Checklist: rater checks the item if that bx exists: can be used to screen for specific DSM-IV disorders

Dichotomy: rater indicates if the behavior exists or does not exist w/ a dichotomy (yes/no)

continuum: rate on a scale, (e.g. 1-5 or always-never)

Four areas of variation on assessment data which summarize the disadvantages of rating scales

1. source variance (biggest problem)
2. setting variance
3. temporal varaiance
4. instrumental variance

• Knowledge of subject (should be at least 2 months)
• Rater's perception
• Rater's tolerance of behavior
• Rater's stress level
• reading level (30-40% of population doesn't read at 5th grade level)
• recent events
• response bias
• Observations of internalizing or low-rate bx can be hard
• informant may not recognize usefulness of scale
• Choice of informant may slant results

• Interaction with the environment can affect results (home vs. school vs. clinic)
• Interventions used in different settings
• Consider if instrument is sensitive across settings or specific to one setting

• Impacts rater and person being rated
• changes in behavior over time
• medication issues
• intervention
• maturation
• significant events: death, divorce, illness, etc.

• sloppy construction of the test
• definition of the construct
• qualitative technical aspects
• quantitative: depth of information as well as breadth

• better at a younger age
• Gender- not much of a difference
• Self vs. parent report
• self is more likely to present themselves favorabley (social desirability)
• perceived distress- kid might not see the problem as a big deal when it is or adults might make it a bigger deal then it is
• Externalizing behaviors are easier to report on than internalizing

• Factors that negatively influence interrater agreement, most research done on Moms
• Depression 
• Anxiety
• Stress
• SES: lower SES = lower agreement

• Informants can describe or rate the child
• Items have the same or similar meaning for all respondents
• often or always mean the same for all ppl
• Respondents report their thoughts, feelings, & behaviors openly and honestly
• Measures have adequate reliability and validity

Self-report assumptions that relate to

advantages  of self-report (12)

• taps behaviors you can't quantify in other tests 
• gets large range of problems that interview can miss
• convenience: time & cost efficient
• multiple viewpoints
• Teacher ratings have high predictive power
• teacher has formal training
• structured setting
• comparison to other kids
• Parent good since they've known kid since birth in natural environment
• Difference evidenced between settings can help find 'real' problem, e.g. teacher or kid or parent
• identifies the most problematic/concerning problem
• child might not be able to respond on their own
• objective and reliable, less biased
• Structured format can reduce subjectivity
• strengths and weaknesses identified

• technical considerations: norms, validity, reliability, constructs measured
• People & time involved: informant, situation, client
• scope of instrument: narrow or broad
• purpose or use: screening, diagnosis, placement, intervention, program eval
• clinical utility: ease of administration, usefullness of information, sensitivity to change 

BASC

CBCL

Conners'

SCL-90-R

BASC- behavior assessment system for children

(basic info)

3 types of scales (teacher rating scale, parent rating scale, self-report rating scale)

-each takes about 30 minutes

-4 point likert scale responses

Teacher and parents range from preschool (2-5), child (6-11) and adolescent (12-21)

Self-report scales range from child (8-11), adolescent (12-21 yrs) and college (18-25)

Measure provides T scores and percentil ranks, can be manual or computerized scoring

• Adaptive Scales: lower t-scores=more problems
• 41-59 average
• 31-40 at risk
• <30 clinically significant
• Clinical scales: higher t score=more problems
• 41-59 average
• 60-69 at risk
• >70 clinically significant

• Clinical diagnosis (ADHD/Depression/ODD)
• Educational Diagnosis 
• OHI- category ADHD and others fall under
• Emotional Disturbances
• Juvenile Justic Evaluations
• Danger to others?

