he is excited
professional display, begins repaintbehavior
about future prospects
ing his bedroom, and plans a party
at his home for the weekend all in a
one-hour period
Hypersexu- A 13-year-old boy who looks at picA 9-year-old boy who touches his
ality
tures of scantily clad women on
teachers breasts and slaps her
the Internet
bottom
A 17-year-old who has four sexual
partners in a weekend and wants to
have sex several times every day
Involvement A 7-year-old, who after seeing BMX
An 11-year-old packs and prepares
in behavbike racing on television, rode his
to ride his bike across the United
iors with
bike at top speed through his quiet
States because he saw a TV story
a high
neighborhood
about someone doing this
potential
for danger
NB: These behaviors must represent a change from baseline functioning, not be caused by drugs or illness,
and be associated with functional impairment to count as manic symptoms.
health what fever is to childrens physical health. Both indicate the child is
not well, but neither is pathognomonic of a particular disorder. Although
irritable mood is the most common symptom of mania in children (Geller,
Zimmerman, Williams, DelBello, Frazier, et al., 2002), it also can be triggered
282
in healthy children who are hot, hungry, or tired. Additionally, irritability

can be part of the symptom constellation of almost every childhood
disorder, including Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), ADHD, mood
disorders, anxiety disorders, developmental and intellectual delays, and
schizophrenia. Qualitative aspects to irritability noted in mania include a
vastly disproportionate affective response to a very minute stressor, such
as a child smashing all of his mothers ceramic collectibles after she asks
him to go get ready for bed.
Grandiosity
This symptom is the belief that one has special talents or abilities ranging from inflated self-confidence to delusions of grandeur. Clinicians need
to assess the veracity of the belief, whether the child is engaging in fantasy
play, whether he or she can tell the difference between fantasy and reality,
and whether the child truly believes the delusion. Asking the child how
she knows, for example, that she is a world-renowned ballet dancer can
be a way to assess reality testing. Frequently, the answer from an impaired
child will be, Because I just know (Kowatch, Fristad, et al., 2005).
In addition, the context of the expression of inflated self-esteem should
be evaluated. A child who pretends to be a teacher to neighborhood friends
after school is significantly different from a child who stands on his desk
in class and tells the teacher what the students should be learning and
how they should be taught (Kowatch, Fristad, et al., 2005). Likewise, a
5-year-old child who runs through the house with a pillowcase trailing
behind him like a cape exclaiming he is Superman is displaying typical
behavior whereas a 10-year-old child who claims to be Superman and
then attempts to jump out his second story window is atypical.
Decreased Need for Sleep

This symptom is characterized by substantially less sleep (two or more
hours) without associated fatigue the following day. Decreased need for
sleep should be distinguished from insomnia, commonly found in depressive and anxiety disorders, in which a child has extreme difficulty falling or staying asleep through the night, lays in bed brooding, and wakes
up tired the following day (Kowatch, Fristad, et al., 2005). Children with
mania are usually out of bed engaged in a variety of activities around the
house such as reorganizing the kitchen cupboards, watching inappropriate
television shows, or talking on the phone. For example, an 8-year-old girl
who, awake and energetic at 3 am, calls everyone in her parents speed
dial several times before being caught and returned to bed only to hop out
of bed at 6 am, has a manic decreased need for sleep.
Pressured Speech
This is speech that is often loud, difficult to interrupt, or intrusive and
differs from that of an excited, nervous, or angry child who can usually stop
the flow of words, especially when the context is not appropriate for the
283
topic (Kowatch, Fristad, et al., 2005). Children who are in a manic state
will fail to respect what other people are saying or doing in order to say
what is on their mind. For example, a teenager when manic may rush into
the room and loudly tell his mother all about the fantastic bike stunt he
just did even though she is on the phone having a serious conversation.
Flight of Ideas/Racing Thoughts

These symptoms are the subjective experiences of having too many
ideas flowing through ones mind such that they interfere with the childs
ability to communicate effectively. Young children, children with lower IQs
or expressive language disorders, and children with ADHD may routinely
have problems organizing their thoughts into coherent stories or seem like
they have too many ideas to express all at once. By way of contrast, children
in a manic phase experience a developmentally atypical change from normal
functioning. One way to determine this, particularly when an evaluator has
just met a child, is to determine if an adult who knows the child well can
follow the childs story (Kowatch, Fristad, et al., 2005). Children with racing
thoughts can often describe this experience in age-appropriate ways such
as, My thoughts broke the speed limit, or Too much stuff is flying around
up there (Geller, Zimmerman, Williams, DelBello, Frazier, et al., 2002).
Distractibility
This symptom is a noticeable decrease in the childs ability to tune out
events in the environment in order to concentrate on a task. Children with
ADHD often have this symptom. To distinguish manic distractibility from
that associated with ADHD, the clinician needs to learn what is normal functioning for the child and whether a childs usual ability to focus deteriorates
significantly when other manic symptoms are present (Kowatch, Fristad,
et al., 2005). Parents and children may need to monitor attentional abilities
during a mood episode to be certain about whether there is a change in
distractibility associated with mania. As ADHD usually has an earlier age
of onset than BPSD, attention levels prior to mood problems often can be
assessed. For instance, a child who sits in his seat and fidgets when not
experiencing mood problems, but cannot stay seated through classes or
even to finish eating dinner during mood disturbances has mood-related
distractibility in addition to baseline hyperactivity.
Increased Goal-Directed Activity in Social, Academic

or Sexual Arenas/Psychomotor Agitation
These symptoms are changes in the activity level of a child during a
manic episode. Increased goal-directed activity is unique to mania and
includes starting many different projects (e.g., building a bike ramp,
painting a masterpiece, and cleaning his bedroom) or doing a lot of one
activity (e.g., a child who is not otherwise very bright and/or self-directed
suddenly begins drawing 50 pictures, building extensive block towns, or
writing many poems; Kowatch, Fristad, et al., 2005). Highly active or fidgety
284
behavior is common to mania, depression, ADHD, and anxiety disorders.

Again, a noticeable increase from baseline accompanied by other manic
symptoms helps differentiate the manic symptom from ADHD. Depressed
or anxious youth tend to have nervous habits such as picking at their
clothes or fiddling with objects, whereas manic youth seem driven to engage
in the fidgety or active behavior. They may become intensely preoccupied
by the desire to do a particular activity or obtain a particular item (e.g., an
action figure comparable to ten others on their toy shelf) and almost seem
uncomfortable in their own skin unless the craving is satisfied (Kowatch,
Fristad, et al., 2005).
Increased Involvement in Pleasurable Activities

or Activities with High Potential for Harm
This symptom can be manifested in daredevil activities, uninhibited
people-seeking, uncontrolled silliness, and/or hypersexual activity. As a
daredevil, a child may try to run across traffic dodging cars or try to drive
the family car to a friends house. Children may talk to anyone they meet
or want to go new places to meet people without exercising appropriate
caution when they are manic. Exaggerated silliness occurs when the
actions are inappropriate to context, such as standing up in the middle
of a church service to tell a joke. Again, the silliness has to be extreme
for the situation and get the child in trouble at school, at home or with
peers. Hypersexuality, as with other symptoms of mania, should reflect a
change from the childs typical functioning (e.g., a quiet 10-year-old girl
suddenly begins writing sexually provocative notes to multiple boys in her
classroom; a 15-year-old boy in a previously monogamous relationship
enters into a half-dozen sexual encounters over a weekend). Hypersexual
behavior can also be seen in children with a history of sexual abuse,
and this should be ruled out before the behavior is attributed to mania.
In a study of early-onset BPSD, Geller, Bolhofner, and colleagues (2000)
found 43% of their sample presented with hypersexual behavior whereas
less than 1% reported sexual abuse. Also, manic hypersexuality has a
pleasure-seeking quality to it whereas most abuse-related sexuality has
an anxious or compulsive quality that is not associated with enjoyment
of sexual urges (Kowatch, Fristad, et al., 2005).
Differential Diagnosis
Medical Causes
Clinicians should also gather information about the physical health,
medication history, and drug use of the child/adolescent. Some health
problems, such as hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, closed or open head
injury, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, temporal lobe
epilepsy, and hormonal imbalances can present as major mood disorders
(Kowatch, Fristad, et al., 2005). If a child does not have regular medical
care or has not had a physical examination for more than a year, the clinician may be wise to recommend a checkup before finalizing a diagnosis.
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Furthermore, some medications and illegal drugs can mimic symptoms

of mania. Children can have difficulty falling asleep when they begin stimulant medication, which could be mistaken for the early insomnia noted in
depressive and anxiety disorders. Some research has linked antidepressants
to triggering manic episodes by destabilizing mood (Faedda et al., 2004).
Also, parents may describe euthymia in a previously dysthymic youngster
as the child being uncharacteristically high in energy, interested in activities, talkative, and requiring less sleep. These symptoms may be merely
relief from the symptoms of depression or possibly the start of a manic
episode. Coriticosteroid use (e.g., for body building) may lead to increased
irritability and even psychosis (Kowatch, Fristad, et al.).
Some illegal drugs cause highs (e.g., experiencing elevated energy,
talkativeness, grandiosity, flight of ideas, and psychomotor agitation) that
could be mistaken for mania or lows (e.g., experiencing lack of energy, loss
of interest or pleasure in ones usual activities, increased appetite) easily
attributed to depression. Even quitting smoking can lead to crankiness
and psychomotor agitation that could be mistaken for bipolar symptoms
(Kowatch, Fristad et al., 2005).
ADHD
As mentioned earlier, many Criterion B symptoms are present in
childhood mental disorders other than BPSD. The essence of ADHD is
distractibility, hyperactivity, and impulsive behavior. These could easily be
confused with the distractibility, psychomotor agitation, and poor judgment
seen in mania. The key difference is the episodic nature of the distractibility and high activity level in mania as opposed to the omnipresence
(outside of treatment, both pharmacologic and behavioral) of these characteristics for children with ADHD (Lofthouse & Fristad, 2004).
The childs usual level of activity and attention should be used to
determine whether there are periods of distractibility, high energy, and
talkativeness above and beyond what is normal for the child. In addition,
many children with ADHD are very talkative and have many ideas in
their heads at one time, but children with manic behavior have episodes
of effusive speech that jumps from one idea to another in a way that
can be difficult for others to follow or interrupt (Kowatch, Fristad,
et al., 2005). Children with ADHD often get into dangerous situations
because they do not think before they act, whereas children experiencing
an increase in high-risk behavior are often daredevils who may make
extensive plans for their stunts without recognizing the inherent
danger. The symptoms that seem to best discriminate BPSD from ADHD
are euphoric mood, decreased need for sleep, hypersexuality, grandiosity,
racing thoughts, and flight of ideas (Geller, Zimmerman, Williams, Bolhofner,
et al., 2002).
Disruptive Behavior Disorders

Disruptive behavior disorders also share many characteristics with
BPSD. A boy who does not do his chores and instead lays on the couch
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watching TV all afternoon despite repeated reminders to do his chores,

may have symptoms of ODD or fatigue and anhedonia associated with
a depressive episode. Again, the episodic nature of the problem can be
used as a clue to the associated syndrome. If the child has been cooperative about completing chores until the last few weeks, then this change in
behavior may be associated with depression. Conversely, a child who has
always resisted doing chores and usually avoids them, while having
sufficient energy to engage in social activities, would be better identified
as oppositional.
A child who ties balloons to the cat to try to make her fly may be
showing poor judgment (manic symptom) rather than intentional cruelty
to animals (Conduct Disorder [CD] symptom). A high school student who
skips a day of school to go audition for the citys orchestra, despite not
playing a musical instrument, may be experiencing grandiosity and showing poor judgment (manic symptoms) rather than being truant from school
(CD symptom). A teenager who is overzealous in her sexual advances
toward a prospective boyfriend may be experiencing a period of hypersexuality (manic symptom) or have the intent to force sexual activity upon
another person (CD symptom).
Acute/Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Some symptoms of Acute or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (ASD, PTSD)
present as BPSD. Sleep problems, irritability, angry outbursts, and
difficulty concentrating overlap between the two disorders (APA, 2000).
To distinguish ASD and PTSD from BPSD, clinicians need to assess
whether there is a history of trauma and if so, collect information about
the onset of symptoms relative to the trauma, as well as nonoverlapping
symptoms (e.g., reexperiencing, avoidance of stimuli associated with
the trauma, and numbing of general responsiveness). When a childs
angry outbursts and other problem behaviors started shortly after a
traumatic event, and she is having nightmares about the event and
avoiding reminders of what happened, she is probably experiencing
ASD or PTSD, rather than BPSD. A strategy for careful assessment of
the timeline for events and symptoms is discussed below.
Psychosis
Some children and adolescents, 20 to 30% in one sample, with
BPSD experience psychotic symptoms during their manic, depressed,
or mixed states (Biederman et al., 2005). A rate of psychosis of 60%
was noted in a group of bipolar youth age 7 to 16 (Geller, Zimmerman,
Williams, DelBello, Bolhofner, et al., 2002). To distinguish whether the
child has a separate diagnosis of psychosis, clinicians again should
focus on symptom onset and offset using the timeline. If psychotic and
affective symptoms always co-occur, the psychotic specifier for BPSD
should be used rather than giving a separate diagnosis of psychosis. If the
child has heard voices or had delusions outside or before the onset of
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affective disturbances, a diagnosis of psychosis or schizoaffective disorder

should be considered.
Comorbidity
A compounding diagnostic issue is comorbidity. For childhoodonset psychopathology, comorbidity is the rule rather than the exception.
That is, when a child has one diagnosis, he or she is at higher risk
for having another diagnosis than the general population (Achenbach,
1995; Angold, Costello, & Erkanli, 1999). Comorbidity rates are higher
in childhood-onset BPSD than in adult-onset BPSD (AACAP, 2007).
In fact, one study found that more than 80% of their early-onset BPSD
participants had a comorbid psychiatric condition when their mood
was euthymic (Findling, et al., 2001). Comorbidities also help predict
functional impairment in children with BPSD (Findling, et al., 2001).
Disorders commonly comorbid in children and adolescents with BPSD
in order of prevalence include: ADHD, Disruptive Behavior Disorders,
Anxiety Disorders, and Substance Abuse.
ADHD
In addition to differential diagnosis, as previously discussed, some
children truly have both BPSD and ADHD. The symptom overlap between
ADHD and BPSD is discussed above. The rate of comorbid ADHD varies
between 11% and 75% in various studies (Pavuluri et al., 2005). Children
with BPSD are significantly more likely to have comorbid ADHD (83%)
than those with adolescent-onset BPSD (52%, Biederman et al., 2005).
Children with both ADHD and BPSD have elevated distractibility and inattention when they are euthymic and these symptoms get significantly worse
during a mood episode.
Disruptive Behavior Disorders

Disruptive Behavior Disorders include ODD and CD and are the second most commonly observed comorbid disorders with early-onset BPSD.
Rates of ODD fall between 46% and 75% (Kowatch, Youngstrom, et al.,
2005). Studies using younger samples reported higher rates of ODD than
those using older samples (Kowatch, Youngstrom, et al., 2005). Studies
have reported comorbidity rates for CD ranging from 6% to 37% (Pavuluri
et al., 2005). Children with BPSD have difficulty regulating their emotions,
including their reactions to frustrating situations. When their emotions
are out of control during a manic phase, children are more likely to lose
their tempers, argue with adults, defy rules, be easily annoyed by others,
and feel angry or resentful. These symptoms are sufficient to diagnose
a child with ODD if it is not clear that the symptoms are limited to the
course of a mood diagnosis (APA, 2000). Some of these symptoms may
be present before a full BPSD diagnosis is made or perhaps become a
habitual way of reacting and persist beyond mood states. The causal link
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between childhood BPSD and disruptive behavior disorders warrants further

investigation.
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety Disorders are the third highest comorbid disorders, with rates
ranging from 13% to 56% (Pavuluri et al., 2005). Several studies have
found no differences in the rates of anxiety disorders between childhoodand adolescent-onset BPSD (Biederman et al, 2005; Findling et al, 2001).
Some studies have found links with only specific anxiety disorders (e.g. panic
disorder; Birmaher, Kennah, Brent, Ehmann, Bridge, & Axelson, 2002)
whereas others have found links with a wide range of anxiety disorders
(Harpold et al., 2005). One hypothesis for this overlap, developed from
research on adults with BPSD, argues these disorders are linked by the
brain structures that cause symptoms of both disorders (Freeman, Freeman,
& McElroy, 2002).
Another possible hypothesis regarding increased rates of anxiety disorders in children with BPSD relates to the social problems often experienced as the secondary manifestations of the disorder. For example, if a
child, when manic, yells at his teacher in front of the class or punches a
classmate with little provocation, he later may be ostracized, rejected, or
teased by peers for his out of control behavior. The reputation a child builds
can long outlast his manic episode. Children can also appear moody to
their friends, meaning that an enthusiastic or positive greeting expected
from a close friend may not come predictably from a child with BPSD.
Likewise, children often tease others who are different from themselves
whether in looks, clothing choice, intellectual or physical ability, or physical
appearance. Actions and reactions of children with BPSD are likely to be
different from their peers in some situations when their mood is dysregulated. The culmination of all of these social forces could lead a child to be
more anxious around peers.
Substance Abuse
Finally, the comorbidity of early-onset BPSD with substance use
has been reported to range from 0% to 40% (Geller et al., 2001; Pavuluri et al., 2005). In this case, adolescents with BPSD are more likely
than children with BPSD to experience comorbid substance use (38%
versus 14%, respectively; Biederman et al., 2005). A plausible explanation for the prevalence of substance use among adolescents with BPSD
is that substances are being used to self-medicate. This theory has not
been investigated in youth, but has been both supported and refuted
by research with adults (e.g., Levin & Hennessy, 2004; Grunenbaum
et al., 2006). For instance, a child who enjoys the manic highs, but is
experiencing a depressive phase may choose to use stimulating drugs
like methamphetamine or cocaine to get relief from the depressed mood
or experience a high similar to their manic phase. In addition, a child
who is experiencing a hypomanic phase may take stimulant drugs to
elevate his mood further.
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Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities

Comorbid BPSD is often missed in children and adolescents with
pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) and intellectual disabilities.
Research suggests the rate of BPSD may be twice as high in individuals
with PDD as in the general population (DeJong & Frazier, 2003). In fact,
first-degree relatives of children with autism have an incidence of bipolar
disorder of 4.2%, over four times that of the general population (DeJong &
Frazier, 2003). The behavioral symptoms of bipolar disorder among children
and adolescents with developmental and intellectual disabilities are similar
to nondisabled populations (Carlson, 1979). However, some symptoms of
bipolar disorder are more difficult to detect in children with developmental
and intellectual disabilities, especially if the child has limited expressive
language. Caretakers have to look for behavioral indicators of irritable
or elated mood, flight of ideas, and grandiosity because these symptoms
are usually verbally expressed (Carlson, 1979). When BP and PDD are
comorbid, caretakers may notice a higher incidence of self-injurious
behavior, apathy, and loss of daily living skills during depressive episodes,
and increased verbalizations, overactivity, increased distractibility, and
noncompliance during manic episodes (DeJong & Frazier, 2003).
As in other brain disorders, the addition of BPSD to developmental
and intellectual disabilities leads to increased problems in functioning.
In severely and profoundly mentally retarded adults, those with bipolar disorder exhibited more negative social behavior and verbalizations than those
without bipolar disorder (Matson, Terlonge, Gonzlez, & Rivet, 2006). Kurita
and colleagues (2004) found significantly worse nonverbal communication
in children with PDD and bipolar disorder compared to children with PDD
alone. There were also trends toward higher impairment of relationships
with people, poorer auditory responsiveness, and higher Childhood Autism
Rating Scale scores, indicating overall higher functional impairment among
PDD patients with BPSD (Kurita, Osada, Shimizu, & Tachimori, 2004).
Exacerbation of existing symptoms occurs with the onset of a BPSD,
including notable decreases in cognitive functioning, social skills, and
communication (DeJong & Frazier, 2003). Recently, Matson and colleagues
demonstrated reliability and validity for the manic and depressive scales
of the Diagnostic Assessment for the Severely Handicapped-II (DASH-II),
used in diagnosing mood disorders in intellectually disabled individuals
(Matson, Rush, Hamilton, Anderson, Bamburg, & Baglio, 1999; Matson &
Smiroldo, 1997). This measure will help clinicians identify bipolar symptoms in developmentally and intellectually delayed children.
Summary
Diagnosis of early-onset BPSD is complicated by unique symptom presentation due to developmental differences in autonomy and societal limits
on behavior. Examples of symptoms noted in children and adolescents
with BPSD clarify how the disorder can present. BPSD shares symptoms
with several other childhood brain disorders, but it can be differentiated from these disorders by its cyclical pattern of worsening symptoms.
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Important disorders to consider when making a differential diagnosis

include various medical illnesses, ADHD, disruptive behavior disorders, acute
and posttraumatic stress disorder, and psychosis. In addition, many disorders are commonly comorbid with BPSD, including ADHD, disruptive
behavior disorders, and anxiety disorders. Substance use and developmental and intellectual disability also co-occur frequently.
Assessment
A relatively recent trend in childhood psychopathology research has
been the proliferation of investigations regarding evidence-based assessment and a growing literature that suggests evidence-based diagnoses
may be more accurate than diagnoses based on unstructured clinical
assessment (Doss, 2005). Making a definitive diagnosis of BPSD in a child
is widely regarded as a difficult task given the often atypical presentation
of childhood-onset BPSD compared to adult-onset BPSD, the overlap in
symptoms of BPSD and other disorders, and the high rates of comorbidity
(Bowring & Kovacs, 1992; Geller & Luby, 1997; Pavuluri et al., 2005).
Therefore, there is a demand for reliable and valid measures to aid clinicians in the diagnostic process. A screening measure can quickly rule
out many children who are not experiencing bipolar symptoms and help
identify children and adolescents who are in need of a more comprehensive
assessment for BPSD.
An evidence-based assessment for BPSD in children should integrate
information from multiple informants and utilize multiple methods of data
collection, including rating scales, a structured or semi-structured diagnostic
interview, a timeline, and an assessment of family history of mood disorders.
Measures of current mood symptom severity are also valuable additions, as
well as prospective mood monitoring by the parent and/or the child.
Choice of Informants
Although parent-report is often the most valuable data source in
assessing BPSD, information from the child and from teachers is often
useful (Youngstrom, Findling, et al., 2005). Using multiple informants
allows the clinician to learn about the childs functioning in multiple settings. Also, children for whom multiple informants report manic symptoms tend to be more seriously impaired (Carlson & Youngstrom, 2003).
Clinical judgment should be used to determine how much information to collect from the child when completing an assessment. Depending
on the childs age, cognitive abilities, insight, and current symptoms, the
child may be the primary source of information, or may contribute little
(Tillman, Geller, Craney, Bolhofner, Williams, & Zimerman, 2004). Parents or guardians are the best source of information when children are
younger, possess less insight, or are more severely impaired. Older children and adolescents can provide valuable information on topics about
which parents are less likely to be knowledgeable, such as internalizing
symptoms, substance abuse, and sexual activity. However, the childs
report of symptoms should not be ignored, even in cases where the child is
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likely to be a poor reporter. Some children exhibit surprising insight into

their mood states, and can provide detailed descriptions of their experiences. For example, a young boy described his manic episode as, Like
I drank 100 cans of Red Bull.
Screening Measures
A large proportion of the research concerning childhood-onset BPSD
has been devoted to screening measures. Screening measures provide a
convenient first step in identifying cases of childhood BPSD. They are relatively inexpensive to administer and, given the low base rate of childhood
BPSD, are useful for identifying cases that warrant more extensive evaluation. Screening measures are not adequate for assigning diagnosis, but
are quite effective for ruling out a large number of cases.
One potential screening measure for BPSD in children is the Child
Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach & Rescorla, 2001). Results have
been mixed, with some research suggesting a CBCL bipolar profile consisting of elevations on the Aggression, Attention Problems, and Anxious/
Depressed subscales (Mick, Biederman, Pandina, & Faraone, 2003), and
other research suggesting that, after controlling for scores on the CBCL
Externalizing scale, no other subscales improve identification of BPSD
(Youngstrom et al., 2004).
Another screening measure investigated for use with child and adolescent BPSD is the General Behavior Inventory (GBI; Depue, 1987).
The GBI contains items related to mania, depression, and mixed states.
First developed for use with adults, the GBI has been adapted for parent
report (P-GBI), adolescent self-report, (A-GBI; Findling et al., 2002), and
teacher-report (T-GBI; Youngstrom, Joseph, & Greene, 2008). A 10-item
mania subscale derived from the P-GBI (P-GBI-SF) appears to be quite efficient in identifying children and adolescents with BPSD in research and
clinical settings (Youngstrom, Meyers, et al., 2005).
The Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ; Hirschfeld et al., 2000) was
developed to screen for bipolar spectrum disorders in adults. It has been
adapted for use with adolescents, both as a self-report measure (MDQ-A)
and a parent-completed form (P-MDQ). In a clinical sample, the P-MDQ
performed better than the MDQ-A at identifying bipolar disorder (Wagner,
Hirschfeld, Emslie, Findling, Gracious, & Reed, 2006). The P-GBI-SF appears
to outperform both versions of this measure. However, the P-MDQ, used
together with the P-GBI-SF, may be most effective in the assessment of
younger children (Youngstrom, Meyers, et al., 2005).
As described above, most screening measures used for BPSD in children
have been adapted from existing screens used for adult bipolar disorder
or general child psychopathology. The Child Bipolar Questionnaire (CBQ)
was developed specifically to detect childhood BPSD. Preliminary validation analysis indicates that the CBQ displays high sensitivity and nearperfect specificity (Papolos, Hennen, Cockerham, Thode, & Youngstrom,
2006). However, this study utilized a self-selected Internet sample, which
had a high rate of self-identified BPSD. Although a structured interview
was used to assign diagnosis in the validity sample, reliability estimates
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were based on a sample whose diagnosis was not independently verified.

Therefore, the CBQ cannot be recommended for clinical use until it is validated in a more representative and independently verified population.
Another measure created specifically to detect childhood BPSD is
the Child Mania Rating Scale, parent version (CMRS-P; Pavuluri, Henry,
Devineni, Carbray, & Birmaher, 2006). The authors of the CMRS-P
intended it to be easy to read and intentionally left out items that poorly
discriminated childhood BPSD from other conditions. The CMRS-P demonstrated high internal consistency and testretest reliability, and factor
analysis suggested the scale is unidimensional. Scores on the CMRS-P
correlated highly with three measures related to BPSD, and correlated
moderately with general scales of psychopathology. With a cut-score of
20, the scale displayed high sensitivity and specificity for BPSD, compared to children with ADHD and healthy control participants (Pavuluri
et al., 2006).
The CMRS-P has the potential to be a valuable measure in childhood
BPSD assessment, but there are limitations to the findings discussed
above. First, interrater reliability estimates were based on a small (N = 20)
subsample. Also, children whose primary symptom presentation was limited to irritable mood were excluded from the study, and children with
BP-NOS were excluded from the evaluation of criterion-related validity.
These exclusions make it unclear whether the CMRS-P is effective at
identifying children who meet the broad phenotype categories of BPSD.
Additional investigation of the CMRS-P in a diagnostically heterogeneous
clinical population could allow these limitations to be addressed, and is
highly recommended.
The movement to develop more accurate and efficient screening
measures represents significant progress in the field of childhood BPSD.
Prevalence estimates vary, but generally agree that BPSD occurs less
frequently than many other forms of child psychopathology. Screening
measures can help detect cases in need of a more lengthy (and expensive)
evaluation. Screens also help guard against overdiagnosis by quickly ruling
out large numbers of cases. In a clinical setting, a measure with both high
sensitivity (to identify cases and assign proper diagnosis) and high specificity (to prevent overdiagnosis and reduce the cost of assessment) is ideal.
As a screening questionnaire alone never constitutes an adequate assessment, additional information is needed to corroborate significant scores.
Structured Interviews
Structured assessments are the method used to assign diagnosis
in most research studies of childhood BPSD. These instruments ensure
standard comprehensive coverage of the symptoms of BPSD and common comorbid conditions. In some cases, especially with more structured
assessment measures, they can be administered by nonclinical staff
and interpreted by a clinician, which decreases the cost of assessment.
In inpatient settings, the use of structured assessments may decrease the
frequency of diagnosis of manic episodes. Inpatients diagnosed with manic
episodes via a structured interview display higher rates of elated mood and
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activity, fewer symptoms of depression, and are more likely to meet strictly
applied diagnostic criteria for mania (Pogge, Wayland-Smith, Zaccario,
Borgaro, Stokes, & Harvey, 2001).
A number of structured and semi-structured assessments are available for use with children. One of the most commonly used, especially in
research studies, is the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia
for School Aged Children (K-SADS; Kaufman et al., 1997, Puig-Antich &
Ryan, 1986). The K-SADS is considered the gold standard in empirical
studies of child and adolescent BPSD (Nottelmann, et al., 2001). However,
the K-SADS requires significant interviewer training and can take several
hours to administer to a parent and child (Kaufman et al., 1997), and
therefore it is not a practical option in most clinical settings. More structured and concise options include the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for
Children (DISC; Shaffer, Fisher, Lucas, Dulcan, & Schwab-Stone, 2000) and
the Diagnostic Interview for Children and AdolescentsRevised (DICA-R-C;
Reich & Wellner, 1988), however, they are also lengthy and not commonly
used in clinical settings.
A promising alternative to these interviews is the Childrens Interview
for Psychiatric Syndromes, child (ChIPS; Weller, Weller, Rooney, & Fristad,
1999a) and parent (P-ChIPS; Weller, Weller, Rooney, & Fristad, 1999b)
editions. The ChIPS and P-ChIPS include DSMIV diagnostic criteria for 20
common Axis I diagnoses, and include ratings of clinical impairment and
age of onset for each diagnosis. Administration of the ChIPS or P-ChIPS
takes approximately 35 minutes for an outpatient, so the measure is brief
enough for general clinical use. Because of its highly structured format,
it requires less comprehensive training to administer than many other
diagnostic interviews (Rooney, Fristad, Weller, & Weller, 1999). In inpatient
children and adolescents, high rates of diagnostic agreement between the
ChIPS and the DICA-R-C have been found for major depression, dysthymia,
and mania. The ChIPS also significantly agreed with clinician-assigned
diagnosis for major depression, dysthymia, and mania (Fristad, Cummins,
Verducci, Teare, Weller, & Weller, 1998). Similar rates of agreement were
found for mood disorders between the ChIPS and P-ChIPS, and between
the P-ChIPS and clinician, in a combined inpatient and outpatient sample
(Fristad, Teare, Weller, Weller, & Salmon, 1998).
Mood Symptom Severity Scales

Although structured interviews provide comprehensive coverage of BPSD
and comorbid conditions, symptom severity rating scales provide a more
focused assessment of BPSD-specific characteristics. The Young Mania
Rating Scale (YMRS; Young, Biggs, Ziegler, & Meyer, 1978) was developed as an observational rating measure of manic symptoms for adult
inpatients. It has been adapted for use in childhood BPSD as a parent
or child interview, a parent questionnaire, and an adolescent self-report
questionnaire (Gracious, Youngstrom, Findling, & Calabrese, 2002; Youngstrom, Gracious, Danielson, Findling, & Calabrese, 2003; Youngstrom, et
al., 2004; Youngstrom, Meyers, et al., 2005). The YMRS has been criticized
for a number of reasons: its initial development as an adult measure;
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its inclusion of some symptoms not pertinent to the diagnosis and its
exclusion of some basic manic symptoms; and its overweighting the symptom of irritability (Hunt, Dyl, Armstrong, Litvin, Sheeran, & Spirito, 2005).
Another mania-specific rating scale is the K-SADS Mania Rating Scale,
(KMRS) which was adapted from the Washington University version of the
K-SADS (Geller, Williams, Zimmerman, & Frazier, 1996). Axelson and
colleagues (2003) found high interrater reliability and internal consistency for the scale. Hunt and colleagues (2005) found that parent-report on
the KMRS discriminated inpatient adolescents with and without a bipolar
disorder diagnosis.
In summary, current evidence suggests the KMRS and YMRS are useful
as measures of current symptom severity, but their utility as diagnostic
tools needs to be evaluated further.
Timeline
Due to the cyclical nature of BPSD, children can present in a number
of mood states (i.e., manic, hypomanic, dysphoric, mixed, euthymic).
Whether a structured assessment or an unstructured clinical interview is
utilized, clinicians must have a working knowledge of mood disorders and
diagnostic criteria. If a child presents in a manic or hypomanic episode,
diagnosis of BPSD becomes relatively less complicated. However, a careful
lifetime history of mood symptoms and episodes is necessary to assign an
accurate DSMIV diagnosis (Youngstrom, Findling, et al., 2005). Comorbid conditions, treatment history and response, psychosocial events, and
other information commonly collected in a clinical assessment should also
be incorporated.
To aid in collecting this information, our research group has developed guidelines (see Figure 10.1) for information to record and a template
for a mood disorder timeline (see Figure 10.2). This timeline has been
incorporated into diagnostic assessments in multiple research studies involving children with BPSD and clinical practice with a general clinic-referred
sample. Guidelines standardize information collected, and the templates
chronological format facilitates the organization of information related to
the onset of mood and comorbid symptoms and their course over time.
Furthermore, the timeline helps to clarify the number of episodes a child
has experienced.
Family History
Collecting a detailed family mental health history is an important
part of any assessment of BPSD in a child or adolescent. BPSD is among
the most heritable of brain disorders. Genetics accounts for at least 50%
of the risk for disorder onset in adults, and likely has an even greater
influence in childhood BPSD (Findling et al., 2003). A recent meta-analysis estimated that the presence of bipolar disorder in one parent is associated with a fivefold increase in the risk of bipolar disorder in children
(Hodgins, Faucher, Zarac, & Ellenbogen, 2002). This result can be interpreted as a fivefold increase in the odds of a BPSD diagnosis if bipolar
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Date of Birth & Current Age

Mark calendar years & ages on timeline to assist
in determining the relationship in time
between events
Family Relationships
Mother, father, siblings
Other household members/important adults
(grandparents, stepparents, aunts/uncles,
etc.)
Mothers Pregnancy
Medications used during pregnancy
Drug/alcohol/tobacco use
Pregnancy/Labor/delivery complications
Peer Relationships
Number of friends; best/closest friends
Quality & quantity of friendships, activities
(clubs, sports, etc.)
Major Life Events

Household moves: What age(s)? From where/to
where? Reason?
Family: Parental divorce or separation, deaths,
domestic violence, jail, alcohol/drug abuse,
physical/sexual abuse, accidents
Other
School
What age did child attend preschool?
Kindergarten?
Grades completed? Any repeated? Why?
School district(s) & school name(s); School
transitions? Why?
Behavior problems in school/classroom
functioning
Grades & general functioning in school
Services used (IEP, 504, etc.)
Developmental Milestones
Walking, talking, toilet training (Age reached/On
time/Delays)
Infant temperament
Child Care
Birth to school age If parent(s) employed
who provided child care? After-school
care?
Who has lived in the household? Any
changes in caregivers? Why?
Physical Health
Major or chronic illnesses
Medical hospitalizations, surgeries
Serious injuries, etc.
Medication history
Mental Health
When was treatment first sought? Why?
When did various symptoms or behaviors
begin?
Any other behavioral problems beyond
presenting problem? (mood, anxiety,
disruptive behaviors, PDDs, psychosis,
etc.)
If not spontaneously reported, explain mood
symptoms & episodes
Dates of mood episode(s) if present
Symptoms present during each episode
Figure 10.1. Topics to assess in a mood disorder timeline.
disorder is present in any first-degree relative, an increased risk of half

that magnitude (i.e., 2.5 times) if bipolar disorder is present in a seconddegree relative (Youngstrom, Duax, & Hamilton, 2005). Therefore, a careful assessment of psychopathology in the childs first- and second-degree
biological relatives allows the clinician to estimate the influence of genetic
factors for an individual case. Clearly, clinicians do not possess the time or
resources necessary to contact a childs relatives and assess their mental
Figure 10.2. Sample blank mood disorder timeline.
296
297
health histories directly. Therefore, family history information must be

collected from informants such as parents or guardians. There are a
number of methods available for collecting family history information,
ranging from unstructured clinical interview methods to highly structured interview measures.
One aspect of a family history interview is likely to be familiar to most
clinicians: the genogram. Collecting a three-generation genogram should
be the first step in collecting family history. Once completed, the clinician
can lay it on the desk or table in front of the informant, ensuring they
literally stay on the same page throughout the collection of the family
history. An example of a three-generation genogram for a child with BPSD
is provided in Quinn and Fristad (2004).
Many clinicians rely on unstructured interview techniques to gather
family history information. Unfortunately, these methods are less accurate
than structured interview-based methods. Baker, Berry, and Adler (1987)
found that structured interview methods identified over four times as many
diagnoses in first-degree and second-degree relatives of inpatient adults,
when compared to information collected informally by psychiatric residents.
Two structured interview methods that are commonly used in research, the
Family HistoryResearch Diagnostic Criteria (FH-RDC; Andreasen, Endicott,
Spitzer, & Winokur, 1977) and the Family History Screen (FHS; Weissman,
Wickramaratne, Adams, Wolk, Verdeli, & Olfson, 2000), can be adapted
easily for clinical use. Both methods probe for the presence of specific
symptoms, rather than diagnostic categories. This strategy is advised as
informants often are not familiar with or misunderstand diagnostic labels,
and may display a tendency to use vague terms such as nervous breakdown.
The FH-RDC probes for the presence of 14 common diagnoses, can
be administered relatively briefly, and has demonstrated adequate reliability and validity (Thompson, Orvaschel, Prusoff, & Kidd, 1982), but
it tends to underestimate psychopathology (Andreasen, Rice, Endicott,
Reich, & Coryell, 1986) despite performing better than an unstructured
interview. The FHS is particularly well suited for clinical use, because it
can be administered in approximately 520 minutes. It probes for symptoms present in all relatives at once, therefore minimizing administration
time (Weissman et al., 2000). However, symptoms endorsed on the FHS
may need to be followed up by more specific inquiries if detailed information about relatives diagnoses is desired. The FH-RDC and FHS are recommended for collecting family history information, because they provide
clinicians with reliable and valid data without adding significant time burden
to the assessment process.
In spite of the clear evidence that family history is an essential
component of any BPSD assessment, clinicians are cautioned not to overestimate the importance of family history. Children with a family history
of bipolar disorder are at significantly increased risk for this illness.
However, because of the low base rate of BPSD, most of these children will
not have BPSD. Thus, clinicians must remember their role is to diagnose
the child, not the family (Leibenluft, Charney, Towbin, Bhangoo & Pine,
2003). Youngstrom, Duax, and Hamilton (2005) provide clinical strategies
for integrating family history information with estimated base rates in a
298
BPSD assessment. As with screening measures, family history should not

be used alone as a diagnostic tool, but as part of a comprehensive assessment. It can aid in calculating a reasonable estimate of the probability of
BPSD, but should never be considered a diagnostic criterion.
Mood Charts
Mood charting is a technique frequently used in the assessment and
treatment of bipolar disorder. This technique involves the individual, or
an informant such as a parent, providing daily ratings of mood states and
behaviors such as energy, sleep, and appetite. Mood charting has been
successfully implemented with adults (Johnson & Leahy, 2004) and children with bipolar disorder (Fristad & Goldberg-Arnold, 2004). This technique aids assessment of BPSD because it teaches the informant (usually
a parent) to more carefully evaluate fluctuations in the childs mood and
behavior, and provides the clinician with observations not available in the
assessment session. Over the course of treatment, mood charts can be
used to evaluate response to pharmacological or psychosocial interventions. The Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation (CABF) provides a
number of sample mood charts that families of children with BPSD can
use (available at http://www.bpkids.org/).
Summary
Evidence-based methods of childhood BPSD assessment include:
screening measures, structured and semi-structured interviews, mood
symptom severity rating scales, and family history interviews. Other assessment strategies, such as inclusion of multiple informants, a mood disorder
timeline, and mood charting, can improve the information obtained by the
measures described above. Considered alone, most assessment methods
are inadequate for assigning diagnosis. However, a multimethod approach
that combines several instruments is an effective assessment strategy.
Clinicians currently have a number of effective assessment methods at
their disposal, and ongoing research promises to improve the reliability
and validity of BPSD diagnosis in children.
CASE VIGNETTE
Austin, a 7-year-old, Caucasian male is a participant in a longitudinal research study examining children with elevated manic symptoms
(LAMS). At his baseline assessment, Austin and his mother, Mrs. Reed,
were interviewed using screening instruments (P-GBI-SF and P-GBI), a
structured interview (K-SADS), mood symptom rating scales (KMRS and
Childrens Depression Rating Scale-Revised [Poznanski, & Mokros, 1995];
as used in LAMS, ratings on these instruments reflect the severity of various symptom manifestations without regard to the cause of those symptoms, an unfiltered, or what you see is what you get strategy), timeline,
and family history (additional information is included in Figure 10.3). After
Figure 10.3. Sample completed mood disorder timeline.

299
300
reviewing all the evidence collected in an initial comprehensive case review,

Austin was diagnosed with:
ADHD Combined type (onset age 3)
ODD (onset age 6, duration 6 months)
Enuresis (both nocturnal and diurnal, onset age 5)
Encopresis (diurnal only, onset age 7)
Baseline Assessment
At the time of the baseline assessment, Austin lived with his biological
mother, biological father, three siblings, and one maternal half-sibling.
Mrs. Reed was Austins primary caretaker and a stay-at-home mother.
Mrs. Reed described her relationship with Austin as strained because
she had to punish him often, but stated he felt comfortable talking
with her about problems, too. Mr. Reed had a job that required travel
and kept him away from home regularly. Austin missed his father and
wanted a closer relationship with him. Mrs. Reed reported that she
and Mr. Reed disagreed about discipline strategies and whether Austin
had a disorder or just needed stricter discipline. Austin physically
and verbally fought with his siblings and half-sibling regularly. Austin
initiated some of the fights, but his siblings also contributed to their
contentious relationships.
According to Mrs. Reed, Austin had been struggling in regular first-grade
classes, especially in reading. On his report card, Austin received many
grades of needs improvement and comments regarding his difficulty staying focused. Austin had a few friends at school, but had some difficulties
with peers, including a physical fight about one month after the beginning
of school.
Mrs. Reed reported both she and Austins half-sibling have been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. She also noted that three of Austins maternal
second-degree relatives had substance abuse problems and suspected
periods of depression.
Austin had been receiving mental health services from a pediatrician,
a psychologist, and a psychiatrist. Austin had been seeing his pediatrician
for four years about attention problems and difficulty falling asleep for
which the pediatrician had prescribed a stimulant and clonidine hydrochloride. Ms. Reed took Austin to therapy due to concerns about Austins
apparent unhappiness and their strained parentchild relationship. At his
initial appointment with the psychiatrist, Austin was prescribed guanfacine
hydrochloride. At the time of his baseline assessment, Austin had just
been assigned a home-based therapist as well.
In addition to symptoms associated with the diagnoses mentioned
above, Austin had symptoms of depression and mania (onset age 6, duration
6 months and ongoing). The only threshold depressive symptom was irritability, which affected his functioning at home, but not at school or with
peers. Austin had subthreshold (i.e., notable, but nonimpairing) dysphoric
mood, insomnia, fatigue, decreased appetite, and feelings of worthlessness. His appetite decrease and insomnia appeared to be associated with
an increase in stimulant dosage. During the same 6 months, Mrs. Reed
301
had noted periods of explosive irritability, excessive involvement in risky

behaviors, and increased distractibility and subthreshold (i.e., notable, but
nonimpairing) pressured speech and flight of ideas. These periods lasted
most of the day and occurred several days per month. Mrs. Reed could not
describe whether these periods were distinct from periods of depressive
symptoms. These symptoms caused problems with peers and family.
The mood symptoms described were insufficient in number and duration
to warrant a diagnosis of depression or bipolar disorder, but Mrs. Reed
was asked to monitor Austins mood symptoms carefully when the results
of the assessment were discussed with her.
Six-Month Follow-Up Interview

Approximately six months later, Mrs. Reed and Austin were seen for a
follow-up LAMS assessment. Since the last interview, Austin had experienced his first full manic episode. Mrs. Reed reported that Austins depressive
and manic symptoms reported at their first assessment had continued for
two months after the first assessment, then his manic symptoms intensified.
Mr. Reed had to quit his job and stay at home to help manage Austins
behavior. Mrs. Reed described Austins mood as explosive and labile during
this time, and said he was out of control. She said that Austin would
often calm down for a short period of time, only to explode again in an
intensely irritable mood and tantrum, with little or no provocation.
Austins problems with attention and motor hyperactivity intensified
during these moods. He talked very quickly, was difficult to interrupt, and
his brain was moving faster than [he] could speak. Mrs. Reed reported
Austin needed very little sleep during this time, a few hours per night to
feel rested and be highly energetic the next day. She also reported Austin
got in more trouble during this time period for doing daredevil tricks on
his bike, and once for stealing from a local store. Mrs. Reed reported he
needed almost constant one-on-one supervision, and would often try to
run out into the street without looking, fight with his siblings, was very
difficult to put to bed, and was generally very disruptive in the home.
After two months of out of control behavior, Austin began taking a mood
stabilizer. His mood, behavior, and associated symptoms improved rapidly
and markedly. In fact, Mrs. Reed said, Austin went from being the biggest
problem in her home to the least concern of all her children in less than
one month. Austin had enjoyed the last part of the school year and successfully completed first grade. According to both Austin and Mrs. Reed,
at the second assessment Austin was not experiencing any depressive or
manic symptoms.
Twelve-Month Follow-Up Interview

Approximately six months later, one year after the initial assessment,
Mrs. Reed and Austin were interviewed again. Austin continues to take the
mood stabilizer and reports minimal depressive symptoms. He is, however,
experiencing episodes lasting one to three days in which he meets all criteria
for a manic episode except duration. These periods are interfering with
302
Austins functioning at home, at school, and with peers. Austin reports

he has no friends and is regularly teased at school. Mrs. Reed states Austin frequently complains and feels sad about not having friends, however,
Austin reports he does not want friends and he prefers to play by himself.
Mrs. Reed attributes Austins lack of friendships to children recalling his
out of control behavior the previous year and disliking his current manic
periods and unpredictable mood. Austins grades are improving, with
more satisfactory grades than before, but the majority are still needs
improvement. Austin still argues and fights with his siblings and half-sibling
on a regular basis, but instigates fewer of the disagreements.
Austins home-based therapist has terminated services as he was leaving
the agency, but Mrs. Reed is hoping to get a new home-based therapist.
Austin is seeing a psychiatrist for visits every few months to manage his
medications. During the interview, Austin complains he is taking way too
many pills for problems he does not remember.
Analysis
The careful sequential assessment of Austins life events and symptoms
helped sort out a complicated history and allowed clinicians to be confident that at baseline, Austin did not meet diagnostic criteria for any bipolar
spectrum disorder despite symptoms of mood lability and a family history
of BPSD (mother and maternal half-sibling), substance abuse, and depression (maternal grandparents and maternal uncle). Longitudinal follow-up
revealed the progression from symptoms of depression and mania to a
diagnosis of BP-I to full remission to a recurrence of manic symptoms.
Additional aspects of this case study are worth emphasizing. Use of
the structured interview in combination with the lifeline helped determine
age of onset for various comorbid disorders. For instance, attention problems
were noted at age three, whereas oppositional behavior became problematic at age six. Consistent with research concerning childhood BPSD, Austin has several disorders that are commonly comorbid with BPSDODD and
ADHDwhich predated the mood diagnosis. Collection of data from both
the parent and the teacher confirmed the presence of depressive symptoms, manic symptoms, attention problems, and oppositional behavior
across settings, and documented their interference with Austins daily
functioning.
This case illustrates the importance of obtaining a streaming video
of the childs lifetime mood history rather than relying on a snapshot of
the childs current symptom presentation. Had the latter been used, Austin would not have received a BP diagnosis at the 6-month interview and
might have been diagnosed with BP-NOS at the 12-month interview. For a
therapist working with the family, Mr. and Mrs. Reeds different perspectives on Austins problems and their impact on the marital relationship
would be key considerations. As is common in childhood-onset BPSD,
Austin has a genetic loading for mood disorders and a specific loading for
bipolar disorder.
As do many children with mood disorders, Austin has multiple treatment providers: pediatrician, psychiatrist, psychologist, and eventually
303
a home-based therapist. Another common pattern is the involvement of

the pediatrician or primary care physician when behavior problems first
arise. Due to the shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists, many
primary care physicians are managing medications for behavioral and
emotional problems. Another common theme for children with BPSD is
the difficulty with peers due to unpredictable behavior and inappropriate
behaviors around peers at school and in the childs neighborhood. Also,
Austin continues to have episodes that meet full manic criteria except for
duration after the full manic episode. The rapid cycling and short duration of episodes is characteristic of childhood-onset bipolar disorder.
SUMMARY
Childhood-onset BPSD is a chronic condition associated with significant
impairment. Once thought to be exceedingly rare, or even nonexistent,
childhood BPSD has recently received increased public, academic, and clinical attention. As a result, BPSD is being identified in settings where it may
have been missed years ago. Unfortunately, uncertainty about the clinical
presentation of childhood BPSD and limited training in evidence-based childhood BPSD assessment has led to concerns about overdiagnosis. Findings
from ongoing longitudinal studies will provide more information about the
course and symptom presentation of BPSD in children and adolescents.
Research suggests childhood BPSD is more likely to present as a chronic
or rapidly changing, rather than episodic, condition. A number of other
features, such as high rates of irritability and comorbidity, differentiate
childhood BPSD from the classic adult presentation of bipolar disorder.
Evidence-based assessment practices are essential in assigning a BPSD
diagnosis to a child. These include: screening measures, structured interviews, mood symptom rating scales, a psychosocial timeline, and assessment
of family history of mood disorders.
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Part IV
Assessment of Problems
Developmental Disabilities
11
Academic Assessment
GEORGE H. NOELL, SCOTT P. ARDOIN,
and KRISTIN A. GANSLE
ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT
Academic demands are central to the lives of children living in the
information age and in industrial societies. Schools are the workplaces
of children and are the gateways into adult work for most adolescents.
Historically, academic concerns are the most common reason that children
are referred for special education services within schools and are central to many requests for outpatient services (Lloyd, Kauffman, Landrum,
& Roe, 1991). The synergy between childrens academic and social/emotional
functioning creates a complex interrelationship in which mental health
problems can adversely affect childrens educational attainment and academic success affects mental health (Johnson, McGue, & Iacono, 2006).
Children who suffer from depression, anxiety, or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are at an apparent disadvantage in attending to,
completing, and profiting from instruction. Similarly, children who are at
risk for or exhibit conduct problems are at increased risk for poor academic achievement that may result from the interaction of diverse factors
(Montague, Enders, & Castro, 2005). The synergy also exists when examined
from the opposite perspective. Children who repeatedly fail at school are
more likely to exhibit anxiety, depression, negative self-esteem, and conduct problems (Jimerson, Carlson, Rotert, Egeland, & Sroufe, 1997).
When phenomena co-occur, the question of causation naturally arises.
Are the clients academic difficulties the result of psychopathology such as
a depressive disorder, is the depressive disorder the result of frustration and
GEORGE H. NOELL Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge,

LA 70803-5501.
SCOTT P. ARDOIN Louisiana State University
KRISTIN A. GANSLE University of South Carolina

311
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GEORGE H. NOELL et al.
chronic failure at school, or are both concerns the result of a third factor?
The limitations of correlational and epidemiological research likely preclude
a strong determination of a causal connection between psychopathology
and academic performance. Additionally, the ways psychopathology and
academic attainment interact may be substantively idiographic. For some
children, psychopathology may create substantive barriers to academic
achievement; for others, psychopathological symptoms may be largely the
result of chronic negative environmental events resulting from academic
failure that are nearly inescapable due to mandatory school attendance.
Although parents and teachers may view psychopathology as causing
academic concerns, for some children academic concerns may be an important stressor contributing to psychopathology (Jimerson et al., 1997; Kelley,
Reitman, & Noell, 2002).
Given the central nature of education in the lives of children, comprehensive psychological assessment for children typically will include
assessment of the clients educational context and attainment, thus,
the inclusion of this chapter in a volume devoted to the assessment of
psychopathology. This chapter is organized around the assumption that
clinicians will seek answers to the same questions relevant to diagnosis
and treatment selection that have been discussed extensively elsewhere
as an organizing heuristic for behavioral and psychological assessment
(e.g., Haynes & OBrien, 2000).
First, is there a problem, and if so, what is the nature of that problem
(diagnosis)? Second, if there is an academic problem, what should be done
to ameliorate that problem (treatment specification)? Although these two
questions provide a simple powerful heuristic for organizing the psychological assessment of academic performance, the real challenge arises in the
details. The selection of specific measurement tools, observation occasions,
and integration of data that vary in their technical quality inevitably will
create substantial challenges for the design, execution, and interpretation
of the assessment (Messick, 1995).
The following sections of this chapter describe three fundamental
issues relevant to the assessment of academic functioning. The first section
describes selected diagnostic considerations relevant to academic concerns.
Primary consideration is devoted to diagnosis under the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) due to the central
importance of schools to the treatment of academic concerns and based
on the assumption that users of this volume are more conversant with the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMIVTR, American
Psychiatric Association, 2000).
The second section of the chapter describes a number of assessment
methodologies developed to move beyond traditional norm-referenced
tests to direct, low-inference quantification of academic behavior. Broadly
these assessments can be described as direct observational procedures
and curriculum based assessments. They are utilized for diagnosis, treatment selection, and progress monitoring.
The final section describes a general case problem-solving approach
for addressing academic concerns. The authors wish to acknowledge at
the outset that space limitations preclude a comprehensive treatment of
ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT
313
the issues surrounding academic assessment relevant to psychopathology

and developmental disabilities. Indeed, many journals and complete
volumes are devoted to academic diagnosis, assessment, and treatment
each year. This chapter provides an overview of selected issues in these
domains as they relate to the assessment of childhood psychopathology
and developmental disabilities.
DIAGNOSTIC CONSIDERATIONS
The two primary authoritative sources for diagnosis of academic
concerns used in the United States are the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMIVTR, American Psychiatric Association
[APA], 2000), now in its fourth edition, and Public Law 108446, commonly
known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act
of 2004 (IDEA). These diagnostic systems emphasize an intraindividual
approach, suggesting that the disorder resides within the child rather
than the environment or a person environment interaction. Despite the
intuitive appeal of this approach for many, diagnostic work based on
these approaches typically gives minimal consideration to the possibility
that inadequate instruction and/or environmental disadvantage are
substantially the cause of a childs academic underachievement (Gresham
& Gansle, 1992).
It is important to acknowledge that IDEA does explicitly acknowledge
environmental disadvantage as a condition that precludes diagnosis of a
learning disability; however, the extent to which this is commonly assessed
or integrated into assessment in practice is unclear. It is also important to
recognize that diagnosis from either DSMIVTR and IDEA have little if any
treatment utility for academic concerns. They are nosological rather than
functional. However, diagnosis is frequently necessary to allow children
access to treatment in schools and community settings.
Academic problems are a common feature of many of the diagnoses
first identified in infancy, childhood, adolescence, or in school settings.
For example, children diagnosed with any of the Pervasive Developmental
Disorders (e.g., Autistic Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder,
Aspergers Disorder), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Schizophrenia, Conduct Disorder, or Serious Emotional Disturbance are likely to demonstrate
problems with academic achievement. However, academic concerns will
likely be secondary to these concerns and treatment is more likely to be
focused on social emotional functioning than academic attainment. This
chapter focuses primarily on concerns for which academic performance
and attainment are the central issues.
Although used for different purposes and in different settings, DSM-IV-TR
and educational diagnoses that stem from IDEA share some features that
may allow practitioners across schools and community clinics to communicate efficiently and effectively. They each seek to address ability and its
relationship to achievement in reading, mathematics, and written expression. DSMIVTR and educational diagnoses differ with respect to the diagnoses that may be made as well as specificity of their features. Children who
314
struggle with academics in the general curriculum traditionally have been

assessed using standardized, norm-referenced tests in clinical or school
settings. These instruments generally have technical properties appropriate
to and adequate for diagnostic use.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,

