Formal Assessment Procedures, Assessment Information

Young clients often express criticism and/or sarcasm when asked to participate in traditional assessment . They may resist completing the instruments fully and thoughtfully. Fortunately, there are alternatives to using formal assessment procedures for obtaining information. The following procedures help interviewers gather information, while at the same time, capture client interest and coop322 Interviewing Special Populations Finally, I have a right to be a child. I shouldn’t have to be your spy, your special con?dant, or your mother. Just because you hate to talk to each other, I shouldn’t have to be your personal message courier. I exist because you created me. Therefore, I have a right to be more than a child of divorce. I have a right to be a child whose parents love me more than they’ve come to hate each other.

Note. From “The Divorced Children’s Bill of Rights” [Guest editorial], by J. SommersFlanagan, 2000, Counseling Today, p. 9. Reprinted with permission from the American Counseling Association.

INDIVIDUAL AND CULTURAL HIGHLIGHT 11.2 eration. Because these techniques can facilitate rapport and trust, they usually have a positive effect on cooperation with and validity of subsequent traditional, self report assessments . Using these qualitative information gathering procedures can increase youth cooperation with therapy and provide the interviewer with assessment information.

They are not a replacement for formal assessment procedures, but add a great deal of information and simultaneously enhance the working relationship.

What’s Good about You? A relationship building assessment procedure that provides a rich interpersonal interaction between young clients and counselors is the “What’s good about you?” question and answer game . The procedure also provides useful information regarding child/adolescent self esteem. Initially, it is introduced as a game with speci?c rules: “I want to play a game with you. Here’s how it goes. I’m going to ask you the same question 10 times. The only rule is that you can’t answer the question with the same answer twice. So, I’ll ask you the same question 10 times, but you have to give me 10 different answers.” When playing this game, interviewers ask their young client, “What’s good about you?” . Each client answer is responded to with a “Thank you” and a smile. If the client responds with “I don’t know,” the response is simply written down the ?rst time it is used; but if “I don’t know” is used a second time, the interviewer kindly reminds the client that answers can be used only one time.