• F Scale: potential over endorsement of problems
• Response Pattern: random responding
• consistency: different responses to similar items

• Pre-school teacher form: Pays attention, disrupts play of other children, easily upset, hits other children, politely asks for help, listens to directions, gets upset when things are lost
•  child-adolescent parent form: breaks rules, tries to bring out best in other people, acts out of control, seems lonely, worries, loses temper too easily
• child-adolescent student report: i am good at making decisions, i talk while others are talking, I worry but don't know why, I hate school, My parents listen to what I say, teachers are unfair

summary: large and highly representative sample

• Total sample size =12, 350
• Combined and separate sex norms for different age groups
• Samples matched to US population for race, region, and SES (mother's educational level)

• assess competencies, adaptive functioning, and behavioral, emotional, and social problems from ages 1.5-18
• You can relate ASEBA directly to DSM diagnostic categories

CBCL: Child Behavior Checklist

(basic info)

• Ages 6-16
• completed by parent or caregiver
• Good bc it asks for a lot of free-reponse answers
• first page asks for demographics and other info about informant and child 

• Competence items (pg 1-2)
• list sports, hobbies, clubs, chores, friends, academic performance
•  Open-ended items for illnesses, disabilities, major concerns (pg 2)
• ratings of bx, emotional, and social problems (pg 3-4): scale of 0 (not true), 1(somewhat true), and 2 (very true)

YSR: Youth Self Report 

(basic info)

• age 11-18
• completed by youth to describe their own functioning
• can read to them if you need to
• pg 1 requests demographic info
• pg 2 has items similar to the CBCL but worded in 1st person
• YSR has 14 social desirability items not included on the CBCL

TRF:teacher report form 

(basic info)

• Normed for ages 6-18
• completed by teachers and other school personnel
• can get from multiple sources 

• repsondents role at school
• how long have you known the student
• how much time the student spends in the class
• what kind of class or service is it
• achievement and ability test scores
• student's illness, disabilities
• major concerns about the student
• student strengths
• ratings of bx, emotional, and social problems
• based on 2-month period instead of 6 like the other scales (short contact and need for reassessment)
• open-ended questions concerning student:
• referred to special ed
• repeated any grades
• how hard is he working?
• how appropriately is he behaving?
• how much is he learning?
• how happy is he?

• percentiles to compare to a normative, non-referred, sample & T-score
• Normal: T>35
• Borderline: T from 30-35
• Clinical: T<30

• High scores = clinically important deviance due to numerous problems endorsed
• Norms completed on non-referred children
• Clinical concern: 97th percentile or T>70 
• Borderline: 93rd-97th percentile or T from 65-70
• Normal range: below 93rd percentile or T<65
• each range denoted by dashed lines on output

• high T score = lots of problems
• helps obtain a global pic of if child's problem are concentrated in one of the areas or both
• normal range = T<60
• borderline= T from 60-63
• Clinical= T>63

• Normal range: T below 60
• Borderline: T between 60=63
• Clinical: T greater than 63

Pros

-get the youth's perception

Cons

-can be time consuming, hard for some kids to finish

-potential for self-report bias due to face validity

-no validity scales included w/ profiles

Pros

-Well researched and widely used

-DSM IV oriented

-gives info on strengths

-inexpensive to administer and score

Cons

-time-consuming

-potential for self-report bias

-no assessment of profile  validity

• Focuses on ADHD
• scales for externalizing and internalizing problems
• Age 3-17
• Parent/teacher & long/short versions 
•  4pt scale (not at all, just a little, pretty much, very much)

• 80 items (30 minutes to complete)
• 14 factors
• oppositional
• cognitive problems
• hyperactivity
• anxious-shy
• perfectionism
• social problems
• psychosomatic
• global index (restless-impulsive, emotional liability)
• ADHD index
• DSM-IV symptoms subscale

• Long version
• 59 items (15 minutes)
• 13 factors
• oppositional
• cognitive problems
• hyperactivity
• anxious-shy
• perfectionism
• social problems
• global Index (restless-impulsive, emotional lability)
• adhd index
• DSM-IV symptoms subscales (inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive)