4th Edition, Text Revision (DSMIVTR)
Mental Retardation
Due to the pervasive nature of the impairments resulting from mental
retardation, academic concerns can take on a more central or secondary
focus. For many individuals functioning in the mild range of mental
retardation, academic concerns may be of central importance. Common
diagnostic requirements for MR include intellectual functioning that
is approximately two standard deviations (or more) below the mean
(IDEA, DSMIVTR; APA, 2000). Given the measurement error inherent in
all assessment, DSMIVTR cautions that individuals with scores somewhat above the diagnostic boundary may still qualify for the diagnosis if
additional indicators are significantly impaired. Similarly, individuals with
scores more than two standard deviations below the mean may not qualify
if additional diagnostic indicators are not significantly impaired (APA).
Second, the individual must have concurrent deficits in adaptive functioning in at least two skill areas. DSMIVTR defines adaptive functioning
as how effectively individuals cope with common life demands and how well
they meet the standards of personal independence expected of someone in
their particular age group, sociocultural background, and community setting (p. 42). Adaptive functioning skills include all areas relevant to social
independence, such as communication and social skills, work and community involvement, academic skills, and health and safety (APA, 2000).
Third, the onset of the disorder must be before the age of 18 years.
It is possible for the initial MR diagnosis to be made after the age of 18, but
there must be evidence of onset prior to that age.
Learning Disorders
In DSMIVTR, when an individuals achievement in reading, mathematics, or written expression on individually administered standardized tests is substantially below what is expected given the individuals
age, education, or intelligence, a Learning Disorder may be diagnosed.
Substantially below is defined as a discrepancy between achievement and
Intellectual Quotient (IQ) that must be more than two standard deviations.
However, DSM-IV-TR does allow for smaller discrepancies under certain
conditions, such as questionable IQ scores due to difficulties in testing,
other mental disorders or medical conditions that may compromise testing,
and ethnic or cultural background factors.
Reading Disorder, Mathematics Disorder, and Disorder of Written
Expression may be diagnosed when a discrepancy is found between IQ
and achievement in one or more of those academic areas. For a diagnosis
ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT
315
to be made, the disorder must have an important negative impact on academic

achievement or daily living skills. Specific learning disorders may be based
on a breakdown in a basic skill within the domain such as reading fluency,
calculation, or composition.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may be diagnosed
within DSMIVTR when a child displays a pattern of inattention and/or
impulsivity/hyperactivity to a degree that appreciably exceeds that of their
same-aged peers, with symptoms present before the age of seven years, in
at least two settings (APA, 2000). It must affect the individuals functioning
in social, academic, or occupational contexts. Unlike the Specific Learning Disorders, there is no specific qualification criterion for the diagnosis.
The word often is common to all specific behavioral diagnostic criteria
(e.g., Is often forgetful in daily activities, APA, p. 92). Clinicians are not
instructed to determine a specific difference between the childs scores
on an instrument compared to typically developing children. Individuals
with ADHD may be diagnosed as predominantly hyperactive/impulsive,
predominantly inattentive, or combined. When the individual has major
symptoms of ADHD but specific criteria for ADHD subtypes are not met,
ADHD Not Otherwise Specified may be diagnosed.
INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION

IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2004 (IDEA)
Children in the United States are entitled to a free and appropriate
public education in the least restrictive environment that is appropriate to
their individual needs (IDEA, 2004). Children with disabilities must receive
a diagnosis of those disabilities within the due process provisions of IDEA
and applicable case law, using nondiscriminatory multifactored evaluation
(IDEA) in order to receive special services under IDEA. Diagnostic evaluations
are completed with the expressed purpose of ascertaining eligibility for and
providing services to children with disabilities. Eligibility must be determined
based on the presence of a disability defined in IDEA and by state law, and
the documentation of need for special services to remediate the educational
deficits caused by the disability. Once eligibility has been established and
a service plan designed and implemented, schools receive federal funding
based on the level of service provided to students with disabilities.
Under IDEA, disabilities for which special education services may be
provided are identified in one or more of 13 categories. As with DSMIVTR,
the diagnoses available for use by multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) in
schools address concerns about children that have an impact on their
educational achievement; however, many of them require planning for issues
in addition to academic achievement (e.g., Deaf-blindness, Other Health
Impairment, or Emotional Disturbance). For this chapter, assessment for
diagnoses whose primary focus is academic is addressed. Although the
educational diagnostic categories are broadly delineated in federal legislation
316
(IDEA, 2004), each state determines the specific operational diagnostic

criteria for use in its jurisdiction. It is also worth noting that states vary
widely in terms of the qualifications of the examiners that are required in
order for data to contribute to a MDT determination. Typically, assessor
qualifications focus on educational licenses or certifications.
Mental Retardation
IDEA defines Mental Retardation (a.k.a., Mental Disability) as
significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the
developmental period, that adversely affects a childs educational performance (IDEA, 2004). Although IDEA does not define significantly subaverage intellectual functioning, leaving that determination to the states,
an IQ score approximately two standard deviations below the mean is
considered such by the American Association on Mental Retardation
(AAMR, 2002), a leader in advocacy, policy, and research for individuals
with MR. Not all education agencies, however, choose to use two standard
deviations as the IQ criterion for the diagnosis, and the degree to which a
childs intellectual functioning must deviate from the mean differs according
to the agency setting the policy.
Adaptive behavior is the collection of conceptual, social, and practical
skills that people have learned so they can function in their everyday
lives (AAMR, 2002). Adequate adaptive behavior may be inferred from the
degree to which individuals function independently, taking expectations
of age and culture into account. Although DSM-IV-TR further classifies MR
by severity, IDEA does not provide similar categories. Services are made
available to students according to need, and those needs are established
using descriptions of current levels of educational performance and goals
and objectives for future performance (IDEA, 2004).
Specific Learning Disabilities

IDEA (2004) describes Specific Learning Disability (SLD) as a disorder
in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the
imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. It may include disorders such as dyslexia, brain
injury, and developmental aphasia. The seven areas that may be affected
by the disability are a much broader application of SLD than the three
areas (Reading Disorders, Mathematics Disorders, Disorders of Written
Expression) used by DSMIVTR, despite the lack of clear empirical support
for all seven areas as distinct SLDs (Fletcher et al., 2002). Exclusionary
criteria for the diagnosis indicate that other factors such as visual, hearing, motor problems, MR, emotional disturbance, and environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage may not be responsible for the learning
problem (IDEA, 2004). Although this is spelled out in the federal definition, research on identification practices has demonstrated that in the face
of criteria that exclude students from receiving special services for some
of the very reasons they need assistance in the first place, MDTs identify
ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT
317
large numbers of students who fail to meet eligibility criteria as SLD (Lyon,
1996; MacMillan, Gresham, & Bocian, 1998; Shaywitz, Shaywitz, Fletcher,
& Escobar, 1990).
Whereas DSMIVTR defines the disorder concretely as the discrepancy
between ability and achievement, IDEA describes SLD as a disorder in
psychological processes. The resulting diagnostic process for SLD focuses
on processes that cannot be observed directly and may be logically inconsistent (Gresham, 2002). The original IDEA indicated that children labeled
as SLD must have a severe discrepancy between ability and achievement
(U. S. Office of Education, 1977, p. 65083). Over the years, the federal
government has proposed a variety of formulas for determining discrepancy and all have been challenged (Heward, 2006). This is likely due to a
number of documented problems with these formulas (Fletcher, Francis,
Morris, & Lyon, 2005; Fletcher et al., 2002; Fletcher et al., 1998, 1989,
2005; Kavale, 2002).
Given the problems associated with discrepancy formulas, a burgeoning
literature describes a range of alternatives including different discrepancy
formulas and response to intervention models (see Gresham, 2002; Kavale,
2002); however, none has gained widespread acceptance in the policy,
research, and practice communities. The current IDEA mentions neither
discrepancy nor specific criteria for determining the diagnosis. The states,
then, are left to operationalize the definition. This, in turn, has led to
substantial heterogeneity between states and LEAs in the criteria and procedures for classifying children with learning disabilities (Kavale, 2002;
MacMillan & Siperstein, 2002; Ysseldyke, 2001).
Despite these differences, however, the most common practice for identifying SLD is to determine whether a severe discrepancy exists between
achievement predicted by individually administered measures of intellectual ability and actual achievement (Heward, 2006; Mercer, Jordan,
Allsopp, & Mercer, 1996), that severe discrepancy, of course, being defined
at the state or local level.
Despite the relationship between ADHD and achievement problems
(Biederman et al., 1999), IDEA does not include ADHD as one of its diagnoses. Modifications and accommodations for ADHD may be made on the
childs Individual Education Program (IEP) if the child has been determined eligible and receives special services for another disability. Some
students have received a diagnosis of Other Health Impaired (OHI) under
IDEA as a result of ADHD symptoms; however, the applicability of OHI to
ADHD varies based on the operational definition employed in each state.
The key issue from the federal definition of OHI in IDEA is the possibility
that a chronic medical condition can cause problems with alertness which
has been interpreted by some to include the attention problems that are
part of the core of ADHD. Accommodations and modifications for students
with ADHD may also be provided through Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, provided the disability is not sufficiently severe to warrant
the provision of special education services.
318
TRADITIONAL DIAGNOSTIC ASSESSMENT TOOLS

The poor treatment utility of the instruments and procedures traditionally used to make diagnostic determinations for academic concerns
have been previously discussed at length (Gresham & Witt, 1997; Shinn,
1989). Academic assessment that leads to diagnosis frequently lacks an
empirical basis for guiding treatment recommendations. Assessment practices that were developed primarily for treatment selection and progress
monitoring are discussed later in the chapter. Diagnostic assessments
under both DSMIVTR and IDEA have emphasized the use of individually
administered standardized tests of intelligence and achievement. Although
group tests of intelligence and achievement are less expensive, the magnitude of the implications of assessment outcomes has argued for using
instruments that generally are regarded as producing the most accurate
assessment results.
Tests of Intelligence
Standardized tests of intelligence commonly are used for diagnoses of
MR and for SLD, as, in most cases, the childs level of intellectual functioning must be established before a diagnosis may be assigned and/or
educational services provided. Tests of intelligence are norm-referenced;
they are designed to convey information about the individuals performance as compared to a large representative sample of other children
(with and without disabilities) of the same age. They are given in the same
way to every person to whom the test is administered as an effort to control for variations in test scores due to testers. Although there are other
quality tests available, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (3rd ed.,
Wechsler, 1991) and the StanfordBinet (4th ed., Thorndike, Hagen, &
Sattler, 1986) are the two intelligence tests in widest use (Heward, 2006).
Measures of Adaptive Behavior

Systematic assessment of adaptive behavior is important for determining supports needed for success in the persons environment (Rush
& Francis, 2000; Schalock, 1999), as well as establishing deficits concomitant with those in intellectual functioning for diagnosing MR (AAMR,
2002; DSMIVTR, American Psychiatric Association, 2000; IDEA,
2004). In most cases, an informant who is familiar with the client answers
questions in the form of an interview or a questionnaire. The AAMR Adaptive Behavior Scale has different forms that describe behavior either in
school (ABS-S, Lambert, Nihira, & Leland, 1993) or in residential and
community settings (ABS-RC, Nihira, Leland, & Lambert, 1993). The
Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Sparrow, Balla, & Cicchetti, 1984)
measure a wide range of adaptive behaviors in the communication, daily
living skills, socialization, and motor skills domains, using either interviews or a questionnaire for classroom teachers. The Scales of Independent
Behavior-Revised(SIB-R, Bruininks, Woodcock, Weatherman, & Hill,
ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT
319
1996) is a norm-referenced assessment of 14 areas of adaptive behavior

and 8 areas of problem behavior, and is designed to be used with individuals of all ages.
Measures of Achievement
Standardized tests of achievement are routinely given to children to
determine SLD; and in educational contexts, may be given to children with
MR to determine their present levels of functioning in specific academic
areas. Traditionally, for diagnostic purposes, achievement is measured
using standardized tests of achievement in order to establish a discrepancy
between IQ and achievement. Standardized tests of achievement routinely
are used within educational contexts to document educational impairment
for other disorders such as OHI or Severe Emotional Disturbance.
Standardized individually administered tests of educational achievement appear to be the most ubiquitous element of diagnostic assessment
under IDEA. Some achievement tests are designed to measure achievement in one area of academic functioning, such as the KeyMath-Revised/
Normative Update (Connolly, 1997, norms; 1988, content), which provides
scores for Basic Concepts, Operations, and Applications; the Test of Written Language, 3rd edition (TOWL-III, Hammill & Larsen, 1996), which has
eight subtest scores in a variety of areas from Spelling to Style to Conventions; and the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests (4th ed., MacGinitie,
MacGinitie, Maria, & Dreyer, 2000), which measures a variety of skills
from letter-sound correspondence to vocabulary to comprehension.
Others measure overall achievement, and may take the form of group
achievement tests administered to a group of students in a classroom,
such as the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS, Hoover, Hieronymus, Frisbie,
& Dunbar, 1996) or individual achievement tests that are administered to
one student at a time, such as the WoodcockJohnson III Tests of Achievement (Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001).
Rating Scales
Additional measures commonly are used to gather information from
individuals familiar with childrens behavior in home and school settings. Rating scales provide norm-referenced comparisons of a childs
behavior to that of same-aged peers. These instruments generally ask
teachers, parents, the child, or other individuals who spend time with
the child to rate the frequency with which he or she engages in specific
behaviors. Some rating scales are directed at specific diagnoses, such
as the Conners Rating Scales-Revised (Conners, 1997), which focuses
on behaviors relevant to ADHD diagnosis. Rating scales that most commonly are used in schools, however, sample a wide range of behaviors,
such as the Child Behavior Checklist (Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1991),
and the Behavior Assessment System for Children-Revised (Reynolds &
Kamphaus, 1998).
320
Summary Diagnostic Assessment

Standardized norm-referenced tests provide clinicians with an estimate of a students skills relative to a national normative sample. Although
these tests have established utility for making diagnostic determinations,
generally they are inadequate for academic intervention planning or monitoring. Tests typically contain very few items specific to any skill due to the
broad surveys they provide and the assessment of academic attainment
as a psychological construct. Thus, norm-referenced tests generally fail to
provide information regarding clients proficiency in particular skills and
as a result are substantially deficient for treatment planning (Deno, 1985).
In addition, norm-referenced assessments do not consider variables that
are well established as critical to educational attainment such as the quality
of instruction. They appear to assume a normative or generic school experience that may be irrelevant to the education of the client.
Comparing an individuals skills to others who have received the same
instruction provides a better indication of whether the student may be having difficulty with learning. Furthermore, norm-referenced tests are poor
choices for monitoring intervention effects because of the cost of administration, practice effects, and insensitivity to small changes in student
performance (D. Marston, Fuchs, & Deno, 1986). Given these three limitations of norm-referenced tests, it is important that alternative measures
are used when evaluating student skills, developing intervention plans,
and monitoring the effects of intervention.
DIRECT ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT: CURRICULUM-BASED

ASSESSMENT
Curriculum-based assessments (CBA) can provide clinicians with data
to evaluate a clients skills, identify instructional needs, monitor the clients
response to changes in instruction, and test potential interventions. It is
increasingly important that clinicians are familiar with these measures as
the amendments to IDEA of 2004 dramatically increase the likelihood that
schools will use CBA to identify clients in need of intervention, to monitor
their response to intervention, and to diagnose disability under a response
to intervention (RTI) model. Several approaches have been described for
the direct behavioral assessment of academic skills including multiple
models of CBA (Shapiro, 1996), curriculum-based measurement (CBM;
Shinn, 1989), and curriculum-based evaluation (CBE; Howell & Nolet,
2000). These approaches vary in terms of the comprehensiveness of the
assessment model (e.g., including or failing to examine instruction), the
comparative points used for decision making (norm- or criterion-referenced),
and the extent to which the approach provides a global outcome measure
model versus a model for the breakdown and analysis of specific skills.
Although entire books have been devoted to CBA, CBE, and CBM
(see the sources above), the approaches commonly share the fluencybased measures originally developed within CBM. The consideration of
direct behavioral assessment measures herein focuses on the measures
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developed within CBM due to their wide adoption beyond CBM, utility in
making a range of decisions, and well-established psychometric properties. CBM was initially developed in the early 1970s in response to the
need for identification and intervention materials that were simple, efficient, and cost-effective (Deno, 1985). Common characteristics of CBM
and CBA include: (1) measurement that is direct, (2) brief administration
procedures, (3) procedures that allow for frequent and repeated use, and
(4) procedures that enable progress to be monitored systematically using
graphs and charts (Frisby, 1987). The following sections describe selected
measures used within CBM.
Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM)

CBM is described in the literature as a method for measuring student
proficiency in the curriculum (Deno, 1985; Shinn, 1989). CBM typically
focuses on long-term instructional goals and is often referred to as a global
outcome measure. It combines components of traditional and alternative
assessment models, and it relies on standardized measurement methods
(Fuchs & Deno, 1992). Extensive evidence exists demonstrating the reliability, validity, and sensitivity of CBM procedures in the areas of reading,
writing, mathematics, and spelling (Ardoin et al., 2004; Fuchs, Fuchs,
Hamlett, & Allinder, 1989; Fuchs et al., 1994; Gansle et al., 2004).
CBM in Reading
The curriculum-based measure most familiar to educators is probably
oral reading fluency (CBM-ORF). The Reading First Assessment Panel designated CBM-ORF procedures as having sufficient evidence for identifying students in need of intervention and for monitoring their progress (Francis et al.,
2002). Extensive evidence exists demonstrating its reliability and validity
in predicting overall reading achievement as well as comprehension skills.
CBM-ORF procedures are administered individually. Students are given
one minute to read a narrative text, while the examiner records errors
made by the student. If students hesitate on a word for three seconds, the
word is provided and recorded as an error by the examiner. Other words
scored as errors include words mispronounced given the context of the
story and not self-corrected and skipped words. The primary dependent
measure is the number of words read correctly within one minute. When
universal screening procedures are conducted (see below) it is advised that
three probes are administered to students and their median performance
is used. When conducting frequent progress monitoring, typically only one
probe is administered during each session (Hosp, Hosp, & Howell, 2007).
CBM Maze
The maze is another global measure of reading fluency that has undergone extensive scrutiny. Although shown to be a reliable and valid predictor of reading achievement, evidence indicates that CBM-ORF is a better
measure of reading achievement than is the maze (Ardoin et al., 2004).
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However, the maze can be administered to groups or computer technology

can be used. Administering a maze involves providing a narrative text to
clients; however, every seventh word following the first sentence is deleted
and replaced with three options, only one of which is a correct word.
Examinees are allowed three minutes to read the text silently and circle
the correct words within each set. The dependent measure is the number
of correct words circled (Hosp et al., 2007).
CBM Prereading Measures

Several prereading measures exist that have been shown to have
adequate reliability and validity including letter identification, letter sound
identification, and nonsense word fluency (Kaminski & Good III, 1996).
Other relatively new measures, often referred to as DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Early Literacy Skills), are used by many schools but have not
undergone the same level of scrutiny yet as existing CBM (Good & Kaminski,
2002). Readers can access detailed information regarding DIBELS prereading measures as well as the probes at http://dibels.uoregon.edu/.
CBM in Mathematics
The majority of research in CBM mathematics has focused on evaluating and monitoring basic math calculation skills. These probes can be
developed either to assess one skill or to assess multiple skills. Generally,
when monitoring performance across an extended period of time, multiple
skill probes are used. Probes can be administered either individually or in
groups. Examinees are provided two minutes to complete as many problems
as they can and are encouraged to put an X through any problem that they
do not know how to complete. Rather than scoring responses to a problem
as simply correct or incorrect, each digit written is counted as either correct
or incorrect. Thus, if an answer to 5 + 5 is 12, one digit correct is scored for
the 1 in the tens column (Thurber, Shinn, & Smolkowski, 2002).
CBM Mathematics Concepts and Applications

Minimal research exists evaluating the reliability and validity of CBM
mathematics concepts and application probes; however, this body of
literature is growing and seems promising. These probes include multiple
skills sampled from across the curriculum. The limit for these probes varies
from two to five minutes. Similar to CBM basic calculation procedures, the
probes can be administered to groups or individually and students may
earn partial credit (i.e., digits correct) rather than simply scoring each
answer as correct or incorrect (Connell, 2006; Fuchs et al., 1994).
CBM in Written Expression

Compared to reading or mathematics, the assessment of written
expression is more challenging (Gansle, VanDerHeyden, Noell, Resetar, &
Williams, 2006). Standardized CBM procedures involve providing a story
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starter (e.g., My best memory is when ), allowing the student one minute
to think about what to write, and three minutes to write. Among the most
common measures that are technically adequate are total words written,
correct word sequences, and words spelled correctly. Total words written
counts the number of words written by the student; correct spelling and
the relationship of the words to each other or to standard English is not
assessed (Shinn, 1989). Correct word sequences involve counting pairs
of words that are spelled correctly and grammatically correct within the
context of the sentence (Shinn, 1989). Words spelled correctly counts the
total number of correctly spelled words considered in isolation (Shinn,
1989). Although these fluency or production-dependent measures (Jewell
& Malecki, 2005) have been determined technically adequate (Deno,
Marston, & Mirkin, 1982; Deno, Mirkin, & Marston, 1980; Gansle, Noell,
VanDerHeyden, Naquin, & Slider, 2002, Marston & Deno, 1981; Videen,
Deno, & Marston, 1982), there has been research to support the validity
of production-independent measures such as percentage of words spelled
correctly (Tindal & Parker, 1989), as well as accurate production indices
like correct minus incorrect word sequences (Espin, Shin, Deno, Skare,
Robinson, & Benner, 2000).
Difficulties with CBM writing include the fact that an infinite number of
correct responses is possible for every prompt, the extent to which validated
measures reflect what is considered good writing varies (Gansle, Gilbertson,
& VanDerHeyden, 2006), and the time necessary to score CBM written expression probes varies according to the measures chosen (Gansle et al., 2002).
Advantages of CBM
CBM offers several advantages over traditional norm-referenced testbased assessment. First, CBM materials are inexpensive. Although Deno
and other pioneers in the area originally suggested that measures should
be derived from the curriculum in which a student is being taught, subsequent research has suggested that it was not necessary that materials
be sampled from the curriculum (Fuchs & Deno, 1992, 1994). Since that
time various companies have made available CBM materials that are available at modest or no cost (e.g., Dynamic Indicators of Early Literacy Skills,
AimsWeb, www.interventioncentral.com). Second, CBM procedures require
minimal time to administer and score and have demonstrated technical
adequacy. Third, the emphasis on fluency, along with accuracy information, permits differentiation between students who are at an acquisition,
fluency building, and mastery stage of learning (Binder, 1996). Measuring
fluency also facilitates the graphing of student data across time and avoids
common ceiling effects.
A fourth advantage of CBM is the relative ease with which multiple
equivalent level forms can be developed. Having multiple equivalent forms,
that can be administered and scored quickly, permits frequent progress
monitoring in the school and/or clinic. These procedures allow for continual
evaluation of the effectiveness of instruction and intervention. Studies have
found that students make greater academic gains when their teachers
use CBM progress monitoring data to guide their instruction decisions
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(National Center on Student Progress Monitoring, 2006; Stecker & Fuchs,

2000). Fifth, CBM can serve multiple purposes including: (a) universal
screenings, (b) intervention plan design, (c) progress monitoring, and (d) contributing to special education entitlement determination within a problem
-solving/RTI model. The fact that CBM can provide reliable and valid
information at multiple levels for multiple purposes should result in more
resources being available for intervention/treatment with relatively less
time needed for collecting assessment data.
CBM for Universal Screening

Universal screening involves the administration of quick, reliable, and
valid assessments to all students in a class/grade/school. Using CBM
procedures, a class can be screened in the areas of reading, mathematics,
and writing. Students performance can be quickly scored, entered into a
spreadsheet, and provided to teachers on the day of administration. Given
the cost and time efficiency of CBM, CBM universal screenings can be
conducted multiple times across the academic year using probes that are
of equivalent difficulty.
Assessing students multiple times with equivalent probes provides
data regarding growth as well as current level of performance. Repeated
universal screening data permit examination of schools, classrooms, and
individuals relative to normative and criterion-based benchmarks for
performance and learning (Noell, Gilbertson, VanDerHeyden, & Witt,
2005). This approach permits isolation of the appropriate target for intervention at the school, classroom, or individual level. If the concerns evident for the referred child are also evident for most peers it appears that
intervention would most profitably be targeted at the school or classroom
level rather than the individual level.
Universal screening data also can be evaluated at the individual level
by comparing an individuals current performance and rate of growth to
his or her peers who have received similar instruction. Examining how a
student compares to his/her peers, allows one to examine the possibility
that poor achievement is systemic rather than an individual student problem (Ardoin, Witt, Connel, & Koenig, 2005). Researchers have demonstrated that CBM measures can reliably predict which first-grade students
are likely to fail state mandated tests administered in third grade (Good,
Simmons, & Kameenui, 2001; Silberglitt & Hintze, 2005).
Fortunately, the evidence suggests that if provided with intense
instruction, using empirically supported procedures, many students at
risk for failing state mandated tests and developing later academic problems can catch up to their peers (Coyne, Kameenui, Simmons, & Harn,
2004; Vellutino, Scanlon, Small, & Fanuele, 2006). Recognizing that those
students whose level of achievement is discrepant from their peers commonly
continue to fall further behind their peers if not provided with intervention
services further emphasizes the need for assessment that can detect trend
as well as level (Stanovich, 1986; Torgesen, 2002).
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Although typically it is impossible for professionals outside the school

to collect universal screening data, a growing number of schools are
collecting CBM universal screening data on a triannual basis that can
be of great utility to clinicians outside the school. Objective data from
standardized assessment such as CBM allow for comparison of a clients
performance to peers as well as contributing to evaluation of variables
external to the client. Comparing a clients performance to an expected
level of performance that is based upon his or her peers provides an indication of whether low levels of performance are specific to the client or are
shared by many peers and thus may result from environmental factors.
Providers of CBM materials such as DIBELS (Good, 2004) generally provide criterion scores for student performance across grades and at multiple
times across the academic year for predicting which students are at risk
for failing state mandated tests. If clinicians do not have access to schoolwide data, recommended levels of performance provided by companies that
provide CBM materials can be beneficial for predicting a clients success as
well as for establishing goals for progress monitoring purposes.
Entitlement and Diagnostic Determination using CBM

With the passage of IDEA 2004, schools may use a response to intervention model in determining students special education eligibility for
Learning Disabilities. Ideally, implementation of RTI models will increase
the early identification of students at risk of developing academic problems,
reduce the number of students referred for and who are in need of special
education services, and reduce the overrepresentation of minorities in
special education.
Although several models of RTI exist, the general premise of RTI is
that a students eligibility for special education is based upon the students response to interventions whose efficacy has been supported by
prior research. Students response to general education is measured, followed by assessment of their response to interventions of increasing intensity.
Students who fail to respond adequately to the regular education curriculum, often referred to as tier 1, are provided with supplemental intervention, which is generally referred to as tier 2. Their response to tier 2
instruction is monitored and if data suggest that a student is not responding adequately to tier 2 instruction, more intense intervention is provided.
Should a student not make adequate gains with intense intervention special
education eligibility is considered.
A primary source of the data used when making the diagnostic decision is the data collected reflecting the students progress while being provided with varying levels of intervention (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1998; Vaughn
& Fuchs, 2003). Fuchs and Fuchs recommend that a dual discrepancy
model be used for making special education entitlement decisions. This
approach compares student performance to the level of peers based on
CBM universal screening data as well as examining the rate of growth from
progress monitoring data.
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INTERVENTION: MOVING FROM IDENTIFYING PROBLEMS

TO ACTING ON THEM
Assessments that end with the identification of educational concerns
have extremely limited utility. Although it may give some a sense of understanding or control to have a name for the problem, a rich literature
suggests that identifying academic problems and expecting existing environmental resources such as special education to successfully ameliorate
them is unrealistic (Kavale & Forness, 1999). If assessment is going to
lead to an improvement in the clients functioning it will need to lead to an
effective treatment plan that is implemented. In simple terms, we need to
move from naming the problem to doing something about it.
Academic concerns are similar to other areas of developmental psychopathology in that behavior is determined by a complex interaction of biological
and environmental factors. Although this initially can seem an overwhelmingly complex web of causal and mediating factors to assess, it is important
to recognize a practical reality. Although behavior may be the result of a complex interaction of many variables, it is frequently quite sensitive to current
environmental conditions (e.g., Iwata, Vollmer, & Zarcone, 1990). Stated differently, although a clients poor writing skills may be the result of a complex
interplay of schooling, family, and constitutional factors, it may be quite feasible to teach the client how to write competently by directly instructing him
or her (e.g., Walker, Shippen, Alberto, Houchins, & Cihak, 2005).
This final section of the chapter describes a general case heuristic
for devising academic interventions. The heuristic is organized around six
critical questions to be answered in a case conceptualization model for
academic concerns. The six questions discussed are:
1. What is the mismatch between the clients academic performance
and current expectations?
2. Does the student have the skills necessary to meet academic
expectations?
3. Are there environmental conditions that reduce the clients success
in meeting academic expectations?
4. How can an effective treatment plan be devised based on individual
and environmental assessment data?
5. How can the therapist cause the treatment to be implemented?
6. How should the treatment effects best be monitored?
1. What is the mismatch between the clients academic performance
and current expectations?
Referrals regarding academic performance do not arise in a vacuum
and may be usefully conceptualized as a mismatch between environmental
expectations and behavior. The problem is not necessarily that the client
reads 46 words correct per minute (WCPM) in grade-level texts per se, but
that students at his school commonly are expected to read 70100 WCPM
by the middle of fifth grade. Additionally, the clients low reading rate can
be expected to interfere with reading comprehension and task completion.
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The critical challenge at this stage of the assessment process is moving from
global concerns to specific target behaviors that can be acted on. Common
initial concerns such as failing mathematics or poor reading skills may capture the heart of the referral sources concern without being sufficiently specific to develop a treatment plan. Obviously, defining the difference between
expected and actual performance requires asking two preliminary questions. What is it that the client does and what is it he or she is expected to
do? If a prior diagnostic assessment was completed, data gathered as part of
that assessment may or may not contribute to answering these questions.
Although defining behavior and expectations is conceptually simple, it
is practically complex for at least two reasons. First, for most clinicians the
point of contact is with the parents; however, they are virtually never the
origin of the mismatch between academic performance and expectations.
The mismatch almost always will occur between the client and her or his
teacher(s). The authors would argue that any psychological assessment of
an academic concern that does not include interviews of the clients teachers
and observations in school is incomplete.
Second, in many cases, teachers will express their concerns in the
global terms that are part of common discourse, He is not working up to
his potential, or She is failing math. The critical need at this stage of the
assessment for treatment process is to move beyond broad generalizations
to specifics. What, specifically, must the student need do to work up to his
potential or pass her math class? This specification of expectations ideally
should be stated in objective measurable terms such as completing weekly
quizzes with at least 70% accuracy or completing multiplication and division facts with 100% accuracy at a rate of 30 facts per minute.
The final stage of clarifying the mismatch between actual and expected
performance is typically easier than clarifying the expectations, that is, specifying the current performance. The critical thing to bear in mind in this regard
is that the problem is not performance on a standardized test of achievement,
but performance in the school. What is the client doing and how that is discrepant from expectations? Arriving at specific statements regarding how the
clients actual performance differs from the expected performance will set the
occasion for additional detailed assessment of the referral concern.
2. Does the student have the skills necessary to meet academic
expectations?
Examination of the second and third questions is designed to provide
clinicians with a useful hypothesis as to why the client is not meeting instructional expectations. In this context useful is used to connote a focus on
variables that can be modified to improve the clients functioning. Although
it may be the case that intellectual disability is contributing to mathematics failure, that is not something that psychologists have technology
to change. On the other hand, we can help arrange environments that
increase motivation, teach needed skills, and limit competing stimulation.
Once assessment has identified how the clients behavior is discrepant
from expectations, the next stage of the assessment should focus on what
the client knows how to do. The fact that a client does not produce acceptable
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academic products does not mean that the client does not know how to
do so (e.g., Duhon et al., 2004). It may well be the case that the client has
the requisite skills, but that there is an absence of reinforcement for completing academic tasks or that reinforcement for other behaviors is more
potent (e.g., Martens & Houk, 1989).
Prior research has demonstrated relatively simple procedures for differentiating between students who lack sufficient motivation and those
who lack basic skills (Noell, Freeland, Witt, & Gansle, 2001). A sample of
academic performance is obtained under typical or standardized conditions, which is followed by a repeat assessment with equivalent materials but providing a salient reward contingency for improved performance.
Researchers have found that some clients performances will improve substantially under reward conditions, suggesting primarily a motivational
issue rather than a skill deficit (Noell et al.). Additionally, the data demonstrated that relatively brief assessments of motivational issues were predictive of participants response to intervention. It is important to acknowledge
that in the range of presentations that clinicians are confronted with for
some clients, a timed test with a reward contingency may not be optimal
(e.g., highly anxious clients). However, the conceptual model of reassessing performance under conditions that are optimized for that client to
obtain an estimate of skills should be broadly applicable.
If the client does not perform well enough to be judged competent in
contexts that have been optimized to obtain a maximal rather than a typical performance, a more detailed assessment of his or her skills is needed.
The detailed assessment will focus on the collection of skills that make up
the terminal behavior that is the focus of the assessment. The individual
steps that are needed to complete the target behavior as well as the prerequisite skills that are needed are collectively described as the subordinate
skills. A description of subordinate skills is commonly available in curriculum
guides used in schools.
Additionally, clinicians also may choose to complete their own task
analyses of the target skill or consult published sources. For example, a
writing assignment might be broken down into brainstorming a topic, outlining, drafting, reviewing for clarity of thought, revision for clarity/organization, reviewing for mechanics, and final revision. Detailed information
regarding conducting task analyses and developing functionally relevant
interventions is beyond the scope of the chapter; however, several resources
are available (e.g., Hosp & Ardoin, in press; Hosp, Hosp, & Kurns, in press;
Witt, Daly, & Noell, 2000).
Once the relevant academic skills have been identified, assessment
should focus on describing the clients accuracy and fluency for each subordinate skill. For example, a student whose target behaviors included
addition facts might be asked to read numbers, write numbers, and
respond orally to fact operations to isolate key component skills. In this
context it typically is most efficient to assess the subordinate skills in a
context optimized for performance (e.g., no distractions, contingencies for
performance) so that the current maximal performance can be immediately identified. The assessment should yield both accuracy and fluency
data that will be critical in the development of intervention planning.
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Once accuracy and fluency data for each subordinate skill have been
obtained, the next stage of the assessment process should compare those
data to standards for competent performance. Unfortunately, clinicians
frequently do not have access to accuracy and fluency standards for each
relevant subordinate skill. For example, a ready guide is not available for
the fluency with which seventh-grade students should solve systems of
two three-term equations for two unknowns or how quickly they should
provide the functions for all parts of the cell. In this context there is a
natural draw toward focusing on accuracy alone. However, fluency is a
critical part of many academic skills and often is absolutely necessary for
competent performance in many areas.
For example, students who read slowly are more likely to exhibit
poor comprehension and difficulty with task completion (Francis et al.,
2002). Similarly, fluency with basic operations and writing skills has been
linked to success with more advanced academic skills in those domains.
The continuum from slow accurate responding to fluent responding also
forms the basis for the Instructional Hierarchy (IH) which provides a very
useful general case organizational heuristic for developing academic interventions (Haring & Eaton, 1978). The link between accuracy, fluency, and
subordinate skills is discussed below in more detail in the section dealing
with intervention design.
3. Are there environmental conditions that reduce the clients success
in meeting academic expectations?
Any academic assessment that does not examine the current schooling
context is incomplete. The context for the clients behavior, the demands,
and the expectations are all provided by the school. Numerous environmental conditions that can influence academic performance are observable
by visiting classrooms. For example, proximity to the teacher has been
found to be beneficial for children with ADHD under some conditions
(Granger, Whalen, Henker, & Cantwell, 1996). This might cause one to
question why a referred client with ADHD was sitting at the back of the
classroom. Similarly, conditions such as crowding, distracting noises,
and disruptive behavior by other students can all contribute to poor performance and have been found to differentially affect disabled students
(Dockrell & Shield, 2006). Simply visiting and observing the classes the
client attends can provide invaluable information about instructional routines, demands, and the classroom context.
Ideally, classroom observations should collect information regarding
the antecedents and consequences to the students appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Such data provide information not only regarding the
target students behavior, but also the behavior of teachers and peers,
who may have a substantial influence on the clients behavior. A variety
of studies has demonstrated the utility of understanding the pattern of
classroom interactions in devising effective interventions for students with
or without significant psychopathology (e.g., Martens, 1992; Martens &
Houk, 1989; Umbreit, 1995). The data also can be examined to determine
the extent to which the client is provided with modeling, opportunities
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to practice, and corrective feedback for academic performance. It can be

quite useful to collect a sample of representative peer data to determine
the degree to which the client is an outlier or is typical of the behavior in
the classroom (see Witt et al., 2000).
4. How can an effective treatment plan be devised based on the
assessment data?
Typically, initial intervention design will consider salient environmental factors whose modification may help the client meet expectations.
For example, observing that a distractible client is sitting at the back of the
classroom would suggest moving the client to the front of the classroom.
Similarly, if observation revealed that the client receives consistent adult
and peer attention for off-task and disruptive behavior, initial intervention
might focus on shifting the availability of attention from off-task behaviors
to work completion (e.g., Northup et al., 1995; Umbreit, 1995). If observation revealed that common classroom routines do not make clear what
the expectations and timelines are for assigned work, it may be possible
to work with teachers to assure that the client or all students receive this
information in a consistent clear format. Classroom-based intervention is
a particularly critical element of intervention design when conditions in
the classroom substantially limit the clients ability to benefit from instruction, irrespective of individualized intervention outside the classroom. It is
also important to acknowledge, that in some cases, no obvious barriers to
the clients success will be identified in the classroom.
In most instances, idiographic assessment identifies targets for individualized academic intervention for children and youth referred for academic
concerns. Academic assessment results will be described as generally suggesting one of four hypotheses, each of which suggests a particular approach
to intervention. First, and perhaps most encouragingly, assessment data
may indicate that the student completes academic tasks exceeding criterion
levels of accuracy and fluency under optimized conditions such as a reward
contingency. This assessment-derived demonstration of previously unobserved skills has been described as a performance deficit, as contrasted
with a skill deficit (Noell et al., 2001). The critical elements for the successful
treatment of performance deficits include the reduction of reinforcement for
alternative behaviors and the increase of reinforcement for the target behavior (Duhon et al., 2004; Martens & Houk, 1989; Noell et al.).
Shifting contingencies to support adaptive behavior can be achieved
through many procedures including goal setting with contingencies,
school-home notes, and/or self-monitoring systems. Additionally, taking
reasonable actions to reduce the clients access to reinforcers associated
with off-task behavior is desirable. The key to intervention for performance
deficits is the shifting of environmental contingencies to support use of
skills the client possesses.
In other instances, the assessment of the target concerns will reveal
deficient skills in either the target skill or subordinate skills, for which the
obvious course of action is to program supplemental instruction that will
strengthen these skills so that the client can meet educational expectations.
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331
The conceptual heuristic provided by the Instructional Hierarchy (IH, Haring

& Eaton, 1978) provides an organizational framework for intervening on
academic skill problems that has proven successful. The IH describes the
initial stages of skill acquisition as progressing from establishing accuracy
to developing fluency. Although establishing accuracy has intuitive appeal
and as a result is commonly attended to, the development of fluency
frequently receives inadequate attention. Fluency with skills has been
demonstrated to contribute to diverse positive outcomes including the
skill application and task persistence (Binder, 1996).
Accuracy
Accurate responding is established by programming a sufficient
number of complete learning trials (CLT). A complete learning trial minimally consists of programming a discriminative stimulus for the target
responses (e.g., an addition problem), an opportunity for response, and
feedback on the accuracy of the response. It is critical that the lag between
a response and instructor feedback be short enough that clients can learn
from the feedback. Generally, younger clients and those who are in the
initial stages of learning a skill need more immediate feedback.
Additionally, for early acquisition, extra environmental support for initial
correct responding commonly is required. This can take diverse forms,
but typically includes a prompt such as a model or physical guidance
(Demchak, 1990). A number of prompting procedures have been demonstrated to be successful such as cover-copy-compare, constant time delay,
and least-to-most prompting (Skinner, Bamberg, Smith, & Powell, 1993;
Wolery et al., 1992). In contexts in which consultation leads to a desire
to increase access to CLTs for many students, procedures such as choral
responding (Heward, Courson, & Narayan, 1989) and reciprocal peer
tutoring (Fantuzzo, King, & Heller, 1992) have been employed extensively
and successfully at a classroom level to increase CLTs for all students.
Constant time-delayed prompting (Wolery et al., 1992) is an instructional approach that facilitates correct responding while minimizing
student errors. Constant time-delayed prompting begins by presenting
students with an instruction demand such as a spelling word, a mathematics operation, or sight word. Following a predefined delay period (e.g., four
seconds; Cybriwsky & Schuster, 1990) a model of the correct response is
presented if the student has not responded. Procedures for responding to
incorrect responses have varied across studies including ignoring incorrect
responding and corrective feedback with modeling. Constant time delay is
an efficient procedure for establishing accurate responding that is easily
taught and relatively easily implemented. Detailed procedural descriptions
of constant time-delayed prompting are available in a number of sources
(see Wolery et al., 1992 or Handen & Zane, 1987).
Fluency
Once students can respond accurately they will commonly need systematic instruction to develop fluency. The core element of developing
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fluency is sufficient practice that emphasizes quick responding. The immediacy of feedback for each response is less important at this stage of
learning because the student should be responding at or near 100% correct before moving on to fluency building. Instructional feedback should
shift to a rate-based assessment of performance and provide informative
markers regarding the clients progress toward fluency goals. It is important to consider building motivational elements into fluency-building exercises as they are hard work and can be perceived by some clients as tedious
(Noell et al., 1998).
Integration and Generalization

For many clients, intervention should move beyond discrete skills
to more elaborate behaviors. Frequently, clients need direct instruction
regarding how to integrate component skills to complete more complex
tasks. Integrating subordinate skills can be particularly challenging for
complex tasks such as essay writing or completing mathematics application problems. Intervention providing modeling of skill integration, strategy
instruction, and self-monitoring skills have been used successfully to aid
skill integration (Davis & Hajicek, 1985; Dunlap & Dunlap, 1989; Howell
& Nolet, 2000). A model can help clients generalize and integrate skills by
making it clear to them how they can combine their skills and abilities to
solve new challenges.
Strategy instruction teaches the client how to combine previously mastered skills to create a problem-solving process and frequently includes
verbal mediation in which the students talk themselves through the
process of solving the problem (Davis & Hajicek). Self-monitoring is similar
to strategy instruction in that the emphasis is on providing students with
new organizational skills to help them mediate the use of their subordinate
skills. Self-monitoring as an instructional strategy commonly includes
providing clients a written guide that cues them how to complete the task
and training on how to self-monitor.
5. How can the therapist cause the treatment to be implemented?
The reality that a consulting psychologist or other mental health care
provider is virtually never the person providing academic intervention
greatly increases the risk that intervention plans will not be implemented.
Researchers examining intervention in schools as well as research with
parents suggests that treatment implementation and/or utilization are far
from assured and can be extremely problematic (Noell, Witt, et al., 2005).
The school-based literature examining treatment plan implementation has
repeatedly demonstrated poor and deteriorating implementation in the
absence of systematic follow-up (Noell, Witt, et al., 2005). The critical elements that have been demonstrated effective in sustaining implementation
have been objective assessment of implementation with the interventions
permanent products, graphing implementation and student outcome, and
feedback to the treatment agent on implementation (see Noell, 2008, for
a review). This model appears to be practical in many contexts treating
ACADEMIC ASSESSMENT
333
psychopathology. The intervention agent can be asked to bring the work

products in for a weekly review and consultation regarding the academic
intervention as well as other pertinent issues can be provided.
6. How should the treatment effects best be monitored?
Multiple studies have demonstrated that monitoring a students performance across time and making instructional decisions based upon those
data result in greater academic gains for students than when teachers
do not have access to CBM progress monitoring data (National Center
on Student Progress Monitoring, 2006; Stecker & Fuchs, 2000). CBM
progress monitoring procedures generally entail administering a CBM
probe twice weekly and plotting the data in time series fashion.
One of two procedures typically is used for evaluating the data and determining whether intervention modifications are needed. The most common
approach uses a goal line plotted on the graph. This goal line is established
with its origin at the median point of the first three data points collected and
the endpoint located at the desired level of fluency at projected end of intervention for that skill. The desired terminal rate can be determined based on a published criterion, local norm, or research-based norms (see Hosp et al., 2007 for
researched based norms). Typically, if four consecutive data points fall below
the goal line, intervention modification is suggested (Marston & Tindal, 1996).
A procedure used less frequently is to calculate a slope based upon sufficient data and make modifications if the growth rate is less than desired.
Although ten data points are considered sufficient by many for evaluating intervention effectiveness (Good & Shinn, 1990), recent research suggests that substantially more data are needed in order to accurately predict a clients growth
rate (Christ, 2006; Christ & Silberglitt, in press). Regardless of the procedure
used for evaluating intervention effectiveness, caution should be taken when
evaluating data based upon less than 15 data points across seven weeks, and
confidence intervals should be placed around slope estimates (Christ, 2006).
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

Assessment of academic concerns is driven by the same assessment
questions as the assessment of childhood psychopathology more broadly:
what is the problem and what can be done about it? At a practical level,
the question of problem specification frequently will include both diagnostic considerations and more molecular examination of academic skills.
Diagnosis may be the referral sources initial concern and also may be
necessary to obtain services for the client. However, current diagnostic
systems for academic concerns (IDEA and DSMTVTR) lack treatment
utility (Gresham & Gansle, 1992). Current diagnoses are not sufficiently
detailed to guide treatment selection.
In addition, the types of instruments that commonly are used to make
diagnostic determinations have very limited treatment utility due to the
limited coverage of specific skills at any given level (Marston et al., 1986).
Also, many achievement instruments assess academic skill at the level
334
of broad constructs (e.g., broad reading or mathematics) rather than

specific skills (e.g., completes addition facts at 95% accuracy and 25 digits
correct per minute). Under IDEA, newer approaches to diagnosis in
schools using CBM within RTI models potentially can use data that have
both treatment utility and diagnostic utility.
Moving to the second question, treatment specification, typically occasions a shift in assessment methods to specific behaviors and expectations
within the school context. CBM and similar direct, low inference, and ratebased measures of academic behavior have demonstrated both treatment
utility and adequate reliability and validity (Ardoin et al., 2004; Fuchs,
Fuchs, Hamlett, & Allinder, 1989; Fuchs et al., 1994; Gansle et al., 2004).
Additionally, consideration of classroom expectations and environmental
factors that may be influencing achievement can provide a contextualized assessment picture that can lead to a useful case formulation and
treatment plan.
Intervention planning for academic concerns typically begins by
operationally defining the ways in which the clients performance fails to
meet expectations. This, in turn, should lead to assessment of the specific skills the client possesses in some detail. Assessment typically should
also examine the possibility that motivation plays a pivotal role in poor
current functioning and that environmental factors adversely affect academic performance. This should lead to an intervention plan based on the
specific needs of the client at his or her current stage of skill acquisition.
The final and potentially most critical element for assuring effective services
for children exhibiting academic concerns and psychopathology is assuring that services are delivered as designed and that meaningful progress
monitoring data are collected to guide ongoing program modification.
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12
Behavioral Assessment
of Self-Injury
TIMOTHY R. VOLLMER,
KIMBERLY N. SLOMAN,
and CARRIE S.W. BORRERO
INTRODUCTION
Self-injurious behavior (SIB) is a behavior disorder that can range in
severity from self-inflicted mild bruising and abrasions, to life-threatening
tissue damage (Carr, 1977). The focus of this chapter is on SIB displayed by
individuals with developmental disabilities (DD), including autism. Although
SIB occurs in psychiatric patients (e.g., self-mutilation) and in some otherwise
typically developing adolescents and adults (e.g., self-cutting), these variations
of SIB are not the focus here. In addition, this chapter focuses on assessment
rather than treatment. Finally, the specific focus is behavioral assessment
rather than medical, biological, or psychiatric (diagnostic) assessment.
The numerous forms (topographies) of SIB described in clinical reports
and scientific publications include self-hitting, head banging, self-biting,
self-scratching, self-pinching, self-choking, eye gouging, hair pulling, and
many others (Iwata et al., 1994b). Although there are clear genetic and biological correlates with the disorder (e.g., Lesch & Nyhan, 1964), the majority of
SIB appears to be learned behavior. Not including tics and related behavior,
most of human behavior can be compartmentalized as either operant or
reflexive (and respondent) behavior. There is no empirical evidence that SIB
occurs in a fashion similar to a tic or nervous twitch.
TIMOTHY R. VOLLMER Psychology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville,
Florida 32611, 352-392-0601 ext. 280, [email protected]
KIMBERLY N. SLOMAN Department of Psychology, University of Florida, Gainesville,
FL 32611
CARRIE S.W. BORRERO Kennedy Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins university Meidcal
School, Baltimore, MD 21205

341
342
TIMOTHY R. VOLLMER et al.
The vast majority of evidence suggests that SIB is operant behavior

controlled by either automatic (nonsocially mediated) or socially mediated
consequences. There is some evidence that a minority of SIB could be
reflexive, but that evidence is indirect and not the focus of this chapter.
The only evidence to date supporting SIB as reflexive behavior is found in
the research on biting by various species that occurs in response to severe
aversive stimulation (e.g., Hutchinson, 1977). Specifically, laboratory
research has shown that many species of animals, including humans, will
bite down on virtually whatever is available when certain kinds of aversive
stimulation such as shock or loud noise are presented. Conceivably then,
some self-biting might occur in response to either unconditioned or conditioned aversive stimuli.
The clearest evidence supports the notion that SIB is operant behavior
strengthened (reinforced) by consequences to the behavior. The behavior is
often so severe and so disturbing that care providers tend to act immediately and decisively to end an episode or bout of self-injury. Although well
meaning, actions to end an episode of SIB might inadvertently reinforce
the behavior. For example, one common care provider response is to give
attention in the form of reprimands or comfort statements when severe
behavior occurs (e.g., Sloman et al., 2005; Thompson & Iwata, 2001).
Social attention might serve as a source of socially mediated positive reinforcement for the SIB. Research has shown that even reprimands can serve
as positive reinforcement, despite a clear intent of the care provider to scold
or punish the behavior (e.g. Fisher, Ninness, Piazza, & Owen-DeSchryver,
1996). Other care providers may be inclined to comfort or nurse the individual following episodes of SIB (e.g., Fischer, Iwata, & Worsdell, 1997).
Similarly, care providers may attempt to figure out what the individual is
upset about and begin handing over tangible items including food, drinks,
favorite toys or activities (e.g., Marcus & Vollmer, 1996).
Conversely, escape from or avoidance of social interaction might serve
as a source of socially mediated negative reinforcement for SIB. A common
response of care providers is to move away from and terminate ongoing
activity when SIB occurs, thus allowing escape or avoidance of an interaction that normally would have ensued. For example, dozens of behavioral
assessment studies have shown that escape and avoidance of instructional activities, self-care activity, and daily living activity can reinforce SIB
(e.g., Iwata, Pace, Kalsher, Cowdery, & Cataldo, 1990; Steege et al., 1990;
Vollmer, Marcus, & Ringdahl, 1995). Similarly, some studies have shown
that escape from close proximity during medical examinations (Iwata
et al., 1990) or even during regular social interaction can reinforce SIB.
Not all SIB is reinforced by the actions of other people. In some cases,
SIB produces its own source of reinforcement, independent of the social
environment. In fact, some individuals with SIB will sit in a room alone for
extended time periods engaging in repetitive SIB, even though the behavior
produces no social reaction. In these cases, SIB is maintained by automatic reinforcement, meaning that no social mediation is required for the
reinforcement. The specific sources of automatic reinforcement are not
as well understood as the specific sources of socially mediated reinforcement, but there is some evidence that SIB can be automatically reinforced
by pain attenuation (e.g., Fisher et al., 1998), attenuation of itching skin
BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT OF SELF-INJURY
343
(e.g., Cowdery, Iwata, & Pace, 1990), pleasing self-stimulation (e.g., Lovaas,
Newsom, & Hickman, 1987), and production of endogenous opiates (e.g.,
Sandman et al., 1983), among other possible sources.
One general purpose of a behavioral assessment of SIB is to identify
which types of reinforcement are maintaining SIB in a given case. It cannot be assumed that SIB that looks similar in two different individuals
serves the same function for both individuals. Conversely, similar forms
of reinforcement can maintain SIB that looks very different in topography
(e.g., head hitting by one individual and self-biting by another individual).
Even one form of SIB displayed by a single person can serve multiple
functions (Smith, Iwata, Vollmer, & Zarcone, 1993). Complications such
as these underscore the need for individualized behavioral assessments.
Typically, assessment components aimed at identifying the operant function of SIB involve some combination of interviews and checklists given to
care providers, direct observation by a trained observer, or a functional
analysis in which hypothesized reinforcers are tested. Identifying the
specific source of reinforcement has powerful implications for treatment.
For example, if SIB is reinforced by social attention, care providers can be
taught to minimize attention following SIB and to reinforce some alternative attention-getting behavior.
A second general (but related) purpose of a behavioral assessment of
SIB is to identify situations correlated with the occurrence of SIB. If SIB
is most likely to occur during particular activities or kinds of activities,
an intervention or further assessment may be focused on that particular
activity or set of activities. Interviews and checklists, direct observation,
and functional analyses are also used for this purpose.
A third general purpose of a behavioral assessment of SIB is to provide
a baseline of the severity of the behavior in terms of response rate or
tissue damage incurred. In so doing, the effects of behavioral or medical
treatments can be compared to the period prior to intervention. Again,
interviews and checklists, direct observation, and functional analyses are
used for this purpose. In addition, severity charts and scales can be used
to document changes in wound appearance (self-injury trauma (SIT) scale;
Iwata, Pace, Kissel, Nau, & Farber, 1990) and wound size (Wilson, Iwata,
& Bloom, in press).
This chapter is divided into sections describing behavioral assessment
formats for SIB. The first section describes variations of interview and
checklist approaches to assessment. The second section describes variations of descriptive analysis methods conducted via direct observation of
SIB. The third section describes variations of functional analysis methods.
The fourth section describes variations of severity scales and charts. All
sections include a discussion of advantages and disadvantages of assessment formats.
INDIRECT ASSESSMENTS
Indirect assessments are used to identify relevant characteristics of SIB,
without directly observing the behavior. The assessment typically occurs
at a different time and place from the actual occurrence of the self-injury.
344
Indirect assessments rely on reports in the form of records (e.g., school

discipline referrals, medical records), interviews (e.g., ONeil, Horner, Albin,
Sprague, Storey, & Newton, 1997), questionnaires (e.g., Lewis, Scott, &
Sugai, 1994), checklists (e.g., Van Houten & Rolider, 1991), or rating scales
(e.g., Durand & Crimmins, 1988). Table 12.1 lists several commonly used
forms of indirect assessment questionnaires, checklists, and rating scales.
The information gathered from indirect assessments may be used to develop
treatments for self-injury or to provide a foundation for a more direct assessment. In weighing benefits and limitations of indirect assessments, most
practitioners recommend that they should not be used as a sole source
of information, but rather in conjunction with direct assessment methods
(e.g., Zarcone, Rodgers, Iwata, Rourke, & Dorsey, 1991).
The primary advantage of indirect assessments is that they offer a
time-efficient alternative to direct assessment methods (e.g., descriptive
and experimental analyses). In most cases, the assessment can be administered within 15 minutes. This is in contrast to most direct assessment
methods, which may take several days or even weeks to complete. Second,
the assessments may be administered by individuals who require relatively
little training on the methods. This is in contrast to direct assessment procedures that may require sophisticated professionals to implement. Third,
indirect assessments may be useful when SIB is too dangerous to allow in
a direct assessment (e.g., severe forms of pica, forceful head banging). This
is in contrast to procedures that require direct observation or possibly
even temporary exacerbation of the SIB. Fourth, the behavior could occur
too infrequently to reliably observe. Thus, direct assessment via behavioral observation is not an option for some cases of SIB. Fifth, indirect
assessments may provide some preliminary information, such as operational definitions or correlated environmental events, that will be needed to
conduct subsequent direct assessments. Collectively, these advantages of
indirect assessments suggest there is some utility to the general method.
Nonetheless some limitations of the approach should also be considered.
The primary limitation of indirect assessments is that all information is
correlational, even if accurately reported by the respondent. For example,
a respondent might report that SIB frequently produces attention. However,
recent research has shown the dangerous behavior commonly produces
Table 12.1. Commonly used Indirect assessment methods

Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)
Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC)
Motivational Assessment Scale (MAS)
Functional Analysis Screening Tool (FAST)
Problem Behavior Questionaire (PBQ)
Functional Assessment for Multiple Causality
Questions About Behavioral Function (QABF)
Functional Assessment Interview (FAI)
Behavior Problems Inventory (BPI)
Achenbach (1991)
Aman et al. (1985)
Durand & Crimmins (1988)
Iwata & DeLeon (1996)
Lewis, Scott, & Sugai (1994)
Matson et al. (2003)
Matson & Vollmer (1995)
ONeill, et al. (1997)
Rojahn et al. (2001)
345
attention from careproviders (Thompson & Iwata, 2001) even if the attention is not serving as reinforcement for the behavior (St. Peter et al., 2005).
In short, dangerous behavior such as SIB is likely to induce various social
reactions by care providers. By merely identifying those common consequences to behavior, a behavioral assessment falls short of necessarily
identifying cause and effect variables.
A secondary limitation of indirect assessments involves the reliance
on human report, especially when the human report is given long after
the SIB event or events have occurred. In short, the information obtained
may not be accurate. There are several factors that may contribute to
the inaccuracy of indirect assessments. First, the individual providing the
information (respondent) may not be able to recall all of the relevant information about the behavioral episode or episodes. Second, the respondent may not have enough experience with the behavior. For example, a
staff member may only work with a client for a limited time and therefore
has only observed a few instances of the behavior. Third, the respondent
may provide biased responses. For example, a teacher may report that a
student is consistently reprimanded following SIB (with the teacher believing
that is the correct response), but fails to report that the student also consistently receives a break from academic tasks (believing that to be an
incorrect response). Such erroneous information might lead to a false
hypothesis regarding attention as reinforcement while ignoring the possible
hypothesis of escape from academic tasks as reinforcement.
Indirect assessments should be conducted with informants who are
commonly present when the behavior occurs and who are familiar with the
person who engages in the SIB. In most cases, the indirect assessments
are conducted with the individuals parents, teachers, or other caregivers.
During indirect assessments, informants are generally asked questions
related to the form and patterns of the SIB, possible antecedent (events
that tend to occur prior to SIB) and consequent events (events that tend
to occur as a result of SIB). Numerous indirect assessment methods exist
and range from unstructured interviews to standardized psychometric
instruments. A majority of these indirect assessments attempt to identify
possible sources of reinforcement for problem behavior including social
positive reinforcement (e.g., access to attention, access to preferred items
or activities), social negative reinforcement (e.g., avoidance of academic
tasks, escape from other people), and automatic/sensory reinforcement
or reinforcement that is not socially mediated (e.g., sensory stimulation,
attenuation of painful stimuli).
For example, in the Motivation Analysis Rating Scale (MARS) designed
by Weiseler, Hanson, Chamberlain, and Thompson (1985) informants are
asked to rate statements such as When the self-injurious behavior occurs,
the resident is trying to get something he wants. The Motivational Assessment
Scale (MAS) developed by Durand and Crimmins (1988) includes several
questions aimed at identifying relevant events that precede the problem
behavior. For example, the informant is asked to rate questions such as
Does the behavior occur when any request is made of this person? or
Does the behavior occur when you take away a favorite toy, food, or activity?
Affirmative answers to these questions may indicate that the behavior is
346
influenced by escape from tasks and access to tangible reinforcers, respectively. Other indirect assessments, such as the Questions About Behavioral
Function (QABF) include components to identify both antecedent and consequent events (e.g., Matson & Vollmer, 1995).
By comparing assessment results from two independent informants
(interrater reliability), or with the same informant over time (testretest
reliability), the reliability of indirect measures may be assessed. For instance,
the assessment could be administered to both a parent and a teacher and
then the outcomes would be compared. Or, for example, the assessment
could be administered to the teacher at one point in time and then again at
another point in time. The reliability studies on indirect assessments have
yielded mixed results (e.g., Durand & Crimmins, 1988; Andorfer, Miltenberger, Woster, Rotvedt, & Gaffaney, 1994; Zarcone, et al. 1991).
Durand and Crimmins (1988) administered the MAS to classroom
teachers of students who engaged in severe problem behavior including
self-injury. The authors compared the outcomes from two teachers and
then calculated correlation coefficients based on the results. These coefficients were calculated using the overall responses to the questions rather
than on a question-by-question basis. The authors reported a high level
of interrater reliability (e.g., correlation coefficients ranging from .62 to
.90). Zarcone et al. (1991) conducted a replication of the study with both
teachers and direct care staff of 55 individuals who engaged in self-injury.
In addition to the overall correlation coefficient calculation, Zarcone et
al. evaluated point-to-point correspondence between responses to specific
questions. The authors reported low correlation coefficients for both reliability measures. In fact, only 15% of the sample had correlation coefficients above .80.
It is important to consider that low reliability scores do not necessarily
reflect a failure of the assessment method. It is possible that the self-injury
occurs under different circumstances for different people. Therefore, it is
possible that two informants respond differently, but both are accurate.
This might especially be the case when the assessment is administered in
two different environments (e.g., school and home). It is equally possible
that testretest reliability is confounded by changes in behavioral function
over time (Lerman, Iwata, Smith, Zarcone, & Vollmer, 1994). For example,
it is possible that behavior that was once reinforced by access to attention
is now reinforced by escape from instructional activity. Collectively, these
considerations suggest that the reliability of indirect assessments may be
improved by administering the assessment within a small time window,
to individuals in the same environment who both have a lot of experience
with the behavior.
Other studies have evaluated the validity of indirect assessments by
comparing outcomes to the results from direct assessments (e.g., functional analyses) or treatment analyses (e.g., Matson, Bamburg, Cherry, &
Paclawskyj, 1999). For example, a study by Andorfer, Miltenberger, Woster,
Rortvedt, and Gaffaney (1994) compared the results from structured interviews to analogue functional assessments and found correspondence
between the two assessment methods. Validity analyses of the MAS have
347
produced mixed results. Durand and Crimmins (1988) compared the

results from the MAS to analog functional assessments, using direct
assessment procedures described by Carr and Durand (1985) as the point
of comparison. The authors reported that the MAS accurately predicted
the results from the functional analyses for eight out of eight participants.
In contrast, a study by Crawford, Brockel, Schauss, and Miltenberger
(1992) found poor validity between the MAS and both functional analyses
and direct observations.
The level of validity of indirect assessments may be related to the
characteristics of the problem behavior. For example, Paclawskyj, Matson,
Rush, Smalls, and Vollmer (2001) reported low validity scores between the
QABF and analogue functional analyses. However, the authors attributed
the results in part to difficulties with the functional analysis methodology.
That is, the problem behavior was low-frequency/high-intensity in nature
and was not observed in the function analysis conditions. Although
functional analysis is widely viewed as the acid test for behavioral
function, it is not clear it is best suited as a point of comparison for low
rate behavior because the nonoccurrence of behavior during the functional
analysis necessarily leads to a no match between the indirect and direct
assessment.
To summarize, indirect assessments can provide useful information
for subsequent direct assessments and for subsequent treatment recommendations. In addition, indirect assessments may be a useful option
when the problem behavior is not conducive to direct assessment techniques, such as with extremely low rate SIB or extremely dangerous forms
of SIB. Numerous studies have examined the reliability and validity of
indirect assessments but further research is warranted to improve the
utility of these assessments. More specifically, additional research may
help to determine the conditions under which these assessments yield
clear and accurate results. Finally, outcomes of indirect assessments
should be viewed with caution due to the idiosyncrasies of subjective
human report.
DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS
Descriptive analysis refers to the observation of behavior, usually during
naturally occurring interactions (Bijou, Peterson, & Ault, 1968; Iwata, Kahng,
Wallace, & Lindberg, 2000). Descriptive analyses are frequently used as one
component of a comprehensive assessment of SIB and, in turn, as a basis
for developing interventions to decrease SIB and to increase replacement
behavior. This approach has been applied in a variety of settings including
classrooms (e.g., Doggett et al., 2001; Ndoro, Hanley, Toger & Heal, 2006;
Sasso et al., 1992; VanDerHeyden, Witt, & Gatti, 2001), residential settings
(e.g., Lerman & Iwata, 1993; Mace & Lalli, 1991), and inpatient settings (e.g.,
Borrero, Vollmer, Borrero, & Bourret, 2005; Vollmer, Borrero, Wright, Van
Camp, & Lalli, 2001). The descriptive analysis approach is used for a variety
of response forms such as bizarre speech (Mace & Lalli, 1991), disruption,
348
and aggression (e.g., Vollmer et al., 2001), but the approach is applicable
in the assessment of SIB. In this section we describe three commonly used
approaches to descriptive analysis: direct observation, scatterplots, and
antecedent-behavior-consequence (A-B-C) recording.
Direct Observation
One approach to descriptive analysis is to have the professional assessor
directly observe behavior in the natural setting. One formal assessment tool
that has been frequently used for this purpose is the Functional Assessment
Observation (FAO) designed by ONeill, Horner, Albin, Sprague, Storey, and
Newton (1997). When using the FAO, an observer collects data (using a
paper and pencil method) on various topographies of behavior, predictors of behavior (e.g., demands, difficult task, transitions, etc.), perceived
functions of behavior (e.g., get/obtain and escape/avoid items or activities), and actual consequences for behavior. Subsequent analyses of data
collected may provide information regarding the potential function of SIB,
and to assist with treatment recommendations. Of course, when collecting
data based on naturalistic observations, a number of events typically occur
at the same time, and it may be difficult to capture all of the events using a
paper and pencil data collection method.
In recent years, much of the research on direct observation methods
has involved continuous recording using computerized data collection
programs, which allows a large number of events and behavior to be scored
during the observation. The results of a direct observation with computerized data are often analyzed by calculating the number of events that occur
antecedent and subsequent to the behavior assessed (e.g., Forman, Hall &
Oliver, 2002; Mace & Lalli, 1991; Oliver, Hall, & Nixon, 1999; & Ndoro et al.,
2006), with the most frequent antecedents and consequences considered
as potential establishing operations and reinforcers. The general approach
of using computerized assessment methodology is limited insofar as many
practitioners do not have resources available for this purpose.
There are several potential advantages to using direct observation
as an SIB assessment component. First, direct observation provides a
means of obtaining a true baseline of SIB levels occurring in the natural
environment. Having a true baseline should aid in subsequent decision
making about the efficacy or lack thereof of behavioral treatment or other
forms of treatment (such as medical treatment). Second, direct observation
may aid in developing operational definitions of the SIB. Third, idiosyncratic
antecedent events or behavioral consequences might be identified. Fourth,
direct observation may be practical in some settings where experimental
manipulation of variables is not possible. For example, in some schools it
is considered undesirable for a child to be pulled out of class for a lengthy
assessment; yet, a descriptive analysis can occur in the classroom itself.
A fifth potential advantage is that some severe forms of SIB cannot be
allowed to occur in a functional analysis, especially if the functional analysis
has a chance of temporarily increasing SIB rates. Although it might be
argued that the same severe SIB should not be allowed to occur during direct
observation either, an ethical argument can be made that the behavior
349
does in fact occur already in the natural setting and a descriptive analysis
can be kept very short if it is used mainly to capture baselines or to develop
operational definitions.
If an eventual goal is to conduct a functional analysis of SIB, but SIB
is extremely severe, a practitioner may wish to identify precursor behavior
that is highly correlated with the occurrence of SIB. Descriptive analyses
may be useful in identifying such precursors (Smith & Churchill, 2002).
Recently Borrero and Borrero (2008) conducted descriptive analyses to
identify precursors to more severe problem behavior, and subsequently
assessed both via functional analyses (Iwata et al. 1982/1994). Results
reported by Borrero and Borrero and Smith and Churchill showed that
precursors to more severe problem behavior (e.g., vocalizations that reliably preceded SIB) were members of the same operant class as SIB (i.e.,
served the same operant function).
The principle limitation of a descriptive analysis in the form of direct
observation (or any type of descriptive analysis for that matter) is that in
the absence of experimental manipulation, functional relations between
SIB and hypothesized variables cannot be confirmed. In fact, at times high
correlations identified in a descriptive analysis are misleading. For example,
St. Peter, Vollmer, Bourret, Borrero, Sloman, and Rapp (2005) showed via
descriptive analysis that various forms of problem behavior were highly
correlated with adult attention, but when a functional analysis was conducted it was shown that adult attention did not reinforce the SIB. Thus,
high positive correlations between SIB and consequent events does not
equate to identification of a reinforcer.
The severity of SIB makes it highly likely that care providers will in
some way attend to the behavior (although the attention may be functionally irrelevant to the behavior). On the other hand, some SIB may only
intermittently produce attention or other reinforcers (yielding a low correlation between SIB and the reinforcer), but such relations could represent
lean variable ratio (VR) or variable interval (VI) schedules of reinforcement.
For example, if a parent attends to SIB one out of every ten times it occurs
on average, the behavior could be reinforced on a VR 10 schedule. Thus,
as with indirect assessments, descriptive analyses should be conducted in
conjunction with functional analyses when possible to tease out correlation/causation distinctions (e.g., Arndorfer et al., 1994; Desrochers et al.,
1997; Ellingson et al., 1999).
It could be argued that, given the correlation/causation problem, why
conduct a direct observation as a form of descriptive analysis at all?
Why not skip directly to a functional analysis (described later in this
chapter)? The answer is that the purpose of the direct observation would
be to identify common situations in which the behavior occurs, to develop
operational definitions, to gather baseline data, and so on (see advantages of direct observation). In addition, further utility of direct observation
as a form of descriptive analysis is discussed below. The purpose of the
functional analysis would be to identify reinforcers maintaining behavior.
It is important to note that direct observation may provide some hints
about reinforcers maintaining behavior, but the true purpose of such an
approach should be to gather the kinds of miscellaneous information about
350
the environmental context that would not ordinarily emerge in a functional

analysis. Thus, in our view, the purposes of a descriptive analysis and of a
functional analysis are different.
If both a direct observation (as descriptive analysis) and a functional
analysis are used to identify the operant function of behavior, the results
of these methods too often do not match. Thus, reinforcer identification via descriptive analysis is considered (at least by us) to be an inappropriate usage of the method. Whereas previously common usage of
the descriptive analysis was as a prelude to a functional analysis (e.g.,
Mace & Lalli, 1991; Lerman & Iwata, 1993), a more recent usage of the
direct observation during a descriptive analysis is just the opposite: to
evaluate what reinforcement contingencies might look like in the natural
environment once reinforcers have already been identified via functional
analysis.
In short, data obtained via direct observation can provide a means
to quantify details of naturally occurring social interactions that might
strengthen SIB. For example, descriptive data may be evaluated to compare
probabilities during naturally occurring interactions (e.g., the probability
of attention given SIB vs. the overall probability of attention; Vollmer et al.,
2001) or to evaluate dynamic moment-to-moment changes in the probability
of various environmentbehavior relations via lag sequential analysis (e.g.,
Emerson et al., 1995; Samaha et al., in press).
Descriptive data may also be used to identify parameters of reinforcement for both SIB and replacement behavior, including the rate,
duration, probability, quality, and delay to reinforcement (e.g., Borrero
et al., 2005). Conceivably such information could be critical to obtain
as a baseline from which to compare the effects of care provider training. For example, in some cases SIB must be reinforced (such as when
a care provider must block attention-maintained SIB). As a result, the
probability of attention following SIB may be very close to 1.0, but the
care provider could improve the relative parameters of reinforcement for
replacement behavior. Table 12.2 shows hypothetical data on reinforcement parameters for SIB reinforced by attention. The left two columns
show the reinforcement parameters for SIB and replacement behavior
prior to training and the right two columns show the reinforcement
parameters after training.
Table 12.2.
Replacement
Parameter
SIB
Replacement
Behavior
SIB
Replacement
Behavior
Rate
Duration
Probability
Delay
.95 per min

30 s
1.0
0s
.12 per min

3s
.1
20 s
.3 per min
5s
.2
45 s
.95 per min

40 s
.99
0s
Hypothetical data on reinforcement parameters for SIB reinforced by attention. The left
two columns show the reinforcement parameters for SIB and replacement behavior prior to
training and the right two columns show the reinforcement parameters after training.
351
Scatterplot
At times it is either inconvenient or not possible for a professional
psychologist or behavior analyst to directly observe SIB. In such cases, care
providers such as staff, parents, and teachers are asked to collect data,
usually in some simplified and manageable format that would not require
extensive training or time consumption. One example is the scatterplot
technique. Touchette, MacDonald, and Langer (1985) used a scatterplot
to estimate the frequency of problem behavior across days and weeks to
identify patterns in responding. The scatterplot method usually involves a
grid data sheet that allows for the recording of data in specified time intervals (e.g., 30-min intervals through school hours) that correspond to the
individuals daily schedule. Typically, the frequency of behavior is scored
as either no occurrence (or leaving the box blank), low-rate responding
(e.g., drawing stripes in the box), and high-rate responding (e.g., filling in
the box). Prior to completing the scatterplot, low- and high-rate responding must be defined on an individual basis. Figure 12.1 shows an example of
a scatterplot data sheet.
After the scatterplot is completed, it may be possible to see patterns in
responding, such as behavior occurring at a certain time of day or during a
specific activity. In fact, Touchette et al. (1985) used the scatterplot to identify times of day associated with SIB and aggression and then made changes
in the programmed schedule for participants, resulting in a decrease in
problem behavior. Although it was not highlighted by Touchette et al, another
potential advantage of a scatterplot is that it yields a visual display to estimate the occurrence of behavior both before and after the initiation of SIB
treatment. Thus, advantages of the scatterplot method include ease of implementation, possible identification of SIB allocation by time of day or activity,
and possible use as an estimate of baseline SIB occurrences.
Despite the possible advantages, there are some limitations to the scatterplot to consider. First, just as with any descriptive analysis method, only
behaviorenvironment correlations can be obtained (rather than cause
effect relations). Second, although it may be fairly simple to complete the
grid, the method may not be sensitive to changes in high-rate SIB. For
example, if during baseline high-rate SIB occurs 20 or more times during
a 30-min interval, the scatterplot might look the same following treatment
even when a 50% reduction in behavior is obtained. Third, although identification of temporal patterns is a common usage of scatterplots, clear
outcomes may be relatively rare. Kahng et al. (1998) evaluated completed
scatterplots for 15 individuals (those individuals for whom acceptable reliability data were obtained) and found that out of the 15 scatterplots no reliable temporal patterns of responding were identified via visual analysis.
A-B-C Recording
The A-B-C method is another relatively simple approach that is most
often conducted by care providers, after a modicum of training, in the
natural environment. The A-B-C method involves recording potential
antecedents to and consequences of behavior, as suggested by Skinners
352
Name __Client C
Month __March
__
1-5 responses
No responses
5+ responses
Response __self-injury
Date
30-min
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Intervals
9:00-9:30
9:30-10:00
10:00-10:30
10:30-11:00
11:00-11:30
11:30-12:00
12:00-12:30
12:30-1:00
1:00-1:30
1:30-2:00
2:00-2:30
2:30-3:00
3:00-3:30
3:30-4:00
4:00-4:30
4:30-5:00
5:00-5:30
Figure 12.1. Completed scatterplot sheet. Dates are listed horizontally and 30-minute intervals are listed
vertically. The different patterns denote different frequencies of self-injury for the particular interval.
353
three-term contingency (Skinner, 1953). Simple A-B-C data sheets typically

use narrative recording, and include a definition of the behavior, and columns where the observer should record what happened before and after
the behavior. The space for recording antecedents and consequences can
be left open ended (see Figure 12.2), or might contain multiple options in
order to focus the responses of the observer (see Figure 12.3).
The primary advantage of the A-B-C method is the ease of implementation. A second advantage is that if behavior is low-rate, a professional
observer is not likely to see the behavior. Thus, having a care provider
record instances of behavior allows the professional to obtain some level of
information in the absence of direct observation. The potential disadvantages include possible problems with data reliability (given that observers are
not professionally trained observers) and possible problems with the type
of information reported. Although very little research has been conducted
using parents and staff as observers, our experience has been that a wide
range of descriptions are recorded on A-B-C sheets, and those descriptions
are not always technically sound and do not always represent observable
environmental events.
Instructions: When an instance of SIB occurs, record the activity/event that occurred
prior to the behavior, and the activity/event that occurred following the behavior.
Date and Time
SIB occurred
Description
of SIB
What occurred
before SIB?
What occurred
after SIB?
Figure 12.2. An example of a simple A-B-C recording sheet.
Additional
Comments
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Date and
Time

Description What occurred before
of SIB
SIB? (Please check)
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
Instructions
Item Removed
No Attention
Close Proximity
Diverted Attention
No Specific Event
Other
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
Instructions
_____
Item Removed
_____
No Attention
_____
Close Proximity
_____
Diverted Attention _____
No Specific Event _____
Other
_____
_____
Instructions
_____
Item Removed
_____
No Attention
_____
Close Proximity
_____
_____ No Specific Event

_____ Other
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
_____
What occurred after SIB? Additional

(Please check)
Comments
_____
_____
_____
Instructions
_____
Item Removed
_____
No Attention
_____
Close Proximity
_____
No Specific Event _____
Other
_____
_____
Instructions ended
Instructions cont.
Reprimand
Medical Attention
No Attention
Item Presented
No Specific Event
Other
Instructions ended
Instructions cont.
Reprimand
Medical Attention
No Attention
Item Presented
No Specific Event
Other
Instructions ended
Instructions cont.
Reprimand
Medical Attention
No Attention
Item Presented
No Specific Event
Other
Instructions ended
Instructions cont.
Reprimand
Medical Attention
No Attention
Item Presented
No Specific Event
Other
Figure 12.3. An example of an A-B-C recording sheet with multiple options for antecedent
and consequent events.
Functional Analysis
The term functional analysis as it relates to SIB assessment refers to
specific procedures to identify relationships between antecedent and consequent events and behavior. Functional analysis differs from other forms
of behavioral assessment in that it not only involves direct observation
and repeated measurement of behavior, but also involves an experimental
manipulation of environmental variables. That is, antecedent events (e.g.,
restriction of preferred items, presentation of demands) are controlled,
and consequent events (e.g., delivery of preferred items, termination of
demands) are provided contingent upon problem behavior in order to test
hypotheses about the operant function of behavior. Functional analyses
355
have been conducted for almost every type of SIB that has been reported
in the literature, including head banging (Iwata, Pace, Cowdery, & Miltenberger, 1994), hand mouthing or biting (Goh et al., 1994), scratching (Cowdery, Iwata, & Pace, 1990), pica (Piazza, Hanley, & Fisher, 1996), and eye
poking (Lalli, Livezey, & Kates, 1996), among many others.
The presentation of potential reinforcing events for SIB may seem
counterintuitive upon initial consideration for assessment and treatment
purposes. Why would the professional want to make the behavior worse?
A medical analogy that helps make sense of the assessment logic is to consider the purpose of an allergy test: the allergist intentionally exposes the
patient to hypothesized allergens and then evaluates the response to those
hypothesized allergens. Analogously, in the assessment of SIB, a functional analysis is conducted as a means of exposing an individual, albeit
temporarily, to possible environmental factors causing SIB. The functional
analysis approach is considered the best practice for identifying environmental variables affecting problem behavior, at least when behavior occurs
at a high enough rate to be observed during relatively short duration
sessions and when an individual is not placed in immediate and severe
danger (Hanley, Iwata, & McCord, 2003).
Typically, a functional analysis includes conditions to serve as analogues for typical situations in the individuals natural environment. Thus,
the individual is not being exposed to situations he or she does not already
experience on a day-to-day basis. Functional analyses may lead to effective
interventions because the treatment can be based on known functional
properties of the SIB rather than being based on a priori assumptions,
potentially spurious correlations (St. Peter et al., 2005), or verbal report.
A complete functional analysis of behavior may also prevent the implementation of treatments that are contraindicated to the function of problem behavior (e.g., Iwata et al., 1994). For example, timeout might actually
reinforce escape maintained SIB.
Because SIB is such a dangerous behavior disorder, several considerations must be addressed before conducting functional analyses.
For example, if there is risk of immediate tissue damage or trauma, medical personnel should be consulted. Medical personnel can help evaluate
whether the SIB is amenable to a functional analysis, and also help to
determine appropriate session termination criteria if the SIB becomes too
severe (Iwata et al., 1982/1994). There may be cases when the characteristics of the behavior (e.g., frequency or topography) are determined to
be inappropriate for a functional analysis. For example, the behavior may
occur at low rates (e.g., once per day) or the behavior may be too dangerous
(e.g., pica with sharp metallic objects) to expose to a functional analysis.
For these cases, other assessment methods (e.g., indirect assessments) or
variations of traditional functional analyses may be more appropriate.
Although the functional analysis of SIB has been a hallmark of behavior
analysis for many years (e.g., Lovaas and Simmons, 1969), Iwata et al.
(1982/1994) presented the first empirical demonstration of functional
analysis methodology designed specifically as an assessment method.
Iwata et al. conducted functional analyses for nine children who engaged
in SIB. The assessment results pointed to clear variables maintaining SIB
356
for six of the nine participants. The methodology described by Iwata et al.
has served as the standard model for a majority of subsequent functional
analysis studies and clinical applications. Functional analyses are commonly conducted in highly controlled settings, such as inpatient hospital
settings, so that all relevant environmental variables (e.g., delivery of
attention) can be regulated. However, functional analyses have also been
conducted in other environments such as the clients home or school (e.g.,
Northup et al., 1994).
Most functional analyses include three test conditions and one control
condition. The purpose of the control condition is to evaluate the effects
of an environment in which little SIB is expected to occur (Iwata et al.,
1982/94). In the control condition, the client is typically given free access
to preferred items and the therapist delivers attention on a time-based
schedule. Additionally, no demands are placed on the client. The purpose
of two of the test conditions is to evaluate the sensitivity of SIB to common
socially mediated consequences such as positive reinforcement (such as
adult attention or contingent access to preferred tangible items) and negative reinforcement (such as escape from instructional activity or self care
routines).
There is also usually a test condition for automatically reinforced
behavior, or behavior that occurs in the absence of socially medicated
consequences (e.g., the client is left alone in a room in order to evaluate
whether the behavior persists in the absence of socially mediated consequences.) Each session (whether test or control) typically lasts 5 to 15
minutes. The presentation of conditions is usually alternated randomly
in a multielement experimental design (Sidman, 1960). However, other
design variations have been used including the repeated measurement of
SIB in reversal designs (e.g., Vollmer, Iwata, Duncan, & Lerman, 1993b)
and alternation of one test and control condition at a time (pairwise design;
Iwata, Duncan, Zarcone, Lerman, & Shore, 1994).
In most functional analysis conditions, the consequence is provided for
each occurrence of problem behavior (a continuous reinforcement schedule, or CRF). For example, in the attention condition (described below)
the adult therapist provides a reprimand, comfort statement, or some other
form of attention every time SIB occurs. Some researchers have argued that
CRF leads to better discrimination of test conditions and therefore yields
clear assessment results (Iwata, Vollmer, & Zarcone, 1990). However, some
researchers have used intermittent reinforcement schedules in order to
more closely mimic consequences as they are delivered in the natural environment (e.g., Lalli & Casey, 1996). Whatever the reinforcement schedule,
a common feature of functional analyses is that data are collected on the
rates of SIB for the purposes of comparison in each of the conditions.
The response patterns in each of the test conditions are then compared
to the control condition. A higher rate of responding in a particular test
condition indicates a possible source of reinforcement. Some of the most
frequently used functional analysis conditions are described below.
Care provider attention has been shown to be one of the most common
consequences for problematic behavior, including SIB, displayed by individuals with developmental disabilities (e.g., Thompson & Iwata, 2001).
357
In the attention condition, the client has access to preferred items or activities and the therapist engages in work or other activities away from the
client. Some variations of this condition involve a diverted attention component in which the therapist attends to other individuals in the environment, and not the client. When an instance of SIB occurs, the therapist
turns toward the client and provides brief attention. Higher rates of selfinjury in the attention condition relative to the control condition would
suggest that SIB is reinforced by attention. The upper panel of Figure 12.4
shows hypothetical results of a functional analysis showing reinforcement
via attention.
An attempt should be made to match the type of attention delivered in
the functional analysis to the type of attention commonly provided in the
clients natural environment. For example, some care providers are more
likely to reprimand SIB whereas other care providers are more likely to provide comfort or soothing conversation after SIB. Some studies have shown
that the form of attention may influence the reinforcing value of attention
as reinforcement for problem behavior (e.g., Fisher, Ninness, Piazza, &
Owen-DeSchryver, 1996; Piazza, et al., 1999). For example, Piazza et al.
found that for some participants verbal reprimands were actually more
potent reinforcers than praise statements. Thus, consideration of the form
of attention should be addressed prior to implementing a social positive
reinforcement test condition.
Another form of social positive reinforcement is the delivery of preferred
toys, food, or activities. In natural interactions, these items are sometimes
given to clients after SIB as a means to distract or appease the client, but the
result is an inadvertent reinforcement effect. The test condition for this type
of reinforcement is sometimes called the tangible condition. In the tangible
condition, the therapist provides attention to the client but access to highly
preferred items or activities is restricted. When SIB occurs, the therapist
allows access to the items for a short period of time. Higher rates of SIB in
the tangible condition, relative to the control condition would suggest that
SIB is reinforced by access to tangible items. The second panel of Figure
12.4 shows hypothetical results for behavior reinforced by tangibles.
The tangible condition is typically included in the functional analysis if other assessments (e.g., caregiver interviews, direct observations)
have determined that access to tangibles is a common consequence for the
problem behavior. Otherwise, one concern is the inclusion of tangible condition may lead to a false positive functional analysis outcome (e.g., Shirley,
Iwata, & Kahng, 1999). For example, Shirley et al. conducted functional
analyses of hand mouthing for one participant and found that elevated
rates of hand mouthing occurred across two test conditions, including
the tangible condition. However, direct observations in the participants
natural environment showed that presentation of preferred items never
followed hand mouthing. However, it is important to note that there may
be some utility to including a tangible condition even if that is not how SIB
is currently maintained for a given individual: that is, it could be argued
that SIB is at least sensitive to tangible reinforcement and, therefore, clear
recommendations could be made to avoid contingent delivery of tangibles
as a consequence to SIB.

Responses per Minute (SIB)
358
1
0.8
Control
0.6
0.4
Attention
0.2
0
10
12
14
16
18
20
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
Tangible
0.4
0.2
0
2
10
12
14
16
18
20
14
16
18
20
16
18
20
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
Escape
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
2
10
12
2
1.5
1
Alone
0.5
0
2
10
12
Sessions
14
Figure 12.4. Hypothetical functional analysis outcomes. For all of the panels, the attention
condition is represented by the open circles, the tangible condition is represented by the
open squares, the escape condition is represented by the closed squares, the alone condition is represented by the open triangles, and the play condition is represented by the closed
circles. (Upper Panel) Functional analysis outcome for self-injury maintained by access to
attention. (Upper Middle Panel) Functional analysis outcomes for self-injury maintained by
access to tangibles. (Lower Middle Panel) Functional analysis outcome for self-injury maintained by escape from demands. (Lower Panel) Functional analysis outcome for self-injury
maintained by automatic reinforcement.
359
Escape from demands (e.g., academic tasks, self-care routines, chores)

is another common consequence for SIB. In fact, Thompson and Iwata
(2001) evaluated common consequences for various topographies of problem
behavior and found that escape from demands was the most common
consequence for SIB among adults with developmental disabilities living
in a residential facility. To improve the validity of the functional analysis
outcomes, the demand context should be similar to demands that the
individual experiences in the natural environment. The type of demand
presented may affect the functional analysis outcomes. For example, a client may readily comply with academic tasks but may engage in SIB during
self-care tasks. Using only academic tasks in the escape condition of the
functional analysis would yield inaccurate results (i.e., a false negative).
In the escape condition (also called the demand condition), the therapist presents demands to the client using a three-step prompting sequence.
The prompting sequence first begins with a verbal instruction. If the client
does not comply within a specified time period (usually five or ten seconds),
the therapist performs a model or demonstration of the correct response. If
the client again does not comply within a specified time period, the therapist
physically guides him or her to comply. If compliance occurs at any point
in the sequence, the therapist provides brief praise and then restarts the
prompting sequence. This sequence continues unless the client engages in
SIB. If SIB occurs, the therapist turns away from the client and provides
a brief break from the instructional activities. Higher rates of responding
in the escape condition relative to the control condition would suggest that
SIB is reinforced by escape from demands. The third panel of Figure 12.4
shows hypothetical results for SIB reinforced by escape.
The most common type of social negative reinforcement is escape
from demands or instructional activities. However, in some cases, the
mere proximity of another person may evoke self-injury. A variation of the
escape condition, known as social escape, has also been conducted in
functional analyses (e.g., Iwata, Pace et al. 1994). In this condition, the
therapist is in close proximity to the client and may provide attention. If
SIB occurs, the therapist moves away from the client for a brief period of
time. Higher rates in the social escape condition relative to the control
condition indicate that behavior is reinforced by escape or avoidance of
close social or physical proximity.
In some cases SIB may persist in the absence or independent of social
consequences. This type of reinforcement has been referred to as automatic reinforcement because the behavior produces its own reinforcement
in the form of sensory stimulation or pain attenuation. The meaning of
automatic is simply to imply that no social mediation is responsible for
reinforcement of the behavior; it is not an explanation of the actual source
of reinforcement. An epidemiological study by Iwata and colleagues (1994)
showed that over 25% of 152 participants SIB were maintained by automatic reinforcement.
An alone or no consequence condition is typically used to test if behavior
is automatically reinforced. In these conditions, the client is either left
alone in a room and observed through a one-way mirror, or remains in the
room with a therapist who provides no programmed consequences for SIB.
Higher rates in the alone or no consequence condition relative to the control
360
condition suggests that behavior is maintained by automatic reinforcement.

Undifferentiated responding, or responding that is high in all conditions
including the control condition, may also suggest that behavior is maintained by automatic reinforcement, especially if the SIB does not extinguish following repeated alone or no consequence sessions (e.g., Vollmer,
Marcus, Ringdahl, & Roane, 1995). The lower panel of Figure 12.4 shows
hypothetical results for SIB maintained by automatic reinforcement.
Carr and Durand (1985) presented another variation of functional
analysis methodology with four children who engaged in problem behavior,
including SIB, in a school setting. Only antecedent events (i.e., presentation
of attention and demands) were manipulated and no consequent events
were programmed. Two experimental conditions and one control condition
were included. One experimental condition evaluated the effects of low
rates of antecedent teacher attention on problem behavior. Higher rates
in this condition relative to the control condition suggested that behavior
was sensitive to access to attention (i.e., the participants were motivated to
increase attention levels under conditions of low attention). The other test
condition evaluated the effects of presenting difficult demands on problem behavior. Higher rates in this condition relative to the control condition suggested behavior was sensitive to escape from demands (i.e., the
participants were motivated to decrease demand difficulty under conditions of high demand). Results from Carr and Durand showed this method
produced clear results for all four participants. In addition, treatments
based on the results of the functional analysis were presented and showed
decreases in disruptive behavior for all participants.
Carr and Durands variation of functional analysis may have advantages
over traditional functional analyses because no programmed consequences
are delivered, so problem behavior is not intentionally reinforced. However,
there may be some limitations to this methodology. First, because consequent
events are not manipulated, there is no empirical demonstration of causeand-effect relationships between reinforcement and behavior. Second, it is
possible that behavior would extinguish, or stop occurring during the sessions without the presentation of maintaining consequent events (i.e., reinforcers). Third, the antecedent manipulations may not be noticeable enough
to produce differences across conditions. That is, this method requires the
participant to be sensitive to slight changes such as delivery of attention
once every 10 s in the control condition compared to delivery of attention
once every 30 s in the attention condition (Fischer, Iwata, & Worsdell, 1997).
Finally, this antecedent type of functional analysis fails to test for other possible
sources of reinforcement such as access to preferred items or activities and
automatic reinforcement.
Overall, a clear advantage of functional analysis as an SIB assessment
is that functional relations between the behavior and environment are
demonstrated. This is an advantage over descriptive analyses, where only
correlations can be identified and it is an advantage over verbal reports
and checklists because it is based on experimental logic and direct behavioral observation.
Despite the utility of functional analyses, several potential limitations
have been reported. One putative limitation of functional analysis methodol-
361
ogy is the time required to complete the assessment. In some settings,

time constraints may preclude a thorough functional analysis. However,
some studies have evaluated the efficacy of brief functional analyses (e.g.,
Cooper, Wacker, Sasso, Reimers, & Donn, 1990; Cooper et al., 1992; Derby,
et al., 1992; Harding, Wacker, Cooper, Millard, & Jensen-Kovalan, 1994;
Northup et al., 1991). For example, Northup et al. (1991) conducted brief
functional analyses in an outpatient clinic setting with three individuals who
engaged in aggressive behavior. In some cases, the time to conduct the assessment was limited to 90 minutes. The assessments involved one to two brief
10-minute exposures to functional analysis conditions similar to Iwata et al.
(1994). For some participants, responding was differentially higher in the test
conditions than the control condition. In addition, implementation of a treatment resulted in high rates of appropriate behavior and low rates of problem
behavior.
Derby et al. (1992) conducted a large-scale study to evaluate the
efficacy of brief functional analyses. Results from 79 brief functional
analyses were summarized and showed that only 63% of the participants engaged in the problem behavior during the functional analysis.
Maintaining variables were identified for 74% of the participants who did
exhibit problem behavior during the brief assessment. Thus, brief functional analyses may only be effective for a limited number of individuals.
In addition, data analysis techniques such as minute-by-minute evaluations can reduce the assessment duration in some cases (e.g., Vollmer,
Marcus, Ringdahl, & Roane, 1995).
A second potential limitation of functional analysis is that it may be
inappropriate for some types of behavior. For instance, the topography of
SIB may be too severe to expose to functional analysis conditions. However, in these cases, it may be possible to identify precursor behavior (i.e.,
behavior that reliably precedes the self-injury) and conduct functional
analyses of these responses. For example, Smith and Churchill (2002)
conducted functional analyses of both SIB and precursor behavior for four
participants and showed that the function of SIB could be inferred by
conducting functional analyses of precursor behavior.
Functional analyses may also be inappropriate for behavior that
occurs infrequently (e.g., once per day). However, varying the duration or
structure of conditions of the functional analysis may better accommodate
low-rate behavior. For example, it may be possible to identify specific times
of the day that the behavior occurs and then conduct the functional analysis
during these times. Furthermore, the time allotment for each condition
can be increased from the typical 10 to 15 minutes to longer time periods
(e.g., one to two hours) to adequately assess the behavior. Kahng, Abt, and
Schoenbacher (2001) reported the successful assessment and treatment
of low rate behavior using extended-time functional analysis methods for
one participant in a hospital inpatient setting.
Another potential limitation is when functional analyses result in undifferentiated response patterns. This may occur for several reasons: the SIB
may be automatically reinforced, the SIB may be multiply controlled (i.e.,
reinforced by more than one general type of consequence), the individual
may not be discriminating the test conditions, or there may be carryover
362
effects from one test condition to another. Although problematic, the issue
of undifferentiated outcomes can be resolved in some cases, depending on
the reason for the undifferentiated outcome. For example, undifferentiated
results produced by automatic reinforcement can be identified by running
numerous consecutive alone sessions to see if SIB extinguishes (e.g.,
Ellingson et al., 2000).
Undifferentiated results produced by multiple controls can be identified by sequentially implementing treatments to address one hypothesized
operant function and then another (Smith, Iwata, Vollmer, & Zarcone,
1993). Undifferentiated outcomes produced by discrimination failures can
be overcome by enhancing (distinguishing) stimulus features of the test
conditions, such as therapist, therapist clothing color, and so on (Conners
et al., 2000). Undifferentiated results produced by carryover effects from
one condition to another can be identified by carefully evaluating withinsession response patterns (Vollmer, Iwata, Duncan, & Lerman, 1993a).
For example, Vollmer et al. found that sessions following attention sessions produced an apparent extinction burst of SIB that yielded similar
overall session means but distinct response patterns that pointed to attention as a source of reinforcement.
Thus, functional analysis is a robust method for assessing SIB. In
addition, the use of functional analysis techniques has resulted in the
development of effective, function- based treatments. The results from
several studies show that functional analysis methodology can be adapted
for special situations in which traditional functional analysis methods
either cannot be conducted or somehow produce unclear results. Nonetheless, more research on functional analysis is needed. Some of the most
obvious assessment-related research questions remain unanswered as of
this writing; for example, does a functional analysis lead to overall better
treatment effects than would have occurred if a reasonably educated professional implemented intervention after a modicum of direct observation?
RESPONSE PRODUCTS
When assessing SIB through direct observation and functional analysis methods, results are presented using rate or interval recording methods.
It is also sometimes useful to assess response severity or intensity and its
corresponding response products (Marholin & Steinman, 1977). Response
products involve measuring the outcome of a response rather than the
rate of the response itself (Miltenberger, 2001). By definition, SIB suggests
that physical damage has been caused by the response (Iwata et al., 1990).
The type of injury caused by the response may differ depending on the
topography of the response (e.g., self-biting, hitting head on a hard surface, skin-picking).
The principal advantage of an evaluation of SIB response products
comes when assessing a response for which rate of responding does not
indicate the level of damage caused by SIB. For example, if an individual hits
his or her head on a hard surface, low-rate responding may still be problematic if such SIB causes substantial physical harm. A second advantage
363
is that a baseline response product (injury) measurement provides a point

of comparison when a goal of a SIB intervention is not merely to reduce
SIB, but to reduce its associated sequelae (i.e., injury itself).
A third potential advantage of SIB response product measurement is
that, in some cases, responses may only occur covertly (e.g., Grace, Thompson,
& Fisher, 1996; Rapp et al., 1999); that is, responses occur either when
the individual is alone or when the individual cannot be observed. Thus,
response products of SIB may be the only evidence that the response has
occurred and assessments of physical damage may be the only source of
information regarding the severity and occurrence of a response. Although
self-cutting displayed by otherwise typically developing adolescents is
not a focus of this chapter, such SIB typically occurs covertly and might
only be assessed via response products. Assessing response products for
self-cutting therefore represents a promising future application.
Research on SIB response products has provided useful tools for the
assessment of SIB severity (e.g., Iwata, Pace, Kissel, Nau, & Farber, 1990;
Wilson, Iwata & Bloom, in press), including during SIB treatment (e.g., Carr
& McDowell, 1980; Grace, Thompson, & Fisher, 1996). Iwata et al. (1990b)
developed the Self-Injury Trauma (SIT) scale to classify and quantify damage resulting from various topographies of SIB, including the location,
number, severity, and type of injury. The researchers developed the scale
to provide objective measurements of these variables, and experimentally
validated the reliability of 50 completed scales by assessing interobserver
agreement (IOA) for all variables. Results showed that IOA calculated for
the SIT scale was always above 89%, and, for some variables, including
location of injuries, type of injuries, severity of injuries, the overall agreement was at least 94%.
Advantages of this instrument include the objective nature of the scale,
and its applicability to assess various aspects of injury. Disadvantages of
the instrument include the lack of rate measures and difficulty in assessing internal injuries. Thus, as recommended by Iwata et al. (1990b), the
instrument should be used in conjunction with direct observations of the
behavior and other medical evaluation.
Grace et al. (1996) conducted an assessment and treatment of severe
SIB exhibited by an adult diagnosed with developmental disabilities with SIB
response products serving as a dependent variable. The participant often
engaged in SIB (i.e., skin picking, head banging, and inserting objects in his
nose and ears), that was rarely observed. However, the SIB response products
were observed (i.e., bleeding, objects observed in his nose and ears). In the
study, nurses completed physical exams and documented existing physical
injuries, as well as new ones. One specific dependent measure was the percentage of exams with new injuries. A subsequent treatment analysis was
conducted and resulted in a decrease in the occurrence of new injuries.
Chapman, Fisher, Piazza, and Kurtz (1993) have applied a relatively
novel approach to the use of response products, as applied to a particularly challenging form of self-injury. As a component of this study, Chapman et al. applied blue residue to pill bottles (containing colored placebos).
In conjunction with direct observation, the researchers assessed pill bottle manipulation (correlated with pill ingestion) based on blue residue
364
that appeared on the participants hands and clothing. A treatment that

involved differential reinforcement and ultimate elimination of the blue
residue successfully reduced self-injury.
More recently, Wilson et al. (in press) used a computerized measurement
of wound surface areas (WSA) to assess SIB. They compared the computerized method of measurement of WSA, using digital photographs, to the transparency method of measurement and found that the results were similar for
both methods. Then the researchers compared the computerized measurement method to direct observation to determine if both methods were successful in identifying changes in the levels of SIB during assessment and
treatment conditions. Results showed that both methods indicated changes
in the levels of SIB, and suggested that the computerized method for measuring response products may not only enhance the results of direct observation, but may be used as a primary dependent variable for SIB.
As mentioned previously, there are some limitations to using response
products as the dependent variable when assessing SIB. Perhaps the most
apparent limitation associated with using permanent products (alone), is
the extent to which the cause of the injury can be adequately inferred.
For example, an individual with an extensive history of self-injury may
present with bruising as result of a fall, or as a result of self-injury. Thus, interpretations based on response products should be interpreted cautiously,
and preferably should be used in conjunction with direct observation
when possible. Although it is important and often necessary to determine
the extent of the physical damage caused by SIB, response products do
not provide any information regarding the rate of self-injury, and may not
identify particular situations or conditions under which self-injury occurs.
An additional limitation pointed out by Iwata et al. (1990) suggests that
the SIT and similar methods merely provide a physical description of the
injury on the surface of the skin, and do not measure internal injuries.
Additional medical assessments may be indicated to provide such information, such as x-rays, CT scans, ultrasounds, and so on.
CONCLUSIONS
Self-injury is a complex and severe behavior disorder displayed by
individuals with developmental disabilities. A large body of research suggests that SIB is learned (operant) behavior sometimes reinforced by other
people and sometimes reinforced automatically. The purpose of a behavioral assessment is to identify where and when the SIB is most likely and
least likely to occur and to identify possible sources of reinforcement for
the behavior. Assessment methods include indirect techniques such as
checklists and questionnaires, descriptive analysis, functional analysis,
and response product measurement. Although each assessment type has
its own set of strengths and limitations, some combination of assessment
components is usually recommended and rarely should any single assessment type by used in isolation.
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An idealized behavioral assessment of SIB would include first a set of

interviews with relevant care providers; second, direct observation by a
professional coupled with simple data collection by care providers; third,
a functional analysis of hypothesized sources of reinforcement; and fourth,
an evaluation of response products (injury) caused by the behavior.
Collectively, the information obtained would serve as an empirical basis to
address perceptions of relevant care providers, idiosyncracies of the SIB
in the natural environment, cause and effect relations, and the extent of
tissue damage caused by the behavior.
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13
Autism Spectrum
Disorders and Comorbid
Psychopathology
JESSICA A. BOISJOLI and JOHNNY L. MATSON
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a group of disorders that are typically first diagnosed in childhood. These disorders are characterized by a
triad of impairments that often require specialized intervention and treatment throughout childhood and oftentimes into adulthood. In addition to
the three major impairments of ASD (i.e., socialization, communication, and
restricted interests and repetitive behaviors), co-occurring behavioral challenges and psychopathology are also evident and even occur at higher rates
than in the general population (Gillberg & Billstedt, 2000). The aim of this
chapter is to review the assessment of ASD and comorbid psychopathology.
AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

Over the past 60 years since Leo Kanner (1943) first wrote of 11 children
he termed as having autistic disturbance of affective contact there has
been and continues to be an impressive amount of research and interest
on the topic. The deficit reported by Kanner to be present in all of the
11 children was a disability in relating themselves in the ordinary way to
people and situations from the beginning of life (p. 242). At the same time
as Kanners initial research on children with autism, Hans Asperger (1991),
an Austrian physician, also wrote of 4 children that he reported as having
an autistic psychopathy. All of the observed children had impairments
in the areas of nonverbal communication, social adaptation, and special

State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803.
Department of Psychology, Louisiana

371
372
interests, and evinced idiosyncrasies in verbal communication, intellectualization of affect, clumsiness and poor body awareness, and conduct
problems. What both Kanner and Asperger were studying were children
with ASD.
Core Features of ASD

Since the earliest research in the field of ASD, a common theme has
been the triad of impairments. These impairments encompass the following domains: socialization, communication, and behavior (i.e., resistance
to change, repetitive movements). An overview of these core features of
ASD follows.
Socialization
A key feature in people with ASD is their inability to relate to other
people. Typically developing babies learn throughout the first months of
life to socialize with those in their environment. Infants look at the face of
a caregiver, make eye contact, and vocalize. Historical accounts from parents have indicated that infants with ASD fail to socially smile, engage in
eye contact, and other social behaviors appropriate for their developmental level (Volkmar, 1987). By about six to nine months, typically developing
children begin to share attention with other people. This phenomenon is
referred to as joint attention and entails looking at a person and then
either looking at or pointing to an object of interest in order to coordinate
attention. Many children with ASD fail to master the use of eye gaze and
gestures to share attention with another person. Because joint attention
is a social skill that is typically acquired at such a young age, impairment
in joint attention is one of the first symptoms noticed in infants with ASD
(Osterling & Dawson, 1994).
Although some social functioning may improve as children develop
(Rutter & Garmezy, 1983), deficits in social skills are lifelong and continue
into adulthood (Matson, Baglio, Smirolodo, Hamilton, & Packlowskyj,
1996). Intellectual disability (ID) co-occurs in a large number of individuals
with ASD, and individuals with the more severe forms of ID typically have
greater deficits in social skills. ID coupled with symptomotology of ASD
then results in much greater deficits in this domain (Njardvic, Matson, &
Cherry, 1999). Njardvik and colleagues (1999) studied the differences in
social skills between participants with Autistic Disorder (AD), Pervasive
Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS; a less severe
variant of ASD), and ID only.
Social skills deficits were most severe in people with AD, followed by
those with PDD-NOS, and then ID. Additionally, significant differences
were found between the skills of people with AD and those with just ID.
Fewer differences were found between participants with PDD-NOS and
those with AD and those with ID only. These results are consistent with
current literature, characterizing ASD as a disorder of social skills with
more severe deficits in social skills in people with AD and less severe deficits in individuals with PDD-NOS.
AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS AND COMORBID PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
373
Language and Communication

Early research on ASD suggested that about half of the individuals with
a diagnosis would never acquire speech (Rutter, 1978). However, this estimate may be decreasing due to more accurate methods of diagnosis, earlier
diagnosis, and early intervention (Klinger, Dawson, & Renner, 2003). Some
people with autism never develop speech and for those who do, many never
acquire functional speech. For many individuals with ASD who do have
language, their speech may be abnormal, involving echolalia and pronoun
reversal (Rutter & Bartak, 1971). Furthermore, for the children who develop
language, their speech may be of unusual rhythm, stress, intonation, or
volume when compared to other children with ID (Lord et al., 2000).
In addition to the deficits in verbal communication, people with ASD
also have marked difficulties with nonverbal communication. Eye contact/
gaze and nodding in response to a request or to gain attention from a person are often impaired. Deficits in nonverbal communication also encompass their awareness of other peoples nonverbal communication, such as
facial expression and body language. For example, a person with ASD may
engage in monologues about a particular area of interest without noticing
the listeners obvious lack of interest displayed through body language,
such as yawning or looking away.
For people with ASD, deficits in communication overlap with the deficits in socialization. The social context of language is referred to as pragmatics. Although some people with ASD develop language, their use of
language in conversations and in a social context is lacking. Deficiencies
in social interactions such as maintaining, joining, and ending conversations, are often noted.
Behavior
The third hallmark characteristic of individuals with ASD encompasses
behavioral excesses. Restricted areas of interest, repetitive behaviors, and
insistence on sameness are observed in people with ASD. Many children
with ASD have circumscribed interests that are more intense than normal. These interests may consume the child, not allowing time for much
else. Also characteristic of people with ASD are repetitive behaviors called
stereotypies. These behaviors are motor movements such as whole body
rocking, hand flapping, or other unusual, repetitive hand movements.
These behaviors are rhythmic in nature and appear purposive. Lastly, an
insistence on sameness is often observed in this population. People with
ASD may demand that the arrangement of furniture in a room remain
unchanged, insist on the same route always being taken to the store, or
engaging in rituals. Insistence on these factors is characteristic of people
with ASD and can be a source of distress (Kanner, 1951).
Symptoms of ASD vary from person to person along a continuum of
severity. The most severe form is what many people refer to as classic autism
374
or AD according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Fourth Edition:

