This book highlights assessment techniques, issues, and procedures that appeal to practicing clinicians. Rather than a comprehensive Handbook of various tests and measures, The Clinical Assessment of Children and Adolescents is a practitioner-friendly text that provides guidance for test selection, interpretation, and application. With topics ranging from personality assessment to behavioral assessment to the assessment of depression and thought disorder, the leaders in the field of child and adolescent measurement outline selection and interpretation of measures in a manner that is most relevant to clinicians and graduate students. Each chapter makes use of extensive case material in order to highlight issues of applicability.

A comprehensive approach to accurate ADHD diagnosis In Essentials of ADHD Assessment in Children and Adolescents, the authors provide a clear and informative road map for practitioners seeking to conduct state-of-the-art assessments for one of the most common disorders of childhood. Drawing upon years of experience in conducting diagnostic evaluations of ADHD following best-practice standards, they emphasize the importance of a comprehensive evaluation, incorporating data from multiple sources, using multiple methods, and interpreting findings within the appropriate developmental and cultural contexts. The major components of an ADHD evaluation (interviews, rating scales, cognitive testing, observation, record review) are reviewed in detail. Expert guidance is provided for resolving the most common challenges in assessing ADHD, including differentiating symptoms from normal development, dealing with discrepant data, differential diagnosis, and considering comorbidity. The latest scholarly literature is integrated with the authors' practical recommendations to provide clinicians with the concepts and tools needed for effective and accurate assessment of ADHD, addressing such topics as: When inattention is ADHD, and when it may be emotional or neurological Which disorders may masquerade as or present with ADHD The elements of accurate ADHD testing and the reasons behind them Integrating results of a multi-modal approach into an ADHD assessment An indispensable professional resource for practicing clinicians, Essentials of ADHD Assessment for Children and Adolescents is a reader-friendly guide to providing a thorough, responsible ADHD evaluation.

Antisocial acts by children and teens are on the rise – from verbal abuse to physical bullying to cyber-threats to weapons in schools. Strictly punitive responses to aggressive behaviour may even escalate a situation, leaving peers, parents, and teachers feeling helpless. This unique volume conceptualizes aggression as a symptom of underlying behavioural and emotional problems and examines the psychology of perpetrators and the power dynamics that foster intentionally hurtful behaviour in young people. It details for readers how bibliotherapy offers relevant, innovative, and flexible treatment – as a standalone intervention or as a preventive method in conjunction with other forms of treatment – and can be implemented with individuals and groups, parents, teachers, and even rivals. This unique, must-have resource is essential reading for school psychologists, school counselors, social workers, and clinical child psychologists and any allied educational and mental health professionals who work with troubled youth.

It's surprisingly common for children and adolescents to play with fire and to actually set fires. A single fire has the potential to cause a cascade of serious consequences to children, families, and their community, sometimes with devastating impact. Yet, there is limited practical information and evidence-based advice available to help programs and practitioners with children and adolescents who engage in this behavior. Assessment and Intervention with Children and Adolescents Who Misuse Fire presents practical guidelines to facilitate the clinical assessment and treatment of youth firesetting. Based on nearly four decades of research and intervention experience, the treatment is directed toward reducing any inappropriate involvement in fire or related activities in order to lower the risk for property damage, personal injury, and other adverse consequences associated with these behaviors. This evidence-based intervention provides clinicians with a comprehensive program for school-aged children, early adolescents, and adolescents, and the child and his/her caregiver(s) are both important participants in treatment. The modular approach allows for therapists to be flexible in deciding which topics to cover in order to best meet the needs of children and families. This treatment model encourages more appropriate and safe behaviors in both children/adolescents and their caregivers and provides skills likely to discourage fire involvement. In addition, the materials promote controlling exposure to incendiary materials and opportunities to use fire. The intervention is provided in a single volume, encompassing a practitioner guide, parent workbook, and child/adolescent workbook, including handouts for participating clients.

Generally recognized as the standard work in its field, Behavioral, Social, and Emotional Assessment of Children and Adolescents is a comprehensive guide for conducting conceptually sound, culturally responsive, and ecologically oriented assessments of students’ social and emotional behavior. Written for graduate students, practitioners, and researchers in the fields of school psychology, child clinical psychology, and special education, it will also be of interest to those in related disciplines. Building on the previous editions, this fifth edition includes updated references to DSM-5 and federal standards as well as an integrated approach to culturally competent assessment throughout the text. In Part I, Foundations and Methods of Assessment, the author provides a general foundation for assessment practice and outlines basic professional and ethical issues, cultural considerations, and classification and diagnostic problems. Part II, Assessment of Specific Problems, Competencies, and Populations, includes material on assessing specific social–emotional behavior domains, including externalizing problems, internalizing problems, social skills and social–emotional strengths, and the unique needs of young children. A chapter on school-wide screening methods was also added with this edition. By weaving together the most recent research evidence and common application issues in a scholarly yet practical matter, Behavioral, Social, and Emotional Assessment of Children and Adolescents continues to be the pre-eminent foundation for assessment courses.