• Oppositional: break rules, problems w/ authority
• cognitive problems: learn slowly, completing tasks
• Hyperactivity: difficulty sitting still, restless
• Anxious-shy: excessive worries & fears, emotional
• Perfectionism: high goals, obsessive
• Social Problems: few friends, low self-esteem
• Psychosomatic: excessive physical symptoms
• ADHD index: "at risk" for ADHD diagnosis
• Global Index: most sensitive items (key adhd symptoms)
• DSM-IV Symptoms Subscale: DSM-IV criteria

• huge normative sample
• reliability between parents moderate to high
• reliability between teachers moderate to high
• reliability between parent and teacher: low adequate w/ parents rating more deviance
• validity: discriminates between hyperactive/nonhyperactive, depressed/nondepressed, and between diagnostic groups 
• Multi-informant (parent, teacher, youth)
• English and Spanish versions
• Maps on to DSM and IDEA

• All questions worded negatively
• psychometric properties good, not great
• test-retest reliability for younger kids is unstable
• heavy loading of items on one factor  (hyperactivity)
• Few items loaded onto other factors

• New in 2008, revised due to recent research
• updated, large, and representative normative sample
• Modified age range
• simplified language of DSM items
• Increased similarity between forms
• Scales for ODD and CD
• Executive functioning scale
• validity scales
• severe conduct critical items
• screener items for anxiety and depression
• impairment items
• Created a companion rating scale (Conners CBRS, for broader coverage of common disorders and problems)

• Content scales
• DSM-IV scales and symptoms
• index scores
• critical items
• screener items
• validity scales
• impairment items
• additional questions 

1. Executive functioning (not on self-report)
2. learning problems
3. aggression
4. hyperactivity/impulsivity
5. peer relations (family relations on self-report)
6. inattention 

-Full length form only

-Each DSM-IV symptoms is represented

-Count the items to see if student has enough symptoms of that disorder to consider a diagnosis

-Guidance is given for determining if a symptom is likely indicated, may be indicated, or not indicated

-full length form only

-not available on self-report

2 global indexes:

-ADHD Index

-Global Index

2 subscales:

-emotional lability

-restless-impulsive

-Full length form only

-severe misconduct that requires immediate follow-up

-behaviors that may predict future violence or harm to others

Screener items for anxiety and depression

(full length form only)

1. Positive impression index (PI)
2. negative impression index (NI)
3. Inconsistency index (IncX): full length only 

1. Academic
2. Home (parent and self-report only)
3. social 

• Forms
• Parent
• Teacher
• Youth (8-18 years)
• Rater Requirements
• know student at least 1 month
• cognitive/reading level at least 5th grade for parents and teachers
• reading level at least 3rd grade for youth

Look at agreement with DSM symptom counts & T scores

-both scores high: diagnosis should be given strong considerations

-both scores low:unlikely that diagnosis is currently present (although criteria may have been met in the past) 

Directly assesss for ADHD, ODD, and CD

Indicators of possible: Anxiety, mood disorders, LD

• 90 item checklist designed to assess a varieyt of symptoms over last seven days
• self report measure
• type of symptom
• perceived severity of symptoms
• Norms 13 and older
• 5 item rating scale (0-4, not at all to extremely)
• T-scores >63 is psychological distress
• Get a profile when your done

• Global severity index
• comb of number of symptoms and intensity
• single score of impairment
• positve symptom distress index
• average rating of endorsed items (intensity) how severe the items were that are endorsed
• could have a few items really severe
• postive symptom total 
• number of symptoms present 
• could have lots of items not very severe

• Somatization
• Obsessive Compulsive
• Interpersonal Sensitivity 
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Hostility
• Phobic Anxiety
• Paranoid Ideation
• Psychoticism

CBCL (child behavior check list)

YSR (youth self-report)

TRF (reacher report form)

Screening

Progress Monitoring