Text Revision (DSMIVTR; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000)
and the least severe being PDD-NOS. In order to differentiate between the
disorders of the spectrum, severity and the age of onset of symptoms are
considered as well as the individuals cognitive functioning, particularly in
the diagnosis of Aspergers syndrome (AS). However, there is much debate
regarding the use of these criteria to differentiate between diagnoses on
the autism continuum (Matson & Minshawi, 2006).
Not until the introduction of the DSMIII (APA, 1986) was autism
officially recognized as a disorder distinct from childhood schizophrenia
(Cohen, Paul, & Volkmar, 1987). Autism now fell under a broader category of Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD), often referred to as ASD
in the literature (APA, 1986). A problem arose in the autism subdomain
where it was termed Early Infantile Autism because deficits persist into
adulthood. The DSMIV (APA, 1994) renamed the diagnosis AD, which still
fell under the umbrella of PDD. The PDD are comprised of five disorders
that are all characterized by impairments beginning in childhood, involving deficits with socialization, communication, and restricted behaviors.
The five PDD are AD, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Retts Disorder,
PDD-NOS, and AS.
Children diagnosed with AD show symptoms prior to the age of three
years and have more severe deficits in the triad of impairments. Socially,
these children are often described as aloof and may only approach others
to satisfy needs (Wing & Attwood, 1987). These children are also likely to
have more severe deficits in communication and more repetitive behaviors.
In addition, there is a higher prevalence of ID in people with AD as well
as a poorer outcome when compared to children with higher cognitive
ability and less severe symptoms, such as those with AS (Klin & Volkmar,
1995). Fombonne (2003) reviewed prevalence studies of AD since 1987 and
estimated the prevalence to be approximately 10/10,000 people.
The first reference to a disorder characterized by regression after seemingly normal development was by Theodore Heller in 1908. The disorder
referred to as Hellers syndrome or dementia infantalis is now termed
Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD). Children with CDD regress
around the age of three to four years, losing previously gained skills and
behaviors. The regression begins with mood problems, speech loss, incontinence, and regression of other skills (Volkmar, 1992). One study conducted in India reported a prevalence rate of CDD at .45% in a clinic
population, a mean age of onset of 3.76 years for a sample that was 83%
male (Malhorta & Gupta, 2002). However, the sample size of participants
presenting with CDD was low (n = 12), therefore limiting the generalizability of results. When compared to the amount of research on AD, research
involving CDD is quite scarce.
Similar to the defining feature of CDD (i.e., age of onset after apparently normal development), Retts Disorder is another PDD that is characterized by regression in development. The difference, however, is that this
disorder is primarily observed in females, and the time of normal development is shorter than found with CDD: months as opposed to years. Additionally, Retts Disorder has traceable genetic causes on an X-linked gene.
375
The infants have typical development until the 6th to 18th month of life
when there is a slowing down or regression in social skills, head growth
deceleration, and loss of functional use of the hands along with an emergence of stereotypic hand wringing, with the regression continuing until
about the third year of life (Van Acker, 1991).
More recently, researchers have suggested that the early development
of infants affected with Retts Disorder may actually be deviant in terms
of posture and body movement (Burford, Kerr, & Macleod, 2003), contradicting the implication that these children had normal development prior
to the regression. Additionally, Retts Disorder once believed to only affect
females, has been reported in males, although infrequently (Budden, Dorsey,
& Steiner, 2005).
Retts Disorder is believed to be quite rare with few studies published
on its prevalence. One study conducted in Sweden placed the prevalence
of this disorder at .65/10,000 girls (Hagberg, 1985) and another study in
Australia placed the prevalence at .72/10,000 females (Leonard, Bower, &
English, 1997). Failure to recognize the symptoms of Retts Disorder may
contribute to an underestimation of its prevalence with one researcher
suggesting that this disorder may account for up to one-third of the cases
of females with progressive developmental disabilities (Hagberg, 1985).
For people who do not meet the full criteria for a diagnosis of AD,
although still evincing qualitative impairments in the core features of ASD,
a diagnosis of PDD-NOS is applied. However, reliable criteria for diagnosing
PDD-NOS is still elusive (Towbin, 1997). Instead, the diagnosis of PDD-NOS
is made when criteria for other categories of ASD are not met (Tidmarsh
& Volkmar, 2003). A study by Chakrabarti and Fombonne (2005), using a
birth cohort from the years 1991 to 1998, found a prevalence rate of 31.4
per 10,000 diagnosed with PDD-NOS. Furthermore, PDD-NOS is the most
commonly diagnosed disorder along the autism spectrum, yet it remains
one of the least studied (Matson & Boisjoli, 2007).
Although many people with ASD also have ID, some have average or
above average intellectual functioning. One diagnosis on the autism spectrum not commonly associated with ID is AS. However, some researchers
have suggested that AS may also occur in people with mild ID to Borderline Intellectual Functioning (Strum, Fernell, & Gillberg, 2004). AS is characterized by most researchers as average or above average intelligence,
impairments in socialization and communication, and restricted interests
and repetitive behaviors. The prevalence of AS was estimated by Fombonne (2003) to be 2.5/10,000 people; one quarter the prevalence of AD.
One criterion differentiating AS from a high functioning autism (i.e.
AD with cognitive functioning in the average range) according to the DSM
IVTR is language development. In the more classic autism, a marked delay
in language acquisition is observed in both those with low and high intellectual functioning. In people with AS this delay is not evident. Language
is acquired at a developmentally normal rate or possibly even earlier, with
some children evincing hyperlexia (Nation, Clarke, Wright, Williams, &
Patterns, 2006). Although there have been some studies on differentiating
between the disorders along the ASD continuum, considerable research is
still needed.
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Assessment/Diagnosis
The DSMIVTR (APA, 2000) is a diagnostic schedule used to classify
psychological disorders. The DSMIVTR requires the presentation of qualitative impairments in social interaction, communication, and/or restricted
patterns of interest for a diagnosis of a PDD. As stated earlier, the five PDD
classified in the DSMIVTR are AD, AS, PDD-NOS, and the two less common disorders, Retts Disorder and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder.
AD is characterized by deficits in the areas of socialization, communication, and repetitive behaviors/restricted interests. For a diagnosis of
AD, the person must possess at least two impairments in social interaction, at least one impairment in communication, and exhibit at least one
behavioral excess, with a total of six criteria exhibited. Additionally, deficits in social interaction, language, or symbolic/imaginative play need to
be evident prior to the age of 36 months. See Table 13.1 for a complete list
of DSMIVTR criteria for AD (APA, 2000).
No specific criteria for the diagnosis of PDD-NOS are provided in the
DSMIVTR. The manual states that for a diagnosis of PDD-NOS, severe
impairments in social interaction and either deficits in communication or
occurrence of stereotyped behaviors/restricted pattern of interests need to be
present. That is, the individual did not meet sufficient criteria for a diagnosis
of AD or AS although still exhibiting deficits in socialization and communication or behavior. This diagnosis is used as a residual category for disorders
that do not fit in any of the other categories. Nonetheless, the person should
still exhibit symptoms consistent with the description of a PDD.
To make a diagnosis of AS using the DSMIVTR, criteria are similar to that
of AD with one important distinction: impairment in the communication
Table 13.1. DSMIVTR (APA, 2000) criteria for a diagnosis of Autistic Disorder
A total of at least 6 of the following deficits/impairments needs to be displayed for a
diagnosis of Autistic Disorder and the person must possess at least two impairments
In social interaction including impairment
In multiple nonverbal behaviors
Failure to develop peer relationships (appropriate to developmental level)
Lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment
Lack of social and emotional reciprocity
At least one of the following impairments in communication
Delay in, or total lack of, the development of spoken language
In individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the ability to initiate or
sustain a conversation with others
Stereotyped and repetitive or idiosyncratic language
Lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe play or social imitative play appropriate to the
developmental level
At least one of the following behavioral excesses
Preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is
abnormal in either intensity or focus
Apparent inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals
Stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms
Persistent preoccupation with parts of objects
Additionally, deficits in social interaction, language, or symbolic/imaginative play need to
be evident prior to the age of 36 months.
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domain is not present. The individual needs to meet at least two of the criteria
in the socialization domain and at least one criterion in the behavior domain.
Additionally, the deficits must cause a clinically significant impairment in
important areas of functioning (e.g., social, occupational), and there must
be no clinically significant delay in language, cognitive development, selfhelp skills, adaptive behavior, and curiosity with his or her environment. It
is important to note that the person cannot meet criteria for another PDD
in order to be diagnosed with AS.
According to the DSMIVTR, there are separate criteria for a diagnosis of Retts Disorder. Retts Disorder is diagnosed if the person meets
each of the following criteria: (1) apparently normal prenatal and perinatal development; (2) apparently normal psychomotor development through
the first 5 months after birth; and (3) normal head circumference at birth.
After the period of normal development, each of the following also must
be met: (1) deceleration of head growth between the ages of 5 and 48
months; (2) loss of previously acquired purposeful hand skills between the
ages of 5 and 30 months with the subsequent development of stereotyped
hand movements (e.g., hand-wringing or hand washing); (3) loss of social
engagement early in the course (although social interaction often develops
later); (4) appearance of poorly coordinated gait or trunk movements; and
(5) severely impaired expressive and receptive language development with
severe psychomotor retardation.
Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, like Retts Disorder, has a distinct set of criteria under the PDD category. Criteria from the DSMIVTR
include: (1) apparently normal development for at least the first 2 years
after birth as manifested by the presence of age-appropriate verbal and
nonverbal communication, social relationships, play, and adaptive behavior; (2) clinically significant loss of previously acquired skills (before age 10
years) in at least two of the following areas: (a) expressive or receptive language, (b) social skills or adaptive behavior, (c) bowel or bladder control, (d)
play, or (e) motor skills; and (3) abnormalities of functioning in at least two
of the following areas: (a) qualitative impairment in social interaction (e.g.,
impairment in nonverbal behaviors, failure to develop peer relationships,
lack of social or emotional reciprocity), (b) qualitative impairments in communication (e.g., delay or lack of spoken language, inability to initiate or
sustain a conversation, stereotyped and repetitive use of language, lack
of varied make-believe play), or (c) restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped
patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, including motor stereotypes
and mannerisms.
Rating Scales
Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS)
One of the most commonly used scales to detect ASD in children is
the CARS (Schopler, Reichler, & Renner, 1988). This test was initially
developed to differentiate between children having an ASD or ID diagnosis
that were referred to the Treatment and Education of Autistic and related
Communication handicapped CHildren (TEACCH; Schlopler et al., 1988)
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in North Carolina. The scale is intended for people over the age of 2 years.
Fifteen independent subscales comprise the CARS. The subscales include:
relating to people; imitation; emotional response; body use; object use;
adaptation to change; visual response; listening response; taste, smell,
and touch response and use; fear or nervousness; verbal communication;
nonverbal communication; activity level; level and consistency of intellectual response; and general impressions.
The rater scores the individual on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 indicating normal for the childs age and 4 indicating severely abnormal.
Psychometrics of the CARS are good, with rater agreement of .71, and
testretest at 12 months having yielded nonsignificant changes in means
from the first assessment. Validity studies indicate good criterion-related
validity with r = .80 correlation with clinical judgments. Additionally, the
scale was able to correctly predict 100% group membership for children
with ASD and those with ID. Potential limitations of the CARS are that
some expertise with ASDs is required for accurate administration. Furthermore, symptoms represented in the CARS do not directly match DSM
IVTR criteria. This discrepancy may in part be due to the fact that the
CARS was developed prior to the DSMIVTR. Using the CARS, one is able
to differentiate between severities of ASD. However, the scale does not provide diagnoses along the spectrum of autistic disorders.
Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC)

The ABC (Krug, Arick, & Almond, 1980) is a rating scale designed for
use by teachers and others without extensive experience with ASD. The
scale was developed as a screen and consists of 57 items. The informant
rates the child along five subscales: sensory, relating, language, socialization and self-help, and body and object use, using dichotomous scoring
(i.e., yes or no). Each item is weighted on a four-point continuum. Reliability studies have shown adequate results for interrater reliability and good
internal consistency (Krug et al., 1980). Additionally, the scale appears to
be effective in discriminating children diagnosed with an ASD and those
with developmental or learning disabilities that do not fall along the ASD
spectrum (Wadden, Bryson, & Rodger, 1991). Weaknesses of the measure are that it does not make diagnoses along the autism spectrum nor
according to criteria of the DSMIVTR.
Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT)

Different from the previously discussed assessments of ASD, the CHAT
(Baron-Cohen, Cox, Baird, Swettenham, & Nighingale 1996) was designed
to be used by pediatricians as a screener at toddlers 18-month checkups.
The screener assesses three areas: pretend play, joint attention by pointing, and monitoring of gaze. The parent answers yes/no to nine questions
and the pediatrician answers five questions based on observation. For use
as a population screen, the scale has been shown to have low sensitivity when only including the high-risk group, but improves when including
children with medium risk (Baron-Cohen et al., 1996). Sensitivity improved
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and specificity was excellent when both groups were considered (BaronCohen et al., 1996). Other studies using the CHAT with children who were
older showed good levels of sensitivity and specificity (Scambler, Rogers, &
Wehner, 2001). One weakness of the CHAT is that data are not available
on the effectiveness of the CHAT in differentiating children with ASD and
those with other forms of psychopathology (Matson & Minshawi, 2006).
Interviews/Observations
Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R)
Another popular tool used to assess ASD is the ADI-R (Lord, Rutter, &
Le Couteur, 1994). The ADI-R was a revision of the original Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI). The revision overcame some of the shortcomings
of the ADI, such as only diagnosing children under the age of five years
and decreasing administration time (Lord et al., 1994). The ADI-R is in
an interview format with parents/caretakers serving as informants. This
measure is intended for use with children with a mental age of at least
18 months and extends into adulthood. The ADI-R has proved to have
good psychometrics with interrater reliability ranging from .62 to .89 (Lord
et al., 1994). The ADI-R diagnoses along DSMIV criteria. However, some
drawbacks are that the ADI-R relies solely on parent-report, is lengthy and
time consuming to administer, and it requires a clinician that is experienced with ASD.
Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS)

In 1989, Lord and colleagues developed a scale to focus on discriminating among groups of children with ASD, ID, and typically developing children based on social and communicative behaviors. The ADOS is
designed for toddlers through adults. However, the authors caution that
for children below the nonverbal developmental age of 1218 months,
concern should be taken when interpreting the results, particularly when
scores near the cut-off point. Four modules comprise the ADOS with each
used for people with differing levels of verbal fluency. The ADOS is observation-based rather than informant-based. The child is placed in situations requiring her to request help, engage in symbolic play, take turns,
perform simple tasks, tell a story, discuss tasks that occurred earlier in
the assessment, and discuss social and emotional situations. The child is
rated on each task by the examiner as within normal limits, infrequent or
possible abnormality, or definite abnormality.
The criteria for an ASD using the ADOS are based on the World Health
Organization, International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition (ICD10; WHO, 1992) criteria. Reliability of the scale is reported to be good, with
individual items between .61 and .92 (Lord et al., 1989). Validity was also
reportedly good as the tool is successful in differentiating between children with and without ASD. Weaknesses of the scale are that separately,
the communication and social subscales were not able to classify groups,
and the scale does not measure behavioral deficits and excesses.
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Screening Tool for Autism in Two-Year-Olds (STAT)

The STAT was developed in 1997 by Stone and Ousley as a screening
measure to identify the symptoms of ASD in two-year-olds. Health care/
service providers administer an interactive assessment to determine if the
child is in need of further evaluation (Stone, Coorod, & Ousley, 2000).
This brief assessment consists of 12 items assessing play, attention, imitation, and requesting items with binary scoring: pass or fail. Sensitivity and
specificity estimates were acceptable at .83 and .86 respectively (Stone
et al., 2000). Stone and associates (2004) conducted further psychometric
analyses on the measure showing excellent testretest and interobserver
agreement. Additionally, the STAT was validated using the ADOS. High
agreement was observed when classifying children as high risk (Stone
et al., 2004). One weakness of this measure is that it is not as effective
in identifying children diagnosed with PDD-NOS, only classifying 35% of
these children as high risk.
Measures for Differential Diagnosis

Diagnoses of ASD are increasing and research on the topic is flourishing. However, experts in the field of ASD cannot agree on the criteria that
constitute each of the three more commonly diagnosed ASD: AD, AS, and
PDD-NOS. Although the DSMIVTR delineates criteria for each of these
disorders (or the absence of enough criteria for a diagnosis of AD or AS
in the case of PDD-NOS), the research community disputes the validity
of using the criteria and suggest clinical judgment as the gold standard
in diagnosing these disorders (Volkmar et al., 1994). Retts Disorder has
a clear symptom pattern and genetic link, making diagnosis straightforward, and the rarity of Childhood Disintegrative Disorder and the suggestion that the disorder may not be distinct from AD (Rapin, 1997) has
resulted in little attention to these two disorders in the literature. However,
attempts have been made to design measures to differentially diagnose
along the autism continuum. These efforts are reviewed next.
Autism Spectrum Disorder-Diagnostic for Children (ASD-DC)

The ASD-DC (Matson & Gonzalez, 2007c) is a new, informant-based
measure used to assess symptoms of ASD as well as differentiate between
three of the five ASDs: AD, AS, and PDD-NOS. The ASD-DC is used along
with two other measures (i.e., ASD-CC and ASD-BPC) which assess comorbid psychopathology and behavior problems and are discussed in more
detail in this chapter. The informants are parents/caretakers who are
instructed to compare the child to a typically developing child, the same
age, and rate each item on a Likert-type scale: 0, not different; no impairment; 1, somewhat different; mild impairment; or 2, very different;
severe impairment. The items of the ASD-DC were generated through a
review of the current literature and diagnostic guidelines for ASD, critical
incidents reported by experienced clinicians, and expert review (Matson &
Gonzalez, 2007c).
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Initial studies of the ASD-DC have shown promising results, with good
to excellent interrater and testretest reliability correlations and excellent
internal consistency at .99 (Matson, Gonzalez, Wilkins, & Rivet, in press).
Additionally, the measure is successful in differentiating between children
with ASD and controls (Matson, Gonzalez, Wilkins, & Rivet, 2007). Validity
studies are currently under way.
Diagnostic Interview for Social and Communication

Disorders (DISCO)
The DISCO (Wing, Leekam, Libby, Gould, & Larcombe, 2002) is a
semi-structured interview used to assist in the diagnosis of ASD as well as
other disorders of socialization and communication. Items on the DISCO
request information regarding developmental history and current behavior.
The format of the interview is semi-structured in that the interviewer does
not have a set sample of questions. The interviewer continues to ask questions in order to gain ample information to make a rating for the item.
This measure also allows for the collection of other information provided
during the evaluation to be used towards the scoring of DISCO items. The
interview covers the following areas: development, motor skills, self-care,
communication, social interaction, imitation, imagination, skills, stereotypies, sensory response, routines and resistance to change, emotions,
activity patterns, maladaptive behaviors, sleep, catatonic, and quality of
socialization.
Interrater reliability is reportedly high (Leekam, Libby, Wing, Gould, &
Taylor, 2002). This measure has proved to be valid in the diagnosis of ASD
(Leekam et al., 2002), however, the authors caution the use of the measure
in this manner. They note that the scale was not designed to provide categorical diagnoses as diagnoses are based on the collective information
provided in the evaluation, not just the information provided from the
DISCO. Consequently, a clinician experienced with ASD may be needed to
administer this measure.
In addition to measures designed to differentially diagnose along the
autism spectrum, there are also measures that attempt to diagnose a specific ASD, not including AD. Such measures assess for Retts Disorder and
AS. A brief review of these measures follows.
Retts Disorder Assessment

Rett Syndrome Behavior Questionnaire (RSBQ)
One measure specific to differentiating individuals with the more
severe forms of ID, AD, and those with Retts Disorder is the RSBQ (Mount,
Charman, Hastings, Reilly, & Cass, 2002). This scale was designed to identify
behavioral phenotypes that are more specific to people with Retts Disorder
(Mount et al., 2002). The RSBQ is a 45-item informant-based measure with
a total of eight empirically derived subscales. The subscales measure general mood, breathing problems, hand behaviors, repetitive face movements,
body rocking and expressionless face, night-time behaviors, fear/anxiety,
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and walking/standing. The scale has good reliability with intraclass correlations for the total score and all subscales >.70 and good internal consistency (Mount et al, 2002). In addition, sensitivity and specificity were 86.3%
and 86.8%, respectively, for differentiating between people with Retts Disorder and others with severe/profound ID. However, additional studies are
warranted to further assess the validity of the RSBQ.
Aspergers Syndrome Assessments

Matson and Boisjoli (2008) conducted a review of existing measures
and their psychometric properties for AS. Although there are a sizable
number of scales designed to assess this disorder, very little research has
been conducted on many of the scales, only about one to three published
studies per scale (Matson & Boisjoli, 2008). Such a low number of soundly
studied scales may be due in part to problems in defining what AS is and
how it differs from AD (Matson, 2007a).
As already mentioned, a number of measures of AS exist, however, with
little empirical support. Some of the more studied measures are the Gilliam
Aspergers Disorder Scale (GADS; Gilliam, 2001), the Childhood Aspergers
Syndrome Test (CAST; Scott, Baron-Cohen, Bolton, & Brayne, 2002), and
the Krug Aspergers Disorder Index (KADI; Krug & Arick, 2003). One major
weakness of each of these measures is that they may actually only differentiate people on the autism spectrum according to cognitive abilities rather
than provide categorical diagnoses along the spectrum (i.e., the ability to
differentiate between people who have below-average cognitive abilities and
those with average or above). Additional research on the measurement of AS
and distinguishing it from other disorders, including AD, is greatly needed.
Dual Diagnosis/Comorbidity
Comorbidity is the co-occurrence of more than one form of psychopathology occurring in the same person (Matson & Nebel-Schwalm, 2007).
Although research in the area of comorbid conditions in typically developing children is beginning to flourish, research investigating other psychological disorders occurring along with ASD is generally lacking. Numerous
reasons exist as to why this clinical population has received very little
attention. The current literature points to the high co-occurrence of ID
and ASD, the heterogeneity in symptoms in people with ASD, psychopathology symptoms manifesting differently in this population (Matson
& Nebel-Scwalm, 2007), and the possible overlap of ASD symptoms with
other forms of psychopathology all contributing to the sparse amount of
research on the topic. These issues, particularly in conjunction, make
diagnosis of comorbid psychopathology problematic.
The most common dual diagnosis for people with ASD is ID. A study
done by Chakrabarti and Fombonne (2001) reported on a sample of 97
children, all diagnosed with an ASD. Twenty-five point eight percent
(25.8%) of their sample was diagnosed with some form of ID. A more recent
review of epidemiological data by Fombonne (2003) looked at 20 studies
conducted between 1966 and 2001 and found the median proportion of
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participants with an ID was 70%. When ID was broken down by severity,

30% of the participants had mild to moderate ID and 40% had severe to
profound levels of ID (Fombonne, 2003). Due to changing criteria for diagnosis of a PDD (i.e., AS included as a PDD since the DSMIV [APA, 1994]),
more sophisticated tools to identify the disorders and at an earlier age,
and more children receiving early intervention services, all may have an
impact on the often debated prevalence of co-occurring ASD and ID.
The focus of this chapter is the assessment of comorbid psychopathology and ASD, however, comorbidity of ID and ASD is an important consideration due to the difficulty in diagnosing psychopathology in people with
ID. With such a large incidence of people with ASD having comorbid ID,
whether it is 25% or 75%, imposes complications with the identification
of other co-occurring conditions. Children with ID typically have limited
verbal abilities, and therefore, diagnosing other forms of psychopathology
using more traditional, self-report/parent-report methods, has obvious
limitations. Together with a diagnosis of ASD, the task of identification
becomes even more daunting. Thus, there is a lack of research on comorbid disorders of children with ASD with and without ID as well as specific
assessment measures for identifying co-occurring psychopathology.
Research, albeit limited, has focused on the more common disorders,
such as anxiety and depression, finding a higher incidence in people with
ASD (Attwood, 1998; Howlin, 1997; Ghaziuddin, Ghaziuddin, & Greden,
2002; Tantum, 2000). With the inadequate evidence, there is need for better
measures and comprehensive research on comorbid disorders that appear
to occur with ASD. Such disorders as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Phobia, Tic Disorder, Affective Disorders, and feeding difficulties have all been reported to
either share symptoms or possibly co-occur with this population (Attwood,
1998; Gadow & DeVincent, 2005; Gilmour, Hill, Place, & Skuse, 2004;
Goldstein & Schwebach, 2004; Kinnell, 1985; Loveland & Tunlai-Kotoski,
1997; Matson & Love, 1990; Volkmar, Klin, & Cohen, 1997); however, the
research is scarce. Psychopathology that appears to more commonly occur
in children with ASD is briefly reviewed.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is characterized,
according to the DSMIVTR, as a pattern of inattention and hyperactivityimpulsivity that is more severe and occurs more frequently than in a typically developing individual of the same developmental level (APA, 2000).
The presentation of the impairing symptoms needs to be present prior
to seven years of age. However, the diagnosis of an ASD is exclusionary
for a diagnosis of ADHD according to the DSMIVTR. Little research has
been published regarding the relationship between ADHD and ASD (Loveland & Tunali-Kotoski, 1997). This lack of attention may be due in part
to the exclusion criteria for an ADHD diagnosis as well as that symptoms
of ADHD may be characteristic of ASD (Volkmar, Klin, & Cohen, 1997).
People with ASD often exhibit either hyper- or hypoactive behavior (i.e.,
behavior rarely within normal limits; Gillberg & Billstedt, 2000).
384
A study by Goldstein and Schwebach (2004), using a retrospective

chart review, compared children with ASD meeting diagnostic criteria for
ADHD, to children with a diagnosis of just ADHD with no ASD diagnosis,
and to a third group of children diagnosed with ASD alone. The authors
found a clinically distinct group of children diagnosed with ASD who met
criteria for ADHD compared to children with just a diagnosis of ASD. The
children with ASD displayed symptoms of ADHD similar to those diagnosed
with ADHD only (Goldstein & Schwebach, 2004). This research lends itself
to the suggestion that ADHD may co-occur with ASD.
Conduct Disorder
Just as with people with ASD, individuals with Conduct Disorder also
display social impairments. Conduct Disorder is identified by the DSM
IVTR as behavior that violates the basic rights of others or some societal
norms (APA, 2000). These behaviors include aggression toward others,
destruction of property, deceitfulness or theft, and serious violations of
rules. Researchers have found evidence that there are children identified
as having Conduct Disorder, who also meet criteria for an ASD (Gilmour,
Hill, Place, Skuse, & 2004). Although these two groups share some features, Gilchrist and colleagues (2001) successfully differentiated between
adolescents with AS and high-functioning AD and those with Conduct
Disorder based on measures of ASD (i.e., ADOS and ADIR) and IQ. The
participants with Conduct Disorder had a different IQ profile compared to
both of the ASD groups and displayed reciprocal communication and less
social impairment (Gilchrist et al., 2001).
In addition to research investigating differences between individuals
with Conduct Disorder and ASD, research on comorbidity in children has
not been conducted with this population to date. This scarcity in the literature of Conduct Disorder in this population may also be due in part to
the difficulty in determining if the individual engaged in the behaviors with
the intent to do harm to another person. With many children with ASD
also having ID and/or limited verbal abilities, it may be a challenge to differentiate between this form of psychopathology and a learned maladaptive behavior. Considerably more research on the topic is warranted.
Anxiety
Anxiety is characterized by worry and is reportedly common to people
with ASD (Attwood, 1998). According to the DSMIVTR, Anxiety Disorders
are broken down into numerous other disorders, such as Panic Disorder,
Agoraphobia, Specific Phobia, Social Phobia, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder,
among others (APA, 2000). Tantum (2000) reported that panic, social anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive characteristics appear to be the most commonly evinced symptoms of anxiety in people with ASD. Additionally, Muris
and colleagues (1998) reported on a sample of children with ASD with 84.1%
of the children meeting criteria for an anxiety disorder. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Phobia in relation to ASD are reviewed below.
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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Characteristics of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), such as
repetitive actions or words, may present as or resemble the behavioral
excesses of people with ASD. Defined by the DSMIVTR, obsessions or
compulsions recur and are time consuming and distressing to the individual affected (APA, 2000). People with ASD may discuss a particular
topic exhaustively, require the physical environment remain exact, or
insist on a particular ritual or dialogue be carried out. The preoccupations or rituals characteristic of people with ASD can be confused with
the obsessions or compulsions evinced by people with OCD. However,
the difference is that people with OCD are typically distressed by the
behavior, whereas the person with ASD is not (Wing & Attwood, 1987).
Although this distinction, the behavior causing distress or enjoyment, is
made in the typical adult population, with children it is more complicated. The DSMIVTR states that with children, distress does not need to
be evident for a diagnosis of OCD, due to a lack of cognitive awareness,
therefore making diagnosis of symptoms more complicated and often difficult to tease apart. This complication may be even more so for the child
with ASD. Better scales to measure the traits of OCD are needed along
with more research on the prevalence of OCD co-occurring with ASD, as
knowledge in this area is lacking.
Phobia
The DSMIVTR categorizes Specific Phobias as those that are a
persistent fear and avoidance that is excessive or unreasonable, cued
by the presence or anticipation of a specific object or situation (APA,
2000). Exposure to the phobic stimulus will provoke an immediate
anxiety response, such as an anxiety attack. However, in the case of
children with a Specific Phobia, the anxiety response may be in the form
of crying, tantrums, freezing, or clinging. For adults, there needs to
be awareness that the fear is excessive or unreasonable; however, just
as with criteria for OCD, this awareness does not need to be evident
in children.
Characteristic of many children with ASD is the presence of phobias.
Matson and Love (1990) conducted a study that found children with ASD
to have a higher incidence of phobias compared to typically developing,
age-matched peers. Children with ASD had more phobias related to animals, as well as medical and particular situations.
Additionally, Evans, Canavera, Kleinpeter, Maccubbin, and Taga (2005)
were able to replicate these findings while including a group of children
with Down syndrome along with control children matched on both mental
and chronological age. These researchers investigated whether fears that
are common to children with ASD are just characteristic of the disorder,
a separate comorbid condition, or a natural progression of fears developmentally. The authors found that the children with ASD had a different
pattern of fears and anxiety compared to mental and chronologically age
matched peers.
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Tic Disorder
Tic disorders, like OCD, share some commonalities with symptoms of
ASD. As defined by the DSMIVTR, a tic is a sudden vocalization or motor
movement that is recurrent and stereotyped (APA, 2000). Repetitive and
stereotyped behaviors, diagnostic criteria for ASD, can vary in topography
and may be difficult to differentiate from a tic. In some cases the distinction can be made, as tics tend to be involuntary where stereotypies appear
to be more intentional. Tics are sudden and disrupt the flow of speech and
are not as rhythmic in nature as stereotypies (Baron-Cohen, Mortimore,
Moriarty, Izaguirre, & Robertson, 1999). Additionally, people who display
tics may appear distressed whereas a person exhibiting a stereotypy may
appear amused (Lainhart, 1999).
Tics also appear to occur on a continuum of severity and topography,
making differentiation in this population more difficult (Golden, 1978).
However, researchers have reported that tic disorders can be diagnosed
and are common to children with ASD (Gadow & DeVincent, 2005; Gadow,
DeVincent, Pomeroy, & Azizian, 2004). Furthermore, Gadow and DeVincent (2005) reported that children with ASD, who also exhibited signs of
tics and ADHD, were also more likely to have other psychiatric symptoms
and more severe expressions of ASD. In addition, these researchers found
no differences in the co-occurring tic symptoms in the children with or
without ASD. These results suggest that a tic disorder is distinguishable
from the stereotypic characteristics of ASD presenting similarly to typically developing children who evince tics.
Affective Disorders
Depression is a common comorbid disorder in people with ASD (Loveland & Tunlai-Kotoski, 1997). Researchers have also reported that people
with ID have a higher incidence and prevalence of depression (Kazdin,
Matson, & Senatore, 1983). However, depression is difficult to diagnose in
people with ID as the topography of the symptoms may change with the
severity of ID, a complicating factor when the child also has ASD.
A review was conducted by Smiley and Cooper (2003) investigating
possible behavioral equivalents of depression in people with severe and
profound ID. The authors found that in individuals with depression, there
were increases in agitation, self-injury, skill loss, increased social withdrawal, or isolation, and an increase in somatic complaints (Smiley &
Cooper, 2003). In addition, due to the limitation in expressive language,
these symptoms are generally reported by a caretaker or other third party
as changes in behavior (Ghaziuddin & Greden, 1998).
With ASD being comprised of deficits in communication, diagnosing
depression in children with ASD and ID often poses a challenge. As of late,
researchers have attempted to investigate the co-occurrence of the two
forms of psychopathology, ASD and depression. Ghaziuddin, Tsai, and
Ghaziuddin (1992), for example, reported an occurrence rate of comorbid depression in children with AD at 2%, and in those with AS as high
as 30%. Additionally, a number of studies found much higher rates of
387
depression when considering AS alone (Ghaziuddin, Ghaziuddin, & Greden,

2002; Lainhart, 1999). Due to the limited measures of depression for this
population, Ghaziuddin and Greden (1998) looked at the family history of
people with ASD and prevalence of depression. The authors used DSMIII-R
criteria and found that 77% of the children who had a diagnosis of depression also had a family member with the disorder.
Eating/Feeding Disorders
Even in Leo Kanners (1943) first account of children with autistic
disturbance of affective contact, eating problems were noted. Three feeding disorders are noted in the DSMIVTR: Pica, Rumination, and Feeding
Disorder of infancy or early childhood (APA, 2000). Pica is the ingestion
of nonfood items such as string, paint chips, cigarette butts, leaves, and
feces. The prevalence of Pica in people with ASD has been suggested by
researchers to be higher than in people with Down syndrome, 60% compared to 4%, respectively (Kinnell, 1985). Rumination is another feeding
disorder recognized by the DSMIVTR and is characterized by the repeated
regurgitation and chewing of food, without evidence of gastrointestinal illness or medical condition. Additionally, for people with ID and/or ASD
the rumination needs to be severe enough to warrant attention. The last
eating disorder defined by the DSMIVTR is Feeding Disorder of Infancy
or Childhood. Individuals with this disorder have gone for one month or
more without eating adequately, resulting in no weight gain or weight loss.
Again, this behavior cannot be the result of a gastrointestinal illness or
medical condition.
In addition to the feeding disorders classified in the DSMIVTR, children with ASD often exhibit other difficulties that interfere with mealtime.
Such behaviors are food selectivity (for food type and/or texture) and food
refusal (Ahearn, Castine, Nault, & Green, 2001). Ahearn and colleagues
(2001) conducted a study investigating the feeding difficulties of children
with ASD. The authors found that more than half of the participants displayed low levels of food acceptance including selectivity and refusal.
ASSESSMENT OF COMORBID PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

Researchers have shown evidence of comorbid psychopathology in
individuals with ASD (Evans, Canavera, Kleinpeter, Maccubbin, & Taga,
2005; Ghaziuddin et al., 1992; Kinnell, 1985; Matson & Love, 1990; Morgan,
Roy, & Chance, 2003). As mentioned previously, identifying symptoms
and characteristics of psychopathology in people with limited verbal abilities poses an obvious difficulty with regard to diagnosis. Additionally, in
people with multiple disabilities, symptoms of comorbid disorders may be
displayed topographically different from the typical population. Due to the
complexity of the target population, few measures are available to screen
and/or assess additional Axis I disorders in children with ASD.
Currently there are numerous measures used to assess typically
developing children for symptoms of psychopathology. However, these
388
measures have not been validated for the use with children diagnosed with
ASD (Leyfer et al., 2006) and may not be appropriate due to variations in
symptom profiles of ASD children relative to the general population. Measures used with typically developing children are generally based on DSM
criteria, thus posing obvious problems when used with children who may
have deficits in verbal abilities and limited cognitive functioning (Einfield
& Aman, 1995).
Einfield and Aman (1995) proposed some recommendations for empirically developing a taxonomy of psychological symptoms for people with ID.
Such recommendations include modification to the current diagnostic
system, the DSMIVTR, to account for the specific characteristics of people
with developmental disabilities (i.e., Should it be considered stealing
when the person does not understand the concept of ownership?); using
multivariate statistics; examining biomedical markers in individuals and
comparing them to people without ID (for our purposes, individuals without ASD) with the particular disorder; investigating family history; probing
with the use of pharmacology; and neuroimaging and comparing to individuals with known disorders in the general population.
These recommendations could prove fruitful in the diagnosis of comorbid disorders in the ASD population as well; however, many of the strategies can be time consuming, expensive, and potentially dangerous (i.e.,
prescribing psychotropic medications unnecessarily). High rates of ASD
and the very serious, debilitating nature of the condition, particularly
when comorbid psychopathology is present, make scale development for
differential diagnosis essential. A compelling argument for such an assessment method exists although few measures of comorbid psychopathology
for children with ASD have been developed to date. Due to the difficulties
with assessing and diagnosing this population, clinicians are often left to
rely on informant-based measures, particularly rating scales. The best
available instruments are reviewed below.
Screening Measures
Broadband or disorder-specific measures can be used to assess comorbidity in this population. Specific measures assess a particular disorder.
Broadband measures are used to screen across numerous disorders, where
elevations would indicate further examination is warranted, possibly with
a disorder-specific measure. Broadband measures are discussed.
Autism Spectrum Disorders-Comorbidity for Children (ASD-CC)

The ASD-CC (Matson & Gonzalez, 2007b) is a new, informant-based
measure that assesses children with a current diagnosis of ASD for psychopathologies that are more commonly found to occur with ASD based
on available literature (Ghaziuddin et al., 1992; Kinnell, 1985; Matson &
Love, 1990; Morgan et al., 2003). The ASD-CC is used in conjunction with
two other measures, the ASD-DC and the Autism Spectrum DisordersBehavior Problems in Children (ASD-BPC; Matson & Gonzalez, 2007a),
as a comprehensive assessment battery. Each of the 84 items loads onto
389
one of seven subscales of psychopathology. The subscales are depression,

conduct, attention-deficit/ hyperactivity, tics, obsessions/compulsions,
phobia, and eating. Sample items include: appearance of physical stress,
easily becomes angry, is always on the go, and engages in repetitive behaviors to reduce stress. Informants are parents or caretakers who know the
child well and are instructed to rate each item to the extent that it has
been recent problem: 0 = not a problem or impairment; not at all; 1 =
mild problem or impairment; 2 = severe problem or impairment; or X =
does not apply or dont know. The psychometrics properties of the measure are currently under investigation.
Early Childhood Inventory-4 (ECI-4) and Child Symptom

Inventory-4 (CSI-4)
These scales are parent- and teacher-report measures that assess psychopathology in children. The ECI-4 (Sprafkin & Gadow, 1996) is used with
children ages 3 through 5 years and the CSI-4 (Gadow & Sprafkin, 1998) is
used for children ages 5 through 12. The following disorders are assessed
by the ECI-4: ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder,
Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia, Separation Anxiety Disorder,
OCD, Specific Phobia, Selective Mutism, Major Depressive Disorder, Dysthymia, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder,
Aspergers Disorder, Motor Tics, Vocal Tics, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Problems in eating, sleeping, and elimination are also assessed.
The ECI-4 has shown adequate criterion validity for ADHD, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, and PDD, adequate testretest reliability, and
predictive validity (Sprafkin, Volpe, Gadow, Nolan, & Kelley, 2002).
The CSI-4 assess the following disorders, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant
Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Separation Anxiety, Generalized Anxiety, Social
Phobia, Specific Phobia, Depression, Dysthymia, Aspergers Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Schizophrenia, OCD, Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder, Motor Tics, and Vocal Tics. The parent version contains 97 items
and the teacher version contains 77 items. Items are scored on a 4-point
Likert-type scale. Both measures, the ECI-4 and the CSI-4, are based on
DSMIV criteria.
These measures have been used to assess psychopathology in children with ASD. Gadow and DeVincent (2005) used the ECI-4 and the CSI-4
to assess ADHD and tics in children. Weisbrot and colleagues (2005)
assessed anxiety in children with ASD and compared them to children
with anxiety and without an ASD diagnosis. The researchers found that
children with ASD and anxiety presented symptoms similar to the children
with anxiety and no ASD diagnosis. This measure may be useful in diagnosing comorbid disorders in children with ASD; however, the measure
has yet to be validated with this population.
Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Forms (NCBRF)

The NCBRF (Aman, Tasse, Rojahn, & Hammer, 1996) is a modification
of an earlier scale, the Child Behavior Rating Form (Edlebrock, 1985) which
390
was designed for typically developing children. The targeted population

for the NCBRF is children with ID. The modifications included changes in
scoring, rewording of items to make them more easily understood, and the
addition of 16 items to the measure. There are separate, but similar, parent
and teacher forms. Validity studies using the Aberrant Behavior Checklist
(ABC) showed large positive correlations for subscales of the measures, and
interrater agreement for parents and teachers was high with alpha levels of
.87 and .85 respectively (Aman et al., 1996). Although not as high, agreement between parents and teachers was still adequate at .51.
Lecavalier and colleagues (2004) conducted a study on the factor
structure of the NCBRF with a population of children with ASD. Through
exploratory factor analysis, a five-factor solution was obtained. The factors
included conduct problem, insecure/anxious, hyperactive, self-injury/
stereotypic, and self-isolated-ritualistic (Lecavalier et al., 2004). This factor structure was somewhat different from the original study in that the
Aman and associates (1996) study found a six-factor solution to be optimal with participants with ID, where Lecavalier and associates chose five
factors as optimal as the sixth factor fell out (Lecavalier et al., 2004).
Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC)

The DISC (Schwab-Stone, et al., 1993) is an interview that has two
versions that can be completed by the parent/caretaker or the child.
The parent version is for children ages 6 years through 17 years, and
the child-report is used with children ages 9 years through 17 years.
The DISC assesses disorders in the broad areas of mood, anxiety, substance abuse, behavior, and other (e.g., eating and elimination disorders,
tics, and schizophrenia). Using the DISC with non-ASD populations, the
measure has shown to have adequate interrater and testretest reliability
(Schwab-Stone et al., 1993; Schaffer et al., 1993). Validity of the DISC
has also been established (Piacentini et al., 1993). The DISC was used in
a study by Muris and colleagues (1998) to assess anxiety in a sample of
children with ASD. The anxiety section of the DISC assesses the following
disorders: Simple Phobia, Social Phobia, Agoraphobia, Panic Disorder,
Separation Anxiety Disorder, Avoidant Disorder, Overanxious Disorder,
and OCD. However, the psychometric properties of the measure have not
been established with the ASD population.
Autism Comorbidity Interview-Present and Lifetime Version

(ACI-PL)
More recently, Leyfer and colleagues (2006) adapted the Kiddie Schedule
for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, which is designed for typically
developing children, for children with ASD. For the new scale, the ACI-PL
added sections to establish the childs baseline by asking the informants
to provide information on the child at his/her best. Also, for each section
that assesses psychopathology, additional items were added to address
symptoms that may manifest differently by people with ASD according to
caregivers. The Major Depressive Disorder, OCD, and ADHD subscales
391
had kappa values above .70 for interrater agreement (Leyfer et al., 2006).
Validity studies also proved adequate for ADHD and depression diagnoses
with sensitivity at 100% and specificity ranging from 83% to 93.7%.
Developmental Behavior Checklist (DBC)

The DBC (Einfeld & Tonge, 1995) is another measure used with children
with ID to assess psychopathology along 96 items. Ninety-five of the 96
items are rated on a three-point scale and summed to give a Total Behavior Problem Score. This score is used to provide a general score of psychopathology for the individual. The initial analyses on this measure resulted
in good reliability as well as validity (Einfeld & Tonge, 1995). Through
principle components analysis, a five-factor solution resulted with the following subscales, disruptive, self-absorbed, communication disturbance,
anxiety, autistic relating, and antisocial. However, the DBC has been studied
with children with ID, not specifically ASD.
Additional Modes of Assessment

Using more than one mode of measurement when assessing children
with ASD is desirable in most contexts. In addition to the rating scales,
clinicians should do a thorough review of the childs records as well as
behavioral observations (Rush, Bowman, Eidman, Toole, & Mortenson,
2004). A review of records may reveal patterns of symptoms that may be
useful in the determination of psychopathology and treatment course.
Behavioral observation by an experienced clinician is also beneficial.
The clinician can assist in distinguishing between symptoms of a comorbid disorder, a common characteristic of ASD, or a learned maladaptive
behavior. For example, in the case of tics and symptoms of OCD, these
topographically similar symptoms need a trained eye to discern them. Also
of great importance are assessments of maladaptive behaviors. Severity,
duration, and intensity should be considered when assessing treatment
efficacy.
A new measure, the ASD-BCA is a scale designed to assess maladaptive behaviors that more commonly occur in children with ASD, such
as self-injury, aggression, and other disruptive behavior. This measure is
used in conjunction with the ASD-DC and the ASD-CC. Furthermore, a
functional assessment should be conducted so as to determine the variables that may be maintaining the behaviors, in addition to the co-occurring psychopathology. One popular measure used to assess behavioral
function, is the Questions About Behavior Function (QABF; Matson &
Vollmer, 1995).
Another important consideration when assessing people with limited
verbal skills is the persons family history. Oftentimes certain forms of
psychopathology are highly heritable and research on the families of people with ASD and comorbid psychopathology also shows higher levels of
psychopathology, such as with depressive symptoms and obsessive compulsive behaviors (Ghaziuddin & Greden, 1998; Hollander, King, Delaney,
Smith, & Silverman, 2003).
392
In addition to the ratings of psychopathology, record review, family history, behavioral observations, and maladaptive behavior, ratings of adaptive behavior and social skills are also important to assess (Reiss, 1993).
Ratings of adaptive behavior can be obtained by using measures such as
the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Sparrow, Balla, & Cicchetti, 1984)
or the AAMR Adaptive Behavior Scales: Second Edition (ABS-2; Lambert,
Nihira, & Leland, 1993). Additionally, social skills should be assessed.
The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills in Youngsters (MESSY; Matson,
2007b) is a measure of appropriate and inappropriate social skills in children, normed according to age. A thorough investigation of many facets
of an individuals life should provide clinicians with information to assist
in the diagnosis of comorbid psychopathology. Discussed throughout this
chapter, people with ASD and/or ID, having limited verbal abilities, may
express symptoms of psychopathology differently than the general population making assessing a wide area of skills and behaviors essential.
CONCLUSION
This chapter covers the assessment of ASD and the more commonly
occurring comorbid conditions. Furthermore, we have discussed the limited
number of measures used to assess psychopathology in this population.
Experts in the field are still debating the characteristics of and differential
diagnosis within ASD. Without clear delineation of the core symptoms of
the disorder, diagnosing comorbid disorders is troublesome.
ASD are a group of disorders that alone have a substantial impact on
the development of the child with regards to learning, personal relations,
and family functioning. ASD coupled with an additional Axis I diagnosis
can have debilitating effects on the individual. It is important for clinicians, community professionals, and parents to be aware of the possibility of additional diagnoses. Appropriate referrals to specialized clinicians
are necessary for accurate diagnosis and to distinguish these disorders
from the more common characteristics of ASD. With these children at a
higher risk for comorbidity, broadband screening may be the most efficient
method for assessing symptoms for such a wide range of disorders.
Through accurate identification of the core symptoms of ASD and of
comorbid psychopathology, these children can receive individualized treatment appropriate for their diagnosis, whether it be therapy or pharmacological or both. Although awareness, funding, and research are increasing
with regard to the identification and intervention for ASD, wholesale application in clinical practice lags far behind recommended service provision
based on empirical literature.
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Part V
Behavioral Medicine
14
Assessment of
Eating Disorder
Symptoms In Children
and Adolescents
NANCY ZUCKER, RHONDA MERWIN, CAMDEN
ELLIOTT, JENNIFER LACY, and DAWN EICHEN
The most recent diagnostic classification system delineated by

the American Psychiatric Association (DSMIV; American Psychiatric
Association, 2000) is not sensitive to the expression of disordered eating
in children and adolescents (Cooper, Watkins, Bryant-Waugh, & Lask,
2002). The issues are complex. First, symptom expression in children and
adolescents may manifest differently than in adults due to developmental
influences on cognition, affect, and physical maturation. Second,
children and adolescents may require different symptom thresholds for
diagnosis given the sensitivity and importance of nutritional health for
these age groups. Indeed, malnourishment may have permanent negative
effects on cognitive and emotional functioning, sexual maturation, and
physical growth, damage that may be particularly pronounced during
this sensitive developmental period (Oninla, Owa, Onayade, & Taiwo,
2007). The end result of these challenges is that clinicians may fail to
detect children and adolescents in need of intervention, the failure to
detect lower symptom thresholds may have permanent negative health
consequences, diminished sensitivity to the age-related expression of
symptoms may interfere with appropriate treatment formulation, and
the failure to consider developmental nuances may prevent the advance
of a meaningful research agenda. This chapter is intended to address
NANCY ZUCKER, RHONDA MERWIN, CAMDEN ELLIOTT, JENNIFER LACY, and
DAWN EICHEN Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University
Medical Center, Duke University.

