AdvSem-Psyc Test/Eval Infts/Chldrn/Yth

Catalog description

This course covers approaches to psychological assessment with children and youths. Primary attention will be given to clinical presentations commonly encountered from ages 5-17, though infancy/toddlerhood and emerging adulthood are also briefly covered. Through this course, students will have exposure to general practices in navigating the assessment process with children, youths, families, and other collateral sources (e.g., schools, therapists, etc.). The primary foci of the course will (a) expose students to assessment measures and methods most often used with this population and (b) cover assessment practices and differential diagnosis of presenting concerns commonly encountered across this age span (e.g., neurodevelopmental). Testing measures will include developmental, cognitive, social/emotional, personality, and behavioral instruments/rating scales. Students will practice integrating assessment/testing data with history, behavioral observation, records, and clinical interviews to develop meaningful conceptualizations and individualized recommendations. An emphasis is placed on creating accessible methods of data presentation to provide feedback to clients and referral sources (e.g., therapeutic letters, fables, visual presentations, etc.). It is not within the scope of this course to cover all psychological tests available to psychologists nor to teach basic test-specific administration and scoring practices. Rather, students will focus on learning to apply psychological assessment/ testing data to (a) develop a comprehensive understanding of children/youths and their presenting concerns, and (b) enhance students’ emerging competency in conceptualization, diagnosis, and feedback/recommendation development.