Ecological Assessment Of Child Problem Behavior A Clinical Package For Home School And Institutional Settings

Ecological Assessment of Child Problem Behavior: A Clinical Package for Home, School, and Institutional Settings discusses sampling methods to assess the problem child's behavioral interactions in the environment of the real world. The book focuses on the following facets of ecological assessment: (1) format of interview for the stage during the observational sampling procedures; (2) use of an observational procedure by adult members of the child's natural community; and (3) the employment of a standardized category coding system. In general, the book deals with devising a standardized category codes that will be used in direct observations of a clinical nature. The book shows that investigators of various theoretical merits attempt to construct category systems to systematize coding behavior such as those of Heyns and Lippit (1954), of Baker and Wright (1955) or of McGrew (1972). The authors enumerate the category codes to describe different aspects of children's social environments and their common behaviors that result from these settings. Behavioral scientists, psychiatrists, child psychologists, students and professors in the sciences of human behavior, particularly concerning children, are encouraged to read this book.

Psychologists have long been interested in the problems of children, but in the last 20 years this interest has increased dramatically. The in tensified focus on clinical child psychology reflects an increased belief that many adult problems have their origin in childhood and that early treatment is often more effective than treatment at later ages, but it also seems to reflect an increased feeling that children are inherently important in their own right. As a result of this shift in emphasis, the number of publications on this topic has multiplied to the extent that even full-time specialists have not been able to keep abreast of all new developments. Researchers in the more basic fields of child psychol ogy have a variety of annual publications and journals to integrate research in their areas, but there is a marked need for such an integra tive publication in the applied segment of child and developmental psychology. Advances in Clinical Child Psychology is a serial publication designed to bring together original summaries of the most important developments each year in the field. Each chapter is written by a key figure in an innovative area of research or practice or by an individual who is particularly well qualified to comment on a topic of major contemporary importance. Each author has followed the stan dard format in which his or her area of research was reviewed and the clinical implications of the studies were made explicit.

This important volume presents strategies and procedures for assessing both emotional/behavioral problems and academic difficulties. Arranged by assessment content areas, the volume discusses such methodologies as behavioral interviewing, observation, self-monitoring, use of self- and informant-report, and both analogue and curriculum-based assessment. All chapters are supported by numerous examples and illustrations.

As noted by its title, the focus of this book is centered on an examination of behavior therapy with children in clinical settings. Throughout, our goal has been to examine theoretical underpinnings, review empirical research, and illustrate clinical utility for a variety of behavioral proce dures with children. In pursuing this goal, we have described child behavior therapy as an approach based on empirical methodology, de rived from behavioral principles, and focused upon adjustment disor ders of children. The hallmark of such an approach is its accountability the extent to which the procedures and techniques presented in this text are demonstrably accountable must be determined at least partially by the reader. As students of child behavior, we have become sensitized to two trends in behavior therapy with children during the preparation of this book. First, we have been concerned with the simple application of behavioral procedures to children, irrespective of developmental con siderations. All too frequently, assessment strategies and treatment pro cedures found to be useful with adults have been applied to children in an indiscriminate fashion. For example, some recent studies have examined and assessed the very same social skill deficits in children as in adults (e. g. , lack of eye contact, delayed latency of response, and absence of positive commendatory responses). Surely, skill deficits differ from age to age just as they differ from situation to situation.

Children’s display of unacceptable behavior in the school setting, school violence, academic underachievement, and school failure represent a cluster of problems that touches all aspects of society. Children with learning and behavior problems are much more likely to be un- ployed, exhibit significant emotional and behavior disorders in adulthood, as well as become incarcerated. For example, by adolescence, children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity D- order are more likely to be retained a grade, drop out of school, have contact with the law, or fair worse along a number of dimensions than their unaffected siblings (Barkely, 1998). Identification, assessment, and treatment of children with externalizing behavior problems and learningdisabilities is critical to optimizing development and prevention of relatively - tractable behavioral and emotional problems in adulthood. For example, poor interpersonal problem solving and social skills excesses and deficits are strongly associated with poor o- come in adolescence and adulthood. The school is where children learn essential academic, social, and impulse control skills that allow them to function effectively in later years. School is where problems in these areas can be most easily identified and addressed. The purpose of this book is to provide an overview of assessment practices for evaluating children’s externalizing behavior problems exhibited in the school environment. Reviews of approximately 100 assessment devices for measuring children’s externalizing problems are included. Instruments include structured interviews, rating scales, and observational methods.

Over the last several decades, the remarkable success of science and medical technology has allowed many children with chronic illness and handicapping conditions to live longer and healthier lives. But this suc cess is not without toll. The human cost of chronic illness or a handicap ping condition can be enormous for the child and the family. For the family, there is often the stressful daily burden of care, fatigue, marital stress, low family morale, financial burdens, and reduced career mobili ty. For the child, there are often arduous and painful treatment regimes, frequent school absences, low energy periods, and uncertainties with respect to future education and vocation. The course of many diseases is unpredictable, and the very fact of chronicity implies ongoing coping problems for the family and the child. The impact of a chronic illness or handicapping condition on a family system is usually more disintegrative than integrative, disrupting the lives of all family members and exacerbating the developmental risks to the child. It is not surprising that a recent comprehensive study for establish ing public policies for children with chronic illness at Vanderbilt Univer sity has called attention to these factors and produced, as a primary recommendation, increased attention to the psychological impact of dis ease on the family and the child. In this context there is an important need for adequate assessment of psychological and behavioral problems in these children to plan for appropriate services.

The ecological perspective is a contextual approach which works at the interface between families and the broader ecology or ecosystem of the child; the approach is not new but has not been widely adopted due to the lack of illustrative material available for practitioners. Through an approach more descriptive and explanatory than empirical, the author shows the clinician (or other child care professional) why the child's environment is crucial and provides techniques to draw people in the child's environment into the healing process.