401
402
NANCY ZUCKER et al.
these important issues by proposing strategies for assessment that

consider developmentally sensitive manifestations of eating disturbance
in children and adolescents for the purposes of diagnosis and case
formulation.
ORGANIZATION OF THIS CHAPTER

There is considerable debate about the most effective manner to delineate patterns of eating disturbance (ED). At one extreme exist proponents
of a transdiagnostic approach to eating disorder classification (Fairburn,
Cooper, & Shafran, 2003). Advocates of this approach challenge the validity of syndromes for eating disorder diagnosis and emphasize the clinical
reality of significant diagnostic crossover, that is, individuals who initially
meet criteria for one eating disorder diagnosis, such as anorexia nervosa
(AN), and subsequently meet criteria for an alternative disorder, such as
bulimia nervosa (BN).
Of additional challenge to strict categorical diagnosticians is the high
rates of individuals (estimates range from 3050% of individuals who
present for treatment) who fall into the diagnostic category eating disorder not otherwise specified (ED-NOS). For children and adolescents, this
percentage is even more daunting: 4060% of children and adolescents
fall into this nebulous classification abyss (Peebles, Wilson, & Lock, 2006;
Turner & Bryant-Waugh, 2004).
This category, which includes the provisional diagnosis of binge eating
disorder, was intended to capture individuals with eating disturbance that
resulted in clinical impairment, although the frequency (e.g. engaging in
purgative behavior at a rate lower than required for a diagnosis of bulimia
nervosa) or diagnostic threshold (e.g. although losing a significant amount
of weight, the amount of weight lost overall did not meet the diagnostic
threshold for anorexia nervosa) was not sufficient to meet criteria for a
full syndrome disorder. Rather, a dimensional approach could, perhaps,
have individuals all receive a diagnosis of eating disorder and then
characterize the expression of various symptoms (e.g. dietary intake;
extreme weight loss behaviors) to result in a symptom profile for each
patient (Beaumont, Garner, & Touyz, 1994). Advocates of a transdiagnostic
or more dimensional approach suggest this strategy could accommodate
developmental challenges such as lower symptom thresholds and unique
clinical presentations in younger ages.
At the other extreme are researchers and clinicians who recognize
both the pragmatic reality of stringent diagnostic classification to
facilitate healthcare insurance reimbursement and from the research
perspective, to facilitate precise phenotypic descriptions to propagate
genetic research. Although there have been impressive epidemiological
(Wade, Crosby, & Martin, 2006) and sophisticated statistical attempts
to address this complicated issue (Wonderlich, Joiner, Keel, Williamson,
& Crosby, 2007), no satisfactory answers have been achieved. In this
chapter, we take a dimensional approach given the limited knowledge
base of symptom expression in young children and adolescents. As the
ASSESSMENT OF EATING DISORDER SYMPTOMS
403
appropriate delineation of syndromes specific to young children and

adolescents remains to be firmly adjudicated, we err on the conservative
side and approach diagnosis by examining eating disorder symptoms in
isolation and comment on developmental and motivational challenges to
assessment.
CONSIDERATION OF MEDICAL SEVERITY

Prior to the assessment of psychological status, a medical exam is
essential to determine the appropriate intensity of care (Rome et al., 2003).
This chapter assumes that prior to a mental health assessment, a thorough
medical exam has been undertaken. The purpose of this exam is to determine whether, based on medical compromise, a child or adolescent needs
immediate medical intervention or whether treatment can proceed on an
outpatient basis. Indeed, starvation has pervasive effects on all bodily systems, and extreme weight loss behaviors such as self-induced vomiting may
result in abrupt alterations in body homeostasis (e.g. dehydration, electrolyte imbalance) that may demand immediate medical attention (Walsh,
Wheat, & Freund, 2000). Furthermore, some symptoms of disordered eating, such as extreme weight loss, are also seen as a side effect of undiagnosed medical conditions (e.g., Type I diabetes mellitus). A medical exam is
needed to rule out any medical sequelae contributing to current symptomatology. Also, a mental health clinician should educate himself about these
medical sequelae not only so he can be alerted to behavioral warning signs,
but also so the family and patient can be educated about the severe nature
of the problem being assessed.
As entire chapters have been devoted to the impact of eating disturbance on physical health and typical growth patterns, we restrict our
chapter to recommendations (Mitchell, Pomeroy, & Adson, 1997). Thus,
it is highly recommended that a thorough medical evaluation precede
any psychological assessment, that contact with the evaluating physician and review of medical records precede the psychological evaluation,
and finally, that this physician remain an active and informed part of the
treatment process.
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
Although in general the assessment of children and adolescents poses
unique challenges due to limitations in cognitive and emotional development, the assessment of eating disturbance in younger ages may be particularly difficult. Complex cognitive processes such as abstract reasoning and
risk perception continue to evolve throughout adolescence (Boyer, 2006).
Unfortunately, complexities of many eating disorder diagnostic symptoms
require such advanced capacities. For example, children and adolescents
with eating disturbance may lack appreciation of the impact of their behaviors on health (Couturier & Lock, 2006). Rather than being construed as
active denial (one of the symptoms of the disorder of anorexia nervosa), this
404
NANCY ZUCKER et al.
limited perception may reflect developmental limitations on higher-order

cognitive processes such as the ability to integrate emotional consequences
into complex decisions (Boyer, 2006). Thus, young patients may not appreciate the dangerous consequences of extreme weight loss behaviors.
Children and adolescents may have difficulty describing and understanding emotional experience. Alexithymia (Zonnevylle-Bender et al., 2004)
and poor interoceptive awareness (Fassino, Piero, Gramaglia, & AbbateDaga, 2004) have been documented in adults with eating disorders, deficits that may be compounded by neurocognitive development. By definition,
alexithymia connotes limited ability to decipher or distinguish bodily signals
of emotion from other somatic signals (Lane et al., 1996). In children, this
deficit may potentially be exacerbated by normative developmental limitations on emotion regulation and abstract reasoning. Thus, rather than
appreciating the emotional significance of bodily signals, eating disorder
symptoms in children may be verbalized as somatic complaints (e.g., rather
than anxiety, children may identify stomach discomfort or sensitivity).
Unfortunately, an additional challenge may be parents understanding or acceptance of mental health symptoms. A stomachache may be far
easier for parents to understand and endorse relative to an eating disorder. Thus, assessment of parental attitudes towards mental illness will
need to be integrated into the clinicians clinical formulation, including the
manner in which the illness is presented to the family. Findings from the
medical evaluation are essential to differentiate the role of psychological
processes on physical symptom exacerbation.
Children and adolescents with eating disorders may not wish to be in
treatment. Unlike many individuals who experience distress from their psychiatric symptoms, individuals with eating disturbance often do not wish
to be relieved of their disorder (Vitousek, Watson, & Wilson, 1998). In fact,
eating disorder symptoms are often referred to as ego syntonic (Vitousek
et al., 1998). A particular perplexity in the assessment of children with AN,
for example, is that they often feel quite energetic despite their severe state
of malnutrition. Furthermore, self-imposed rules regarding food restriction may reduce guilt and therefore be experienced as comforting (Rieger
& Touyz, 2006). Thus, a clinician may need to assess other areas of functioning such as friendships and related social isolation, patterns that often
increase with eating disorder symptoms, to highlight the impact of the
disorder on quality of life (Rieger & Touyz, 2006). Both expected developmental limitations on cognitive functions combined with the challenging
presentation of eating disturbance increase the complexity of assessment
and highlight the imperative inclusion of family members in this process.
FAMILY INVOLVEMENT IN EATING DISORDER ASSESSMENT

Mimicking the legacy of the schizophrenogenic mother in schizophrenia
(Hartwell, 1996) and the refrigerator mother in autism (Bettelheim, 1967),
parents of children with an eating disorder have received undue blame in
the etiology of their childs illness (Whitney & Eisler, 2005). Certain family
patterns or dynamics such as the psychosomatic family delineated by
405
Minuchin and colleagues were viewed as contributory to disorder expression

and maintenance (Minuchin, Rosman, & Baker, 1978). An unfortunate
result of this history is that families with a child with an eating disorder were
often excluded from both assessment and treatment. In contrast, the most
empirically validated treatment for adolescent AN to date views parents as
a necessary and crucial part of the intervention process (Steiner & Lock,
1998). Thus, in seemingly a complete reversal, the active involvement of
parent perspectives regarding changing family dynamics since disorder
onset provides a pivotal foundation to frame a clinical intervention.
Parents provide crucial information for the evaluation of eating disturbance in children or adolescents. Individuals with eating disorders often
lack insight into the severity of their illness, a factor that may inhibit
accurate assessment of eating disorder symptomatology and serve as a
barrier to subsequent treatment (Couturier & Lock, 2006). Discrepancies
between parent- and child-report may accentuate areas in which the child
or adolescent lacks understanding of the nature of her symptoms. Furthermore, parents may be more reliable historians of stressors that may
have increased the likelihood of subsequent eating disturbance.
For example, although the specificity of trauma for subsequent eating
disturbance continues to be debated, converging evidence highlights the
onset of eating disturbance following a significant life event (Schmidt,
Tiller, Blanchard, Andrews, & Treasure, 1997), including during a key
developmental transition such as adolescence. More specifically, the
role of sexual and emotional trauma in increasing the risk of later eating
disturbance has received particular attention (Steiger & Bruce, 2007).
Although not specific to the development of eating disturbance, a review by
Steiger and Bruce (2007) highlights the importance of considering multiple
levels of analysis (e.g., genetic, trait, developmental, and environmental) to
understand the impact of life events.
They cite that a specific functional polymorphism of the serotonergic
system is associated with particular behavioral patterns and characterological traits (i.e., affective instability and impulsivity). Individuals
with bulimic symptoms who are both carriers of this genetic variant
and have experienced childhood sexual abuse endorsed more pronounced
sensation-seeking and attachment disturbance. Such findings highlight
that although not increasing the specific risk for eating disorder symptoms,
the presence of these characterological profiles may serve as setting events
that synergistically interact with traumatic life experiences to promote
the development of psychopathology (as cited in Steiger & Bruce, 2007).
Understanding changes in the childs eating patterns relative to a significant life event may help in the formulation of hypotheses on the adaptive
functions of eating disorder symptoms.
SUGGESTIONS FOR CLINICAL INTERVIEW

The following questions may help elicit relevant information.
Many children experience life events or changes as stressful. We have
also learned that in many children who develop eating disturbance, there
406
NANCY ZUCKER et al.
may have been particularly upsetting circumstances in their past. Learning more about these events can greatly improve our treatment planning.
Can you describe important events your child experienced during the year
preceding any signs of disturbance? For example, is there a person or animal
that died, other deaths, losses, or a family move? To your knowledge is
there any history of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse? By emotional
abuse, this can be someone at school who bullied or teased your child or it
can be more personal such as a family member or someone well known to
your child. Physical abuse and sexual abuse are both sometimes described
when a child is displaying symptoms of psychopathology. Do you have any
concerns that any significant or unsettling events may have occurred?
Family Characteristics and Environment

As the family is increasingly responsible for the management of their
childs illness, assessment should focus on factors that would complicate the execution of this task. For example, specific patterns of family
communication, such as expressed emotion, have been reported to affect
treatment progress (Eisler et al., 1997). Expressed emotion (EE) connotes
a pattern of critical communication whereby family members blame the
ill child for his illness (Vaughn & Leff, 1976). Notably, adolescents with
disordered eating from critical families are more likely to drop out of
family therapy (Szmukler, Eisler, Russell, & Dare, 1985), and high levels
of maternal criticism are predictive of poor treatment outcome (van Furth
et al., 1996).
Furthermore, ED families that present with high levels of criticism show
less progress in treatment than families with more positive EE scores. In
fact, EE measures of criticism, hostility, and warmth for individuals with
ED who did not improve with treatment actually worsened over the course
of a six-month treatment period, and differed significantly from families
with a child with an ED who made progress during treatment (Le Grange,
Eisler, Dare, & Hodes, 1992). In sum, these findings indicate that levels of
EE in eating-disordered families may be predictive of treatment outcome
and may change as treatment progresses (Le Grange et al., 1992). Accordingly, assessing the nature of family EE (Table 14.1) and aiming to reduce
parental hostility and criticism at the beginning of treatment may prove
efficacious in contributing to a positive treatment outcome.
In addition to understanding the way the family interacts as a unit,
assessment should also examine the dyads within the family. Gathering
knowledge about the strength of the parents marriage and the characteristics of sibling interactions may inform treatment options, as difficulties within these relationships may create additional barriers to successful
recovery or prevent the child with an eating disturbance from getting adequate support at home. This information may also identify ways to use
family members most efficiently during the process of recovery. Examples
of assessment tools include the Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents
(SIPA; Abidin, 2004) and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation
Scales (FACES; Olson, 2000) and are effective self-assessment tools to
characterize the nature of interaction patterns (see Table 14.1).
407
Table 14.1. Selected Eating Disorder Assessment Tools

Name of Measure
Type
Construct Assessed
Strengths & Weaknesses
Eating Disorder
Examination (EDE,
Fairburn & Cooper,
1993; Peterson et al.,
2007)
Interview
and
self-report
versions
available
Dietary restraint,
concerns regarding
eating, shape, and
body weight
Interview format is one of most

frequently used measures;
Extensive reliability and validity
data; Quantifies symptoms,
provides useful subscale scores;
Child (EDE-C) and adolescent
(EDE-A) versions available. The
adolescent version is validated.
Less data on the psychometric
properties of EDE-C and
questionnaire format (EDE-Q).
Eating Disorder
Inventory (EDI,
Garner, Olmstead, &
Polivy, 1983)
Self-report ED symptoms, including body dissatisfaction. Also assesses

related features, such
as interoceptive deficits, inter- and intrapersonal dysfunction,
perfectionism
Body image measures

Body Image
Schematic
Assessment-Children Figure
(BIA-C, Veron-Guidry Drawings
& Williamson, 1996)
Comprehensive measure;
Currently in its third edition; The
second iteration of the EDI has
been specifically adapted for use
with children (EDI-C, Eklund,
Paavonen, & Almqvist, 2005).
Adolescent norms for the EDI-2
are available.
Satisfaction with
current body size and
shape, accuracy of
body size estimation
1-week reliability, Pearson

r = .67.79; Evidence of
concurrent validity: Discrepancy
between current and ideal body
size, as measured by the BIA
correlated significantly with
severity of ED symptoms; Norms
for male and female children
ages 813 available.
Body Rating Scale
Schematic Satisfaction with
Psychometrically similar to the
(BRS, Sherman et
Figure
current body size and Figure Rating Scale, however
al., 1995)
Drawings
shape, accuracy of
has advantage of increased face
body size estimation validity for young people with
the use of adolescent female
figures; Pearson Product Moment
Correlation Coefficient between
BSR and other body scales,
r = .81.95; females only.
Childrens Body Image Schematic Body satisfaction and Easily administered and visual
Scale (CBIS, Truby & Figure
perceptual accuracy image requires less abstract
Paxton, 2002)
Drawings
in pre-pubescent
reasoning and verbal fluency;
children
Uses real life images of male and
female children between ages
712 with known BMI; Evidence
measure is not appropriate for
use with younger boys (78 y/o).
Somatomorphic
Contour
Body satisfaction and Includes both adiposity and
Matrix (Cafri &
Drawn Sil- perceptual accuracy muscularity dimensions; Easily
Thompson, 2004)
houettes
administered via computer;
Evidence of construct validity;
however, Current versions have
poor reliability.
(continued)

Name of Measure
Type
Construct Assessed
Body Shape
Questionnaire (BSQ,
Cooper, Taylor,
Cooper, & Fairburn,
1987; Rosen et al.,
1996)
Self-report Preoccupation and

distress related to
body size and shape,
experience of
feeling fat
Body Esteem Scale

(BES, Mendelson &
White, 1982)
Self-report Body satisfaction,

weight and size
concerns
Drive for Muscularity Self-report Attitudes and

Scale (McCreary &
behaviors related
Sasse, 2000)
to satisfaction with
muscular appearance
Body Checking
Questionnaire (BCQ,
Reas & Grilo, 2004)
Self-report Body checking

behaviors (e.g.,
pinching fat).
Includes 3 subfactors:
body checking related
to overall appearance,
specific body parts,
and idiosyncratic
checking rituals.
Situational Inventory Self-report Degree to which
of Body Image
particular situations
Dysphoria (SIBID,
or activities evoke
Cash 2002b)
negative feelings
about ones body

Original version is 34 items, a
validated 14-item brief version
is also available (Dowson, 2001).
Reliability and validity studies
with adult samples only; however, BSQ has been used with
school-aged children.
Child, adolescent and adult versions
available; Spilt-half reliability for
a sample of males and females
age 8.517.4, .85; Equally
appropriate for boys and girls.
Measure created with sample of 16
24 year-olds. Assesses components
of male body image (BI) not
assessed by traditional measures;
Internal consistency .78.84.
Evidence of discriminant validity:
uncorrelated with measures that
assess drive for thinness.
Testretest reliability = .94.
Subfactors have good internal
consistency (.83.92). Evidence
of construct validity: correlated
with measures of body
satisfaction and eating disorder
symptoms. Found to differentiate
ED patients and normal controls
Good psychometric properties

for both the long and short form.
Short form: 1-month reliability,
r = .80.86; Correlated with other
measures of BI disturbance and
psychological maladjustment .5.6)
Body Image States
Self-report Dissatisfaction with
Approaches BI as a state rather
Scale (BISS, Cash
body and appearance than a trait, capturing fluctuations
et al., 2002)
at a particular
in body experience and
moment in time
satisfaction; Brevity of the
measure makes it easy to
administer. Acceptable
psychometric properties.
Digital photograph of Dynamic
Body satisfaction and Decreases reliance on memory and
image in mirror;
Assesssize estimation
other executive functions; Provides
Projected to be life
ment
experience that most closely
size (Shafran &
Technique
approximates real life encounters
Fairburn, 2002)
with ones physical image. No
information available regarding
reliability or use with children.
Family functioning
SIPA/PSI (Abidin,
Self-report Levels of total
The SIPA is used for adolescents
2004)
parenting stress;
(1119 years) and the PSI is used
Adolescent, parentfor children (1 month12 years);
ing, and life factors
normative comparisons available
contributing to total
stress; The nature of
the parentchild and
marital relationships
409

Name of Measure
Type
FACES IV (Olson,
2000)
Self-report General family

functioning, with an
emphasis on family
cohesion, flexibility,
and communication
skills
Self-report Family strengths
and weaknesses in
the family unit as a
whole, dyads within
the family, and the
individuals perception of their role and
functioning within
the family
Self-report Measure of family
psychiatric history
Family Assessment
Measure-III (FAM III,
Skinner, Steinhauer,
& Santa-Barbara,
2003)
Family History
Research Diagnostic
Criteria (FH-RDC,
Andreasen et al.,
1977)
Family History Assessment
(Andreasen et al.,
1977)
Construct Assessed
Self-report Brief screening for

family psychiatric
history; measures
informant and their
first-degree relatives

Specifically designed to identify
dysfunctional areas of family
functioning and help with treatment planning for families
Normative data available for

families of AN and BN patients
Most reliable standardized

method for assessing family history of psychiatric disturbance;
results must be interpreted with
caution, as underreporting commonly occurs
Less valid than the FH-RDC, but
more time efficient; most valid
for assessing major depression, anxiety disorders, substance dependence, and suicide
attempts; effectiveness increases
when more than one family
member is assessed
The family environment can serve as both an asset and liability for the
promotion of messages and values regarding health, eating, and body image.
Current research indicates that parents can have both a positive and negative
influence on childrens eating behaviors (Ackard & Neumark-Sztainer, 2001).
Haworth-Hoeppner (2000) suggests that consistent conversation in the home
regarding weight reinforces cultural messages that value the importance
of thinness, and parental encouragement to diet is predictive of unhealthy
dieting behaviors in eighth- and ninth-grade girls (Dixon, Adair, & OConnor,
1996; Haworth-Hoeppner, 2000). In contrast, Ackard and Neumark-Sztainer
(2001) found eating disorder behaviors in individuals with bulimia to be
inversely proportional to the frequency of family meals. One hypothesis is
that family meals can increase healthy family interaction and provide an
opportunity for parents to model healthy eating behaviors. Accordingly,
gathering information about the structure of mealtimes and the importance
of health may reveal familial influences to draw upon during treatment, as
well as potential negative aspects that should be targeted for change.
Suggestions for Assessment

What magazines would I find around your living room if I were to look
in your home right now? What TV shows are watched and who monitors
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this decision? Are there rules about clothing, how people have to look when
they leave the house? How important are family meals/family dinners in
your home? Does your family ever take bike rides or walks together? Who
decides what food is in the refrigerator/cupboards? Are certain types of
foods not allowed or seen as bad foods? Who does the grocery shopping?
Who orders at restaurants and how do you decide where to go?
Family Psychiatric History

Another issue to address in the initial assessment is the psychiatric
history of the parents and their extended family. The presence of mental
illness in parents and family members both greatly informs potential
treatment options while complicating illness management. Given the
burgeoning responsibilities imparted to parents for the management of
their child, the presence of mental illness in either or both parents may
greatly compromise their ability to manage their childs severe state and
may necessitate additional strategies. Unfortunately, the presence of an
individual with an eating disorder increases the risk that a family member
will be diagnosed with an eating disorder (Strober, Freeman, Lampert,
Diamond, & Kaye, 2000), anxiety disorder (Bulik, 1995), affective disorder
(Lilenfeld et al., 1998), and/or substance abuse (Lilenfeld et al., 1998). In
particular, parents should be questioned about their own eating habits, as
research demonstrates that eating disorders are often seen in first-degree
relatives of patients (Lilenfeld et al., 1998). Assessment of family psychiatric
history can be bolstered via self-report measures, such as the Family History
Assessment (Andreasen Endicott, Spitzer, & Winokur,1977) (See Table 14.1).
Understanding family history of psychiatric illness can help inform potential
barriers to the parents ability to manage their childs illness.
Assessment of Eating Disorder Symptoms

Body Weight: Definition and Significance of Construct
Extreme weight loss is arguably the defining feature of individuals
with anorexia nervosa. Unlike the considerable overlap in symptoms of
disordered eating across syndromes (e.g., purgative behavior is seen both
in individuals diagnosed with bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa),
extreme weight loss is unique to the disorder of AN. As defined in the current diagnostic system authored by the American Psychiatric Association
(2000), this criterion is defined as determined weight loss leading to body
weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height. Examples include a level 85% or less than expected or, in children, a failure to
gain weight during a period of growth leading to a body weight less than
85% of expected.
Although the assessment of this feature would seem straightforward,
there is considerable dissention regarding the sensitivity of current guidelines to define clinical severity (Hebebrand, Casper, Treasure, & Schweiger,
2004). A further issue complicating diagnosis is the debate and clinical
relevance of focusing on an individuals specific weight value relative to
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an individuals history of weight change. In response to these challenges,

there have been several proposed alternatives to distinguishing severe
weight loss in children and adolescents.
The clinical validity of current weight criteria in defining symptom
severity has been challenged by studies with adult research samples.
Although research conducted in adult samples is of only marginal utility
in guiding clinical decision-making in AN, this work is notable in demonstrating the poor validity of current cut-offs. For example, McIntosh et al.
(2004) examined the clinical validity of strict body mass index (BMI; < 17.5)
relative to lenient criteria (BMI 17.519) for AN (McIntosh et al., 2004).
Of importance, no group differences were reported on physical measures (other than BMI) including blood pressure, history of amenorrhea,
weight loss history, body temperature, or heart rate. Similar findings were
reported on self-report measures of eating disorder psychopathology with
the exception of body image discrepancy (McIntosh et al., 2004).
Individuals in the lenient group described a larger discrepancy between
their current weight and their ideal weight. This evidence has been further
bolstered by multisite studies comparing the clinical severity of AN to subthreshold AN (all symptoms of AN but weight along with either menstrual
dysfunction or cognitive criteria of AN) indicating no reliable differences in
clinical features or degree of impairment (Crow, Agras, Halmi, Mitchell, &
Kraemer, 2002). As weight loss in children and adolescents may have more
severe impact due to the potentially negative effects on growth and development (Peebles et al., 2006), these results question both the sensitivity
and interpretative power of current weight cut-offs in the determination of
clinical severity.
Developmental Considerations
Several authors have recommended the use of body mass index centiles as a more developmentally sensitive alternative to percentage ideal
body weight. As highlighted by Hebebrand et al. (2004), a criterion of 85%
ideal body weight corresponds to a body mass index (BMI) roughly between
the fifth and tenth BMI centile in the United States, with the BMI index of
17.5 (kg/m2) providing a more conservative provision for defining weight.
BMI is a widely adapted indicator of nutritional status as it provides an
index of weight per height (Bray, 1998). Of importance, consideration of
both the 85 percentile as well as the BMI criterion of 17.5 kg/m2 corresponds to different levels of severity across the growth trajectory ironically being more stringent at sensitive developmental ages for diagnoses
(Hebebrand et al., 2004). For example, although the tenth centile for adult
females is a BMI value of 18.9 (kg/m2), a weight that crosses the threshold
of healthy leanness, a sixteen-year-old of this weight classification would
have a BMI value of 17.5 (kg/m2), in accordance with a more strict diagnostic criterion.
To highlight the potential severity of this issue, Peebles, Wilson, and
Lock (2006) compared the clinical presentation of 109 children under the
age of 13 years to 850 patients from ages 1318 years old. Despite exhibiting
a shorter duration of illness, children exhibited a more rapid rate of weight
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loss resulting in a lower ideal body mass index at clinical presentation relative to their older peers. These results highlight the insufficiency of current
weight loss criteria for children. One solution proposed by Hebebrand et al.
(2004) is the use of the tenth BMI centile as a conservative, but sensitive
indicator of diagnostic severity.
An alternative diagnostic strategy is the consideration of weight and
height trends such as deviation from previous growth and sexual maturity
trajectories and/or percentage of weight loss (Workgroup for the Classification of Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents, 2007). Such a strategy not only has the advantage of considering each individual within the
context of his own developmental history, but by considering both growth
and maturational indices, can provide several mechanisms to evaluate
potentially serious changes. Thus, rather then define severity based on a
clinical cut-point, consideration of change from previous growth velocity
may provide a more clinically meaningful index of severity.
Assessment Methods
The growth charts established by the Center for Disease Control (CDC)
(2002) not only provide a sensitive indicator of clinical reality, they can
be implemented as a powerful visual tool to communicate the severity of
weight loss to a reluctant clinical audience. It is important to note that
these charts were not established as standards of health (Center for Disease Control, 2002). Rather, these charts reflect the current state of body
weight regulation at the population level. Thus, if the health of the population is changing, than values considered relative to the population have
different meanings at different times. However, at the level of the individual, CDC growth charts provide a sensitive visual clinical tool intended
to facilitate more rapid detection of changes in previous growth velocity.
Thus, a clinician should consider plotting an individuals weight and height
history so trends can be readily perceived.
For both parents and their children with disordered eating, the clinical
severity of recent weight loss is often not readily discerned. Subtle changes
in weight are not easily detectable when a family member is seen on a
daily basis. Compounding this problem, unlike a serious medical illness,
children and adolescents with disordered eating often feel fine. Thus,
the dramatic graphic illustration of a changing growth pattern may be one
of the most effective manners to demonstrate to both the child and the
childs parent the severity of current nutritional habits.
There is little guiding evidence about the frequency and strategy of
regular body mass assessments. For children and adolescents with disordered eating, the numbers on the scale function as exposures to noxious stimuli (Vitousek, 2002). The anxiety-provoking nature of weighing
is potentially exacerbated by the concrete thinking style often described
in individuals with AN, in which randomly designated weight values are
deemed fat or slender. Combined, the child or adolescent has difficulty
appreciating the value of weight trends, that is, the need to interpret a
series of weight values over time to make meaningful conclusions about
the trajectory of change. Rather, children may become exceedingly agitated
413
about a natural body weight fluctuation and may exacerbate food restriction in response to an invalid interpretation of their body weight value.
In support of these considerations, empirically validated strategies for
body mass assessment come from treatment studies. For example, in the
Maudsley Model of family therapy, the most empirically valid treatment
strategy for the treatment of adolescent AN (Lock, Le Grange, Agras, & Dare,
2001), weekly weighing occurs only in the therapists office with only the
adolescent and therapist. The weight is then communicated to the family by
the therapist so that the previous strategies undertaken by the family towards
weight gain can be evaluated. Given the importance of the family for their
childs weight management, and their need for data to guide their behavior,
this strategy is clinically useful. Furthermore, it provides an opportunity for
the therapist to address misinterpretations regarding the meaning of subtle
weight fluctuations. Thus, weekly weighing in the presence of the therapist
rather than at home reflects the most empirically valid standard of practice.
Unexpected or severe weight loss is often encountered in relation to
physical illness thus further substantiating the importance of the initial
medical exam to rule out medical causes for body mass change (Mitchell &
Crow, 2006). There would seem to be a difference between the intentional
weight loss associated with an eating disorder and the potentially accidental weight loss that may accompany a physical illness, however, in practice
the issue is not straightforward. Sometimes both factors are at play in that
the initial cause of weight loss may be the result of accidental physical factors, but the maintenance, exacerbation, or persistence of severe weight
loss is a result of behavioral factors.
For example, weight loss is a frequent harbinger of Type I diabetes, an
autoimmune disorder of the endocrine system with a frequent age of onset
in childhood reflecting the bodys failure to produce and utilize the insulin
necessary to metabolize glucose (Eisenbarth, Polonsky, & Buse, 2003).
Although the weight loss that predates diabetes diagnosis and treatment
reflects this endocrine abnormality, in fact, adolescents with diabetes may
exhibit an increased likelihood of a diagnosis of an eating disorder (Colton,
Olmsted, Daneman, Rydall, & Rodin, 2004). Of importance, the presence
of eating disorder symptomatology may manifest as a failure to adhere to
proscribed medical recommendations resulting in poor glycemic control.
Thus, a careful medical diagnosis must distinguish comorbid medical conditions that may instigate or contribute to nutritional deprivation from
behavioral factors that may maintain unhealthy weight regulation.
Sensitivity to somatic experience is a further issue that complicates the
differentiation of physical from psychological disorder. The issue of sensory
sensitivity is relatively unexplored in children and adolescents with eating disturbance relative to other childhood diagnoses such as pervasive
developmental disorders. An exception is a classification system specifically designed to address the unique diagnostic needs of children and adolescents referred to as the Great Ormand Street Criteria (Nicholls, Chater, &
Lask, 2000). Within this diagnostic system, a disorder referred to as Food
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Avoidance Emotional Disorder (FAED) warrants mention due to increasing

data supporting the appearance of this symptom constellation in several
laboratories. Children with FAED exhibit wide heterogeneity in presentation; however, they share food avoidance with unhealthy weight loss. FAED
delineates a syndrome in which severe food refusal and weight loss are
present; nonetheless, the desire to be thin is not the stated motivational
goal. Rather, some children and young adolescents in this group appear to
be exquisitely sensitive to somatic sensations of fullness or changing bodily
states and their food avoidance may be intended to avoid these perceptions
of somatic discomfort. Although the body of evidence to date has not warranted inclusion of this diagnosis in a formalized diagnostic system, the
increasing body of evidence certainly necessitates that clinicians be aware
and sensitive to this symptom expression (Cooper et al., 2002).
Food neophobia, the fear of trying new foods, may manifest as extreme
selectivity that affects the range of food variety (Galloway, Lee, & Birch, 2003).
Researchers have highlighted the dispositional nature of this eating pattern
as many children exhibit this style of eating from early childhood. High trait
anxiety is often reported in both children with food neophobia and their
mothers (Galloway et al., 2003). In contrast, children with food selectivity may
demonstrate similar limitations in food variety, nonetheless the association to
dispositional factors is less clear and has been hypothesized to be more sensitive to environmental factors (Galloway et al., 2003); that is, the child will
eat more variety at school than at home. Unlike the food avoidance seen in
AN, weight and shape concerns are not the initial motivating factors for food
avoidance and extreme weight loss is often not part of the clinical picture.
Notwithstanding, self-imposed limitations on food variety may threaten
health. Chatoor and Ganiban (2003) suggest guidelines for the point at
which food selectivity or neophobia demands intervention. Treatment may
be necessary if adequate nutrition can not be sustained without supplementation (i.e., even if weight is in a healthy range, vitamin supplementation is
necessary for the child to avoid disorders caused by vitamin deficiencies).
Abrupt food refusal and corresponding weight loss may occur in children
who experience a choking incident or other traumatic incident. The clinical
picture may be captured by the diagnosis of simple phobia. Extreme concerns
about weight or shape are absent and unlike the clinical picture of AN,
symptoms are aversive for the child or adolescent. Food refusal and corresponding weight loss are often witnessed in response to more pervasive
traumatic reactions to harmful life events. Symptoms are related temporally
to the onset of this trauma, however, food refusal may be seen as part of
a more pervasive pattern of developmental regression (Workgroup for the
Classification of Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents, 2007).
CASE EXAMPLE: ASSESSMENT OF WEIGHT

HISTORY FROM PARENTS
Therapist: I want to learn about your daughters pattern of growth
and weight gain. I have looked over her medical chart, however, I would
like to hear your view of your daughters weight history.
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Mother: Lucy has always been thin and has always been a picky eater.
Our pediatrician never seemed to be very concerned by this as she ate
enough to grow; its just that her range of foods was rather limited. She
always ate decent amounts of the foods she liked. Last fall, a number of
her friends decided to become vegetarian and Lucy decided to follow. We
thought we were doing the right thing, took her to a nutritionist to make
sure she met all of her nutritional requirements. At first, she adhered to
recommendations but had trouble eating enough to maintain weight. I
admit she had to eat a lot of food and it seemed like she was doing a good
job. However, I noticed her choices became a bit more limited with time. I
wasnt overly concerned until her gym teacher called me noticing a change
in both her weight and an unusual intensity in the manner in which she
pursued activities at gym. I brought her to the doctor, and again he wasnt
overly concerned. She had lost some weight and had fallen below her previous height percentage but just recommended we return in several months
for follow-up. I was worried however as something seemed different. Thats
why I brought her here.
We present this excerpt to highlight a challenging circumstance that
clinicians often face in the determination of clinical severity: when parents
suspect a problem, clinical indices may not be sensitive enough to pick
up on significant, but subtle clinical changes. Given the potentially severe
consequences of eating disturbance, the prognostic benefit conferred by
early intervention, and the value of parental input into their childs normative state of functioning, intervention should be undertaken when there
is parental concern. Indeed, if not of clinical significance, weight loss that
raises parental concern may be a key window of opportunity to intervene
very early in the illness trajectory. There is no empirical data that we are
aware of to support the notion that early intervention can do harm.
Food Restriction: Definition and Significance of Construct

It is important to note that although inadequate energy intake is usually a necessary prerequisite for extreme weight loss, specific patterns of
food restriction are not specified in the diagnostic criteria for an eating
disorder. Despite this, deliberate food restriction has both clinical and
empirical significance in both AN and BN. Given that weight loss is a result
of energy imbalance, deliberate food restriction is a frequent clinical feature. However, this is not always the case as energy imbalance can also
be achieved via increased physical activity without any changes in previous food intake, although, in the latter case, eating failed to increase
in response to increased energy demands. Dietary restriction may take
several forms including limits on total energy (e.g., eating only a certain
number of calories), limits on the variety of foodstuffs (e.g., no longer eating any fried foods), or limitations on temporal patterns of consumption
(e.g., no eating after 7 PM; Cooper & Fairburn, 1987). To be of clinical significance, these patterns of food restriction must interfere with nutritional
or psychological health.
Further investigation of the potentially deleterious consequences of food
restriction has highlighted that it is not dietary restriction, per se, but the
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manner of dietary restriction that is clinically significant. To illustrate, Stice,

Presnell, Groenz, and Shaw (2005) experimentally manipulated dietary
restriction in a group of adolescents evidencing symptoms of BN. The experimental group was provided strategies to promote healthy eating via gradual
lifestyle changes such as increasing fruit and vegetable consumption while
decreasing intake of high-calorie foods of low nutrient density (Stice et al.,
2005). No specific calorie limit was applied and no calorie counting was
completed. Engaging in this moderate gradual form of healthy lifestyle eating was reported to decrease symptoms of BN including binge eating.
The authors argue that these findings challenge the etiological role of
dietary restriction on subsequent eating disorder development and raise the
possibility that it is the rigid manner of restriction that is problematic. This
interpretation supports the clinical strategies employed in the most empirically validated treatment for BN, cognitive behavior therapy (Fairburn, 1996),
a treatment that specifically targets rigid approaches to dietary intake. In
short, it is not just the amount of food consumed that is important, but
rather the manner in which decisions about the range, timing, and quality of
nutritional habits are established and maintained that is crucial to assess.
The assessment of restrictive eating practices in children and adolescents
is complicated by a potential lack of insight into behavioral motives, the
childs lack of control over the food environment, and their literal interpretation of assessment questions. The ability to forecast temporally distant
outcomes such as risk evolves throughout the adolescent period (Boyer,
2006). Similarly, limited insight into the motivational consequences of eating may cause children to answer in ways that mask the true nature of
their relationship to food. For example, on learning that a child no longer
eats cake, an interviewer may ask, Why dont you eat cake? A child would
be likely to reply, Because I dont like it. It requires perceptive querying
to ascertain that, in fact, the child used to enjoy the taste of cake, but now
feels bad after eating it and thus doesnt like it.
Limitations on abstract reasoning may further preclude understanding of the specific relation between a pattern of dietary intake, subsequent
energy imbalance, and weight loss (Marini & Case, 1994). Rather, children
may learn rigid rules about food intake (e.g., cake is bad) or, more severely,
Food is bad, thus precipitating an unhealthy period of severe food restriction. However, given the reciprocal nature of the feeding relationship (i.e.,
parental influence on the home food environment) combined with the
childs dependence on parents for the type of food at home, any assessment
of dietary restriction must incorporate normative family patterns.
Finally, children or adolescents may interpret assessment questions
in an overly literal manner, a style of response that may mask serious food
restriction. For example, the question, What did you have for lunch?
could be answered by the child according to what was in her lunch bag
and not according to what she actually consumed. Thus, assessors must
be very specific and concrete and judiciously incorporate collateral reports
in trying to understand patterns of dietary intake.
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Assessment Strategies
The goal of dietary assessment is determination of the adequacy of
current nutrition intake and the presence of dietary rigidity. The assessment
of dietary intake has been investigated extensively with current consensus
questioning the validity and accuracy of dietary food records relative to
interview-assisted dietary recalls. Although the former method has an
individual record of their food intake for a number of days, the latter
approach uses food records as the basis for subsequent probing regarding
food intake during the previous 24 hours (Cullen et al., 2004).
Nutritionist-assisted dietary recalls may utilize visual food models to
illustrate portion sizes (Godwin, Chambers, & Cleveland, 2004) a strategy
that may be particularly apt for the assessment of dietary intake in children
and adolescents as it provides concrete examples to facilitate the visualization of quantity. Such models can be ordered from nutrition education companies. Assessment of nutritional intake in children and adolescents is best
facilitated by short time intervals and concrete examples of food quantity.
Attitudes regarding dietary intake and strategies to facilitate reduced
caloric intake have been most reliably assessed in children and adolescents by clinician-administered structured interviews. For example, the
Eating Disorder Examination for Children (EDE-C) is a clinician-administered structured interview frequently used in studies aimed to characterize disordered eating in children and adolescents (Watkins, Frampton,
Lask, & Bryant-Waugh, 2005). Recently, researchers examining the use of
the EDE with adolescents suggest that the inclusion of new supplementary items created by the authors may capture a more accurate picture of
pathology when assessing adolescents with AN (Couturier & Lock, 2006).
This measure provides detailed questions regarding the past 28 days, has
items that assess the prior three months, and provides continuous measures of ED symptoms as well as items that specifically assess DSMIV
diagnostic criteria (American Psychiatric Association, 1994).
The EDE is comprised of four subscales that assess eating disorder
symptoms related to shape concern, weight concern, eating concern, and
dietary restraint (Fairburn, & Cooper, 1993). The child version is adapted
from the adult version by providing more age-appropriate language and by
using concrete examples to explain abstract concepts. Advantages to this
measure are its previous use in studies of eating pathology in children and
adolescents (Tanofsky-Kraff et al., 2003).
In regard to food restriction, the child version of the EDE (chEDE)
assesses specific food rules (e.g., food types the individual does not permit herself to eat) and periods of fasting or deliberate food restriction.
Researchers have challenged the sensitivity of this measure to the features of minimization or poor insight in children (Couturier & Lock, 2006).
An additional challenge with this measure is the length, approximately
an hour. A shortened, semi-structured interview based on the EDE was
developed by Field et al. (2004) to be used as a screening tool for eating
pathology and takes approximately 1520 minutes (Field, Taylor, Celio, &
Colditz, 2004). Thus, the goals of the assessment should dictate whether a
more extensive review of disordered eating patterns is required.
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Some self-report measures assessing eating disorder symptoms exist,

and although these measurement tools certainly represent developmentally sensitive advances to adult measures, studies that assess correspondence between child- and parent-report highlight the importance of
integrating both perspectives into the interpretation of clinical data. Table
14.1 provides a summary of self-report measures and the advantages and
disadvantages of these measures. In each symptom section, we highlight
measures within this table.
For screening purposes, the most validated screening measure for adolescents is the five-item Weight Concerns Scale (Shisslak et al., 1999). The
Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI), one of the most frequently used measures of
attitudes frequently reported in individuals with ED, has extensive normative
data and has the clinical advantage of providing a graphic profile of attitudes
that may facilitate assessment feedback (Garner, 1991). A child version of
this measure has been published with initial normative data reported using
a representative community sample of adolescents (Franko et al., 2004). Its
use as a treatment outcome measure has not been thoroughly explored.
The Kids Eating Disorder Survey (KEDS) is a screening tool designed
for children and adolescents (Childress, Brewerton, Hodges, & Jarrell,
1993). Acceptable psychometric data exist although some authors have
challenged the absence of certain key constructs (e.g., loss of control in the
assessment of binge eating). For clinical purposes, measures that can provide graphic feedback (such as plotted profiles) may have utility in engaging the family about the serious nature of current symptoms, particularly
when plotted in respect to typically functioning individuals.
In addition to disorders associated with potential weight loss, there
are several disorders of childhood associated with food selectivity or food
refusal. Children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder often manifest rigid patterns of eating and/or sensitivity with food taste and texture
(Ahearn, Castine, Nault, & Green, 2001). Although rigid, these patterns
are often interpreted as a manifestation of the childs insistence on sameness, a part of the diagnostic profile for these disorders (Kanner, 1943).
Importantly, the stated intent of these behaviors is not weight and shape
concerns and weight loss is often not present.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR ASSESSMENT

Are there any foods that you do not let yourself eat? For example, if I
had a piece of candy, and you were hungry, could you eat it? Did you ever
eat candy? Why did you stop? What if I told you that this was a magical
piece of candy and if you ate it, it would make you lose weight? Could you
eat it then? Do you have any rules about eating? For example, are there
certain good foods that you are only allowed to eat or bad foods that you
are not allowed to eat? Can you ever eat the bad foods or do you just try
to eat less of them than other foods?
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Binge Eating: Definition and Significance

Binge eating behavior may be the most highly prevalent eating disorder symptom in childhood and adolescence due, in part, to its association
with pediatric obesity. Studies in both treatment-seeking and community
samples support that a significant proportion of overweight children and
adolescents endorse this pathological eating pattern (Decaluwe & Braet,
2003). Of importance, overweight children who endorse binge eating often
exhibit higher levels of affective symptoms such as anxiety and depression
and those who endorse disordered eating attitudes have elevated BMIs relative to overweight children without this pattern (Tanofsky-Kraff, Faden,
Yanovski, Wilfley, & Yanovski, 2005). Furthermore, adults who report
binge eating often date adolescence as the origin of this pattern, highlighting the potential chronicity of this feature.
Binge eating requires the experience of subjective distress. Individuals who binge eat, by definition, are uncomfortable and distressed by this
pattern of eating. Beyond subjective experiences, binge eating is differentiated into subtypes (objective vs. subjective) based on the amount of food
consumed. Across both subtypes, a feeling of loss of control, that is, a feeling that one cannot stop eating even though a part of the individual would
like to stop, is present. However, in objective binge eating, the amount of
food consumed is considered excessive given the eating context (American
Psychiatric Association, 2000). There is currently no consensus on the size
of binge necessary to be considered excessive, and an individual who eats
an extremely large meal would not be considered to be binge eating unless
accompanied by a sense of loss of control.
Several ways to operationalize excessive food consumption have been
attempted. In the Structured Interview for Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa
(Fichter & Quadflieg, 2001), quantity of food is assessed using cut-points,
with marked episodes considered 10003000 kcalories of energy whereas
severe episodes are >5,000 kcalories. However, the importance of the context
in which the eating occurs is also important. Eating a fast-food double
cheeseburger, an extra large order of French fries, and a milkshake, although
providing an arguably marked amount of energy (i.e., approximately 1,500
kcalories) would not be considered a binge eating episode if this person felt
comfortable with this pattern, it was during the lunch meal, and the meal
was enjoyed in the presence of friends. However, this same amount, eaten
late at night, hiding this eating due to embarrassment, telling oneself not
to finish the fried potatoes but doing so anyway, and feeling distress about
the event would be considered a binge eating episode (Goldfein, Devlin, &
Kamenetz, 2005).
In contrast, in a subjective binge eating episode, the individual experiences subjective distress, however, he does not consume an amount of
food deemed excessive (e.g., having a sandwich and chips for lunch when
one told oneself not to eat the chips). Given these complicated issues,
researchers have taken great care in accurately defining binge eating in
children (Marcus & Kalarchian, 2003).
The setting events that increase the likelihood of subsequent binge eating may highlight different strategies for intervention. A dual pathway model
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of subsequent bulimic symptoms has been described in adolescents (Stice,

2001). Binge eating episodes triggered by affective symptoms fall into one arm
of this model. Given the relationship to negative affect, several hypotheses
regarding the function of binge eating have been proposed. Binge eating
may contribute to a temporary elevation in affect possibly due to the effects
of foodstuffs on levels of neurotransmitters implicated in affective regulation
such as serotonin and dopamine (Steiger & Bruce, 2007).
For some, binge eating may function as a temporary distraction from
aversive experiences (Heatherton & Baumeister, 1991). Individuals often
describe a decreased level of self-awareness while binge eating using
phrases such as being in a daze or feeling robotic. In an oft-cited theoretical paper, Heatherton and Baumeister (1991) propose that binge eating
may narrow attention to the immediate presence of food thereby capturing attentional resources that would be otherwise allocated to provocative
stimuli. Indeed, individuals who binge eat often describe these periods as
the one time during their day in which The rules disappear, and I can do
anything I want. Subsequent to this escape, however, often occur feelings
of guilt, shame, and associated depressive symptoms.
The dietary restraint pathway to binge eating highlights rigid, untenable
dietary rules combined with maladaptive reactions to rule violation, that is,
an abstinence violation effect. According to this model, deviation from dietary
rules may occur because the amount of food prescribed is not sustainable
due to true biologic needs (Polivy, 1998). Entering an eating occasion overly
hungry is proposed to increase the difficulty with meal termination leading to consuming more food than intended. The subsequent breaking of the
standard is posited to increase negative affect, seemingly ironically promoting overeating via a What the heck, Ive already blown it mentality (Urbszat,
Herman, & Polivy, 2002). Assessment thus involves the nature of the dietary
rules (see previous section) and the consequences of rule violation.
Researchers have supported this distinction demonstrating that a
subgroup of individuals describe a pattern of dietary restriction preceding the first binge eating episode in adolescents (Stice, 2001). In a study
of overweight children, however, 2/3 reported that the experience of loss
of control eating preceded any form of dietary restriction for weight loss
(Tanofsky-Kraff et al., 2005). As such, historical dietary influences on
binge eating may aid in case formulation in addition to more proximal
functional analyses.
There are unique behavioral patterns associated with binge eating in
children and adolescents relative to adults (Marcus & Kalarchian, 2003).
Parent reports appear to be particularly necessary in the assessment of this
feature as comparisons of child-/adolescent- to parent-reports indicated
that parental reports had greater clinical validity (Steinberg et al., 2004).
Of interest, the experience of loss of control appears to be more clinically valid
than the amount of food consumed for children and adolescents (Marcus
& Kalarchian, 2003). This may reasonably be due to the environmental
reality that children and adolescents do not have as much control over
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the home food environment as adults and thus may have less ability to
buy food to fuel a binge eating episode. It is perhaps not surprising then
that Marcus and Kalarchian (2003) recommend provisional criteria for
the diagnosis of binge eating in children that includes associated clinical
features such as secretive eating or food hoarding. These features may
reflect the pragmatic reality of behavioral adaptations that occur when one
engages in a self-perceived embarrassing pattern of behavior (i.e., binge
eating) while living with family.
Assessment Methods
The chEDE is the most researched tool for the assessment of binge
eating in children and adolescents (see previous section). Content related
to binge eating in this measure utilizes more concrete examples to assess
rather vague concepts such as excessive food consumption such as asking whether someone watching the eating would think it was too much.
Self-report assessments of binge eating demonstrate less sensitivity to the
differentiation of subjective relative to objective binge eating. For example, the Questionnaire of Eating and Weight Patterns-Adolescent Version
(QWEP-A), a self-report measure designed to assess the presence of binge
eating disorder, was found to exhibit acceptable specificity (91%) but limited sensitivity (17%) to objective relative to subjective binge eating episodes (Tanofsky-Kraff et al., 2003).
Comparison of a parent relative to the adolescent version indicates
that although this measure is concordant when symptoms are absent,
parent reports are more aligned with other clinical indicators such as BMI,
associated eating disorder cognitions, and general problems (TanofskyKraff et al., 2003). A more recent measure, the Child Binge Eating Scale,
was designed to be a more convenient clinical screening tool administered
by a clinician (Shapiro et al., 2007). This measure was reported to correspond with a well-validated structured clinician administered clinical
interview (SCID) and to be more sensitive to subsyndromal presentations.
Examples of Assessment Questions Include:

Do you ever have times when you eat a large amount of food, more
than other people would eat if they were in the same situation? Do you
think other people would think it was too much food? Would you be embarrassed if I saw you eating during those times? Do you ever eat in private
because you are embarrassed by what you are eating? During those times
when you feel like you eat a lot of food, do you feel like you can stop eating?
Do you ever try to stop? What happens when you try to stop? When you
are finished eating, do you feel bad about what you have just eaten? What
do you tell yourself after this period of eating is over?
Weight Control: Significance of the Construct

Weight control strategies such as exercise are often considered a healthy
lifestyle behavior, however, it is the extreme use of unhealthy weight loss
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strategies that distinguish individuals with an ED. Of importance, extreme

weight loss strategies are undertaken with the specific intent to facilitate
weight loss, irrespective of the effectiveness of these strategies. In both AN
and BN, a purging subtype is distinguished by the presence of self-induced
vomiting; abuse of laxatives, diet pills, enemas, diuretics; or use of syrup
of ipecac whereas the practice of excessive exercise is distinguished by
a nonpurging subtype of both disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). The significance of this distinction is reinforced by research
supporting the phenotypic consistency in the presentation of the restricting subtype of AN (Wonderlich, Lilenfeld, Riso, Engel, & Mitchell, 2005),
reports partially supported by increasing neurobiological evidence among
individuals with this specific subtype (Bailer et al., 2005). It is the severe
impact of these behaviors on health combined with often secretive nature
of these behavioral patterns that increase challenges to their assessment.
Of concern, population-based surveys indicate that not only are
unhealthy weight loss strategies practiced in a significant percentage of
the population, but also these behaviors are appearing in demographic
groups that were previously thought protected. For example, findings from
two large adolescent self report surveys reveal that 10% to 30% of males
and 26% to 56% of females report engaging in one or more unhealthy
weight control strategies (Croll at al., 2002; Forman-Hoffman, 2004).
Neumark-Stzainer et al. (2006) examined the prevalence of extreme
weight control strategies in a cohort of 2,516 adolescents at two key developmental transitions: early to middle adolescence (junior high to high
school) and middle to late adolescence (high school to post high school).
The use of extreme weight control behaviors nearly doubled during the
early to middle adolescent transitions from a prevalence of 9.4% to 17.9%;
and a second increase occurred during the later adolescent transition
(14.5% to 23.9%). Although the overall prevalence of these behaviors was
lower in males, the trends were the same, demonstrating a near doubling
of prevalence during key developmental transitions (Neumark-Sztainer,
Wall, Eisenberg, Story, & Hannan, 2006). These patterns should alert clinicians to the importance of life transitions and their assessment for the
presence of eating pathology.
Research indicates behaviors that comprise the purging subtype are
less likely to appear in children below the age of 13 years of age relative to
middle to late adolescence (Peebles et al., 2006). However, given the lower
fat stores reported in childhood relative to adulthood, a lower threshold of
symptom frequency may result in more deleterious health consequences,
a fact that strengthens the importance of a thorough medical assessment
to determine level of treatment intensity.
Additionally, involvement in extracurricular activities may also mask
the onset of eating disordered behaviors. First, adolescents may use excessive participation in organized sports as a way to mask eating pathology.
For example, a not infrequent clinical presentation is for an adolescent
to be engaged in multiple sports simultaneously. Although there is nothing
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inherently pathological in this practice, it is the attitude the adolescent

has towards this participation that is problematic. For example, a typically developing individual may engage in sports because he or she enjoys
sports participation, can take days off when needing rest, and follows the
coachs directions regarding intensity of practice. In contrast, an individual with an eating disorder will often experience sports participation
as a way to relieve guilt (e.g., burning calories associated with physical
activity), may exhibit a level of intensity towards the sport that may be
counterproductive for sports conditioning, may have difficulty responding or noticing bodily fatigue, and may exercise above and beyond that
instructed by coaches.
Sports participation may also be a clandestine way for the adolescent
to skip meals. Involvement in extracurricular activities is often exceedingly
time intensive and often occurs during the evening meal. Unfortunately, an
adolescent with an eating disorder may capitalize on this opportunity, using
it is a way to mask food restriction (e.g., telling her parents she has eaten
with the team when she really hasnt). To assess these nuances, assessment
of the childs or adolescents activity schedule, number of sports and number
hours spent practicing each sport, and involvement in other extracurricular
activities such as clubs or organizations is extremely important in gaining
an understanding of how and when certain weight control behaviors may be
used. Another factor to consider is access to resources. If the adolescent is
using laxatives or taking diet pills or smoking, inquiring as to their means
of obtaining these items is an important factor for assessment.
Assessment Methods
There are several questionnaires that assess weight loss strategies and
attitudes about eating and weight loss. The most commonly used of these
self-report measures is the questionnaire version of the Eating Disorder
Examination or EDE-Q. Although the EDE-Q has not been as extensively
studied as the interview format, there is some evidence for correspondence
between the two forms. While support has been found for the internal
consistency of the self-report version, recent studies propose changes
to the factor structure that may improve the measures psychometric
properties (Peterson et. al, 2007). Notwithstanding these limitations, the
questionnaire format of this measure provides a more convenient form of
assessment than the structured clinical interview.
The eating attitudes test or EAT is a self-report measure developed
as a screening tool for the assessment of anorexic beliefs, attitudes,
and behaviors (Garner & Garfinkel, 1979). Some authors have
questioned the specificity of this measure to particular forms of eating
disorder pathology (Mintz & OHalloran, 2000). Despite the need for
further inquiry, there is evidence that the EAT does serve as the first
stage screening to highlight individuals who may need more extensive
assessment. A child version of this measure has been developed, the
ChEAT (Maloney, McGuire, Daniels, & Specter, 1988). Research on the
ChEAT has also shown it to be a valid screening measure for nonclinical
samples of children (Anton et al., 2006).
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The Bulimia Test-Revised or BULIT-R (Thelen, Farmer, Wonderlich,

& Smith, 1991) was developed to assess symptoms of bulimia, many of
which are inappropriate compensatory or weight loss behaviors. Though
originally developed and tested on adults, it is often used to assess
adolescents. Research into the use of this measure with adolescents shows
that four factors emerge (bingeing, control, normative weight loss behaviors, and extreme weight loss behaviors) that are similar to the five factors
that emerge for adults. In addition, this work has found that the BULIT-R
displays acceptable reliability and validity in adolescent samples (Vincent,
McCabe, & Ricciardelli, 1999).
Self-monitoring through the use of diary cards or food records is also
a key part of assessing the nature and degree of weight control measures.
These records usually track strategies such as dietary restriction, exercise, and other compensatory weight loss strategies, as well as when and
where they occurred, whether there were any identifiable environmental
triggers, and any thoughts or feelings that arose before, during, and after
engaging in the behavior in question. Having patients and their family
provide detailed accounts of strategies used, and how often they are used
each day will provide even greater depth into the degree of severity and
open a discussion of the functions these behaviors serve in the patients
daily living.
As mentioned previously, weight loss strategies range in severity and
are not necessarily indicative of an eating disorder. It is important to assess
whether these behaviors are taken to extremes, which often rests on the
judgment of the clinician. For instance, in adolescents who are involved
in athletic activities, it is important to assess whether their exercise is in
excess of what is required for a sport, distress if activity is not available,
and the presence of fear of weight gain or desire to lose weight. Children
may exhibit vomiting in response to extreme anxiety. In such cases, the
vomiting is usually not intentional but rather in reaction to an environmental trigger. Weight loss is also a symptom of depression, however, in
this case, the change in body mass is due to loss of appetite rather than
deliberate attempts at food restriction for weight loss.
BODY IMAGE DISTURBANCE

Significance of the Construct
Body image disturbance, first described by Hilde Bruch in 1962 (Bruch,
1962), is currently recognized as a central feature of eating disorders (Garner, & Garfinkel, 1997). The DSMIVTR identifies two primary manifestations of body image disturbance in the diagnostic criteria for AN and BN:
distortion in the way in which ones body weight or shape is experienced,
and distortion in the significance of body shape and weight, such that it
is seen as largely determining ones self-worth or has undue influence on
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ones self-evaluation (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). In the case

of AN, body image disturbance may also include a failure to appreciate the
seriousness of the current low body weight. As of yet, the DSM does not
make a distinction between the body image (BI) disturbance seen in adults
and that experienced by children and adolescents.
A thorough assessment of BI is necessary for diagnostic decision-making; however, it also has clinical relevance. Research suggests that BI disturbance has a role in the etiology and maintenance of eating pathology
(Stice, 2002; Stice, & Shaw, 2002), a finding further substantiated by longitudinal research that has indicated negative body image among children
increases the risk of developing an eating or weight-related disorder (Cattarin & Thompson, 1994; Eisenberg, Neumark-Sztainer, Haines, & Wall,
2006). In addition, several studies have found that body image provides
some indication of long-term prognosis. Clinical outcome research has
found that severely disturbed body image is related to poorer outcome and
greater risk of relapse following treatment (Keel, Dorer, Franko, Jackson,
& Herzog, 2005).
The BI disturbance identified in the diagnostic criteria for AN and BN
is not to be confused with the normative discontent that plagues industrialized societies in which there is an emphasis on the thin ideal in an
environment of plenty (Kostanski & Gullone,1999; Rodin, Silberstein, &
Striegel-Moore, 1984). Indeed, ED prevalence rates range from 0.5% to
3%, whereas the rate of body dissatisfaction among children and adolescents in the general population is much higher (Ricciardelli & McCabe,
2001). Misinterpreting normative body dissatisfaction as pathological can
be avoided by carefully assessing the severity of the BI disturbance and
examining the impact of body concerns on functioning. Body image concerns that are clinically significant interfere with social, occupational, or
academic functioning by producing behavioral deficits (e.g., avoidance of
particular people, places, or activities because of ones body, concentration difficulties), behavioral excesses (e.g., body checking, eating or exercise rituals), or extreme distress.
The multidimensional nature of body image necessitates assessment
strategies that accommodate both the unique and interacting contributions
of each domain. Body image is a complex construct connoting perceptual
(e.g., body size estimation), cognitive-evaluative, (e.g., attitudes or feelings
toward ones body), experiential (i.e., the ability to accurately sense and
tolerate the constantly changing state of the body habitus), and behavioral
(e.g., body checking) components (Thompson & Smolak, 2001). There
is wide variability in the research knowledge base and reliability of
measures to assess each of these domains. Although the cognitive and
perceptual aspects of body image have been the most studied to date,
there is not wide acceptance on the nature of perceptual aspects of body
image disturbance, a knowledge gap that necessarily interferes with
reliable assessment (Fernandez, Probst, Meermann, & Vandereycken,
1994; Gardner & Bokenkamp, 1996). The experiential deficits associated
with body image disturbance are also poorly understood and perhaps
best captured by measures of alexithymia (Lane et al., 1996) or poor
interoceptive awareness (Sim & Zeman, 2004), measures that assess an
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individuals ability to differentiate emotional from somatic bodily signals.

