Chapter 4

Assessment and Classification of Child Behavior Disorders

Assessment and Classification: Alike but Different

• Assessment - Process of colleting information through observation of behavior, testing of of performance

• Classification – categorizing child into a grouping based on diagnostic analysis of the assessment information

Standards of Assessment

• Any type of method is subject to error• Error is always present to a certain degree;

information is an approximation– Random error – Chance – Systematic error – Assessment procedure

always off to a certain degree

• Reliability – indication of consistency of procedure

• Factors that reduce reliability– Ambiguous procedures– Poorly trained evaluators– Widely varying behavior of children– Varying assessment conditions

Validity

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

Types of Reliability and Validity

• Test-retest reliability• Alternate form reliability• Internal consistency reliability• Inter-rater reliability

• Content validity• Concurrent validity• Predictive validity• Construct validity

Utility

• Utility of an assessment is extent to which the assessment information is used to make practical, cost effective and correct decisions– False negative – condition truly exists but is

missed by assessment– False positive – assessment positively identified

a problem when one doesn’t exist

Psychological Test

• Psychological Test – an objective and standardized measure of a sample of behavior– Standardized measure – indicates that explicitly

defined procedures are to be employed in administering the test.

Holding testing conditions constant

• Same items or test questions are given in the same order to all subjects

• The same test instructions are given to all subjects in an identical fashion

• All subjects have the same amount of time to finish the test

• The testing environment is held relatively constant and free from noise and distraction for all subjects

Intelligence Tests

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

chronological and multiplied by 100

WISC-III-R

• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children –Revised – one of most frequently used intelligence tests– Combines both verbal subscales and

performance subscales

Intelligence Tests: Construct Validity

• What exactly is intelligence? – Binet – abilities that include comprehension,

reasoning, judgment and ability to adapt– Weschler – abilities that include capacity to

“act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with the environment”

– G factor – general ability factor– Spearman – basic mental energy

• However, all of previous definitions rely on an indirect measure of intelligence obtained by sampling selected behaviors under controlled conditions– Intelligence tests mostly sample and measure

verbal ability and perceptual and performance ability

• One of controversies surrounding Intelligence tests– Using Intelligence tests on children from

diverse cultures– Language differences offer more opportunities

for errors and test bias• Inappropriate use of tests has led to over

identification and mislabeling minority children as having disabilities

Projective Tests

• Some of most popular assessment procedures used with children

• “Clinicians delight and a statistician’s nightmare” – Most popular tests based on psychoanalytic

assumptions rather than rigorous standardization procedures

Projective Techniques

• Association techniques – inkblots, word associations• Construction techniques – child creates a product

(story) after seeing testing materials• Completion techniques – a child is asked to

complete a statement or brief story• Choice of ordering technique – a child ranks

materials in order of preference• Expressive techniques – A child creates product of

own choice.

Rorschach and TAT

• Rorschach – test has 10 cards with symmetrical inkblots (half b&w, half colored)– Child initially asked what each blot represents, then asked to

justify response• Thematic Apperception Test – 20-30 cards, each

depicting fantasy scenes and child develops a story about picture.– Clinician interprets story (no universally accepted method for

scoring TAT)

Projective Tests: Critiques

• Popular but usefulness is consistently criticized

• Some argue they are more “clinical tools” and not psychological tests

• Some argue that they do not really provide much information beyond what could be obtained in standard psychological tests

Personality Inventories and Behavior Rating Scales

• Identify traits or consistent behavior patterns in children– California Psychological Inventory– Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory– Jessness Personality Inventory– Personality Inventory for Children

• Derived statistically through factor analysis and are well standardized with normative groups

• Require rater that can judge presence of a specific behavior or personality characteristic

• Personality Inventories tend to describe broad traits that together help describe whole personality

• Behavior checklists identify broad-band characteristics that can be broken into specific problematic behavior patterns

Behavioral Observation

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

Methods

• Frequency Recording – tallying or event recording

• Interval Recording can record discrete and non-discrete behaviors

• Duration Recording times onset and offset of behavior

• Latency Recording records time from stimulus to start of behavior

• All methods require precise definitions of target behavior

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

Interviewing

• The “cornerstone of assessment” • Used to start an evaluation technique that

will use other techniques, and helps clinician decide on subsequent techniques

Classification Systems

• Diagnosing a behavior disorder is the process of using an accepted classification system and a set of operational definitions to identify a child’s atypical behavioral characteristics

• Allows clinician to match child’s behavior to a subcategory resulting in diagnosis, and possible treatment outcomes

Characteristics and Functions of Behavior Classification

• Classification systems have error built into them. Good systems share the following– Can be used with consistency by different

diagnosticians– Includes manageable number of behavior

disorders– Should be flexible enough to allow for growth

and development

Psychiatric Classification

• DSM-IV-TR is most widely know mental health system. Most common critiques include:– Shortcomings concerning basic psychometric

characteristics of reliability, validity, and utility– Doesn’t adequately handle disorders where symptoms

can have a wide spectrum of intensities– Problems with criteria for very young children or with

diverse cultures

Functional Behavior Assessment and Classification

• Alternative to DSM rooted in early applied behavior analysis

• Less emphasis on labeling and classifying; more emphasis on how a behavior is functionally controlled in the environment

• Not a passive system. Child probed in experimental conditions with specific antecedents and consequences