Clinical assessment of child and adolescent personality and behaviour by Frick, Barry, & Kamphaus (fourth edition) – Book summary

A psychological test refers to a systematic procedure for comparing the behaviour of two or more people. Standardization refers to collecting a sample for the purpose of norm-referencing and it refers to the administration of a measure according to a consistent set of rules. A standardized administration is necessary to produce reliable and valid measurement.

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Informed consent should be provided before any clinical service to a child or adolescent. The informed consent must be obtained from at least one of the parents if the child is below the age of consent. Without exception, it should be the first thing that is done in clinical assessment. There are several basic elements of informed consent:

History taking is essential in child psychological assessment for several reasons:

• It allows the clinician to conceptualize a case by providing information about the developmental course of the child’s difficulties.
• It provides information on the specific presentation of the individual child’s difficulties.
• It provides information on risk and protective factors.
• It provides information

It is essential to consider the different people who will read a report to avoid improper interpretation of the results when writing a report. The clinician should aim to make reports accessible and useful to all involved people. The report refers to the means by which a client’s history and difficulties are described, results are obtained and interpreted,