The cognitive and, more recently, behavioral aspects of body image have
been associated with the most reliable assessment strategies although
little work has been done in children. Strategies in these domains are
briefly summarized.
In regard to perceptual aspects of body image, there continues to be
controversy regarding the extent to which individuals with disordered eating actually overestimate the size of their bodies (Fernandez et al., 1994;
Gardner, & Bokenkamp, 1996; Skrzypek, Wehmeier, & Remschmidt, 2001).
For example, in one study, individuals with AN were presented with a lifesize image of their body that was distorted to either over- or underestimate
their actual size. Participants were asked to adjust the image accordingly.
Results indicated no consistent pattern of misperception. Individuals with
AN under, over, and accurately estimated their body size. The authors note
that the 20% of AN individuals who overestimated tended to have a more
neurotic profile and negative body attitude (Probst, Vandereycken, Coppenolle, & Pieters, 1998). This latter finding is consistent with recent research
that has suggested the perceptual and attitudinal aspects of body image
may not be as distinct as once thought (Thompson, & Gardner, 2002).
Historically, the prevailing hypothesis for the lack of consistent findings regarding the perceptual aspect of BI has been that discrepancies
reflect the inadequacy of current assessment methods. This has led to
more ecologically valid approaches that are less confounded by issues such
as memory (e.g., having to conjure a mental image of ones appearance).
For example, researchers have asked participants to adjust a digital image
to match what is being seen in the mirror thus precluding reliance on
memory (Shafran & Fairburn, 2002). The relevance of whole body versus
body part estimation (Farrell, Lee, & Shafran, 2005), ordered versus random presentation of body estimation stimuli (e.g., figure drawings) (Doll,
Ball, & Willows, 2004), and variability in the way in which body perception
accuracy is calculated have also been questioned (Farrell et al., 2005).
The stability of body image disturbance has also been challenged.
Researchers propose that inconsistent findings may result from approaching BI disturbance as a trait when perhaps it is better understood as a state
phenomenon (Cash, 2002a). They point to data that indicate the accuracy
of body size estimation is influenced by a number of internal and external factors such as manipulation of experimental instruction (Thompson,
& Dolce, 1989), mood state (Carter, Bulik, Lawson, Sullivan, & Wilson,
1996), hunger (Pietrowsky, Staub, & Hachl, 2003), demand characteristics or response bias (Gardner, & Bokenkamp, 1996), and other contextual factors (Haimovitz, Lansky, & Reilly, 1993). Perhaps the most likely
scenario is a synthesis of these opposing views in which the perception of
ones body is a function of trait factors (e.g., way in which direct sensory
input is processed) and state factors (e.g., fluctuating internal processes
such as emotion and cognition and environmental factors).
There is less controversy regarding the cognitive-evaluative components of body image. This may be attributable to the fact that assessment of body-related thoughts and feelings necessarily rely more heavily
on questionnaires that are far less complicated methodologically. In any
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case, studies examining body attitudes have found a strong and consistent relationship between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating (Stice
& Shaw, 2002). Although body dissatisfaction is a more robust predictor
of BN than AN (Stice, 2002), extreme body dissatisfaction may be more
dangerous or have a different meaning for those who are already emaciated. Furthermore, there is wide within-participant variability in ratings
of body part satisfaction (i.e., individuals can rank-order body parts from
most to least desired). Thus, assessment strategies that are sensitive to
these evaluative nuances and incorporate measurement of an individuals
ability to decipher somatic signals (such as interoceptive awareness) may
elucidate the phenomenological experience of body image disturbance and
may highlight novel hypotheses regarding disorder pathogenesis.
Assessing BI in children and adolescents requires sensitivity to developmental factors that may affect the manifestation of the disturbance or the
ability to report body-related thoughts, feelings, or experience. For example,
children and young adolescents may lack the capacity to appreciate abstract
concepts such as self-worth or to describe the experience of their bodies in
other than concrete terms. Furthermore, children and adolescents may not
have the cognitive capacity or experience to articulate fear of fatness. As a
result, they may present BI concerns much differently than adults.
Although abstract reasoning and other cognitive skills are not fully
developed in young children and adolescents, there has been some
research indicating that even young children can differentiate body size.
In fact, studies have shown that very young children are able to do so with
relative accuracy (Gardner, Stark, Friedman, & Jackson, 2000). In terms
of developmental trajectory for body dissatisfaction, however, studies have
indicated that dissatisfaction begins early and, without intervention, tends
to increase over time. Researchers have found that overweight children as
young as 6 and 7 years old are aware of weight prejudice and want to be
thinner (Kostanski & Gullone, 1999; Tiggemann & Wilson-Barrett, 1998).
Furthermore, as they get older, they typically endorse a thinner ideal body
size (Gardner, Sorter, & Friedman, 1997). This progression is especially
pronounced in young girls whose body satisfaction decreases beginning
at age 7, becomes a significant predictor of ED symptoms by age 1011,
and continues to decline through age 14 (Gardner et al., 2000), perhaps as
females become more aware of cultural ideals and experience an increase
in body fat associated with puberty.
Data that suggest a relationship between physical development and
body satisfaction highlight the importance of assessing weight history and
rate of maturation among children and adolescents presenting with an
ED. Indeed, BMI (McCabe, Ricciardelli, & Holt, 2005) and atypical rates
of sexual development have been identified as risk factors for disordered
eating and BI disturbance (McCabe, & Ricciardelli, 2004). However, physical
development does not occur in a vacuum, and BI may be greatly influenced by sociocultural context. Contextual factors may include parents,
peers, and broader culture.
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Children are constantly receiving direct and indirect messages about

the importance of weight, body size and shape, and appearance from
other people. Parents may reinforce attention to physical features, make
comments about the childs weight or body, model maladaptive attention
to particular body parts, and remark on their own body. Studies have
confirmed the influence of parents on their childrens body satisfaction
(Annus, Smith, Fischer, Hendricks, & Williams, 2007; Davidson & Birch,
2001) and some researchers have suggested that daughters are particularly susceptible to comments made by their mothers. Peers may also
influence body satisfaction via social comparison (Krones, Stice, Batres,
& Orjada, 2005), appearance-related teasing (Eisenberg, 2006), and the
adoption of unhealthy group norms (Shroff & Thompson, 2006). Furthermore, participation in sports or other activities that require a particular
body size or shape may increase exposure to social comparison, rejection,
and body-related teasing (e.g., Ravaldi et al., 2006). However, it is important to note that perception of exposure is sufficient, regardless of accuracy (Stice, 2002).
Body image may also be affected by significant historical events such
as sexual trauma that function as potent learning experiences about the
boundaries, use or worth of ones body, and the importance of controlling bodily urges (e.g., Preti, Icani, Camboni, Petretto, & Masala, 2006).
The relationship of previous trauma to BI is complex as highlighted by
recent genetic studies emphasizing the interaction of temperament (e.g.,
interpersonal sensitivity, perfectionism, fear responsivity), or other general
psychiatric risk factors, such as impulsivity, to cause clinically significant
eating disorder symptoms (Steiger & Bruce, 2007).
Assessment Methods
A comprehensive assessment of body image would elucidate the nature
and severity of the disturbance, provide indication of impact on functioning, and identify factors that contributed to the development of the disturbance or are currently functioning to maintain it. Below is a sample of the
types of questions addressed by a thorough BI assessment:
Nature of the Disturbance

Are there thoughts that you have about your body that really bother you?
What about sensations that you have in your body? Do any really bother
you? Are there any parts of your body that you really do not like looking at?
What is your favorite part of your body? What is your least favorite?
Impact on Functioning
Do you ever avoid doing things because you dont like the way you
look? Do you have any routines that you have to do every day to make
sure you look okay? For example, some people have to keep looking in the
mirror again and again, or touch a certain part of their body to make sure
it hasnt changed.
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Developmental Factors
What is the child or adolescents weight history? What is or was his or
her experience of body maturation or puberty? What have the parents and
other significant people in the childs life communicated in terms of the
importance of body weight and shape? Has the child or adolescent experienced a significant life event or trauma that may have impacted experience
of his or her body?
Current Contextual Factors

Are there situations in which the BI thoughts/feelings are more
intense? What internal or external factors function as triggers for distressing BI thoughts/feelings? Is the child or adolescent engaging in any behaviors that exacerbate disturbance (e.g., focusing attention on problem areas
when looking in the mirror)? How do peers, parents, and teachers respond
when the child or adolescent engages in BI-related behaviors? Do others
compliment the child or adolescent for the current weight/shape of their
body? Does a certain body type allow him to participate and/or perform
well in a sport or other activity? Does focusing on BI thoughts allow the
child or adolescent to avoid other things that are more difficult or distressing? Does the child or adolescent believe that changing her body will lead
to a particular desired outcome?
Methods for assessing the severity of body image disturbance and the
impact it has on functioning include dynamic assessment techniques, selfreport measures, self-monitoring, and structured interviews. The appropriate assessment method, or combination of methods, depends on the purpose
of assessment (e.g., differential diagnosis, research, treatment planning).
Dynamic assessment techniques (see Table 14.1) focus on body size
estimation and include analogue scales such as adjusting two points of
light to show width of various body parts, image marking methods such
as drawing ones body on a vertically mounted piece of paper, and optical distortion methods in which individuals are presented with distorted
image of self that must be adjusted to the appropriate size. The most commonly and easily administered dynamic assessment technique consists of
presenting schematic or figure drawings of different body sizes and asking
the individual to identify the one that best approximates his or her current and ideal body size. Some of these assessments, such as the Contour Drawing Rating Scale (Thompson & Gray, 1995), are fairly precise
with body sizes increasing incrementally. There have also been computeradapted versions to assist with ease of administration (e.g., Body Image
Testing System; Schlundt & Bell, 1993). Figure drawings have been used
effectively with younger children and because of their brevity they tend to
circumvent attention problems that sometimes interfere with the administration of other assessment techniques. There are also some scales that
have been specifically designed for, and standardized with, younger children. These include the Body Image Assessment-Children (Veron-Guidry
& Williamson, 1996), the Body Rating Scale (Sherman et al., 1995), and
the Childrens Body Image Scale (Truby & Praxton, 2002), among others.
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Although most of the child-specific scales include male figure stimuli

and male children in the standardization sample, some have argued that
traditional measures that have figures ranging from thin to obese are not
sensitive to the primary manifestation of BI disturbance in males (Kostanski, Fischer, & Gullone, 2004; Smolak, 2004). They state evidence that
males are often concerned with being too small rather than too big,
a phenomenon often referred to as muscularity (Lynch & Zellner, 1999).
Proponents of this viewpoint maintain that figures should not only be
varied in terms of adiposity but also muscularity. Cafri and colleagues
have proposed a somatomorphic matrix that takes into account these
different aspects of body composition (Cafri & Thompson, 2004).
Self-report measures are useful for quantifying the extent to which
body size and shape determines ones self-worth, level of distress regarding the size or shape of ones body, and resulting impairment in functioning. They have the advantage of being easily administered and readily
available. Some of the most commonly used self-report measures include
the shape and weight concern subscales of the EDE (adolescent and child
versions available) (Fairburn, & Cooper, 1993; Peterson et al., 2007), the
Body Dissatisfaction Subscale of the EDI (Garner, Olmstead, & Polivy,
1983), the Body Esteem Scale (Mendelson & White, 1982), and the Body
Shape Questionnaire (Cooper, Taylor, Cooper, & Fairburn, 1987; Rosen,
Jones, Ramirez, & Waxman, 1996). Although behavioral manifestations of
BI disturbance are included in some of the aforementioned scales, there
are measures that focus specifically on this aspect of BI (e.g., Body Checking Questionnaire (Reas & Grilo, 2004). State measures of body image
assess body-related affect in particular contexts and include the Situational Inventory of Body Image Dysphoria and the Body Image States Scale
(Cash, Fleming, Alindogan, Steadman, & Whitehead, 2002), among others.
However, there is little information on whether these latter measures are
appropriate for children.
There is some discussion in the literature about whether traditional
BI scales capture the essence of male body concerns. In contrast to female
BI issues, which focus on the thin ideal and the size and shape of the
hips, thighs, and stomach, male BI concerns tend to be more centered
around muscular appearance and the torso (McCreary & Sasse, 2000).
Data regarding whether traditional measures are in fact inadequate are
somewhat mixed. For example, although studies using the Body Esteem
Scale have found no gender differences in overall score, research using
the Body Dissatisfaction subscale of the EDI has found that females score
higher than males generally. In effort to deal with this issue, male-specific BI measures have been developed including the Drive for Muscularity Scale which has acceptable validity and testretest reliability (Cafri &
Thompson, 2004).
Self-monitoring can be used to identify relevant contextual factors supporting BI disturbance. This is typically done by asking the individual to
complete the body image diary when they note a change in BI experience
(i.e., exacerbation or attenuation of body distress) or when they engage
in a body-relevant target behavior. Children or adolescents who have
particular difficulty detecting change or are less aware of their internal
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experience or behavior may be asked to complete the diary at scheduled

intervals. Body image diaries may vary considerably in complexity. The
more comprehensive diary may involve recording: (1) time/place, (2) activators/triggers, (3) body-relevant thoughts and feelings, (4) rating of bodily
discomfort, (5) responses or overt behaviors to these internal events, and
(6) consequences (i.e., change in internal state or external environment).
What is perhaps the most challenging with this type of assessment is that
it requires a willingness and ability to tolerate the negative affect that inevitably comes with thinking about the BI experience for the additional time
needed to complete the recording. There are also some unique challenges
to using self-monitoring forms with younger children who may not be able
to read, write, and therefore record. There are some creative solutions to
this problem; however, such as using pictorials, providing multiple choice
responses, and having a parent record.
Preoccupation with a particular body part and exaggeration of a
perceived defect in appearance may reflect Body Dysmorphic Disorder
(BDD) rather than an ED. Eating disorders and BDD are considered by
some authors to form part of the obsessive compulsive disorder spectrum (Hollander & Benzaquen, 1997). The continua that comprise this
spectrum remain to be adjudicated, advances that will help to better
differentiate BDD from ED (Lochner et al., 2005). Despite these caveats,
individuals with BDD demonstrate patterns unique to this diagnostic
class. BDD differs from ED in that individuals with BDD often focus
on a physical defect, often in the head or neck region. Belief in the hideousness of the imagined or exaggerated defect is so great that it may
result in extreme behaviors attempted to correct the imagined deficits
(e.g,. attempts at repeated cosmetic surgeries). In contrast, ED patients
are largely focused on concerns with body weight or shape. There is
behavioral overlap. For example, both individuals with BDD and ED
may exercise excessively, frequently seek reassurance from others, and
check mirrors. However, individuals with BDD do so to correct their
imagined or exaggerated flaw whereas individuals EDs do so due to prevent a feared outcome (i.e., weight gain) or to achieve a desired weight.
Advances in the neurobiology, genetics, and developmental course of
these illnesses will assist in understanding their relative position on the
obsessive compulsive disorder spectrum.
FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EATING

DISORDER SYMPTOMS
Significance of the Construct
Clinicians who are new to the treatment of eating disorders may be
perplexed by the extent to which eating disorder patients struggle to relinquish their symptoms. Why is the anorexic patient who is emaciated,
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lethargic, and losing hair unable to let go of restriction? Why is the bulimic
patient who experiences incredible shame regarding her bingeing unable
to stop engaging in this behavior? Identifying contextual factors that function to maintain the symptoms can shed light on such confusing patterns
of behavior and provide invaluable information for case conceptualization
and treatment.
Many agree that an eating disorder serves an important psychological function. Some have gone so far as to conceptualize eating disorders
as coping strategies; however, critics of the coping-strategy formulation
maintain that eating pathology may emerge for a variety of other reasons
(e.g., as an attempt to force a body type that conforms to cultural ideals
regarding attractiveness) and acquire deeper meaning and psychological
functions only over time (Vitousek, Watson, & Wilson, 1998). Whether ED
behaviors function as a coping strategy from the onset is an important theoretical issue that can have bearing on disorder pathophysiology. Regardless, it does not change the likelihood that the identification of factors
currently maintaining the behaviors may allow for effective intervention.
Functional assessment is most often talked about in the context of
binge eating, perhaps because the utility of stimulus control in decreasing
overeating has a long history of support (Stuart, 1967). For example, one
hypothesis is that binge eating functions to alleviate negative mood states
by temporarily directing attention toward the immediate stimulus environment. Of interest, negative affect is actually exacerbated as a result of the
episode, and patients often feel worse rather than better after they binge.
However, the fact that increased negative affect which inevitably follows a
binge episode is insufficient to decrease the behavior more likely speaks
to the potency of temporary relief from dysphoria as a negative reinforcer.
Indeed, the more effective binge eating is for even a brief escape from
negative affective states, aversive self-awareness (especially among perfectionistic, low-esteem individuals), or physical distress from hunger related
to restriction, the more likely it is to continue despite the more long-term
negative consequences.
Purging may similarly have the capacity to regulate affect. Individuals
with ED often express decreased guilt following subjective or objective binges following an episode of purgative behavior. Other individuals
describe purging habits, such as self-induced vomiting, initiate a feeling
of calmness. Others describe the feeling of emptiness following abuse of
laxatives to be soothing.
Researchers interested in understanding the psychological functions of
restriction, which may be less circumscribed temporally than bingeing and
purging, have employed a variety of narrative and interview approaches.
For example, Serpell, Treasure, and colleagues (1999) asked AN patients
to write a letter to their illness. Content analyses revealed common themes
regarding the needs satisfied by AN. Almost all the participants in the
study endorsed what the authors described as a guardian theme. That
is, AN patients reported that the illness keeps them safe and protected,
that it is dependable, consistent, and looks after them. Other themes that
emerged included attractiveness, control (provides structure, tells her how
to eat, offers simplicity and certainty), difference (makes her feel superior
433
or special), confidence/skill (provides her with something that she does

well), avoidance (helps her hide away from emotions or things that are too
difficult to deal with, reduces feelings of ineffectiveness), and communication (allows her to communicate distress to the outside world).
This body of research, along with data that describe personality traits
of individuals with AN, suggests that restrictive AN behaviors are negatively
reinforced by avoidance or escape from chaos, uncertainty, and aversive
arousal states that often accompany particular developmental stages and
are experienced as intolerable to individuals with a high need for control,
order, and predictability. This work also indicates positive reinforcement
for AN behaviors. Most notably, research suggests that individuals with
AN, who tend to be self-critical and feel generally ineffective, experience
a sense of accomplishment, pride, and self-control when they are able to
overcome bodily urges and maintain low weight.
It is not uncommon for there to be a lack of insight regarding the relationship between ED symptoms and situational events or life stressors.
This may be especially pronounced among children and young people who
may not have developed the cognitive abilities to fully understand cause
and effect, or the metacognitive abilities to report internal experience or
describe thought processes. Very young children may also be unable to
complete recording forms. In order to overcome these challenges, it may be
necessary to provide multiple examplars, shape reporting of thoughts and
feelings, simplify recording devices, adjust language to the appropriate
level, use pictorials, gather collateral information from parents or teachers, or directly observe the child.
Assessment Methods
Conducting a functional analysis requires that the target behavior be
clearly defined. A thorough functional assessment identifies both internal
(e.g., thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations) and external (e.g., environmental or situational factors) events that reliably precede or follow a target
behavior. Methods include event or time-based recording, retrospective
recall in session, and expressive techniques such as letter writing.
Event or time-based recording is the most common functional assessment method. It requires that a recording form be completed whenever the
target behavior is performed or at regularly scheduled intervals. For older
children and adolescents, this typically takes the form of self-monitoring.
Traditionally, recording forms have resembled the thought record used in
Beck-style Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. However, more recently researchers and clinicians have begun to use diary cards like those employed in
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) that have individuals check off prelisted options of maladaptive behaviors and targeted therapeutic strategies.
More recently, the use of electronic recording options, such as Palm Pilots,
cell phones, and interactive voice response technology has been explored.
Thus far, the electronic format has been found to facilitate more complete
434
NANCY ZUCKER et al.
and accurate recall than retrospective reporting, at least for bingepurge

behavior (Bardone, Krahn, Goodman, & Searles, 2000).
Accurate recall is essential in the identification of antecedent and consequential events and it is not uncommon to have to shape awareness and
reporting of relevant thoughts, feelings, and situational factors. It is not
uncommon for ED patients to initially have difficulty reporting thoughts
and feelings other than eating or body-related talk. A sample entry from a
16-year-old female with anorexia is provided in Figure 14.1. This particular
patient had been in treatment for three months at the time of the entry. Initially, she reported only awareness of food, eating, and exercise concerns.
However, over time, she became aware of a fuller range of thoughts and
Figure 14.1. Sample diary card entry used to identify relevant contextual factors for eating
disorder symptoms.
Date
Time
Situation
Monday
Sitting
11:00 am alone in
library,
studying
chemistry.
Notice
other girls
sitting
together,
talking.
Thoughts
Feelings;
Identify
and rate
intensity
(110)
Bodily
Response Consequences:
sensations;
Change in
Identify
thoughts,
and rate
feelings, bodily
discomfort
comfort;
(110)
Change in
situation
or others
behavior.
Why dont I
Shame 7 Heavy, fat,
have anyone
Disgust 9 stomach
to sit with?
tight,
why dont
uncomfortI understand
able 9
this new
material? No
one else seems
confused.
Start to think
about how
I cant do
anything well
anymore
Remember that
I ate 2 apple
slices that I
did not plan
on having and
I didnt do any
extra laps to
make up for
itI am so lazy.
Spent the next
several minutes
thinking about
how worthless
I am.
Left
library
to go for
a run.
Ran for
3 hours,
Felt better
about self.
Able to
concentrate
on assignment
when I got
home.
Studied in my
dorm room
rather than at
the library.
435
feelings. The result of this was an acknowledgment of the extent to which

she was feeling lonely, isolated, and ineffective, and using problematic eating and exercise behavior to decrease contact this experience and increase
her sense of mastery.
Functional analytic techniques can also be employed in session in
the form of retrospective recall. Therapists may ask patients to describe a
time over the past week in which they engaged in the target ED behavior
or noticed exacerbation of ED thoughts and feelings. The therapist then
helps the patient work forward and backward in from this time point to
identify antecedents and consequences of the ED behavior. A sample of
dialogue from a session using retrospective reporting is provided below.
Therapist: Based on your food log, it looks like you restricted on Thursday
Patient: Yeah well, I was drinking my Boost and my stomach started
to hurt, so I skipped breakfast and lunch. I dont think that I should be
expected to drink Boost and eat breakfast. Its too much.
Therapist: And yet that is whats necessary in order for you to be healthy
enough to stay at school.
Patient: It just felt so out of control my stomach felt bloated and fat. It
was overwhelming to have to drink the Boost. I wasnt even hungry.
Therapist: You know how we have been talking about things that may
prompt ED thoughts and feelings? Lets spend a little time thinking about
what was going on right before you had the Boost.
Patient: I was studying for my exam in public policy.
Therapist: You have been struggling with that class all semester.
Patient: Yeah, and I dont understand why. I should be able to do the work.
If I cant do the work in that class, how will I ever be successful? This
is the most important year of my life. Then my dad calls and asks if I was
practicing my Fox Trot. The debutante ball is in two weeks, you know.
Therapist: How are you feeling about it?
Patient: Well I want to go. My grandmother would be crushed if I
didnt. Everyone expects me to be there too. I think my dad was kidding,
but that was the last thing I wanted to think about. Other people seem
so relaxed about it. I havent even asked anyone to go with me. I want to be
99.9% sure that theyll say Yes before I ask. Otherwise, its not worth it.
It just feels like so many things are coming at me at once and then the
treatment team wants me to eat all of this food! If I didnt have to eat this
much, I would be okay. Its my body that is the problem. I feel so fat.
Therapist: Could it be that pressure to do well on the exam and represent
your family at debutante ball and maybe even anxiety about asking someone to escort you, contributed to you feeling uncomfortable in your body ?
Patient: Hmmm I guess so. I had not thought about all the things that
were going through my mind until now. At the time, all I could think about
was the fact that I was drinking Boost and my stomach was tight and
uncomfortable. So I didnt eat breakfast and lunch.
Therapist: And what was the result of not finishing your Boost or eating
your meals?
Patient: Well, I felt better. A lot better, actuallyafter I put down the Boost
I started strategizing how I was going to avoid lunch with my mom and
then I went to the gym. I dont think about anything when Im at the gym.
436
NANCY ZUCKER et al.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Understanding the phenomenology of an eating disorder requires that
a clinician try to appreciate a child or adolescents experience of his or her
body. Being uncomfortable in ones own body and having difficulty reading
the signals conveyed by the body has profound impact on self-knowledge,
self-trust, and goal-directed actions. A therapist must employ strategies
that facilitate a child or adolescents ability to explore responses that may
fit her experience as she may not be able to decipher her current state.
Indeed, sometimes not knowing the answer is often the most revealing
answer. Thus, believing that individuals with eating disorders just wish to
be thin for the sake of being thin misses the true nature of these disorders.
Symptoms are a means, they are not the end. Appreciating that is the
beginning of a very thorough assessment.
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15
Pain Assessment
FRANK ANDRASIK and CARLA RIME
INTRODUCTION
In adults, pain is one of the most common physical complaints.
For example, a comprehensive review of available epidemiological studies
yielded a median point prevalence of chronic benign pain of 15% in adults,
with individual study values ranging from 240% (Verhaak, Kerssens, Dekker,
Sorbi, & Bensing, 1998). Unfortunately, pain is not limited to the adult
years, as estimates of pain complaints in childhood and adolescence typically range from 1520% (Goodman & McGrath, 1991), a level surprisingly
similar to that for adults. The pain experienced by children and adolescents
is sufficiently intense to require medical consultations by a large percentage
of those so affected. Of the 25% of individuals aged up to 18 years studied by
Perquin, Hazebroek-Kampschreur, Hunfeld, van Suijlekom-Smit, Passchier,
and van der Wouden (2000) who had complaints of chronic pain (defined as
continuous or recurrent pain occurring longer than three months), 57% had
visited a physician and almost 40% had taken medication. The major types
of pain experienced by children and adolescents are listed in Table 15.1,
although in practice the pain presentations often overlap, with boundaries
being less distinct (McGrath & Finley, 1999).
In the not too distant past pain was not viewed as a serious problem
in children and adolescents. However, it is now clear that pain is a significant condition in childhood and adolescence and, when it is chronic or
recurrent, it is unlikely to be outgrown (McGrath & Finley, 1999). Several
findings highlight the seriousness of pain in children and adolescents.
FRANK ANDRASIK AND CARLA RIME Department of Psychology University of West

Florida 11000 University Parkway Pensacola, FL 32514.

445
446
Table 15.1. Recurrent and chronic pain

conditions in children and adolescents.
Pain associated with chronic illness
Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis
Cancer
Sickle cell disease
Pain resulting from trauma
Complex regional pain syndrome
Phantom limb pain
Chronic, but nonspecific pain
Musculoskeletal pain
Dysmenorrhea
Recurrent pain
Migraine headache
Tension-type headache
Recurrent abdominal pain
Pain related to a mental health condition
Psychogenic pain disorder
Somatization disorder
The pathways that are responsible for perception and transmission of pain
are developed very early in life. Inadequate analgesia for pain experienced
early in life can disrupt the persons ability to effectively manage later
episodes of pain (primarily due to sensitization effects within the peripheral and central nervous system; c.f., Baccei & Fitzgerald, 2006; Fitzgerald
& Walker, 2006; Flor & Andrasik, 2006; Hermann, Hohmesiter, Demirakca,
Zohsel, & Flor, 2006; Woolf & Salter, 2000). Thus, successful intervention
during childhood and adolescence may, in addition to providing needed
symptom relief at the moment, serve preventive functions for later adult
life and restore normal pain nociception.
Recognition of the widespread occurrence and the personal, social,
and economic impact of pain led the Joint Commission on Accreditation
of Healthcare Organizations in the summer of 1999 to mandate regular
assessment of pain and require establishment of policies and procedures
that support the appropriate use of pain medication. Henceforth, pain has
become known as the fifth vital sign (being added to the list that already
includes heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, and respiration). U.S.
readers certainly have noticed the heightened awareness of assessing for
pain during routine physician office visits, where questions about pain now
routinely appear on intake/history forms and scales for assessing pain
intensity are prominently placed on the walls in all examination rooms.
PAIN: THE BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL MODEL

The dominant model for understanding and describing chronic pain
is best thought of as the biomedical model. This model views pain as
resulting from the direct transmission of impulses from the periphery
to structures within the central nervous system (Turk & Flor, 1999).
This unidirectional model has led to a number of important insights
PAIN ASSESSMENT
447
about important pathophysiological mechanisms and the development

of pharmacological treatments directed at modifying these identified aberrant aspects. At the same time, this model has certain limitations and is
unable to account for certain phenomena, such as pain that continues in
the absence of identifiable pathology, pathology that exists in the absence
of pain, varied individual responses of individuals to seemingly identical
treatments, the failure of potent medications to provide consistent pain
relief, and the absence of a strong relationship among pain, impairment,
and disability.
A competing, more compelling model, termed the biopsychosocial
model, has arisen as a result. This model takes into account the varied
psychological and sociological factors that can play an important role in
the genesis and maintenance of recurrent pain conditions and, thus, provides a more complete understanding (Turk & Flor, 1999). This model also
incorporates emotional aspects that were more formally acknowledged in
the definition of pain provided by the International Association for the
Study of Pain (IASP) (1986). Pain, according to the IASP, is an unpleasant
sensory and emotional experience associated with actual and potential
tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage. Elsewhere, the following is mentioned, It is unquestionably a sensation in a part or parts of
the body, but it is also always unpleasant and therefore also an emotional
experience.
This model views pain (and any chronic illness, for that matter) as originating from a complex interaction of biological, psychological, and social
variables. From this viewpoint, the observed diversity in illness expression
(including severity, duration, and consequences to the individual) can be
accounted for by the complex interrelationships among predispositional,
biological, and psychological characteristics (e.g., genetics, prior learning
history), biological changes, psychological status, and the social and cultural contexts that shape the individuals perceptions and response to
illness. This model contrasts sharply with the biomedical perspective that
conceptualizes illness in terms of more narrowly defined physiochemical
dimensions. This alternative model differs in other important respects as
well, in that it is dynamic (as opposed to static) and recognizes the reciprocal influences and the changing nature of multiple factors over time.
Although much is to be gained by application of this model, it has not been
fully exploited within the realm of children, adolescents, and in particular
with respect to those individuals experiencing developmental disabilities.
PAIN: AS IT APPLIES TO PERSONS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL

DISABILITIES
Although pain is common, prevalent throughout the world, and
respects no demographic or intellectual borders, minimal attention has
been devoted to its study among people who are experiencing developmental
disabilities (this is true for adults as well as child and adolescent populations). Many reasons account for this dearth of information and the lack
of recognition of the serious nature of pain (Bottos & Chambers, 2006).
448
One of the chief reasons has been the prevalent but erroneous assumption
that individuals with developmental disabilities are either indifferent or
are less sensitive to pain (i.e., they have a heightened threshold for pain).
Laboratory studies that have monitored pain behaviors of persons with disabilities and those without help shed light on why these false perceptions
have endured. As just one example, Hennequin, Morin, and Feine (2000)
assessed thresholds for cold-pain among individuals diagnosed with Down
syndrome and those without Down syndrome (controls). To assess pain
thresholds, an ice cube was applied directly to the skin while the experimenters noted the time lapse to the first verbal or behavioral reaction.
Both groups showed similar reactions, but the latencies to respond were
much longer for persons with Down syndrome.
Compounding the problem is the finding that persons with developmental disabilities often express their pain in a manner different from
those who do not have such disabilities. When examining the typical everyday pains experienced in a child care setting (e.g., bumps and bruises),
children with developmental disabilities, in comparison to children without
such a diagnosis, were less likely to cry or seek out help and more likely
to be devoid of any observable reaction (Gilbert-MacLeod, Craig, Rocha,
& Mathias, 2000). However, an attenuated behavioral response is not the
rule. For example, observations made on children with autism while they
were undergoing venipuncture suggested the presence of a heightened
sensitivity to acute pain, as evidenced by the intense facial expressions
that occurred (Nader, Oberlander, Chambers, & Craig, 2004). Results from
these and other studies call into the question the notion that persons with
developmental disabilities are insensitive or indifferent to pain. It is more
accurate to say that persons with developmental disabilities display pain
behaviors that are different from those exhibited by their nondevelopmentally disabled counterparts and that these behaviors may be attenuated in
certain circumstances.
Some have claimed that pain may be much less frequent overall in
people with developmental disabilities. Here, too, the limited available evidence suggests otherwise. One can argue, in fact, that the opposite is true:
that individuals with developmental disabilities may be at increased risk
for experiencing pain. This may be true for two chief reasons. First, persons with developmental disabilities are more likely to undergo surgical
or medical procedures that are painful, such as corrective surgeries, treatment for irritations resulting from protheses, and intravenous needle
placements. Second, the higher presence of comorbid medical conditions
can increment pain. As an example, Table 15.2 provides a listing of the
varied associated conditions that can contribute to pain in persons with
cerebral palsy (Bottos & Chambers, 2006).
Available research reveals that many children and adolescents with
developmental disabilities exhibit high levels of pain persistently. During a
one-month period, caregivers reported that nearly 80% of their cognitively
impaired children experienced at least one episode of pain; between onethird and one-half were reported as experiencing pain on a weekly basis
(Breau, Camfield, McGrath, & Finley, 2003). Similar findings have been
reported by Stallard, Williams, Lenton, and Velleman (2001) and Stallard,
PAIN ASSESSMENT
Table 15.2.
449
Conditions contributing to pain in persons

with cerebral palsy.
Placement of gastric feeding devices

Release of muscular contractures
Needle injections
Blood pressure tests
Surgeries
Medical examinations
Enemas
Dental procedures
Dislocated hips
Spontaneous pain
Gastroesophagel reflux
Constipation
Abdominal gas
Muscle spasms
Joint problems
Headaches
Earaches
Seizures
Position/posture changes
Williams, Velleman, Lenton, and McGrath (2002). Looking more closely at

the causes of pain, pain from nonaccidental sources has been found to
occur at a rate double that for pain resulting from accidents (Breau et al.,
2003) and the former type of pain is typically judged to be more severe in
nature. These rates of pain exceed those for children absent of disabilities.
Pain knows no boundaries within developmentally disabled populations,
being highly prevalent in persons with Down Syndrome, Autism, and Cerebral
Palsy (see review by Bottos & Chambers, 2006).
Assessment Approaches
In 2002, a landmark meeting was held for the purpose of developing consensus reviews and making recommendations that would improve
the design, execution, and interpretation of clinical trials for pain assessment and treatment. This Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain
Assessment in Clinical Trials (IMMPACT) grew from a recognition that
many patients with recurring pain conditions often were not obtaining
adequate relief and/or were experiencing significant untoward side effects
from extant treatments. At this first IMMPACT meeting (November 2002),
a distinguished group of experts (drawn from academia, regulatory agencies: U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Agency for the
evaluation of Medicinal Products, the U.S. National Institutes of Health,
U.S. Veterans Administration, consumer support and advocacy groups,
and industry) set out to develop core and supplemental measurement
domains critical for assessing initial problem severity and subsequent
response to treatment in clinical trials.
They (Turk et al., 2003) recommended that all treatment trials consider
incorporating measures for six key domains: (1) pain itself, (2) physical
functioning, (3) emotional functioning, (4) participant evaluations of improvement and treatment satisfaction, (5) symptoms and adverse events, and
(6) participant disposition. A followup article from the IMMPACT group
(Dworkin et al., 2005) offered more specificity regarding these core domains,
for trials with adults.
To date, eight IMMPACT consensus meetings have been held, with six
focusing on chronic pain in adults, one addressing acute pain in adults,
450
with the remaining one examining pediatric acute and chronic pain
(see www.immpact.org/index.html for further information about this initiative and resulting publications). The latter group, named the Pediatric
Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials
(Ped-IMMPACT) (McGrath, Turk, Dworkin, Brown, Davidson, Eccleston,
et al., 2008) identified the following eight core outcome domains for
recurrent pain in children and adolescents, some of which overlap those
identified by the adult working group: (1) pain, (2) physical functioning,
(3) emotional functioning, (4) role functioning, (5) symptoms and adverse
events, (6) global judgment of satisfaction, (7) sleep, and (8) economic factors.
To date, two comprehensive reviews of pain measures specific to
children and adolescents (age range of 3 to 18) have appeared. Recommendations from these two reports (Stinson, Kavanagh, Yamada, Gill, &
Stevens, 2006; von Baeyer & Spagrud, 2007) are discussed in the next
section, where appropriate. Although these efforts are notable, minimal
attention was directed at concerns unique to persons with developmental
disabilities. This is unfortunate as pain assessment with individuals who
are experiencing developmental disabilities poses a special challenge for
healthcare professionals, as the ability to comprehend and translate a
pain sensation is compromised for those with cognitive deficits. In cases
where there are language deficits, nonverbal communication needs to
be explored in relation to pain expression (Anand & Craig, 1996; Davies
& Evans, 2001).
We now turn our attention to review of issues when utilizing selfreport, proxy report, observational tools, and physiological responses, as
these are the domains that have been the chief focus to date.
SELF-REPORT
Despite recognition of the multidimensional nature of pain and the
recommendations from the Ped-IMMPACT working group to include multiple domains, self-report of pain intensity has long served as the main
measure (referred to by some as the gold standard) in pain assessment
even though problems with this approach are acknowledged (Anand &
Craig, 1996; Bodfish, Harper, Deacon, Deacon, & Symons, 2006; Foley &
McCutcheon, 2004; Hodgins, 2002; McGrath & Unruh, 2006; Williams,
Davies, & Chadury, 2000). This method, although widely used, is undermined when patients are unable to verbalize the characteristics of their
pain. Even if an individual can signify the presence of pain, she or he may
have trouble quantifying (Cook, Niven, & Downs, 1999), specifying the
location, or describing the pain experience (Foley & McCutcheon, 2004).
With this and related issues in mind, Stinson et al. (2006) were charged
with reviewing extant self-report measures of pain intensity, with regard
to psychometric integrity (reliability, validity, and responsivity), interpretability (meaningfulness of the obtained score values), and feasibility (ease
of scoring and interpretation). Their systematic literature search revealed
34 single-item measures designed for use across pain disorders (they specifically ignored measures developed for specific pain diagnoses or disorders,
PAIN ASSESSMENT
451
such as headache and sickle cell disease), of which 6 were judged to be

adequate. These consisted of the Pieces of Hurt Tool (Hester, 1979), Faces
Pain Scale and Faces Pain Scale-Revised (Bieri, Reeve, Champion, Addicoat,
& Ziegler, 1990; Hicks, von Baeyer, Spafford, van Korlaar, & Goodenough,
2001), Wong-Baker FACES Pain Scale (Wong & Baker, 1988), Oucher (Beyer
& Aradine, 1986), and Visual Analogue Scales (Scott, Ansell, & Huskisson,
1977). Table 15.3 summarizes the key features of these measures, which
are discussed in brief below.
Pieces of Hurt Tool

This scale consists of four red plastic poker chips, with the first representing a little hurt and the last the most hurt you could ever have.
The child is instructed to select the chip that best represents the current pain intensity, with scores ranging from 0 (no chip) to 4 (most
hurt). This measure has a number of advantages (used successfully with
children as young as three, easy to understand, shown useful in various
settings). Disadvantages range from those of a minor nature (such as the
need to sanitize the chips between use, misplacement of chips) to those
that are more major (limited use with recurrent pain conditions).
Faces Pain Scale/Faces Pain Scale-Revised

The original version utilized seven gender-neutral faces, with expressions ranging from no pain to most pain possible, arranged at equal
intervals. The child respondent was asked simply to point to the face
showing how much pain was being felt. Score values ranged from 0 to 6.
The revised scale uses six faces, with score values ranging from 0 to 5, as
this enhanced comparability with other measures that more commonly
use score values ranging in multiples of 5 (0 to 5 or 0 to 10). Both versions
have good psychometric support and are quick and easy to administer.
However, given the way they are anchored, ratings tend to skew towards
the no pain end of the scale. Less is known about interpretability and
acceptability.
Versions of the Faces Pain Scale (FPS) now include 3, 5, 6, or 7 pain
face intensities. Another feature that deviates for each version is whether
the first, no pain face is neutral or smiling, or whether tears are included
in the higher intensity pain faces. The FPS (Bieri et al., 1990) and FPS-R
(Hicks et al., 2001) have neutral no pain faces and tears are not present.
These variations have sparked some debate as to whether the different
versions of the FPS measure pain intensity or pain distress. One study
reported consistently higher pain ratings from both children and parents
with versions that included smiling, no pain faces, even though children
and parents preferred scales with happy and cartoonlike faces (Chambers, Giesbrecht, Craig, Bennett, & Huntsman, 1999). A similar bias was
found in a study investigating ratings provided by nurses (Chambers, Hardial,
Craig, Court, & Montgomery, 2005). These factors, in addition to age and
mental capabilities, need to be taken into consideration when obtaining
pain intensity ratings.
I: 37 years
Oucher-Photographic;
Beyer and Aradine (1986)
S: 320 years
S: 9 months-18
years
I: 217 years
S: 318 years
I: 318 years
Source: Reprinted from Stinson et al., 2006.
Reliability
Acute, procedural,
disease-related,
recurrent/chronic
Acute procedural, post-op,

disease-related

disease-related
disease-related
disease-related

disease related
Test-retest (+)
Test-retest (++)
Test-retest (+)
Test-retest (+)
Test-retest (+)
Acute procedural, hospital- Test-retest (+)

based
Inter-rater
reliability (+)
Acute procedural, post-op, Test-retest (+)
disease-related
Type of Pain
Note: + = 13 studies; ++ = 36 studies; +++ = >6 studies; I = Intended, S = studied.
Visual Analogue Scale;

Scott et al. (1977)
Wong-Baker FACES Pain

Scale; Wong and Baker
(1988)
S: 318 years
I: 312 years
S: 412 years
Faces Pain Scale-Revised

(FPS-R); Hicks et al. (2001)
Oucher-NRS; Beyer and

Aradine (1986)
I: 4+ years
S: 318 years
I: 47 years
Age range
Faces Pain Scale (FPS);

Bieri et al. (1990)
Pieces of Hurt tool;

Hester (1979)
Name of Scale (Acronym)

Author (year)
Yes (++)
Construct (+)
Content (+)
Construct (+++)
Construct (+++)
Construct (++)
Content (+)
Yes (++)
Yes(++)
Yes (++)
Yes(+)
Construct (+++)
Content (+)
Construct (+++)
Content (+)
Yes (++)
Yes(+)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Moderate
High
Moderate
Moderate
High
High
Moderate
Respon- Interpretsivity
ability Feasibility
Content (+)
Construct (+++)
Validity
Table 15.3. Summary of psychometric properties, interpretability and feasibility of self-report pain intensity measures.
452
PAIN ASSESSMENT
453
Wong-Baker FACES Pain Scale

This measure consists of six hand-drawn faces, ranging from smiling
(no hurt) to crying (hurts worst), with scores ranging from 0 to 5. Ease
of administration and cost-effectiveness are among the advantages.
Disadvantages discussed in the literature include tendencies for children
to select faces at the extreme end when experiencing procedural pain,
avoidance of the face depicting crying by children who do not want to
admit to actually crying, and questions about whether it might be confounding varied dimensions of pain (affective/reactive dimension versus
the sensory/intensity dimension).
Oucher
This scale combines two separate scales, a photographic faces scale, consisting of six pictures of culturally sensitive faces (Afro-American, Caucasian,
and Hispanic) that are scored from 0 to 5, with a numerical rating scale,
ranging from 0 to 100 mm in a vertical array. As with other measures, most
research has been conducted with acute pain conditions and with children/
adolescents of an older age.
Visual Analogue Scales

These types of measures have long been used in research and practice
with adult pain patients. They consist of continuous vertical or horizontal
lines (with some believing that children have an easier time with vertical
lines as they can more easily assess intensities with a going up or going
down analogy), of a predetermined length, anchored at each end by the
extreme limits of pain intensity. There are a number of variations on this
basic approach, with some using different line lengths and some adding
hash or division marks. These types of measures have good psychometric
support in general for children eight and above, and they are quick and
easy to administer. The varied ways they have been displayed and the
differing anchors that have been used have hampered development (by
precluding standardization) and complicate comparisons across studies
and conditions.
The Coloured Analogue Scale (CAS) (McGrath, Seifert, Speechley,
Booth, Stitt, & Gibson, 1996) is an alternative to the standard VAS and
was designed to aid young children in self-reporting the degree of their
pain. As such, it may be appropriate as well for those who have mild cognitive impairment. The CAS is a vertical scale, much like a thermometer,
with progressively darker shades of red moving upward on the scale to
illustrate increased pain intensity. Children move a marker on the scale
to the point where the gradation of color best reflects their pain intensity.
Numerical values are printed on the backside for clinicians to document
the childs response. McGrath and colleagues (1996) found the CAS to be
a simple, practical tool with preliminary validity to assess pain in those
ages 516. Although the CAS may facilitate the self-report for pain in children, it has some limitations for individuals with developmental disabilities
(LaChapelle, Hadjistavropoulos, & Craig, 1999).
454
Despite some of the shortcomings with self-report measures, it is

still worthwhile to attempt obtaining such reports from young children
(Stanford, Chambers, & Craig, 2006) and individuals with developmental
disabilities who possess appropriate understanding (Hadjistavropoulos,
von Baeyer, & Craig, 2001). When self-reports are not an option or are
suspected to be unreliable, healthcare professionals may turn to proxy
reports of parents and other caregivers for pain details. Proxy reports are
discussed in the next section.
Upon completing their review, Stinson et al. (2006), noting that no
single scale was preferred for all ages, developmental levels, and clinical
conditions, offered a number of recommendations to help guide selection
of self-report measures of pain intensity in clinical trials. These are reproduced in Table 15.4. They concluded their review by pointing out the need
to continue developing, testing, and standardizing existing as well as new
measures, focusing increased efforts on younger children, and determining
how much of a change is needed for claiming clinically significant effects
(which they termed as the minimally clinically significant difference).
Daily Pain Diaries

Although not reviewed by Stinson et al. (2006), when treating children
and adolescents with ongoing pain problems it is a common practice to
require participants to monitor some aspects of their condition on a systematic basis, most typically using diaries or logs that are completed on
a daily basis. In fact, this has become the standard when working with
pediatric headache (Andrasik & Schwartz, 2006; McGrath & Unruh, 2006),
when patients have sufficient cognitive capacity to do so. The exact type
and form vary as a function of age and intervention intent. For example,
if attempts are made to alter antecedents and consequence as a part of
treatment, then these aspects are typically monitored daily. These diaries,
thus, can help guide treatment as well as assess outcome, and they
may additionally be useful for tracking specific pain characteristics when
Table 15.4. Summary of recommendations of self-report pain intensity
measures for clinical trials in children 318 years of age.
In most clinical trials, a single-item self-report measure of pain intensity is the appropriate
primary outcome dimension for children 3 years of age and older.
Pieces of Hurt tool is recommended for acute procedure-related and post-operative pain in
young children between 3 and 4 years of age.
Given the wide variability in young childrens ability to use self-report measures especially
between the ages of 3 and 7 years of age, it would be prudent to consider using a behavioral
observational measure as a secondary outcome in this age group.
Faces Pain Scale-Revised is recommend for acute procedure-related, post-operative, and
disease-related pain in children between 4 and 12 years of age.
A 100 mm visual analogue scale is recommended for acute procedure-related, post-operative,
and disease-related pain in children over the age of 8 years of age and adolescents.
For children between the ages of 8 and 12 years it might be useful to use the Faces Pain
Scale-Revised as a secondary outcome measure with the visual analogue scale.
Source: Reprinted from Stinson et al., 2006 (Permission granted by the International
Association for the Study of Pain).
PAIN ASSESSMENT
455
diagnoses are complicated or unclear (Metshonkala, Sillanp, & Tuominen,

1997). The approaches typically involve monitoring intensity, frequency,
and duration of pain.
Sample diary approaches and comparisons of them may be found
in Andrasik, Burke, Attanasio, and Rosenblum (1985) and Richardson,
McGrath, Cunningham, and Humphreys (1983). The most recent innovation involves electronic forms, using either the Internet or personal digital
assistants (Palermo, Valenzuela, & Stork, 2004). Various committees have
drafted guidelines for measures to use with headache patients (Andrasik,
Lipchik, McCrory, & Wittrock, 2005; Penzien et al., 2005). Although developed largely with adult patients in mind, they should be applicable with
pediatric headache patients as well as other recurrent pain conditions.
PROXY REPORT
Parents and other caregivers can be most helpful in corroborating selfreports of pain and speaking on behalf of those who cannot speak for
themselves. A survey administered to physicians and nurses indicated
they preferred self-report measures for children who were absent of or
only mildly affected by cognitive impairments, whereas proxy reports were
preferred for children who have moderate or severe cognitive impairments
(Fanurik, Koh, Schmitz, Harrison, Roberson, & Killebrew, 1999). Parents
and other caregivers who are familiar with a childs routine behaviors thus
can provide valuable information. Fanurik, Koh, Schmitz, Harrison, and
Conrad (1999) found it helpful to divide the pain expressions of children
having cognitive impairments into direct or indirect behaviors.
Direct pain expressions include the childs efforts to communicate the
pain and its location, to verbalize the presence of pain without localization,
and to localize the pain with nonverbal behavior. In contrast, indirect pain
expressions include inferences about pain, as judged by crying, certain
facial movements, physical or emotional changes, and engaging in selfinjurious behaviors. Sixty-six percent (66%) of parents who have children
who are mild to moderately impaired report an ability to determine pain in
their child through direct expression, whereas 90% of parents with children who are severely to profoundly impaired infer the presence of pain
through indirect pain expressions. If someone is unfamiliar with a child
who has a cognitive impairment, such as a healthcare professional, pain
behaviors thus may be misinterpreted.
Pain assessment is further complicated in individuals with developmental disabilities, as they may display atypical pain patterns (McGrath,
Rosmus, Camfield, Campbell, & Hennigar, 1998). Caregivers may be in
a position to distinguish unique behaviors that may be suggestive of
the presence of pain. For instance, parents have reported that cries of a
certain tone, laughing, seizures, self-abusive behaviors, particular postures, and changes in eating, sleeping, and socializing patterns may be
indicative of pain (Carter, McArthur, & Cunliffe, 2002; Hadden & von
Baeyer, 2002). These pain behaviors may not be obvious to someone
other than the caregiver.
456
The potential relationship between self-injurious behavior (SIB) and

pain merits further consideration. SIB is a serious, complex, multidetermined behavior that can serve varied functions (attention, escape, nonsocial, physical, tangible). We (Baldridge & Andrasik, 2008) and others
(Bosch, Van Dyke, Smith, & Poulton, 1997), however, have found instances
where such behavior has been indicative of an underlying pain condition,
as illustrated by the following case. DG, a person seen at a developmental center, had a long-standing history of pulling and pounding on his
ears, which produced ear sores that would not heal and, as a result, gave
his ears a cauliflower appearance (Baldridge & Andrasik, 2008). At times,
he remained in bed, in a fetal position, crying and displaying a furrowed
brow. At other times, he moved about freely. Prior medical evaluations all
proved to be negative.
When a detailed functional analysis performed by his treating
psychologist failed to identify controlling environmental factors, our
thoughts turned to the possibility of an underlying pain condition (noticing
his behavior being similar to that of a colicky infant). In further discussions
with direct care staff they mentioned that DG simply did not look comfortable at the times when SIB was in evidence. Closer observations revealed
him to have excessive flatus. A review of his medications indicated that he
was receiving Lactulose, a medicine known to promote abdominal cramping and gas. The Lactulose was discontinued, and he was then placed on
Miralax, a medication whose different mechanism of action lessens these
particular side effects. Within a few days, DG was noted to appear much
more comfortable, as he was now able to rest quietly and he no longer
whined or drew up his legs. A short time later his ears began to heal. A year
later, staff reported his SIB as occurring very infrequently.
Isolated cases of ours and those reported in the literature by others
(Bosch et al., 1997) do not inform us of the co-occurrence of pain and SIB.
Rather, they serve to remind us of the importance of utilizing a multidisciplinary team approach when evaluating and treating persons suspected of
having an underlying pain disorder. In cases where SIB is present, measures such as the Questions About Behavioral Function (Applegate, Matson,
& Cherry, 1999; Paclawskyj, Matson, Rush, Smalls, & Vollmer, 2000) can
be invaluable in guiding assessment and treatment efforts.
Fanurik, Koh, Schmitz, Harrison, and Conrad (1999) found that several
parents of children with cognitive impairment believe that pain is often
underestimated and undertreated in their child. Parents (Chambers, Reid,
Craig, McGrath, & Finley, 1998) and nurses (Romsing, Moller-Sonnergaard,
Hertel, & Rasmussen, 1996) have even been found to underestimate pain
in children absent of cognitive impairments. Overall, it seems as though
pain intensity can be miscalculated in all children, those with and those
without cognitive impairment. Although parents may be able to detect
subtle pain behaviors, certain factors may influence the accuracy of their
proxy report.
Breau, MacLaren, McGrath, Camfield, and Finley (2003) reported that
some caregivers have a pre-existing belief that children with cognitive
impairment are less sensitive to pain as compared to children who are not
impaired. The investigators speculate that this belief may arise by healthcare professionals shaping parents beliefs on their childs sensitivity
PAIN ASSESSMENT
457
to pain. Another explanation is that this belief may be adaptive or serve

a protective function because parents often have to witness their child
undergoing a number of painful procedures. Regardless of how the belief
was formed, it can lead to caregivers underestimating pain. This same
study noted an important relationship between a childs cognitive level
and reaction to pain. It was believed that children with mild or moderate
impairment were prone to overreact to pain compared to nonimpaired
children. In opposite fashion, it was believed that an extreme reaction
from children with severe or profound impairments was associated with a
greater amount of pain. The basis of these beliefs is unclear, but they can
interfere with an accurate assessment of pain by parents and caregivers.
Caregivers are in a unique position to identify expressions and behaviors that can predict the presence of pain that otherwise would be undetectable to a person not familiar with the individual. Even so, caregiver
pre-existing beliefs and attitudes can affect the accuracy of such reports,
as shown in the study by Nader, Oberlander, Chambers, and Craig (2004),
who investigated parent reports of venipuncture pain in children with
autism and children who were unimpaired. The facial activity of the children in both groups was found to be similar during the venipuncture.
Parent reports of pain for the nonimpaired children showed greater concordance with facial activity than the parental reports of pain for the
autistic children. In fact, the children who were autistic had greater facial
activity but were judged to be less sensitive and reactive by their parents.
It is unclear as to why the parents of autistic children underestimated
their childs pain. Although self-report and proxy reports are subjective
in nature, observational methods are more objective. Caregivers, nurses,
and physicians have assisted in the development of various observational
assessment tools, which are next reviewed.
OBSERVATIONAL METHODS
The second systematic measurement review commissioned by the PedIMMPACT group focused on observational (behavioral) measures of pain,
for children and adolescents aged 3 to 18 years (von Baeyer & Spagrud,
2007). Their initial search of the literature (employing methodologies similar
to those of Stinson et al., 2006) uncovered 20 observational pain scales
that included behavior checklists, behavior rating scales, and global rating scales. It needs to be pointed out that all of the scales included in this
review pertained to acute pain conditions, medical procedures, and other
relatively brief painful events (post-op). None were recommended for assessing recurrent or chronic forms of pain, the authors pointed out, because
behavioral displays of pain tend to dissipate or habituate with time, making
it quite difficult to obtain reliable ratings. The authors pointed out several
situations where observational measures may be of particular value. These
are when children are too young, upset, distressed, or cognitively impaired;
are lacking in communication abilities; are restricted by the treatment procedures themselves (e.g., bandaged, on ventilators, recipient of paralyzing
medications, etc.); or are likely to be unreliable in reporting (e.g., tendencies
to distort by exaggeration or minimization, etc.).
458
Using a grading system, four scales were categorized as meeting the

highest level of evidence (I, well-established assessment), and three were
judged as approaching the well-established level (Level II). These scales,
along with their key characteristics, are listed in Table 15.5. These and a
few other scales are discussed further below, with a particular focus on
applications with special populations.
Facial expressions are a nonverbal cue that can signify pain, and they
figure prominently in pain assessment measures. Both the frequency and
intensity of facial activity can convey an expression of pain. LaChapelle
et al. (1999) found that the frequency of chin raises in addition to the
intensity of brow lowering and chin raises were significant in indicating
pain during a vaccination. Prkachin (2005) asserts that brow-lowering,
eyelid tightening with raised cheeks, nose wrinkling, and eyes closing are
facial movements commonly associated with pain.
One of the first studies on common observable pain behaviors asked
physicians to list all behaviors indicative of pain in those with a developmental disability (cerebral palsy; Giusiano, Jimeno, Collignon, & Chau,
1995). McGrath et al. (1998), who asked caregivers to provide a similar
list, developed a 31-item checklist, which came to be known as the NonCommunicating Childrens Pain Checklist (NCCPC). It consists of seven
categories of behaviors: vocal, eating/sleeping, social/personality, facial
expression of pain, activity, body and limbs, and physiological. The NCCPC
has been demonstrated to be reliable and valid when evaluating pain in
nonverbal children (Breau, McGrath, Camfield, Rosmus, & Finley, 2000).
Breau, Camfield, McGrath, Rosmus, and Finley (2001) conducted an
item analysis of the NCCPC (which excluded the eating/sleeping category)
and found that seven of the items are particularly reliable for pain as compared to distress. Two of these items, cranky and seeks comfort, were from
the social category. One item, change in eyes (squeezing eyes, eyes wide
open, eyes frown), was from the facial expression category. Another item,
less active, was from the activity category. One item, gestures to body
part that hurts, was from the body and limb category. The last two items,
tears and sharp intake of breath or gasping, were from the physiological
category. Although the entire checklist may offer an overall picture of pain,
this subgroup of items could be utilized as an abbreviated assessment
method when limited displays are of interest. A series of other studies have
used modified versions of the NCCPC and in the process have replicated
its validity (Breau, Finley, McGrath, & Camfield, 2002; Breau, McGrath,
Camfield, & Finley, 2002).
Stallard et al. (2002) extended this work to behaviors associated with
chronic pain. Caregivers of noncommunicating children were interviewed
and a total of 203 pain cues were identified. The researchers then categorized these behaviors into 11 categories: vocal, facial, physical, withdrawal, seeks comfort, physiological, agitation, tense, inconsolable, pain
sites, and anger/irritability. Three of these categoriesvocal, facial, and
inconsolablewere determined to signify definite and severe pain. Six specific
cues from five of the categories were deemed significant in denoting the
presence of pain: cries, screams/yells, face screwed up, flinches from
contact, appears tense, unable to be comforted. In a subsequent study,
First author
(year)
I: 418
years
S: 018
years
Age
rangea
Metric
Comments
Level of
evidence
(continued)
010. 5
Uses items similar to well-established CHEOPS but with a readitems
ily understood 010 metric. Low burden. Excellent inter-rater
scored 0
reliability. Moderate concurrent validity with FACES and good
to 2
with VAS. Inconsistent responsiveness data. Has been used in
studies of post-operative pain, minor non-invasive procedures,
ear-nosethroat operations
CHEOPS
McGrath
I: 17
413: 6
Well-established reliability and validity in many studies. Scores
Childrens
et al.
years
items
range from 4 to 13, with scores 46 indicating no pain Good
Hospital
(1985)
S: 4
second
indications of inter-rater and testretest reliability. Good
of Eastern
months
0 to 3
evidence for construct and concurrent validity, and responsiveOntario Pain
17 years
ness. Has been used in studies of general surgery; myringotomy
Scale
and ear tube insertion; bladder nerve stimulation; closed fracture reduction; intravenous cannulation; sickle cell episodes;
circumcision, and immunizations
Post-operative pain in FLACC Face,
Merkel et al. I: 418
010: 5
See above
hospital
Legs, Arms,
(1997)
years
items
Cry, ConsolS: 018
scored 0
ability
years
to 2
Post-operative pain
PPPM ParChambers
I: 212
015: 15
Well-established assessment. High inter-rater reliability and
at home (parent
ents Postet al. (1996) years
items
internal consistency.
assessment)
operative
S: 112
scored 0 Good construct validity with the FPS, sensitivity, specificity, conPain Measyears
or 1
tent validity. Good responsiveness data. Has been used in studure
ies of post-operative pain (many kinds) and hernia repair
Acronym
Name of tool
Procedural pain; brief FLACC Face,

Merkel et al.
painful events
Legs, Arms,
(1997)
Cry, Consolability
Recommended context of measurement
Table 15.5. Scales recommended by intended context of measurement, with source, age of child for which each tool is Intended, metric,
rationale, and level of evidence.
III+ (as
measure of
pain)
II+ (as
measure of
pain)
Only validated instrument available for this purpose. Good

II
inter-rater reliability and internal consistency. Inconsistent
responsiveness data. Has been used in studies of heart surgery;
switching position to improve oxygenation; medical ventilation
Original
Good inter-rater reliability. Good construct validity and respon840:
siveness data. Has been used in studies of bone marrow aspira8 items
tions, lumbar punctures, radiation therapy, and immunization.
scored
Contains 1 unusual item
1 to 5.
Various
revisions.
I: 8
011: 11
Good inter-rater, inter-item reliability. More investigation of validmonths
items
ity and responsiveness is needed. Has been used in studies of
17 years
scored 0
bone marrow aspirations, immunizations and venipuncture
S: 3
or 1
years10
years
840:
8 items
scored 1
to 5
For level of evidence, see Table 1 and Sections 2.6 and 2.7.
a
I = intended age range when the scale was first published; S = age range studies in subsequent research.
Source: Reprinted from von Baeyer & Spagrud, 2007. (Permission granted by the International Association for the Study of Pain).
PBRS-R
Katz et al.
Procedure
(1980)
Behavioral
Rating Scale
Revised
COMFORT
COMFORT
Scale
Ambuel et al. I: New(1992)

born17
years
S: Newborn17
years
Distress; pain-related PBCL ProceLeBaron and I: 617
fear or anxiety (not
dure BehavZeltzer
years
necessarily pain
ior Check
(1984)
S: 0.1
intensity; may be
List
year19
observed before as
years
well as after a painful
procedure)
On ventilator or in
critical care
PAIN ASSESSMENT
461
Stallard, Williams, Velleman, Lenton, McGrath, and Taylor (2002) termed

these six behaviors as the Pain Indicator for Communicatively Impaired
Children (PICIC). The behavior of screwed up/distressed face was shown
to be the strongest predictor of the presence of pain. The five other cues
were also significant when taken together, but they were more likely to
indicate possible pain.
Terstegen, Koot, de Boer, and Tibboel (2003) studied pain behaviors
before and after surgery in children who had profound cognitive impairments. The frequency of 134 potential pain behaviors categorized as facial
expressions, motor behaviors, social behaviors/mood, attitude towards
sore body part, vocalization, and physiological were observed. Twentythree of these behaviors were found to be distinct in signifying pain. Four
of these items on the checklist that were not present before surgery, but
appeared after surgery were trembling chin, protecting sore body part,
crying hard/loudly, and breath holding. Moreover, the behaviors eyes
squeezed and trembling chin reflected pain intensity.
Zwakhalen, van Dongen, Hamers, and Abu-Saad (2004) surveyed
nurses who work at institutions for profound intellectually disabled persons. Nurses were instructed to rate 158 pain indicators on a scale of
110 based on observations they use in assessing pain in their patients.
More than half of the nurses deemed seven of the following pain cues
as important: moaning during manipulation, crying during manipulation,
painful facial expression during manipulation, swelling, screaming during manipulation, not using the sore body part, and moving the body in a
specific way.
It appears as though a number of common pain behaviors can be
detected from the diverse population of cognitively impaired individuals.
There are, however, some internal contradictions. For instance, in the various versions of the NCCPC items such as tense and floppy, less active
and jumping around, and seeks comfort and inconsolable are opposing
behaviors. This suggests that in addition to common pain expressions,
there are also behaviors that are distinctive for each individual. Even
though a person may react differently to pain compared to another person,
parents have reported that their children respond to pain in a predictable
manner (Carter et al., 2002). Observational methods coupled with proxy
reports may provide a more accurate means of detecting pain.
An assessment tool involving observation and proxy reports is the
Face Legs Activity Cry and Consolability (FLACC), so named because the
method reflects the categories contained within it (Malviya, Voepel-Lewis,
Burke, Merkel, & Tait, 2006). A rating of 02 is assigned to each of the five
categories, where 0 is usual behavior, 1 is occasional pain behaviors associated with each category, and 2 is more intense pain behaviors (see Table
15.6). In addition to these general ratings, caregivers also give input about
idiosyncratic pain behaviors expressed by the cognitively impaired child.
This tool is an individualized approach to assessment, where both common
and unique pain behaviors are observed and rated. We have found great
utility with this measure at our work at a developmental center, modifying
categories to track behaviors specific to individuals being treated and even
omitting categories that do not apply.
462
Table 15.6. FLACC.

Scoring
Category
Face
Legs
Activity
Cry
Consolability
No particular
expression or
smile
Normal position
or relaxed
Lying quietly,
normal position,
moves easily
No cry (awake or
asleep)
Content, relaxed
Occasional grimace or frown, Frequent to constant

withdrawn,
quivering chin,
disinterested
clenched jaw
Uneasy, restless, tense
Kicking, or legs drawn up
Squirming, shifting back
and forth, tense
Arched, rigid or jerking
Moans or whimpers; occasional complaint

Reassured by occasional
touching, hugging or being
talked to, distractible
Crying steadily, screams or

sobs, frequent complaints
Difficult to console
or comfort
Observational instruments can be of great assistance to caregivers,

physicians, and nurses in assessing pain in cognitively impaired individuals. A majority of the research has focused on pain behaviors associated
with acute pain, such as postoperative pain and needle injections
(Stallard et al., 2001). It is unclear whether the same behaviors for acute
pain would apply to chronic pain or if the cues are more subtle and
difficult to detect (Stallard et al., 2002). Answers must come from future
research investigations.
PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURES
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (1997, as cited in
Davies & Evans, 2001) contends that physiological responses to pain vary
between children and adults and between individuals who are cognitively
impaired and individuals who are unimpaired. Although some individuals
who are cognitively impaired may have a reduced physiological response
to pain, this does not generalize to all individuals with cognitive impairment.
Defrin, Pick, Peretz, and Carmeli (2004) found that individuals with
developmental disabilities were actually more sensitive to pain than a
nonimpaired comparison group, but that there was a delayed reaction
to pain. It is not fully known how pain sensation, perception, and cognitive processes affect physiological responses. Due to these inconsistent
findings, physiological measures in cognitively impaired individuals are
not recommended as a sole pain assessment technique (Breau, McGrath,
& Zabialia, 2006).
In the previously described survey conducted by Zwakhalen et al.
(2004), nurses rated physiological measures as a source for determining
pain in their patients. They identified turning red in the face, vomiting,
gasping for breath, holding ones breath, or marked changes in respiration or heart rate. The various adaptations of the NCCPC contain a physiological category, including items such as shivering, change in color/
PAIN ASSESSMENT
463
pallor, sweating, tears, sharp intake of breath/gasping, and breath-holding

(Breau, Finley, et al., 2002; Breau, McGrath, et al., 2002; McGrath
et al., 1998). These cues are attributed to distress (Hadjistavropoulos et al.,
2001) and possible symptoms of pain (Zwakhalen et al., 2004), rather than
pain directly. Of available physiological/biological measures, McGrath and
Unruh (2006) judge the evidence as sufficient to warrant considering using
heart rate, transcutaneous oxygen, electrodermal activity, and aspects of
the stress response when assessing pain. Research with endorphins, respiration, and blood pressure is limited, but worthy of continued pursuit.
In summary, presumed insensitivity to pain in certain child and adolescent groups may be a consequence of communication barriers. In a
study with children who were developmentally delayed, the older children
were found to respond to pain with more anger (Gilbert-MacLeod, Craig,
Rocha, & Mathias, 2000). This may be a learned behavior for gaining
attention to communicate the presence of pain. If an individual displays
atypical pain behaviors and reacts differently to pain, it cannot be concluded that she is not experiencing pain (refer to the earlier described case
of DG). In order to understand pain, the assessment tools of self-report,
proxy report, observational methods, and physiological measures can be
employed. Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages.
A multidimensional approach in combining these evaluative tools would
be more likely to reveal an overall, accurate picture of pain.
Far and away, the majority of measures reviewed here have been
designed for assessment of acute pain states and they have focused on
a limited domain of pain: intensity and frequency of pain. Other important aspects of the pain experienceaffective and evaluativehave all but
been ignored. Initial work by Wilkie, Holzemer, Tesler, Ward, Paul, and
Savedra (1990) has shown it is possible to distinguish these dimensions,
at least with children above the age of eight. The other domains identified for assessment by the Peds-IMMPACT group are only now beginning
to be explored (Eccleston, Jordan, & Crombez, 2006; Gauntlett-Gilbert &
Eccleston, 2007; Goubert, Eccleston, Vervoort, Jordan, & Crombez, 2006;
Hermann et al., 2007; Sleed, Eccleston, Beecham, Knap, & Jordan, 2005;
Tsao, Meldrum, Kim, & Zeltzer, 2007). These aspects, plus a greater focus
on measures appropriate for chronic forms of pain in children and adolescents, with and without developmental disabilities, all merit further study.
Prediction of Chronic Pediatric Pain and Disability

The procedures reviewed above constitute the approaches, empirically
researched, typically taken when assessing the presence and quantifying its amount. Most recently Mir, Huguet, and Nieto (2007) approached
this measurement issue from a somewhat unique perspective. Noting the
methodological problems that plague extant research (i.e., small sample
sizes, varied and narrowed definitions of pain, and inadequate designs,
data collection methods, and data analytic strategies), they sought to poll
experts about the factors that were most important to consider.
Drawing upon the Delphi method, the sought opinions from participants who met either of two inclusion criteria: having conducted prior
464
clinical research on the topic (as judged by serving as first or second

author of at least two peer-reviewed journal articles, published between
19952005, addressing prediction of chronic pain and pain-related disability), or prior involvement in pain clinical work (as judged by having
at least two years of experience in a pediatric pain program/service, with
names initially drawn from the subscriber pain lists of the IASP Special
Interest Group on Pain in Childhood and the Pediatric-Pain list serve). Participants identified at this level were asked to indicate others who might
be approached (to see if they met either of the above criteria). The participants came from diverse professions (60% physicians, 25% psychologists, 13% nurses, with the remaining 2% coming from varied groups).
Furthermore, there was considerable variability within their professional
groupings, with participants coming from research and clinical practice
settings, anesthesiology, epidemiology, nursing, oncology, rheumatology,
rehabilitation, and so on.
A list of potential predictive factors was initially developed by reviewing the extant literature and then asking a small international multidisciplinary group of experts to add important items not yet included. This
yielded 28 potential general predictors of chronic pain and/or pain-related
disability, all operationalized to the extent possible. A larger list (in excess
of 100) was then generated to best describe the 28 potential predictors,
with these being re-examined by the expert panelists. Additional items and
potential predictive factors were added at this step, and one item included
earlier was omitted. A number of other iterations ensued (pilot and actual),
consistent with the Delphi approach (wherein participation continues until
there is stability in responding or there is no further appreciable gain in
understanding, the point of diminishing returns, in economic terms), with
the goal of identifying items that predicted chronicity, disability, both, or
neither and the direction (positive or negative) and magnitude (value from
0 to 100) of the effect.
Although a number of items were rated as having value, in order to
narrow the array of variables the authors compiled a final list of items
most likely to determine pain persistence and disability. Items additionally had to meet the following criteria: the item had to be identified as
important by more than three-quarters of the participants, the mean score
assigned to the item had to be above the 75th percentile, and the coefficient of variation for the item had to be below the 25th percentile (as the
lower the coefficient, the less the variation among respondents). The items
that resulted from this analysis are reproduced in Table 15.7. Although
the authors sought to identify protective factors in addition to factors
having a negative influence, surprisingly only one positive influence surfaced: parental coping skills. It is important to note that this variable has
not been addressed in the literature to date.
The factors exerting a negative influence on pain and disability fell
within five groupings: (1) psychological characteristics of the child, (2)
psychological characteristics of the parents, (3) characteristics of the pain
experience itself, (4) characteristics of pain management, and (5) psychological factors related to the childs pain experience. Factors within groups
1, 3, and 5 have been the chief focus of research. Increasing the focus on
PAIN ASSESSMENT
465
Table 15.7. Items considered as the most important ones to predict chronic
pain and disability problems.
Unit of
Analysis
Predictor
Factors
Chronic
pain
Child
Traits of
personality
Individual
history
Pain catastrophizing
Pain attitudes
Relationship
with Chronic
Pain
Items
R
R
R
R
R
Characteristics R
of pain
problem
Parents (or Traits of
R
family)
personality
Pain catastroR
phizing
Environment
Characteristics R
of pain
treatment
R
Disability
Child
Consequences
to pain
behaviors
Stressful
environment
Traits of
personality
Pain coping
skills
R
R
Pain attitudes
20. The child has a tendency to somatize.

34. The child has a depressive personality.
1. The child has an anxious personality.
73. The child has a family history of chronic
pain.
71. The child tends to dwell on the pain and
magnify or exaggerate its threat or seriousness. He/she is incapable of dealing with it.
108. The child believes that his/her pain will
persist over time.
42. The childs pain is constant.
23. The parents are emotionally unstable.

109. The parents tend to dwell on and magnify or exaggerate the threat or seriousness
of their childs pain. They are incapable of
dealing with the childs pain.
7. The child uses the health care services
excessively for his pain complaints.
30. The childs consumption of medicaments
to relieve the pain is not appropriate.
77. Compliance with the therapy prescribed
to treat the pain is low.
123. The child and his/her parents have
consulted numerous doctors about the pain
but no one has found anything wrong.
68. The child receives attention and/or other
privileges immediately after expressing
pain.
16. The child is subject to stress in his/her
immediate environment (for example: family
difficulties, problems at school).
20. The child has a tendency to somatize.
34. The child has a depressive personality.
110. The child constantly avoids activities
that involve moving the part of the body
that hurts through fear of experiencing
more pain.
71. The child tends to dwell on the pain and
magnify or exaggerate its threat or seriousness. He/she is incapable of dealing with it.
66. The child believes he/she is disabled by
the pain.
106. The child believes that pain means he
is damaging him/herself and that he/she
should avoid exercise.
(continued)
466

Unit of
Analysis
Predictor
Factors
Parents (or Traits of

family)
personality
Pain coping
skills
Relationship
with Chronic
Pain
Items
R
117. Parental anxiety is high.
116. The parents are able to identify, assess

and alleviate the childs pain.
109. The parents tend to dwell on and magnify or exaggerate the threat or seriousness
of their childs pain. They are incapable of
dealing with the childs pain.
5. The parents believe that pain incapacitates.
91. When the childs parents are in pain they
believe that they are in danger and that
they should avoid exercise as much as possible.
61. The parents are disabled as a result of
their pain.
Pain attitudes
R
R
Disability
Abbreviations: R, Risk factor; P, protective factor.

NOTE: Items included in this table comply with the following criteria: 75% of participants
agreement on the predictive nature of the item, the predictive power value attributed to the item lies above 75th percentile, and variation coefficient lies below 25th
percentile.
Source: Reprinted from Mir et al., 2007. (Permission granted by American Pain Society)
factors within groups 2 and 4 may lead to enhanced understanding and

pain outcomes. These and other directions pointed out within the body of
this chapter all seem worthy of pursuit in the future. Finally, although it
is not known whether these factors will apply uniformly across pain conditions, this is judged unlikely. Thus, future researchers need to examine
applicability of these factors for varied pain disorders.
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16
Assessment of
Pediatric Feeding
Disorders
CATHLEEN C. PIAZZA and HENRY S. ROANE
Eating is a genetically programmed behavior that is necessary for survival.

But eating has a larger role in human behavior in that it forms the backdrop for many of the social interactions individuals have with one another.
In fact, most of our major life events (e.g., birthdays, anniversaries, retirement) are marked in the context of food, and food often dominates our
cultural (e.g., Thanksgiving) and religious (e.g., Christmas, Bar Mitzvah)
celebrations (Ivanovic et al., 2004). But what happens when eating is
dysfunctional? How does disordered eating affect both the physiological
and socioemotional functioning of humans, particularly when those problems emerge in infancy? The purpose of this chapter is to describe the
various eating problems that occur in children and discuss how eating
problems are assessed in children.
The term feeding disorder is used to describe dysfunctional eating that
occurs in childhood. By contrast, eating disorder is the diagnostic label for
dysfunctional eating in adolescents and young adults (which is covered
elsewhere in this volume). The characteristics of a feeding disorder are
heterogeneous, which has made the development of a diagnostic nosology
difficult. That is, children with feeding disorders may display a wide variety
of behaviors such as refusal to eat, refusal to eat certain types or textures
of food, dependence on a limited or developmentally inappropriate source
of nutrition (e.g., bottle dependence in a three-year-old), and skill deficits
CATHELEEN C. PIAZZA and HENRY S. ROANE MunroeMeyer Institute for Genetics

and Rehabilitation and University of Nebraska Medical Cent

471
472
such as inability to self-feed. Problematic feeding behavior may occur in

isolation or in combination with a variety of medical (gastroesophageal
reflux disease), oral motor (apraxia), or behavioral (tantrums) issues.
PREVALENCE AND ETIOLOGY

Prevalence
The prevalence of feeding disorders is difficult to estimate due in part
to the heterogeneity of the problem. Esparo et al. (2004) estimated that the
prevalence of nonmedically related feeding problems was 4.8%, based on
questionnaires completed with caregivers of 851 Spanish school-aged children. Other estimates suggest that approximately 25% to 35% of typically
developing children and approximately 33% to 80% of children with developmental delays exhibit feeding problems of varying severity (Gouge &
Ekvall, 1975; Palmer & Horn, 1978). In fact, most children will exhibit
difficulties during meals at some point during infancy or childhood (Wilson,
1994). Some of these problems resolve in the absence of intervention (the
child will grow out of it). But for a small number of children, feeding difficulties result in a number of negative consequences such as malnutrition,
dehydration, and long-term cognitive and behavioral disabilities (Dobbing,
1985; Ivanovic et al., 2004; Ivanovic et al., 2000; Lanes, 2004; Levitsky,
1995; Morgan, 1990; Winick, 1969). For these children, feeding problems
are not likely to resolve in the absence of intervention and may be related
to life-long struggles with eating (Dahl, 1987; Dahl & Kristiansson, 1987;
Dahl & Sundelin, 1992; Rydell, Dahl, & Sundelin, 2001).
Etiology
Recent studies have suggested that the etiology of feeding disorders is
complex and multifactorial, and attempts have been made to construct classification systems that account for a wider range of feeding problems and
the potential complex etiology of these problems (Burklow, McGrath, Allred,
& Rudolph, 2002; Field, Garland, & Williams, 2003; Rommel, De Meyer,
Feenstra, & Veereman-Wauters, 2003). For example, Rommel et al. (2003)
reviewed the medical records of 700 children under the age of ten years
referred for the assessment and treatment of severe feeding difficulties.
The authors classified the feeding problems as medical (specific diagnoses
in the field of pediatrics or pediatric subspecialties based on clinical findings and confirmed by diagnostic examinations when indicated) for 86%
of children, oral-motor (any oropharyngeal functional abnormality diagnosed by the feeding specialist) for 61% of children, and/or behavioral
(behavior that crossed current norms and rules in specific situations in
which the severity was determined by the frequency, duration, extent, and
way in which the behavior harmed the patient and his or her environment psychologically) for 18% of children. Combined causes of the feeding
problem (e.g., medicalbehavioral) occurred in over 60% of children.
ASSESSMENT OF PEDIATRIC FEEDING DISORDERS
473
The most frequently identified medical problem was gastrointestinal conditions diagnosed for 54.3% of children with 33% of this group diagnosed
with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
Field, Garland, and Williams (2003) examined the records of 349 children
ages 1 month to 12 years who had been evaluated by an interdisciplinary
team for a feeding disorder and classified children according to topography
of feeding problem. Their data suggested that 34% of children exhibited
food refusal (refusal to eat all or most foods, such that the child failed to
meet his or her caloric or nutritional needs), 21% exhibited selectivity by
type (eating a narrow range of food that was nutritionally inappropriate),
26% exhibited selectivity by texture (refusal to eat food textures that were
developmentally appropriate), 44% exhibited oral motor problems (problems with chewing, tongue movement, lip closure or other oral motor
areas as determined by a speech and/or occupational therapist), and 23%
exhibited dysphagia (problems with swallowing, documented by a history
of aspiration pneumonia, and/or barium swallow study). Similar to the
findings of Rommel et al. (2003), the most commonly identified medical
problem was GERD (51%).
Burklow, Phelps, Schultz, McConnell, and Rudolph (1998) evaluated
data from 103 children seen in an interdisciplinary clinic for children with
feeding disorders. They categorized children as having structural abnormalities (anatomic abnormalities of the structures associated with eating
and feeding, such as micrognathia, cleft palate), neurological abnormalities
(feeding problems associated with central nervous system insult or musculoskeletal disorders such as cerebral palsy or pervasive developmental
disorder), behavior issues (feeding difficulties from psychosocial factors
such as poor environmental stimulation, lack of available food, phobias,
negative feeding behaviors shaped and/or maintained by reinforcement),
cardiorespiratory problems (feeding difficulties associated with diseases
and symptoms that compromise the cardiovascular and respiratory systems such as bronchopulmonary dysplasia), and metabolic dysfunction
(feeding difficulties associated with metabolic diseases and syndromes
such as hereditary fructose intolerance).
The majority of children had multicategorical feeding problems with
30% categorized as structuralneurologicalbehavioral, 27% as neurological
behavioral, 12% as behavioral, 9% as structuralbehavioral, and 8% as
structuralneurological. The results of these studies confirm that multiple factors contribute to the development of feeding problems, including
medical, oral-motor, and behavioral difficulties. These findings also indicate that biological factors play an important role in the etiology of feeding
disorders. In fact, the high prevalence of chronic medical problems that
affect the gastrointestinal system directly (e.g., GERD, food allergies, malabsorption) suggests that these problems may cause feeding disorders.
For example, GERD causes the release of excess acid into the stomach or
esophagus and often worsens after a meal. Thus, a child with GERD may
learn to associate eating with vomiting and pain.
Chronic medical problems also may contribute to the onset or maintenance of feeding problems because infants with complex medical histories
are subjected to numerous invasive diagnostic tests and procedures that
474
may involve manipulation of the face and mouth (e.g., laryngoscopy). To

illustrate, from the childs perspective a spoon may be indistinguishable from
a laryngoscope or other devices, which are used during invasive tests and
procedures and which may be associated with discomfort or pain. Parents
of chronically hospitalized and medically fragile children often report oral
aversions that affect feeding and other activities associated with the face
and mouth (e.g., tooth brushing, face washing). A number of studies have
shown a relation between feeding difficulties and medical problems such as
intraventricular hemorrhage and central nervous system damage (Braun
& Palmer, 1985), fetal alcohol syndrome (Van Dyke, Mackay, & Ziaylek,
1982), prematurity (Braun & Palmer, 1985; Dodrill, McMahon, Ward, Weir,
Donovan, & Riddle, 2004), bronchopulmonary dysplasia and respiratory
problems, enteral or parenteral feedings (Bazyk, 1990; Benoit, Wang, &
Zlotkin, 2000; Blackman & Nelson, 1985; Geertsma, Hyams, Pelletier, &
Reiter, 1985), and cardiac problems (DAntonio, 1979).
The high prevalence of oral-motor dysfunction also appears to contribute to the development of feeding problems. Children with oral-motor
dysfunction have difficulties with the motor component of eating (e.g.,
swallowing, inability to lateralization of food, tongue thrust, and sucking),
which may preclude eating altogether or may cause eating to be effortful
or uncomfortable (e.g., due to choking or gagging). Pre-existing oral-motor
dysfunction may be exacerbated when the child refuses to eat, which contributes further to the childs failure to develop appropriate oral motor
skills. That is, the child does not have the opportunity to practice the skill
of eating and does not develop the oral motor skills to become a competent eater. Furthermore, refusal to eat may lead to failure to thrive (FTT),
and undernourished children lack the energy to become competent eaters
(Troughton & Hill, 2001).
Refusal behavior (e.g., batting at the spoon, crying, head turning) may
emerge when eating is paired with an aversive experience (e.g., pain, discomfort), but feeding problems also occur in children who have no identifiable medical or oral motor difficulties. Studies by Dahl and colleagues
(Dahl, 1987; Dahl & Kristiansson, 1987; Dahl & Sundelin, 1992) suggest
that feeding problems can be identified in early infancy, feeding problems
in infancy are related to poor growth at age two, and feeding problems in
infancy may persist for up to four years if left untreated.
One puzzling question is why some children grow out of their feeding
problems and some do not. Some authors have hypothesized that children with no known organic cause of their eating problem have underlying dysfunctions of appetite regulation. Drewer, Kasese-Hara, and Wright
(2002) showed that children with FTT ate less total food than age and sexmatched controls, although the foods consumed tended to be equivalent in
caloric density. In addition, caregivers of the FTT children offered as much
food and spent as much or more time feeding their child as did the controls, suggesting that the FTT was not a function of neglect or insufficient
provision of calories.
Kasese-Hara, Wright, and Drewett (2002) tested the hypothesis that
children with FTT lack a normal sensitivity to hunger and satiation cues
by comparing energy compensation in children with FTT and age and
475
sex-matched controls with normal weight. Children who ate typically

altered their energy intake in response to their energy intake in a previous meal, whereas children with FTT did not. The authors suggested that
these results supported the hypothesis that children with FTT lack the
normal responses to hunger and satiety cues that would allow them to
effectively regulate their energy intake.
Taken together, these results suggest that a small number of children
will exhibit feeding problems that are severe and may not resolve without
treatment, and the presence of feeding problems early on is correlated
with eating disorders in adolescence and adulthood. There are a number
of medical problems that increase a childs risk for the development of
feeding problems. In addition, some children without diagnosed medical
problems will display persistent, severe feeding problems. Disorders of
appetite regulation may play a role in these problems.
Diagnostic Considerations in the Assessment

of Feeding Disorders
Early attempts to classify feeding problems focused on a dichotomy
between so-called organic (OFTT) and nonorganic failure to thrive (NOFTT).
NOFTT was a diagnosis of exclusion in this classification system in that it
was applied when no medical cause could be identified for growth failure
(Powell, Low, & Speers, 1987). One underlying assumption was that NOFTT
was the result of the failure of the mother to provide adequate nutrition to
the child (Skuse, 1985). A typical workup to distinguish OFTT from NOFTT
was to conduct numerous tests to ascertain if there was an underlying
medical problem that may account for the FTT. If the medical tests were
negative, then a typical second step would be to feed the child (often during an inpatient hospitalization) to determine if the child could gain weight
under controlled and structured conditions. The child would be diagnosed
with NOFTT if he or she gained weight under these circumstances. However, the dichotomy of organic and nonorganic FTT is inadequate for a
number of reasons.
First, the dichotomy of organic and nonorganic FTT is not prescriptive.
Identification of an organic etiology for the FTT may define a set of medical
interventions that would treat the identified physiological problem. However, the presence or absence of an organic cause of a feeding problem
does not inform a method of feeding the child that will result necessarily
in weight gain. That is, many children continue to refuse food or demonstrate inadequate caloric intake even when medical causes of FTT are
treated (e.g., an acid blocker to treat reflux disease). Children who experience negative consequences during eating (e.g., when vomiting is paired
with intake as a result of reflux) often continue to refuse food even after
the medical problem resolves.
Second, demonstrating that the child gains weight in the hospital may
be useful in determining that the child can gain weight from a physiological
standpoint (e.g., the child does not have a metabolic disease that negatively affects weight gain). However, the demonstration that the child gains
weight in the hospital does not identify the variables that contributed to
476
the childs poor weight gain outside the hospital. In some cases, a childs
failure to gain weight in the home may be a function of inadequate provision of calories. On the other hand, a childs failure to gain weight in the
home may have other causes (e.g., oral motor dysfunction, refusal behavior). Weight gain in the hospital does not result in a discrimination among
these various causes that contribute to poor weight gain at home. In contrast, studies have not shown a consistent association between psychosocial factors (e.g., provision of inadequate calories, dysfunctional family) and
nonorganic FTT (Pollitt, Eichler, & Chan, 1975; Ramsay, Gisel, & Boutry,
1993; Singer, Song, Hill, & Jaffe, 1990).
Third, organic and nonorganic classifications apply only to children
whose growth is affected by the feeding problem. Some children evince
feeding problems in the absence of growth failure. For example, children
with severe food selectivity (e.g., child eats only French fries) may gain
weight adequately due to the high caloric density of consumed foods. Nevertheless, a child with severe selectivity still would be at risk for nutritional
(as opposed to caloric) deficits. Organic and inorganic dichotomies fail to
capture the wide variety and complexity of problems that may be characteristic of a feeding disorder (Burklow, Phelps, Schultz, McConnell, &
Rudolph, 1998; Rommel, 2003).
More recent classification systems such as the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSMIVTR) also are limited in terms
of capturing the heterogeneity of feeding problems. The DSMIVTR diagnosis
of Feeding Disorder of Infancy and Childhood (307.59) is described as a
persistent failure to eat adequately, as reflected in significant failure to
gain weight or significant weight loss over at least 1 month with an onset
prior to age six (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). DSMIVTR
criteria for diagnosis of a feeding disorder exclude children with a medical
condition severe enough to account for the feeding disturbance. The diagnostic criteria also specify that the feeding problem cannot be accounted
for by another mental disorder or lack of available food. Thus, this diagnosis
only applies to a small percentage of children with feeding disorders; those
who fail to gain weight but have no other concomitant medical condition.
Yet, a large number of children with feeding problems present with
concomitant medical conditions (Rommel et al., 2003) and some children
with significant feeding problems do not have problems with growth failure,
yet do not consume any calories by mouth (e.g., a child who is gastrostomy
-tube dependent). The DSM diagnosis suffers from some of the same shortcomings as the organic/inorganic classification in that the diagnosis does
not inform treatment. Finally, the DSM diagnosis lacks specificity with
respect to some of the essential features of the diagnosis, such as defining the parameters of a lack of weight gain or a significant weight loss.
Thus, determination of inadequate growth is left up to the judgment of
the clinician. Likewise, the criteria also do not specify what constitutes a
medical condition severe enough to account for the feeding disorder.
The term feeding difficulties and mismanagement (783.3) is used in
the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (World Health
Organization, 1993). In this classification system, feeding problems of an
inorganic nature are excluded from the diagnosis. Again, this classification
477
system suffers from the same shortcomings described for DSMIVTR with
even less information for the clinician to use to apply the diagnosis.
In sum, existing classification systems are inadequate with respect to
the spectrum that includes many children with feeding disorders. These
systems do not provide criteria that reflect the heterogeneity of potential
feeding problems, do not account for the complex etiology of feeding problems, and they lack sufficient specificity in terms of operationally defining
the criteria for the diagnosis. Most important, the extant classification systems are not prescriptive for treatment development. That is, these systems
provide clinicians with a limited categorization of feeding disorders and offer
no support for developing interventions based on the presenting problem.
One method that can be used to evaluate the extent to which a childs
eating behavior is inappropriate is to compare the childs behavior to developmental norms for eating (Carruth, 2002; Gisel, 1988; Young, 2000).
For example, Carruth and Skinner (2002) interviewed mothers of 98
healthy children at one- to four-month intervals. Mothers reported child
intake for the previous 24 hours and also provided information about the
emergence of a number of feeding-related behaviors. The mean ages and
ranges when each skill emerged are described in Table 16.1.
Reau, Senturia, Lebailly, and Kaufer-Christoffel (1996) conducted
a survey of the feeding patterns of infants and toddlers, using a questionnaire developed by the authors. The results of the survey suggested that
the average meal length was less than 30 minutes for 90% of the participants. Parents who reported problematic feeding behaviors (e.g., Is not
always hungry at mealtime, does not always enjoy a feeding, has strong
food preferences) at both 6 and 12 months had children who ate more
Table 16.1.
Fine motor and oral-motor development related

to feeding behaviors.
MEAN AGE
(Months)
SKILL
Opens mouth when spoon approaches lips
Tongue moves gently back and forth as food enters mouth
Keeps food in moth and is not re-fed
Reaches for spoon when hungry
Feeds self cookies or crackers
Brings top lip down on spoon to remove food
Eats foods without gagging
Uses finger to rake food toward self
Eats food with tiny lumps without gagging
Puts finger in mouth to move food and keep it in
Chews softer foods, keeps most in mouth
Chews firmer foods, keeps most in mouth
Chews and swallows firmer foods without choking
Uses fingers to self-feed soft, chopped food
Brings side of spoon to mouth
Chews foods that produce juice
Picks up, dips foods, and brings to mouth
Scoops puddings and brings to mouth
4.46
4.85
5.72
5.47
7.7
7.73
8.44
8.67
8.7
9.3
9.42
10.53
12.17
13.52
14.37
15.28
16.42
17.05
Source: Adapted from Carruth, B. R., & Skinner, J. D. (2002).
RANGE
(Months)
0.59.0
2.010.0
0.510.5
2.59.5
4.014.0
4.016.0
6.012.0
5.020.0
4.815.5
4.018.0
6.014.0
4.016.0
7.520.0
9.520.0
9.020.0
9.523.0
10.023.0
11.024.0
478
slowly than the other toddlers without reported feeding difficulties at those
ages. The finding that meal length is correlated with feeding problems has
been replicated in other studies (Powers et al., 2002, 2005; Stark et al.,
1997; Young, 2000). Therefore, meal length may be a useful screening tool
for the identification of feeding problems.
METHODS OF ASSESSING OF FEEDING DISORDERS

Questionnaires
Several authors have developed and used questionnaires and rating scales
(Archer, Rosenbaum, & Streiner, 1991; Crist, & Napier-Phillips, A., 2001;
Matson & Kuhn, 2001; Powers et al., 2002) to assess child behavior at mealtimes. For example, the Behavioral Pediatric Feeding Assessment Scale
(BPFAS; Crist, McDonnell, Beck, Gillespie, Barrett, & Mathews, 1994)
consists of 25 items that describe the childs behavior (e.g., My child will
try new foods) and 10 items that describe parents feelings about or strategies for dealing with feeding problems (e.g., I disagree with other adults
about how to feed my child), which caregivers rate on a 5-point-Likert
scale (ranging from never to always). The caregiver also indicates if the
behavior in question is a problem by circling yes or no.
Crist and Napier-Phillips (2001) used the BPFAS to evaluate the feeding behavior of children with and without feeding problems. The results
showed that parents of children with a feeding disorder rated feeding problems as occurring more frequently (i.e., based on Likert-scale scores) and
rated more behaviors as problems (i.e., yes/no rating) relative to parents
of children in the normative sample. Powers et al., (2002) used the BPFAS
and found significant differences between parental report of mealtime
behavior (frequency and number of problems) in children diagnosed with
Type 1 diabetes relative to healthy controls. Powers et al. (2005) also found
the same significant differences for parent-report of mealtime behavior
when comparing a group of children diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF)
relative to a healthy control group on the BPFAS.
The Childrens Eating Behavior Inventory (CEBI; Archer, Rosenbaum,
& Streiner, 1991) assesses child, parent, and family variables related to
eating and mealtime problems across a broad age span, and a variety of
developmental and medical conditions. The inventory consists of 40 items
related to eating and mealtime problems in children, with 28 items in the
child domain (e.g., My child enjoys eating, my child vomits at mealtimes) and 12 items in the parent domain (e.g., I get upset when my
child doesnt eat, I feel confident my child eats enough). The items are
rated on a 5-point Likert scale indicating how often the behavior occurs,
and parents also indicate whether any individual issue is a problem (yes/no).
Archer et al. (1991) compared the ratings of 206 mothers of nonclinic
children (typically developing children recruited from community pediatricians) with the ratings of 110 mothers of clinic-referred children (children
presenting for services in outpatient pediatric and mental health clinics).
The comparison of the Likert ratings was significant, and mothers of children
479
in the clinic group endorsed more items as problematic than those in the
nonclinic group. Archer and Szatmari (1990) further showed that scores
on the CEBI changed following intervention for the feeding disorder for one
child undergoing treatment.
The Screening Tool of Feeding Problems (STEP; Matson & Kuhn, 2001)
was developed to identify feeding problems in individuals with mental
retardation. The scale consists of 23 items within five categories (aspiration risk, selectivity, feeding skills, food refusal related behavior problems,
nutrition-related behavior problems) that describe feeding problems common to individuals with mental retardation. Items are rated for frequency
and severity, using a Likert scale. Matson and Kuhn (2001) used the STEP
to assess the feeding behavior of 570 individuals diagnosed with mental
retardation. The testretest reliability of the STEP was 0.72.
Questionnaires such as the ones reviewed above have the advantage
of being relatively easy to use and time efficient. However, the use of questionnaires is less consistent with a behavioral model of assessment, which
relies more often on direct observation of behavior (Fernandez-Ballesteros,
2004). By contrast, questionnaires may include items that refer to constructs or that describe behavior more broadly. Thus, questionnaires may
not provide specificity with respect to identification, description, and quantification of target behaviors and their respective antecedents and consequences. For example, a questionnaire may identify that the child exhibits
refusal behavior (e.g., parent endorses an item such as My child refuses
to eat) but endorsement of this item does not indicate how often refusal
occurs, what the specific behaviors are that constitute refusal (e.g., child
clenches teeth, says No, turns head), and what the antecedents and consequences are for the target behavior.
Furthermore, the use of information derived from questionnaires for
treatment prescription has not been tested and the sensitivity of questionnaires to changes that occur following intervention is unclear. For example, a treatment that produces a reduction in refusal from 100% of bites
to 50% of bites may not be reflected in an item such as My child refuses
to eat inasmuch as refusal behavior continues to occur at some level.
Nevertheless, questionnaires may be useful in some situations, particularly when efficiency is of primary concern (e.g., screening a large group
of children).
Direct Observation
Direct observation provides the most specificity in term of describing
and quantifying behavior (Freeman & Miller, 2002). For example, Powers
et al. (2005) compared the behavior of 34 infants and toddlers with cystic
fibrosis to a matched community sample of same-aged peers. The dependent variables coded during the direct observation were parent behaviors
(i.e., direct commands, indirect commands, coaxes, parent talks, reinforcement, physical prompts, feeds) and childs eating behaviors (i.e., noncompliance to direct commands, food refusals/complaints, requests for food,
child talks, child away from table/food). There were no differences with
480
respect to child behaviors for the CF and community sample; however,

parents of children with CF gave more direct commands to eat relative to
the parents of the children in the community sample.
Young and Drewett (2000) collected direct observation data at four
mealtimes for 30 children ages 5057 weeks to describe mealtime behavior
in one-year-old children. The dependent variables were feeds self (child
grasps spoon/fork, brings it toward the mouth without assistance, and
places it in the mouth), accept (child takes spoon/food into mouth after
caregiver has placed it in or near the childs mouth), refuse (child fails
to open mouth to allow food to enter), reject (child expels spoon or food
from mouth), drink (child has a drink of liquid from a cup or bottle), give
(caregiver brings spoon/food to childs mouth), and retract (caregiver
withdraws spoon/food/cup after failure to gain childs attention or child
refuses bite/drink). The results of the study showed that there was a high
level of variability for child feeding behavior, and the authors suggested
that more than one meal should be observed to obtain an accurate representation of feeding behavior in young children.
Sanders (1993) observed the mealtime behavior of toddlers and preschoolaged children with and without feeding problems. The observed behaviors included 11 disruptive child feeding behaviors (e.g., noncompliance,
complaint, refuses food, spits/vomits), six appropriate child feeding
behaviors (e.g., requests food, chews), six aversive parent behaviors (e.g.,
aversive contact, aversive vague instruction), and nine nonaversive parent behaviors (e.g., praise, social attention). Analysis of behavior of the
two groups showed that the children identified as problem feeders had
significantly higher levels of disruptive behavior, food refusal, noncompliance, complaining, oppositional behavior, and playing with food, and
lower rates of chewing. Parents of children with a feeding disorder had
higher levels of negative and positive vague instructions, negative physical
contact, negative prompting, negative eating comments, and negative
social attention.
Direct observation provides a more precise quantification of child
and parent behavior during mealtimes than those obtained from questionnaires. Even though the specific dependent variables differed from
study to study, there are some commonalities to the variables of interest.
Most studies identify a series of child inappropriate behavior related
directly to the food (e.g., refusal or expulsion of food), other inappropriate behavior (e.g., disruption), and appropriate behavior (e.g., acceptance
of food). Likewise, these studies identified classes of behavior related to
caregivers, including caregiver inappropriate behavior (e.g., removal of
a bite) and caregiver appropriate behavior (e.g., praise for acceptance).
Descriptive categorizations of child and caregiver feeding behaviors,
such as those described above, permit the quantification of variables of
interest when studying the course of a childs feeding difficulty. Thus,
as compared to information obtained from questionnaires, the information obtained from direct observation should result in the development
of a more precise measurement system for identifying the behaviors of
interest during mealtimes and should be sensitive to changes behavior
following intervention.
481
Functional Assessment
The term functional assessment refers to a specific type of direct
observation. The functional assessment of behavior provides an even more
specific method of identifying the environmental correlates of inappropriate
mealtime behavior. Traditional functional assessment procedures manipulate antecedent and/or consequent events associated with a behavior
problem (Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, & Richman, 1994). For example, Munk and Repp (1994) conducted a functional assessment to identify
the specific characteristics that were associated with the limited intake
of five individuals. The authors presented 10 to 12 foods at different textures to each participant. The assessed textures included junior (blended
into a puree), ground (blended to a semisolid consistency like ground
beef), chopped fine (.25-in. pieces), and regular (.5-in. pieces or larger).
The dependent variables for the assessment were acceptance, rejection,
expulsion, and other negative behaviors. The results of the assessment
showed that one participants limited intake was characterized by selectivity by texture, one by selectivity by type, two by selectivity by type and
texture, and one participant had total refusal.
Piazza, Fisher et al. (2003) directly tested the role of reinforcement in
the maintenance of the feeding problems of 15 children. First, the authors
conducted descriptive assessments of child and parent behavior during
meals. The results of the descriptive assessments suggested that parents
responded to child inappropriate behavior with one or more of the following consequences: (a) allowing escape from bites of food or the meal, (b)
coaxing or reprimanding (e.g., Eat your peas, they are good for you), or
(c) providing the child with a toy or preferred food. The effects of these consequences on child behavior then were tested systematically using analogue functional analyses.
During the analogue assessment, sessions were 5 min in length and
a therapist presented bites approximately once every 30 s. Acceptance
(the child opens his or her mouth and the entire bite is deposited within
5 s of the initial bite presentation) and mouth clean (no food or drink larger
than the size of a pea visible in the childs mouth within 30 s of initial
acceptance) resulted in brief praise (Good job). In the control condition,
preferred toys based on the results of a preference assessment (Fisher
et al., 1992) and adult attention were available continuously and inappropriate behavior resulted in no differential consequence. In the attention condition, inappropriate behavior resulted in 20 s of attention and the
therapist removed the bite at the end of the 20-s interval. In the escape
condition, inappropriate behavior resulted in 20 s of escape (i.e., the therapist removed the spoon). Lastly, in the tangible condition, inappropriate
behavior resulted in 20 s of access to a tangible item and the therapist
removed the bite at the end of the 20-s interval.
Functional analyses were useful for identifying the maintaining variables for inappropriate mealtime behavior for some children. Most of the
children in the study (67%) showed differential responding during one
or more functional analysis conditions. Piazza, Fisher et al. (2003) found
negative reinforcement (in the form of escape from bites of food) as the
482
most frequently identified (90%) maintaining variable for the inappropriate

mealtime behavior exhibited by children who had differentiated functional
analyses in the study; a finding consistent with prior research (Ahearn,
Kerwin, Eicher, Shantz, & Swearingin, 1996a; Cooper et al., 1995b; Hoch,
Babbitt, Coe, Krell, & Hackbert, 1994b; Piazza, Patel, Gulotta, Sevin, &
Layer, 2003a; Reed et al., 2004a), which suggested the importance of the
role of negative reinforcement in the maintenance of feeding disorders.
However, multiple functions (i.e., access to adult attention or tangible
items) also were identified for a significant number (80%) of the children
who showed differential responding during functional analyses.
In subsequent unpublished investigation, Piazza and colleagues analyzed functional analysis data from 38 children who were admitted to an
intensive day treatment program for the assessment and treatment of a
pediatric feeding disorder. For all participants, the analogue functional
analysis was conducted using the procedures described by in Piazza
et al. (2003) within a pairwise design (Iwata, Duncan, Zarcone, Lerman,
& Shore, 1994), which we found to be more time efficient. The results of
the analyses are depicted in Figure 16.1. Ninety-eight percent (98%) of the
functional analyses were differentiated; 2% of children had undifferentiated
(undif) results.
Consistent with the results of Piazza, Fisher et al. (2003), negative
reinforcement in the form of escape from bites, was identified as a reinforcer for 100% of children whose functional analyses were differentiated.
Functional Analysis Results

N=38
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
ESCAPE
(ESC)
ATTENTI
ON (ATT)
TANGIB
LE
(TANG)
UNDIF
ESC +
ATT
+ TANG
ESC
+ TANG
ESC
+ ATT
Functions
Figure 16.1. The results of the analogue functional analyses of 38 children admitted
to an intensive day treatment program for the assessment and treatment of a pediatric
feeding disorder.
483
Multiple functions in the form of escape, attention and tangible (esc + att +
tang); escape and tangible (esc + tang); and escape and attention (esc + att)
were identified for 2%, 9%, and 53% of participants, respectively. No children demonstrated sensitivity to attention only (att) or tangible (tang) only.
The results of the study by Piazza, Fisher et al. (2003) and our additional
pilot work suggested that negative reinforcement plays a primary role in
the maintenance of feeding problems, and that a significant number of children with feeding disorders also may be sensitive to positive reinforcement.
Interdisciplinary Assessment
Functional assessment should play a primary role in the evaluation of
feeding problems as noted above. However, the complexity of feeding problems necessitates a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach to understand all of the factors that may contribute to the problem. A thorough
medical evaluation is necessary to rule out potential medical causes of
the feeding problem. Aggressive behavioral treatment in the context of an
ongoing medical problem may worsen the feeding problem. For example,
behavioral treatment of a child who aspirates or feeding a child textures
of foods that are inappropriate for the childs oral motor skills can cause
life-threatening complications.
A thorough evaluation by a speech and language pathologist and/
or an occupational therapist is necessary to assess the adequacy of the
childs oral motor skills and to assess the childs safety for oral feeding.
In addition, speech and language pathologists and/or occupational therapists have the expertise necessary to identify textures of foods to present
that are appropriate for the childs oral motor skills. In addition, some
children present with medical disorders that necessitate highly specialized
diets. Failure to follow these specialized diets can cause severe illness and
sometimes death. Thus, a thorough evaluation by a dietitian also is critical
to determine the childs caloric and nutritional needs.
Example of an Interdisciplinary Evaluation

The following is a brief example of an interdisciplinary evaluation as
conducted in the Pediatric Feeding Disorders Program at the University
of Nebraska Medical Centers MunroeMeyer Institute. The intent of this
case example is to provide an overview of an interdisciplinary evaluation
and should not be considered a recommendation for discipline-specific
evaluation of a feeding disorder. Individual professionals in each discipline
always should determine the specificity and scope of their own evaluation. The Pediatric Feeding Disorders interdisciplinary team consists of
professionals who have specialized expertise and interest in the assessment and treatment of pediatric feeding disorders. Our interdisciplinary
team consists of a dietician, occupational therapist, physician, behavioral
psychologist, speech and language pathologist, and social worker.
Major goals for the physicians assessment are to (1) identify or rule out
any underlying medical causes for the childs feeding problems, (2) assess the
childs current level of nutrition, hydration, and growth, and (3) assess the
484
childs safety for oral feeding. During the assessment, the physician conducts
a comprehensive history and physical examination. Referrals may need to
be made to specialists if a specific condition (e.g., referral to a geneticist for
assessment of SilverRussell syndrome) or disease (e.g., referral to an allergist
for assessment of food allergy) is suspected and laboratory workups are completed as indicated. The physician obtains the childs height and weight, plots
the childs growth parameters on a growth chart (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2000), and evaluates the adequacy of the childs growth,
nutrition, and hydration. The physician generally will recommend necessary
therapy related to the findings of the workup (e.g., prescribe Prevacid for
GERD). The physician also obtains information about current and previous
medications, illnesses, surgeries, and hospitalizations. The physician provides a specific recommendation regarding the appropriateness of initiating
feeding therapy.
Major goals for the dietitian are to (1) document the childs current
level of caloric and nutritional intake, (2) document the timing and volume
of feeds, (3) evaluate the adequacy of the childs intake with respect to
calories, nutrition, and hydration, (4) evaluate the adequacy of the childs
growth, and (5) identify any special dietary needs. We obtain a three-day
food diary from the caregiver, which is brought to the initial evaluation.
The dietician then can calculate the childs current level of calories, nutrients, and fluids based on the three-day food records.
Major goals for the occupational and/or speech therapist are to (1) assess
the adequacy of the childs oral motor skills, (2) evaluate the childs ability
to manage different types and textures of food and liquid, (3) identify any
behaviors that may affect the childs intake such as choking or gagging, and
(4) evaluate the childs safety for oral feeding. The evaluation of the childs
safety for oral feeding cannot be overemphasized, and it is critical that evaluation of safety for oral feeding play a prominent role in the assessment.
In our program, we consider the social worker a critical member of the
team. The social worker evaluates the familys ability and resources to participate in treatment. The social worker also can assist the family in understanding the childs diagnosis, treatment program, and prognosis, and
expectations for the family during assessment, treatment, and follow-up.
Major goals of the assessment for the behavioral psychologist are
to (1) identify, prioritize, and operationally define problem behaviors,
(2) determine the onset and history of the feeding problem, (3) identify
significant dimensions of the problem (e.g., frequency, duration, intensity), (4) delineate environmental antecedents and consequences associated with the behavior, (5) review previous behavioral interventions,
and (6) define the goals of treatment.
In our program the behavioral psychologist conducts a structured
interview to obtain information about the childs past and current feeding
behavior and other information as indicated above for specific disciplines. We then observe the caregiver feeding the child a meal. We ask
the caregivers to bring foods to the evaluation that he or she typically
feeds the child at home and any materials (e.g., plates, spoons) that
are used at home. We instruct the caregiver to feed the child as he or
she would at home and to use the same strategies that he or she uses
485
at home during the meals. During these meals, we record data on both
child and caregiver behavior.
Examples of dependent variables for child behavior may include
acceptance (child allows the food or liquid to be deposited in his or her
mouth within 5 s of the presentation), mouth clean (no visible food or
liquid in the childs mouth 30 s after the bite entered the childs mouth),
inappropriate behavior (head turns, batting or blocking the spoon or cup),
negative vocalizations (crying, saying No), and expels (any solid or liquid
greater than the size of a pea outside the plane of the lips after the bite or
drink has entered the childs mouth).
Examples of dependent variables for caregiver behavior may include
allows escape (removal of the spoon or cup greater than 4 cm from the
childs mouth), incorrect attention (any verbal statement to or physical
contact with the child within 5 s of the child engaging in an inappropriate
behavior), and correct praise (positive verbal statement to or physical contact with the child 5 s after child appropriate behavior). We also weigh the
food and liquid before and after the meal and subtract any spill and/or
vomit from the total to obtain a measure of grams consumed.
Children who are admitted to our program for day treatment, intensive
outpatient, or outpatient services participate in additional assessment
of their feeding problems. Children with high levels of inappropriate
behavior during caregiver-fed meals would participate in a functional
assessment (FA) to determine how specific environmental events affect
child behavior (Piazza, Fisher et al., 2003a). The assessment may be conducted by the caregiver or a clinician who has received extensive in vivo
training in the application of FA methods and other behavioral procedures. The FA typically consists of three or four conditions, which allow
us to observe the childs behavior when inappropriate behavior results
in (1) adult attention, (2) breaks from presentations of liquids or solids,
(3) access to a tangible item (e.g., preferred toy or food), or (4) no differential
consequence (control). We conduct these conditions in a pairwise fashion in which levels of acceptance and inappropriate behavior in each
test condition (attention, escape, tangible) are compared to those in the
control condition. This analysis provides us with information regarding
possible ways we can alter the mealtime environment to improve the
childs eating. That is, the results of the FA result in a specific prescribed
treatment for the child.
Children with high levels of inappropriate behavior in the presence of
specific foods would participate in a food preference assessment (Munk &
Repp, 1994a). During the preference assessment the caregiver nominates
8 to 16 foods (2 to 4 foods in each of the food groups of protein, starch,
fruit, vegetable) that the child refuses to eat, but that the caregiver would
like the child to eat. We present these 8 to 16 items, along with other items
that the child eats willingly. Foods items are presented in pairs and each
food item is presented with every other food item once. We ask the child
to pick one. We can develop a hierarchy of food preferences for the child
based on the results of this assessment. The results of the assessment
then are used to develop treatment to increase the childs acceptance of
foods that are less preferred.
486
Children with high levels of inappropriate behavior in the presence

of specific textures of foods would participate in a food texture preference assessment (Munk & Repp, 1994a; Patel, Piazza, Layer, Coleman, &
Swartzwelder, 2005; Patel, Piazza, Santana, & Volkert, 2002). Again, the
caregiver nominates 8 to 16 foods (2 to 4 foods in each of the food groups
of protein, starch, fruit, vegetable) that the child refuses to eat, but that
the caregiver would like the child to eat. We present these 8 to 16 items
in different textures to assess which textures and foods the child will eat
and which textures and foods that child refuses. Food items are presented
in pairs and each food item is presented with every other food item once.
We ask the child to pick one. We can develop a hierarchy of food preferences for the child based on the results of this assessment. The results of
the assessment then are used to develop treatment to increase the childs
acceptance of a variety of textures of foods.
We often conduct preference assessments to identify preferred items
to use as reinforcement (Fisher et al., 1992). Parents identify approximately 16 items that the child appears to prefer. During the preference
assessment, items are presented to the child in pairs, and each item is
paired with every other item. The child is asked to pick one of the pair of
items. A hierarchy of child preferences can be constructed based on the
results of the assessment. We use the most highly preferred items based
on the results of the preference assessment during treatment (Mueller et
al., 2003b; Mueller, Piazza, Patel, Kelley, & Pruett, 2004; Patel, Piazza,
Kelly, Ochsner, & Santana, 2001; Patel et al., 2005; Patel, Piazza, Martinez, Volkert, & Christine, 2002; Patel, Piazza, Santana et al., 2002; Patel
et al., 2006; Piazza, Anderson, & Fisher, 1993; Piazza, Carroll-Hernandez,
2004; Piazza, Fisher et al., 2003a; Piazza, Patel et al., 2003a; Piazza et al.,
2002a; Reed et al., 2004a).
We work cooperatively with the speech and/or occupational therapist to evaluate oral motor skills such as tongue lateralization, chewing,
and swallowing. We take the same, systematic data-based approach with
these problems as we do with all other feeding problems. Assessment of
chewing and swallowing necessitates careful consideration of the types of
solids and/or liquids that can be presented to the child to assess the skill
without placing the child at risk for choking or aspiration. Finally, the
complexity and heterogeneity of feeding problems often necessitates that
we develop other assessments specific to individual children and idiosyncratic problems.
SUMMARY
Feeding disorders of some type are fairly common throughout childhood, particularly among children with developmental disabilities. Given
this prevalence, the topography of feeding disorders includes a variety of
maladaptive mealtime behaviors. Likewise, the etiology of feeding disorders may differ greatly across children. These issues combine to make the
diagnosis of pediatric feeding disorders difficult, which affects the utility
of existing diagnostic taxonomies. Thus, a comprehensive assessment is
necessary to describe the physical conditions that gave rise to the development
487
of the disorder as well as the environmental conditions that serve to maintain the occurrence of these problems.
Although a number of questionnaires have been developed to assess
the feeding disorders, these measures tend to be limited in the specificity
of information obtained on an individual. As an alternative, direct observation of a childs feeding behavior (including functional assessment) may
yield more detailed information on the occurrence and maintenance of
feeding disorders. However, most children with feeding disorders benefit
from a multifaceted team assessment consisting of individuals from the
medical, psychology, social work, and nutrition disciplines. An interdisciplinary approach allows for the evaluation and incorporation of physical,
oral, and psychological factors that may lead to the development of effective treatments for pediatric feeding disorders.
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Index
A
AAMR. See American Association on Mental
Retardation
ABAS-2. See Adaptive Behavior Assessment
System-2
A-B-C recording, 348, 351
Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC),
344, 390
Abt, K. A., 361
Abu-Saad, H. H., 461
Academic assessment, 329
treatment plan, 330
Achenbach rating forms, in child behavior
assessment, 192
Achenbach System of Empirically Based
Assessment, 6, 117, 220
and BASC-2
adaptive competencies assessment,
differences in, 122
cross-informant comparison differences,
136137
difference in general population sample
collection methods, 137139
differences in selection of cutpoints,
128129
informant handling approach,
differences in, 135136
items arrangement and rating,
dissimilarities of, 121122
multicultural applications, differences
in, 142144
norm groups choice, difference in,
139140
number and variety of scales
differences, 133135
problem scale constructing method,
differences of, 124128
research base differences of, 140142
similarities of, 120121
validation procedures, differences,
129133
historical perspectives of, 118119
Achenbach, T., 6
Achenbach, T. M., 118, 119, 122, 123, 135,

141, 143, 192, 344
ACI-PL. See Autism comorbidity interviewpresent and lifetime version
Acquired brain injuries and developmental
disability, 162164
Acute Stress Disorder, 286
AD. See Autistic disorder
Adaptive behavior assessment, 7073, 318
Adaptive Behavior Assessment System-2,
7273
ADHD. See Attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder
ADHD in children, assessment of, 153157
ADIS-IV:C/P. See Anxiety Disorders
Interview Schedule for DSM-IV, Child
and Parent Versions
ADM. See Assessment Data Manager
Adolescent psychological assessment, 34
historical prospectives of, 47
Adolescent Psychopathology Scale, 6, 195
Adolescent Psychopathology Scale-Short
Form, 195
ADOS. See Autism Diagnostic Observation
Schedule
Adult bipolar disorder, 291
Adult Self Report Scale, 231
Aggressive behavior
child-level factors, 190192
contextual factors for, 189190
contributing factors for, 188189
Agoraphobia, 390
AIR. See Assessment-Intervention Record
Albin, R. W., 348
Alcohol exposure of prenatal, effects
of, 160161
Alexithymia, 404
Aman, M. G., 344, 388
American Association on Mental
Retardation, 316
American Psychiatric Association, 118, 210,
313, 314, 374
Anastopoulos, A. D., 218, 228
491
492
Anatomical brain structures, 213
Andorfer, R. E., 346
Andrasik, F., 455
Anesthesiology, 464
Anorexia nervosa, 410
Antecedent-behavior-consequence
recording. See A-B-C recording
Antidepressant-induced manic episode, 279
Antisocial behaviors of children, 186
Antisocial Personality Disorder, 187188
Anxiety disorders, 244, 245
Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for
DSM-IV, Child and Parent Versions,
6364
Anxiety-provoking nature of weighing, 412
APA. See American Psychiatric Association
APD. See Antisocial Personality Disorder
APS. See Adolescent Psychopathology Scale
APS-SF. See Adolescent Psychopathology
Scale-Short Form
Archer, L. A., 478
Arcus, D., 19
Arffa S., 163
ASD. See Acute Stress Disorder; Autism
spectrum disorders
ASD-CC. See Autism Spectrum
Disorders-Comorbidity for Children
ASD-DC. See Autism Spectrum
Disorder-Diagnostic for Children
ASEBA. See Achenbach System
of Empirically Based Assessment
Asperger, Hans, 371
Aspergers Disorder, 19
Aspergers syndrome (AS), 374
Aspergers syndrome assessments, 382
ASRS. See Adult Self Report Scale
Assessment Data Manager, 119
Assessment-Intervention Record, 222
Atlis, M. M., 18
Attanasio, V., 455
Attention Deficit Disorders Scales, 231
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder,
9, 19, 43, 113, 188, 209, 275, 311,
383384
assessment information
broadband scales, 220
childs developmental, 223
clinical interviews, 216219
direct observation, 223224
functional behavioral analysis, 224225
narrowband rating scales, 221222
psychological and laboratory tests,
225226
social interactions, 222223
symptom levels, 219220
vision and hearing tests, 226
assessment strategies
adolescence, 230231
diagnosis of, 215
INDEX
DSMIV diagnostic criteria, 228229
evidence-based, guidelines for, 215
goal of, 214
informants, child, 216
management of, 215216
preschool-age children, 229230
boys/girls ratio, 212
comorbidity and difficulties, 213
diagnostic criteria, 210212
DSMIV criteria, 227228
DSMIVTR diagnostic criteria, 211
adolescents, 230
epidemiology of, 212
etiology, 213214
incremental validity, 226227
neuropsychological, 214
preschool-age children, 229
psychotropic treatments, 214
subtypes of, 212
Attitudes regarding dietary intake, 417
August, G. J., 142
Autism behavior checklist (ABC), 378
Autism comorbidity interview-present
and lifetime version, 390391
Autism Diagnostic Observation
Schedule, 379
Autism Spectrum Disorder-Diagnostic for
Children, 380381
Autism spectrum disorders, 19,
157161, 371
assessment/diagnosis, 376377
core features of, 372
behavior, 373
language and communication, 373
socialization, 372
differential diagnosis, 373375
DSMIV & APA, criteria for diagnosis,
374, 376
interviews/observations, 379
rating scales, 377379
screening tool for autism in two-year-olds
(STAT), 380
Autism Spectrum Disorders-Comorbidity for
Children, 388389
Autistic disorder, 19, 372
Autistic psychopathy, 371
Axis I disorders in children with ASD, 387
B
BAER. See Brainstem auditory evoked
response
Banzato, C., 51
Barkley, R. A., 153, 225
Baron, I. S., 171
Barr, H. M., 160
BASC. See Behavior Assessment System for
Children
BASC-2. See Behavior Assessment System
for Children-Second edition
INDEX
BASC-2-PRS. See Behavior Assessment
System for Children-2-Parent Rating
Scales
BASC-2-TRS. See Behavior Assessment System
for Children-2-Teacher Rating Scales
Basic Phonological Processing Deficits, 155
Bauermeister, J. J., 134
Baumeister, R. F., 420
Bayley, N., 6
BDD. See Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Beauchaine, T. P., 19, 20
Behavior Assessment System for Children,
117, 192, 193
and ASEBA
adaptive competencies assessment,
differences in, 122
cross-informant comparison differences,
136137
difference in general population sample
collection methods, 137139
differences in selection of cutpoints,
128129
informant handling approach,
differences in, 135136
item arrangement and rating,
dissimilarities of, 121122
multicultural applications, differences
in, 142144
norm groups choice, difference in,
139140
number and variety of scales
differences, 133135
problem scale constructing method,
differences of, 124128
research base differences of, 140142
similarities of, 120121
validation procedures differences,
129133
historical perspectives of, 118119
Behavior Assessment System for
Children-2, 6
Children-2-Parent Rating Scales,
110111
Children-Second edition, 105, 110
Behavior Assessment System for Children2-Teacher Rating Scales, 110111
Behavior Problems Inventory (BPI), 344
Bergeron, L., 16
Bibliography of Published Studies Using
ASEBA Instruments, 140
Bilingual Verbal Ability Test, 21
Binet, A., 91
Binge eating, 419
assessment methods, 421
behavioral patterns associated with,
420421
definition and significance, 419420
493
Bipolar disorder
behavioral symptoms of, 289
definitions of, 278
mood charts for treatment of, 298
Bipolar Disorder-I (BP-I), 274, 277
Bipolar Disorder-II (BP-II), 274, 277
Bipolar Disorder Not Otherwise Specified
(BP-NOS), 274, 277
Bipolar spectrum disorders, 273
component of, 297
differential diagnosis for
acute/posttraumatic stress disorder,
286
ADHD, 285, 287
anxiety disorders, 288
comorbidity, 287
developmental and intellectual
disabilities, 289
disruptive behavior disorders, 285288
medical causes, 284285
psychosis, 286287
substance abuse, 288
evidence-based assessment for, 290
evidence-based methods of childhood, 298
phenomenology of early-onset of
childhood vs. adult onset, 278279
DSMIVTR description, 276278
public awareness of childhood, 274
risk factors for developing, 279
screening measure for, 291
structured assessments for, 292293
symptoms for, 279280
activities with high potential
for harm, 284
decreased need for sleep, 282
distractibility, 283
euphoric or expansive mood, 280
flight of ideas/racing thoughts, 283
grandiosity, 282
increased goal-directed activity
in, 283284
irritability, 280282
pressured speech, 282283
trends in, 274275
Birth complications, 213
Birt, J. H., 134
BN. See Bulimia nervosa
Body Dysmorphic Disorder, 431
Body image disturbance
affected by, significant historical
events, 428
cognitive-evaluative components of,
426427
developmental factors affecting
manifestation of, 427
diagnostic criteria, 425
DSMIVTR criteria for identification, 424
494
Body image disturbance (cont.)
measures of alexithymia, 425
perceptual aspects of body image, 426
stability of, 426
weight history and rate of maturation,
importance of assessment, 427
Body mass index, 411412
Body weight, 410
Borrero, C. S. W., 349
Botteron, K. N., 133
Bouchard, T. J., Jr., 101
Bourret, J. C., 349
BPPD. See Basic Phonological Processing
Deficits
BPSD. See Bipolar spectrum disorders
Brainstem auditory evoked response, 159
Brain tumor, 166167
Broadband rating scales, 220
Brockel, B., 347
Broen, W. E., Jr., 194
Bronfenbrenner, U., 44
Brown, T. E., 230
Bruch, H, 424
Bulimia nervosa, 402
Bulimia Test-Revised (BULIT-R), 424
Burke, E. J., 455
Burklow, K. A., 473
Burlingame, G. M., 42
Butcher, J., 6
Butcher, J. N., 18, 195
BVAT. See Bilingual Verbal Ability Test
C
CAB. See Comprehensive Ability Battery
CABF. See Child and Adolescent Bipolar
Foundation
CAFAS. See Child and Adolescent
Functional Assessment Scale
Caldarella, P., 198
CALP. See Cognitive Academic Language
Proficiency
Cambridge Neuropsychological Testing
Automated Battery, 16
Canavera, K., 385
CANTAB. See Cambridge
Neuropsychological Testing
Automated Battery
Cantwell, D. P., 243
CAPA. See Child and Adolescent Psychiatric
Assessment
Caregiver-Teacher Report Form, 118
Carlson, C. L., 134, 212
Carlson, G. A., 171, 243
Carmeli, E., 462
Carr, E. G., 347, 360
Carroll, J. B., 92, 95, 113
Carruth, B. R., 477
CARS. See Childhood Autism Rating Scale
CAS. See Child Assessment Schedule
INDEX
CASI. See Computer-Assisted Survey
Interviewing
CASS. See ConnersWells Adolescent
Self-Report Scale
CBCL. See Child Behavior Checklist
CBM. See Curriculum-based measurement
CBQ. See Child Bipolar Questionnaire
CBTI. See Computer-based test
interpretation
CDC. See Center for Disease Control
CDD. See Childhood disintegrative disorder
CDDG. See Clinical Descriptions and
Diagnostic Guidelines
CDI. See Child Depression Inventory
CDRS. See Childrens Depression Rating
Scale-Revised
CEBI. See Childrens Eating Behavior
Inventory
Center for Disease Control, 412
Cerebral palsy, 449
Cerebrospinal fluid, 168
CFA. See Confirmatory factor analysis
CGAS. See Childrens Global Assessment
Scale
Chakrabarti, S., 382
Chamberlain, T. R., 345
Chambers, C. T., 457
Chapman, S., 363
CHAT. See Checklist for autism in toddlers
Checklist for autism in toddlers, 378379
chEDE. See Child version of the EDE
Child abuse and developmental
disability, 161
Child age, metric, 459450
Child and Adolescent Bipolar
Foundation, 298
Child and Adolescent Functional
Assessment Scale, 221
Child and Adolescent Psychiatric
Assessment, 61, 196, 218, 258
Child Assessment Schedule, 196
Child behavior assessment
interview measures in, 196197
parent and teacher informant scales,
194195
rating scales, 192194
self-report scales, 195
Child Behavior Checklist, 118, 192, 220,
291, 344
Child Bipolar Questionnaire, 291
Child Depression Inventory, 256, 259260
Childhood Autism Rating Scale, 289, 377
Childhood disintegrative disorder, 374, 377
Childhood-onset and adolescent-onset
CD, 187
Childhood-onset BPSD, 303
Childhood psychopathology
assessment of, 313
trends in, 290
INDEX
Child Mania Rating Scale, parent version, 292
Childparent symptom convergence,
251252
Child psychological assessment, 34
approaches, 7, 913
early identification, 14
health and medical conditions, 1415
legal and ethical issues, 89
standards and guidelines, 8
behavioral disorders, ICD-10 classification
of, 3840
case study for, 103111
development of DSM-IV, 3437
diagnostic classification systems in,
4749
history of, 3234
usage of, 4143
DSM-IV, disadvantages of, 4347
format of DSM-IV, 3738
historical prospectives of, 47
intelligence testing technology, 9192
interpretation issues, 96100
scientific support for a single general
intelligence, 100103
tests in, 9296
interviews for, 55, 6770
structured, 5764
unstructured, 56
mental disorder, 3132
ICD-10 classification of, 3840
psychometric studies of interviews, 6467
report writing in, 7375
trends in
cultural/linguistic considerations
in, 2021
taxometric statistical techniques, 1920
technology usage in, 1519
Child psychopathology assessment,
117. See also Achenbach System
of Empirically Based Assessment;
Conduct disorder (CD), in children;
Neuropsychological disorder in
children
Childrens Body Image Scale, 429
Childrens Depression Rating Scale-Revised,
259
Childrens Eating Behavior Inventory, 478
Childrens Global Assessment Scale, 221
Childrens Interview for Psychiatric
Syndromes, 60
Childrens Interview for Psychiatric
Syndromes (ChIPS), 217, 293
Childrens Orientation and Amnesia Test, 162
Children with disabilities and alternative
language backgrounds, 7073
Child Social Goal Measure, for social
cognition measurement, 199
Child Symptom Inventory-4, 389
Child version of the EDE, 417
495
ChIPS. See Childrens Interview for
Psychiatric Syndromes
Christ, S. E., 159
Chronic pain, 446
Churchill, R. M., 361
Clarke, B., 227
Clarren, S. K., 160
Classic autism, 373
Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic
Guidelines, 39
Cloninger, C. R., 47, 48
CMRS-P. See Child Mania Rating Scale,
parent version
COAT. See Childrens Orientation and
Amnesia Test
Cocaine, 288
children exposure to, effects of, 159160
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency, 21
Cohen, J., 129, 130
Coloured Analogue Scale (CAS), 453
Comorbidity, 382383
diagnosis of, 213, 287
Comorbid psychopathology, assessment
of, 387388
Complete learning trials (CLT), 331
Comprehensive Ability Battery, 101
Computer-Assisted Survey Interviewing,
16, 17
Computer-based test interpretation, 1719
Conduct disorder (CD), in children, 14,
185, 384
antisocial behaviors and, 186, 188
associated caregiver variables
assessment, 200202
child behavior assessment
interview measures in, 196197
parent and teacher informant scales,
194195
self-report scales, 195
child-level factors, 190192
contextual factors for, 189190
contributing factors for, 188189
peer relations assessment, 197198
record assessment, 199200
social cognition assessment, 198199
symptoms, 286
types of, 186187
Conduct Problems Prevention Research
Group, 186
Confirmatory factor analysis, 96, 119
Congenital heart defects, in children,
169170
Conners, C. K., 122, 193
Conners Kiddie Continuous Performance
Test, 15
Conners Parent Rating ScaleRevised, 193
Conners rating forms, in child behavior
assessment, 192, 193
Conners Rating Scales-Revised, 193
496
Conners Teacher Rating Scale-Revised, 193
ConnersWells Adolescent Self-Report
Scale, 193
Connolly, P., 17
Consistency Index (CI), 136
Continuous performance test, 153, 225
Continuous reinforcement schedule, 356
Contour Drawing Rating Scale, 429
Copeland, D. R., 166
Coriticosteroid, 285
Corpus callosum, in ADHD assessment, 157
Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth
(COBY) study, 275
Covariance structure analysis, 119
CPPRG. See Conduct Problems Prevention
Research Group
CPRS-R. See Conners Parent Rating
ScaleRevised
CPT. See Continuous performance test
Craig, K. D., 457
Crawford, J., 347
Crick, N. R., 191
Crijnen, A. A. M., 143
Crimmins, D. B., 344347
Crist, W., 478
Cronbach alpha coefficients
for BASC-2 PRS and TRS scales, 128
for CBCL, TRF, and YSR scales, 126
Cronbach, L. J., 125126
CRS-R. See Conners Rating
Scales-Revised
CSA. See Covariance structure analysis
CSF. See Cerebrospinal fluid
CSI-4. See Child Symptom Inventory-4
C-TRF. See Caregiver-Teacher Report Form
CTRS-R. See Conners Teacher Rating
Scale-Revised
Cultural/linguistic approaches, in child
psychological assessment, 2021
Cunningham, S. J., 455
Curriculum-based assessments and
curriculum-based evaluation, 320
Curriculum-based measurement, 320
advantages of, 323324
entitlement and diagnostic determination
using, 325
in mathematics, 322
maze, 321322
prereading measures, 322
in reading, 321
for universal screening, 324325
in written expression, 322323
Cyclothymia, 274
Cyclothymic disorder, 277, 278
Cystic fibrosis (CF), 478
D
Daily Life Experience Checklist, 201202
DAmato, R. C., 155
INDEX
DASH-II. See Diagnostic Assessment for the
Severely Handicapped-II
Davies, M., 16
DBC. See Developmental behavior checklist
DBH. See Dopamine-beta-hydroxylase
DCR. See Diagnostic Criteria for Research
DD. See Developmental disabilities;
Dysthymic disorder
Dean, R. S., 155
de Boer, J. B., 461
Defensive Functioning Scale, 46
Defrin, R., 462
DeLeon, I., 344
Dementia infantalis, 374
Dennis, M., 167
Depression, 386387
Depression in children and adolescents,
measurement of
assessment instruments for, 254256
child moods assessment, 254
cross-informant convergence, 249
diagnostic interviews, 256259
multiple assessment methods, 249253
questionnaires, 259261
screening instruments for, 256
self-reported information, 253254
Depressive Conduct Disorder, 40
Depressive disorders
assessment of, 244
diagnostic purposes for, 243
psychological, 242
developmental considerations, 242
Depressive symptoms, 242, 248
Derby, K. M., 361
Descriptive analyses
for comprehensive assessment
of SIB, 347
direct observation approach for, 348350
scatterplot, 351
Developmental behavior checklist, 391
Developmental disabilities, 341
Devereux Scales of Mental Disorders, 194
DFS. See Defensive Functioning Scale
Diagnostic and Statistical ManualFirst
Edition, 118
Diagnostic and Statistical ManualFourth
Edition, 119, 186
Diagnostic and Statistical ManualIVText
Revision (DSMIVTR), 276, 316
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, 31, 112, 313
ADHD, 315
learning disorders, 314315
mental retardation, 314
Diagnostic Assessment for the Severely
Handicapped-II, 289
Diagnostic assessment tools
measures of achievement, 319
measures of adaptive behavior, 318319
INDEX
rating scales, 319
tests of intelligence, 318
Diagnostic classification systems, in child
psychological assessment
history of, 3234
usage of, 4143
Diagnostic considerations assessment
of feeding disorders
fine motor and oral-motor
development, 477
nonorganic failure to thrive
(NOFTT), 475
organic and nonorganic
classifications, 476
Diagnostic Criteria for Research, 39
Diagnostic Interview for Children, 222
Diagnostic Interview for Children and
Adolescents, 63, 218, 257258
Diagnostic Interview for Children and
AdolescentsRevised, 197, 293
Diagnostic interview for social and
communication disorders, 381
Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children,
58, 256257, 293
Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children
Version IV, 196
DICA. See Diagnostic Interview for Children
and Adolescents
Dietary assessment, goal of, 417
Dietary restriction on subsequent eating
disorder, 415416
Direct Observation Form, 118
Direct pain expressions, 455
DISC. See Diagnostic Interview Schedule
for Children
DiScala, C., 162
DISC-IV. See Diagnostic Interview Schedule
for Children Version IV
DISCO. See Diagnostic interview for social
and communication disorders
Disruptive behavior. See Aggressive
behavior
Disruptive Behaviour Disorders rating
scale, 221
DLE. See Daily Life Experience Checklist
Dodge, K. A., 191, 198
DOF. See Direct Observation Form
Doll, E., 5, 91
Dopamine-beta-hydroxylase, 141
Douglas, V. I., 157
Down syndrome, 385
Drewett, R., 480
DSMD. See Devereux Scales of Mental
Disorders
DSM-I. See Diagnostic and Statistical
ManualFirst Edition
DSMIDSMIIIR, 3334
DSM-IV. See Diagnostic and Statistical
ManualFourth Edition
497
DSMIV
development of, 3437
diagnosis, 294
NIMH diagnostic, 217
disadvantages of, 4347
format of, 3738
ICD-10 criteria, 212
nature of, 4547
psychological disorders and, 39
symptoms, 215
narrowband rating scales, 220
thoughts on, 4951
DSM-IV-TR criteria
categorizes specific phobias, 385
defining, obsessions/compulsions, 385
defining tic, 386
for diagnosis of Autistic Disorder, 376
for diagnosis of Retts Disorder, 377
as pattern of inattention and
hyperactivityimpulsivity, 383
symptoms of CARS, not matching
with, 378
for types of anxiety disorder, 384
Duax, J., 297
Durand, V. M., 344347
Dysfunctional eating
eating disorder, 471
feeding disorder, 471
Dysthymic disorder, 242
E
Early Childhood Inventory-4, 229230, 389
Eating disorder examination for children, 417
Eating disorder inventory, 418
Eating disorder not otherwise specified
(ED-NOS), 402
Eating disorder symptoms, functional
assessment of, 431
sample diary card entry, use of, 434
sample of dialogue, 435
developmental pattern, 433
significance of, 431433
Eating disturbance, 402
assessment, 409
family psychiatric history, 410
of symptoms, 410414
clinical interview, 405406
family characteristics and
environment, 406
selected assessment tools, 407409
family involvement for assessment of,
404405
Eating/feeding disorders, 387
EBA. See Evidence-based assessment
EBT. See Evidence-based treatments
Echolalia, 373
ECI-4. See Early Childhood Inventory-4
ED. See Eating disturbance
498
EDE-C. See Eating disorder examination
for children
Edelbrock, C., 118, 122, 123, 141
EDI. See Eating disorder inventory
EE. See Expressed emotion
EFA. See Exploratory factor analysis
Ego syntonic, 404
Eley, T. C., 141
Elliot, S. N., 198
Empirically supported treatments, 42
Encephalitis and developmental disability,
in children, 169
Epidemiology, 464
Epilepsy, 226
and developmental disability, 164165
Esparo, G., 472
ESTs. See Empirically supported treatments
Ethical issues, in child psychological
assessment, 89
Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code
of Conduct, 8
Etiology of feeding disorders, 472475
Evans, D. W., 385
Evidence-based assessment, 12, 13
Evidence-based treatments, 12
Exploratory factor analysis, 96, 119
Expressed emotion, 406
Eye contact/gaze, 373
F
Fabiano, G. A., 222
Face Legs Activity Cry and Consolability,
461, 462
FACES. See Family Adaptability
and Cohesion Evaluation Scales
Faces Pain Scale, 451
Facial expressions, 458
FAED. See Food Avoidance Emotional
Disorder
Family Adaptability and Cohesion
Evaluation Scales, 406
Family HistoryResearch Diagnostic
Criteria, 297
Family History Screen, 297
Fantuzzo, J. W., 97
FAS. See Fetal alcohol syndrome
FBA. See Functional behavioral analysis
Feeding disorders
assessing methods
direct observation, 479480
functional assessment, 481483
interdisciplinary evaluation, 483486
questionnaires, 478479
etiology of, 472
Feine, J. S., 448
Fetal alcohol syndrome, 160, 161
FH-RDC. See Family HistoryResearch
Diagnostic Criteria
FHS. See Family History Screen
INDEX
Field, C. E., 417
Fiorello, C. A., 100
Fisher, W., 363, 481
FLACC. See Face Legs Activity Cry
and Consolability
FLEC. See Frontal lobe/executive
functioning
Fombonne, E., 374, 382
Food Avoidance Emotional Disorder, 413414
Food neophobia, 414
FPS. See Faces Pain Scale
Frazier, T. W., 95, 96
Frontal lobe/executive functioning, 142
FSIQ. See General intelligence
Functional Analysis Screening Tool
(FAST), 344
Functional Assessment for Multiple
Causality, 344
Functional Assessment Interview
(FAI), 344
Functional Assessment Observation
(FAO), 348
Functional behavioral analysis, 215, 216,
224225
Functional neuroimaging (fMRI), 154
G
GAF. See Global Assessment
of Functioning
Gaffaney, T., 346
Garb, H. N., 18
Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests, 319
Gaub, M., 212
GBI. See General Behavior Inventory
GCS. See Glasgow Coma Scale
General Behavior Inventory, 291
General intelligence, 100, 101
scientific support for, 100103
Generalized Anxiety Disorder, 36
Generalized resistance to thyroid hormone,
156157
Gentile, C., 133
Ghaziuddin, M., 386, 387
Glasgow Coma Scale, 162
Global Assessment of Functioning, 37, 46
Glutting, J.J., 97, 98
Goldstein, S., 384
Goldstrohm, S. L., 163
Goodyer, I. M., 171
Gottesman, I. I., 101
Grace, N. C., 363
Greden, J., 383, 387, 391
Gregory, R. J., 3, 4
Gresham, F. M., 198
Groenz, L., 416
GRTH. See Generalized resistance to
thyroid hormone
Gruber, C. P., 194195
Gulley, V., 225
INDEX
H
Hale, J. B., 100
Halstead Neuropsychological Test Battery
for Children, 171
Hamers, J. P. H., 461
Hamilton, J., 297
Hanna, G. L., 133
Hanson, R. H., 345
Hargreaves, M., 16
Hawaii Battery, 101
Hawkins, R. P., 50
Haworth-Hoeppner, S., 409
Hazebroek-Kampschreur, A. A., 445
HB. See Hawaii Battery
HCSBS. See Home and Community Social
Behavior Scale
Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Acts of 1996, 9
Heath, A. C., 133, 141
Heatherton, T. F., 420
Hebebrand, 411
Hellers syndrome, 374
Hemophilus meningitis and developmental
disability, 168
Hennequin, M., 448
High Reactivity (HR) taxon, in infants, 19
Hollander, E., 48
Home and Community Social Behavior
Scale, 198
Horner, R. H., 348
Horns parallel analysis, 95
Howell, C. T., 122, 249
HPA. See Horns parallel analysis
Hudziak, J. J., 133, 141
Huguet, A., 463
Humphreys, P., 455
Hunfeld, J. A., 445
Hunsley, J., 209, 215
Hupp, S. D. A., 50
Hynd, G. W., 157
Hyperkinetic Conduct Disorder, 40
Hyperlexia, 375
Hyper-or hypoactive behavior, 383
Hyperthyroidism, 284
Hypomania, symptoms of, 276
I
IASP. See International Association for the
Study of Pain
ICD. See International Classification of
Diseases; International Statistical
Classification of Diseases and Health
Related Problems
ICD-10 classification, of mental and
behavioral disorders, 3840
ID. See Intellectual disability
IMMPACT. See Initiative on Methods,
Measurement, and Pain Assessment
in Clinical Trials
499
Impairment Rating Scale, 222
Indirect assessment methods
commonly used, 344
limitation of, 345
Individual Education Program (IEP), 317
Individualized Target Behavior Evaluation
(ITBE), 224
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,
43, 127
Individuals with Disabilities Education
Improvement Act of 2004, 9, 312,
313, 315
attention-deficit/hyperactivity
disorder, 317
mental retardation, 316
specific learning disabilities, 316317
Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain
Assessment in Clinical Trials, 449
Instructional Hierarchy (IH), 329, 331
Intellectual disability, 157161, 289, 372, 375
Intellectualization, 372
Intellectual Quotient (IQ), 314, 316
Intelligence testing technology, 9192
interpretation issues, 96100
scientific support for a single general
intelligence, 100103
tests in, 9296
Intelligence tests, 225
International Association for the Study
of Pain, 447
International Classification of Diseases, 33
International Statistical Classification
of Diseases and Health Related
Problems, 38
Interobserver agreement (IOA), 363
Interpretation issues, in child psychological
assessment, 96100
Interrater reliability, 346
Intervention planning, development of, 328
Interview process, in child psychological
assessment, 6770
Interview Schedule for Children and
Adolescents, 63, 218
Interviews, for child psychological
assessment, 5556
structured interviews, 5764
unstructured interviews, 56
Intonation, 373
Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), 319
IRS. See Impairment Rating Scale
ISCA. See Interview Schedule for Children
and Adolescents; Interview Schedule
for Children and Adolescents
Iwata, B. A., 344, 361, 363, 364
J
Jablensky, A., 40
Jensen, P. S., 48, 49
Johnson, W., 101
500
Jones, K. L, 160
Jung, W. S., 144
K
Kagen, J., 19
Kahng, S., 361
Kalarchian, M. A., 421
Kamphaus, R., 6
Kamphaus, R. W., 20, 98, 119, 122, 127,
131, 135, 140, 193
Kanner, Leo, 371
Kaufer Christoffel, K., 477
Kelley, M. F., 4
Kendell, R. E., 40
Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders
and Schizophrenia, 390
Kids eating disorder survey (KEDS), 418
Kirk, S. A., 5
Kleinpeter, F. L., 385
Kline, R. B., 194195
KMRS. See K-SADS Mania Rating Scale
Knapp, P., 48
Koot, H. M., 461
Koren, G., 159
Korkman, M., 156
Ksters, M., 42
Kraus, J. F., 162
Krueger, R. F., 101
K-SADS. See Schedule for Affective
Disorders and Schizophrenia for
School-Age Children
K-SADS Mania Rating Scale, 294
Kuhn, D. E., 479
Kupietz, S. S., 153
Kurtz, P. F., 363
Kyte, Z. A., 171
L
Lachar, D., 6, 194
LaDue, R. A., 161
Lahey, B. B., 134
LAMS. See Longitudinal Assessment
of Manic Symptoms
Lange, K. W., 154
Lapouse, R., 5556
Learning disabilities, 131
in children, assessment of, 153157
Lebailly, S. A., 477
LeBuffe, P. A., 194
Lecavalier, L., 390
Leff, S. S., 199
Legal issues, in child psychological
assessment, 89
Leiman, J.M., 101
Lenton, S., 448, 449, 461
Lenzenweger, M. F., 19
Lescohier, I., 162
Levine, S. C., 163
Levy, B., 166
INDEX
Lewis, T. J., 344
Leyfer, O. T., 390
Lezak, M., 172
Lichtenberger, E. O., 18, 19
Lichtenstein, P., 141
Likert scales, for problem rating, 120
Lochman, J. E., 188189
Lock, J. D., 411
Longitudinal Assessment of Manic
Symptoms, 276, 298
Lord, C., 379
Lovett, B. J., 225
Luciana, M., 16
Luria Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery
for Children, 171
M
Maccubbin, E., 385
Major depressive disorder, 37, 242
Major Depressive Episode, 277
Maladaptive behaviors, 391
Malnutrition, 472
Manic symptoms, childrens manifestation
of, 280
Manning, S. C., 142
Mann, M., 134
MAP. See Minimum average partial
Marcus, M. D., 421
Marsh, N., 163
MAS. See Motivational Assessment Scale
Mash, E. J., 209, 215
Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with
Youngsters, 222, 392
Matson, J. L., 344, 347, 479
Maudsley model of family therapy, 413
McCarthy, J. J., 5
McCarthy Scales of Childrens Abilities, 6
McDermott, P. A., 9799
McGrath, M., 100
McGrath, P. J., 453, 455, 463
McGue, M., 101
McIntosh, 411
McLeer, S. V., 133
McNeil, C. B., 50
MDD. See Major depressive disorder
MDQ. See Mood Disorder Questionnaire
Meningitis and pediatric neuropsychological
disorder, 168169
Mental disorders, 3132
and behavioral disorders, ICD-10
classification of, 3840
diagnostic and statistical manual, 243
diagnostic assessment of, 245
model and DSM-IV, 4547
Mental illness, 275
medical model of, 4344
Merrell, K. W., 198
MESSY. See Matson Evaluation of Social
Skills with Youngsters
INDEX
MFQ. See Mood and Feelings Questionnaire
Milich, R., 198
Miller, D. C., 142
Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory
( (MACI), 6
Miltenberger, R. G., 346, 365
Minimum average partial, 95
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory, 6
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory-Adolescent, 195
Minuchin, S., 405
Mir, J., 463
MIs. See Modification Indexes
MMPI. See Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory
MMPIA. See Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory-Adolescent
Modification Indexes, 127
Moffitt, T. E., 187
Monk, M. A., 5556
Mood and Feelings Questionnaire, 260
Mood charts, 298
Mood Disorder Questionnaire, 291
Mood disorders, 275
in children and adolescents, 244
Mood-related distractibility, 283
Mood Symptom Severity Scales, 293294
Moore, B. D., 166
Morgan, A., 16
Morin, C., 448
Morris, T. L., 50
Motivational Assessment Scale, 344
Motivation Analysis Rating Scale (MARS), 345
Mrazek, D. A., 48
MSCA. See McCarthy Scales of Childrens
Abilities
Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), 315
Multi-informant assessment techniques, in
child psychological assessment, 11
Munk, D. D., 481
Muris, P., 384, 390
Myriad child assessment methods, in
N
Nachtigall, C., 42
Nader, R., 457
Naglieri, J. A., 194
Napier-Phillips, A., 478
NCBRF. See Nisonger child behavior rating
forms
NCCPC. See Non-Communicating Childrens
Pain Checklist
Nelson, E. C., 133
NEPSY. See Neuropsychological Assessment
of Children
Nervous breakdown, 297
Neumark-Stzainer, 422
501
Neuropsychological assessment
instruments, in child psychological
assessment, 1011
Neuropsychological Assessment
of Children, 156
Neuropsychological disorder in children,
151152, 166167
acquired neuropsychological disorders
abuse and neglect, 161
acquired brain injuries, 162164
brain tumors, 166167
congenital heart and pulmonary defects,
169170
encephalitis, 169
meningitis, 168169
psychiatric disorders and, 170171
seizure disorders, 164165
sickle cell disease, 167168
ADHD and learning disabilities, 153157
intellectual disability and autism
spectrum disorders, 157161
speech and language impairment,
152153
Newton, J. S., 348
Nichols, S. L., 226
Nieto, R., 463
Nisonger child behavior rating forms,
389390
Njardvik, U., 372
NLD. See Nonverbal Learning Disabilities
Noell, G. H., 328
Nolan, E. E., 221
Non-Communicating Childrens Pain
Checklist, 458
Nonverbal communication, 371
Nonverbal Learning Disabilities, 155
Northup, J., 225, 361
Nutritionist-assisted dietary, 417
O
Oberlander, T. F., 457
Observational methods
children and adolescents, pain, 457
common observable pain behaviors, 458
facial expressions, 458
FLACC, 462
pain indicator, 461
PICIC, 461
Obsessive compulsive disorder, 133, 170, 385
Obsessive-Compulsive Problems, 133
OCD. See Obsessive compulsive disorder
Ochoa, S. H., 20
OCP. See Obsessive-Compulsive Problems
ODD. See Oppositional Defiant Disorder
Odds Ratios (ORs), 131, 132
OHI. See Other Health Impaired
ONeill, R. E., 344, 348
Oppositional Defiant Disorder, 14, 186, 282
Oral reading fluency (ORF), 321
502
Ostrander, R., 142
Other Health Impaired, 43, 317
Ousley, O.Y., 380
P
Paclawskyj, T. R., 347
PAI. See Personality Assessment Inventory
Pain
analgesia, 446
assessment approaches
clinical trials, 449, 450
cognitive deficits, 450
biopsychosocial model
biomedical model, 446
psychological and sociological
factors, 447
in childhood and adolescence, 445
chronic, 446
determination, 462
developmental disabilities
cerebral palsy, 449
cognitively impaired children, 448
minimal attention, 447
venipuncture, 448
Pain Indicator for Communicatively
Impaired Children, 461
Pain medication, 446
Panic disorder, 390
Parent Child Interaction Therapy, 112
Parent-General Behavior Inventory, 276
Parenting Stress Index-3rd Edition, 15,
201202
Parent Rating Scale, 119
Parent Rating ScalesChild Form, 105
PCA. See Principal component analysis
PCIT. See Parent Child Interaction Therapy
PCL:YV. See Psychopathy Checklist: Youth
Version
PDD. See Pervasive developmental disorder
Pearl, P. L., 226
Pediatric neuropsychology, assessment of,
171173. See also Neuropsychological
disorder in children
Pediatric Symptom Checklist, 256
Peebles, R., 411
Peer Nomination Inventory of Depression,
255
Pelham, W. E., 218, 224
Perceptual Reasoning, 105
Peretz, C., 462
Perquin, C. W., 445
Perry, J. N., 18
Personality Assessment Inventory, 6
Personality Inventory for Children, 6
Personality Inventory for Children-Second
Edition, 194
Personality Inventory for Youth, 6, 195
Pervasive developmental disorder, 19, 40,
289, 313, 374
INDEX
Pesonen, A. E., 156
Peterson, D. R., 194
Pfeiffer, S. I., 194
Phobia, 385
Physiological measures
chronic pediatric pain and disability,
463466
pain behaviors, 463
physiological responses, 462
Piazza, C. C., 357, 363, 481
PIC-2. See Personality Inventory for
Children-Second Edition
PICIC. See Pain Indicator for
Communicatively Impaired Children
Pick, C. G., 462
PIC-R. See Personality Inventory for
Children
PIY. See Personality Inventory for Youth
PNID. See Peer Nomination Inventory of
Depression
Posttraumatic stress disorder, 133, 286
Posttraumatic Stress Problems, 133
Powers, S. W., 478, 479
Pre-DSM, 3233
Preschool-age children, 229230
Presnell, K., 416
PRI. See Perceptual Reasoning
Principal component analysis, 96, 124
Problem Behavior Questionaire
(PBQ), 344
Problem Solving Inventory, 199
Problem-Solving Measure for Conflict, 199
Processing Speed Index, of WISC-IV, 106
Prognostic indicators, 245, 246248
Proxy report
caregivers, 457
noncommunicating children, 458
cognitive impairments, 455, 456
pain assessment, 455
self-injurious behavior, 456
PRS-C. See Parent Rating ScalesChild
Form
PRS content scales, 134135
PSC. See Pediatric Symptom Checklist
PSI. See Problem Solving Inventory
PSI-3. See Parenting Stress Index-3rd
Edition
PSM-C. See Problem-Solving Measure for
Conflict
Psychiatric disorders and neurologic
disorders, 170171
Psychological assessments
diagnostic purposes
comorbid conditions, 244245
correlates of depression, 246248
mood disorders, 243
prognostic indicators, 246248
treatment planning and evaluation,
245246
INDEX
Psychometrically sound symptom rating
scales, 218
Psychometric studies, for child
Psychopathological symptoms, 312
Psychopathology, 241, 297
Psychopathy Checklist: Youth
Version, 196
Psychosis, diagnosis of, 286
PTSD. See Posttraumatic stress disorder
PTSP. See Posttraumatic Stress Problems
Purging, 432
Q
QABF. See Questions About Behavioral
Function
Quay, H. C., 122, 194
Questionnaire of Eating and Weight
Patterns-Adolescent Version
(QWEP-A), 421
Questions About Behavioral Function, 344,
346, 391
Quinn, S., 100
R
RADS. See Reynolds Adolescent Depression
Scale
Rancho Los Amigos Scale, 162
Randels, S. P., 161
Rapp, J. T., 349
RBPC. See Revised Behavior Problem
Checklist
RCDS. See Reynolds Child Depression Scale
Reading First Assessment Panel, 321
Reau, N. R., 477
Recall Task, for social cognition
measurement, 198
Reid, H., 166
Reitan Indiana Neuropsychological Test
Battery for Children, 171
Reiter, A., 154
Reitman, D., 50
Repp, A. C., 481
Rescorla, L. A., 119, 135, 143
Response Pattern Index (RPI), 136
Response to intervention model, 320
Restrictive eating practices, in children and
adolescents, 416
Retts Disorder, 374375
assessment, 381
criteria for diagnosis, 377
Rett syndrome behavior questionnaire,
381382
Revised Behavior Problem Checklist, 194
Rew, L., 15, 16
Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale,
260261
Reynolds, C., 6
Reynolds Child Depression Scale, 260261
503
Reynolds, C. R., 97, 119, 122, 127, 131,
135, 140, 193, 195
Reynolds Intellectual Assessment Scales,
97, 105, 107
Reynolds, W., 6
Rhodes, R. L., 155
RIAS. See Reynolds Intellectual Assessment
Scales
Riccio, C. A., 142
Richardson, G. M., 455
Robin, A. L., 230
Rojahn, J., 344
Romer, D., 16
Rommel, N., 473
Rortvedt, A. K., 346
Rosenblum, E. L., 455
Rourke, B., 155
RSBQ. See Rett syndrome behavior
questionnaire
RTI model. See Response to intervention
model
Ruldolph, C., 473
Rush, K. S., 347
Rutherford, N. A., 163
Rutter, M., 56
Ryan, C. M., 171
Ryan, K., 100
S
SADS. See Schedule for Affective Disorders
and Schizophrenia
Sampson, P. D., 160
Sanders, M. R., 480
Sattler, J. M., 4, 97
SBAI. See Social Behavior Assessment
Inventory
SBS. See Social Behavior Scales; Student
Behavior Survey
SB-V. See Stanford Binet-Fifth Edition
Scales of Independent Behavior-Revised,
72, 318
Scatterplot method, 351
Schaughency, E. A., 227
Schauss, S., 347
Schedule for Affective Disorders and
Schizophrenia, 258
Schedule for Affective Disorders and
Schizophrenia for School-Age
Children, 6061, 293
Schizoaffective disorder, 287
Schizophrenia, 404
symptoms of, 32
Schmid, J., 101
Schoenbacher, H. E., 361
School Social Behavior Scale, 198
Schwebach, A. J., 384
SCICA. See Semistructured Clinical
Interview for Children and
Adolescents
504
Scotti, J. R., 50
Scott, T. M., 344
SCP. See Spastic cerebral palsy
Screening instruments, depression
assessment, 254
Screening tool for autism in two-year-olds
(STAT), 380
SCT. See Sluggish Cognitive Tempo
SDH. See Structured Developmental History
form
Seat, P. D., 194
Self-injurious behavior, 456
behavioral assessment of, 343
descriptive analyses of, 347348
forms of, 341
functional analysis for assessing, 354358
indirect assessments of, 343347
Self-injury trauma (SIT) scale, 343, 363
Self-report
daily pain diaries, 454
faces pain scale, 451
hurt tool, pieces of, 451
oucher, 453
pain intensity, 450
psychometric properties, 452
visual analogue scales, 453454
wong-baker FACES pain scale, 453
Self-Report of Personality, 119
Semistructured Clinical Interview for
Children and Adolescents, 118
Senturia, Y. D., 477
Sergeant, J., 153
Serious emotional disturbance, 313
Serpell, L., 432
SES. See Socioeconomic status
Shaw, H., 416
Shelton, T. L., 218, 228
Sherman, E., 172
Shirley, M. J., 357
Shorrocks-Taylor, D., 16
Shue, K. L., 157
SIB. See Self-injurious behavior
Sibling discord, 247
SIB-R. See Scales of Independent BehaviorRevised
Sickle cell disease and neuropsychological
disorder, 167168
Siegel, L. S., 99
Singleton, C., 16
Skinner, B. F., 353
Skinner, J. D., 477
Sloman, K. N., 349
Sluggish Cognitive Tempo, 133, 134
Smalls, Y., 347
Smith, D. F., 161
Smith, R. G., 361
Smolla, N., 16
Snidman, N., 19
Snyder, D. K., 17
INDEX
Social adaptation, 371
Social Behavior Assessment Inventory, 198
Social Behavior Scales, 198
Social-emotional development, 279
Social-information processing model,
190191
Social interaction, 342
Social phobia, 390
Social Skills Rating Scales, 198
Social Skills Rating System, 222
Socioeconomic status, 130
SOS. See Student Observation System
Spastic cerebral palsy, 159
Spearman, C., 95
Specific Learning Disability (SLD), 316
Specific learning disorders, 315
Speech and language disorders, assessment
of, 152153
Sprague, J. R., 348
SRP. See Self-Report of Personality
SSBS. See School Social Behavior Scale
SSRS. See Social Skills Rating Scales;
Social Skills Rating System
Stallard, P., 448, 458, 461
Stanford Binet-Fifth Edition, 101, 102
Stein, M. A., 226
Stereotypies, ASD repetitive behaviors, 373
Stevenson, J., 141
Stice, E., 416
Stimulant drugs, 288
Stinnett, T. A., 144
Stinson, J., 450
Stinson, J. N., 454
Stone, W. L., 380
Storey, K., 348
St. Peter, C. C., 349
Strauss, B., 42
Strauss, E., 172
Strauss, O., 172
Streissguth, A. P., 160
Stress Index, 406
Structured clinician administered clinical
interview (SCID), 421
Structured Developmental History form, 119
Structured diagnostic interviews, in child
Student Behavior Survey, 6, 194
Student Observation System, 119
Sugai, G., 344
Sullivan, J. R., 142
Surbeck, E., 4
Suzuki, L. A., 20
Swanson, J., 221
Swinnerton, B., 16
Szatmari, P., 479
T
Taga, K., 385
Tait, K., 16
INDEX
Taxometric statistical techniques, in child
TBI. See Traumatic Brain Injury
TCI. See Temperament and Character
Inventory
Teacher Rating Scale, 119
Teacher Rating ScalesChild Form, 105
Teachers Report Form, 118, 192
Technology, in child psychological
assessment, 1519
Temperament and Character Inventory, 48
Terstegen, C., 461
Test of Variables of Attention, 15
Test of Written Language, 3rd edition
(TOWL-III), 319
Testretest reliability, 346
Text revision (TR), 34
Thompson, T., 345
Three statum theory, in intelligence testing
technology, 9294
Threlfall, J., 16
Thyroid disorder, 226
Tibboel, D., 461
Tic disorder, 386
Todd, R. D., 133
Touchette, P. E., 351
TOVA. See Test of Variables of Attention
Traumatic Brain Injury, 162, 164
Treasure, J., 432
TRF. See Teachers Report Form
Tripp, G., 227
TRS. See Teacher Rating Scale
TRS-C. See Teacher Rating ScalesChild
Form
TRS content scales, 134135
Tsai, L., 386
Tucha, O., 154
Turners syndrome, 158
Type I diabetes, 413
U
Unruh, A. M., 463
V
VABS. See Vineland Adaptive Behaviour
Scales
Valencia, R. R., 20
Valerius, K. S., 473
Valla, J. P., 16
van Baal, M., 153
Vanderbilt Rating Scale, 221
Van der Meere, J., 153
van Dongen, K. A. J., 461
van Suijlekom-Smit, L. W., 445
Variable interval (VI), 349
Variable ratio (VR), 349
VCI. See Verbal Comprehension
Velleman, R., 448, 449, 461
Verbal Comprehension, 105
505
Verhulst, F. C., 143
Vineland-2. See Vineland Adaptive Behavior
Scales, Second Edition
Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, 318, 392
Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second
Edition, 107108
Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales, 221
Vineland Social Maturity Scales, 91
Vollmer, T. R., 344, 349, 362
W
Wadsworth, M. E., 141
WAIS. See Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
Waschbusch, D. A., 226
Wasserstein, J., 230
Watkins, M. W., 101
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 101
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for ChildrenFourth Edition, 105107
Weight control strategies, 421422
behaviors comprise with, 422423
Weight history from parents, assessment
of, 414
food restriction, significance, 415416
questions for, 418
restrictive eating practices, 416
disorders associated with food
selectivity, 418
goal of assessment, 417418
Weight loss, 410
Weinfurt, K. P., 142
Weisbrot, D. M., 389
Weiseler, N. A., 345
Weiss, R. E., 226
Wells, K. C., 188189
Weschler, D., 6
Weschler Individual Achievement Test, 98
Weschler Intelligence Scale for ChildrenThird Edition, 98
Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of
Intelligence, 6
White, D. A., 159
Whitehead, G., 163
WIAT. See Weschler Individual Achievement
Test
Williams, L., 448, 449, 461
Wilson, D. M., 364
Wilson, J. L., 411
Wingenfeld, S. A., 194195
Wirt, R. D., 194
WISC-III. See Weschler Intelligence Scale for
Children-Third Edition
WISC-III index scores, 162, 164
WISC-IV. See Wechsler Intelligence Scale for
Children-Fourth Edition
WJ-III. See Woodcock-Johnson Tests of
Academic Achievement-Third Edition
506
WJ-R. See Woodcock-Johnson-Revised
Wolfe, D. A., 133
Wolfe, V. V., 133, 134
Wolraich, M. L., 228
WoodcockJohnson III Tests of
Achievement, 319
Woodcock-Johnson-Revised, 98
Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Academic
Achievement-Third Edition, 105,
108109
Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement,
16
Wood, R. L., 163
Woodward, S. A., 19
Words correct per minute (WCPM), 326
Working Memory Index, of WISC-IV, 106
Working Memory (WMI), 105
World Health Organization, 379
Woster, S. H., 346
Wound surface areas (WSA), 364
INDEX
WPPSI. See Weschler Preschool and Primary
Scale of Intelligence
Wright, L., 13
Y
YABCL. See Young Adult Behavior
Checklist
Yarnold, P. R., 142
YASR. See Young Adult Self-Report
Young Adult Behavior Checklist, 118
Young Adult Self-Report, 118
Young, B., 480
Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), 293
Youngstrom, E. A., 96, 297
Youth Self-Report, 118, 192
YSR. See Youth Self-Report
Z
Zarcone, J. R., 346
Zwakhalen, S. M. G., 461, 462

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Assessing Childhood

Chapter 2. Diagnostic Classification Systems .................................

Chapter 3. Interview and Report Writing .........................................

PART II. ASSESSMENT OF SPECIFIC PROBLEMS

PART III. ASSESSMENT OF SPECIFIC PYCHOPATHOLOGIES

Chapter 8. Evidence-Based Assessment of Attention-Deficit

Chapter 9. Assessment of Mood Disorders

Chapter 10. Assessment of Bipolar Disorder in Children ................

PART IV. ASSESSMENT OF PROBLEMS DEVELOPMENTAL

Chapter 12. Behavioral Assessment of Self-Injury...........................

Chapter 13. Autism Spectrum Disorders

PART V. BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE

Chapter 15. Pain Assessment .........................................................

Chapter 16. Assessment of Pediatric Feeding Disorders ..................

Systematically evaluating human performance and predicting important

J.L. Matson et al. (eds.), Assessing Childhood Psychopathology

ROBERT W. HEFFER et al.

SYNOPSIS OF HISTORICAL EVENTS

HISTORY, OVERVIEW, AND TRENDS IN CHILD

ROBERT W. HEFFER et al.

HISTORY, OVERVIEW, AND TRENDS IN CHILD

At present, myriad child assessment methods have sprouted to

OVERVIEW OF STATE-OF-THE ART

ROBERT W. HEFFER et al.

Professional Standards and Guidelines

Interplay of Ethical and Legal/Forensic Issues

HISTORY, OVERVIEW, AND TRENDS IN CHILD

for example, creates a dilemma for a child assessor (Anderten, Staulcup,

ROBERT W. HEFFER et al.

(Williams & Boll, 1997). Neuropsychological assessment instruments are

HISTORY, OVERVIEW, AND TRENDS IN CHILD

ROBERT W. HEFFER et al.

childhood disorders (e.g., ADHD) require documentation of impairment

HISTORY, OVERVIEW, AND TRENDS IN CHILD

from a measure that demonstrates evidence of its psychometric properties

Issues in the Implementation of Child Assessment

ROBERT W. HEFFER et al.

expanded to include greater numbers of scientist-practitioners, who are

HISTORY, OVERVIEW, AND TRENDS IN CHILD

Nevertheless, early identification of child psychopathology faces many

Trends in Child Assessment

Use of Technology in Child Assessment Administration

ROBERT W. HEFFER et al.

HISTORY, OVERVIEW, AND TRENDS IN CHILD

Use of Technology in Child Assessment

ROBERT W. HEFFER et al.

HISTORY, OVERVIEW, AND TRENDS IN CHILD

4. When available, use computer-based programs or other prediction

Influence of Taxometric Statistical Techniques on Diagnoses

ROBERT W. HEFFER et al.

reported a rejection of a categorical representation of the core symptoms

Cultural/Linguistic Considerations in Child Assessment

HISTORY, OVERVIEW, AND TRENDS IN CHILD

administered if the student demonstrates an acceptable Cognitive Academic

ROBERT W. HEFFER et al.

HISTORY, OVERVIEW, AND TRENDS IN CHILD

American Psychological Association Committee on Psychological Tests and Assessment.

ROBERT W. HEFFER et al.

Conners, C. K. (2001b). Conners Kiddie Continuous Performance Test (KCPT). North

HISTORY, OVERVIEW, AND TRENDS IN CHILD