The comprehensive coverage in this hugely important and timely handbook makes it invaluable to clinical child, school, and counseling psychologists; clinical social workers; and child psychiatrists. As a textbook for advanced clinical and counseling psychology programs, and a solid reference for the researcher in child/adolescent mental health, its emphasis on flexibility and attention to emerging issues will help readers meet ongoing challenges, as well as advance the field. Its relevance cannot be overstated, as growing numbers of young people have mental health problems requiring intervention, and current policy initiatives identify evidence-based therapies as the most effective and relevant forms of treatment.

Psychologists offer an increasing variety of services to the public. Among these services, psychological assessment of personality and behavior continues to be a central activity. One main reason is that other mental health professionals often do not possess a high level of competence in this area. And when dealing with children and adolescents, psychological assessment seems to take on an even greater role. Therefore, it follows that comprehensive graduate-level instruction in assessment should be a high priority for educators of psychologists who will work with these youth. This textbook is organized into three sections, consistent with the authors’ approach to teaching. Part I provides students with the psychological knowledge base necessary for modern assessment practice, including historical perspectives, measurement science, child psychopathology, ethical, legal, and cultural issues, and the basics of beginning the assessment process. Part II gives students a broad review of the specific assessment methods used by psychologists, accompanied by specific advice regarding the usage and strengths and weaknesses of each method. In Part III, we help students perform some of the most sophisticated of assessment practices: integrating and communicating assessment results and infusing assessment practice with knowledge of child development and psychopathology to assess some of the most common types of behavioral and emotional disorders in youth. A text focusing on assessment practices must be updated every four to six years to keep pace with advances in test development. For example, several of the major tests reviewed in the text, such as the Behavioral Assessment System for Children and the Child Behavior Checklist, have undergone major revisions since the publication of the last edition making the current content outdated. Further, another major test, the Conners’ Rating Scales, is undergoing substantial revisions that should be completed before publication of the next edition. Finally, the evidence for the validity of the tests and the recommendations for their appropriate use evolve as research accumulates and requires frequent updating to remain current. For example, there was a special issue of the Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology published focusing on evidenced-based assessment of the major forms of childhood psychopathology that will need to be integrated into the chapters in Part 3. This latter point reflects an important trend in the field that should influence the marketing of the book. That is, there are several initiatives being started in all of the major areas of applied psychology (e.g., school, clinical, and counseling) to promote evidenced-based assessment practices. These initiatives have all emphasized the need to enhance the training of graduate students in this approach to assessment. This has been the orientation of this textbook from its first edition: that is, Clinical Assessment of Child and Adolescent Personality and Behavior has focused on using research to guide all recommendations for practice. The ability of the textbook to meet this training need should be an important focus of marketing the book to training programs across all areas of applied psychology.

Adolescent substance abuse is the nation's #1 public health problem. It originates out of a developmental era where experimentation with the world is increasingly taking place, and where major changes in physical self and social relationships are taking place. These changes cannot be understood by any one discipline nor can they be described by focusing only on the behavioral and social problems of this age period, the characteristics of normal development, or the pharmacology and addictive potential of specific drugs. They require knowledge of the brain's systems of reward and control, genetics, psychopharmacology, personality, child development, psychopathology, family dynamics, peer group relationships, culture, social policy, and more. Drawing on the expertise of the leading researchers in this field, this Handbook provides the most comprehensive summarization of current knowledge about adolescent substance abuse. The Handbook is organized into eight sections covering the literature on the developmental context of this life period, the epidemiology of adolescent use and abuse, similarities and differences in use, addictive potential, and consequences of use for different drugs; etiology and course as characterized at different levels of mechanistic analysis ranging from the genetic and neural to the behavioural and social. Two sections cover the clinical ramifications of abuse, and prevention and intervention strategies to most effectively deal with these problems. The Handbook's last section addresses the role of social policy in framing the problem, in addressing it, and explores its potential role in alleviating it.

Drawing together systematic, empirically-based guidelines for accountable clinical work with children and adolescents with varying presenting problems, this book is a compendium of state-of-the-art treatment manuals. Specific instructions and relevant case illustrations facilitate the practitioner's efforts to replicate the approaches.

A complete guide to evidence based interventions for children and adolescents The past decade has witnessed the development of numerous interventions proved to be highly effective; several treatments are now considered to be "well established" or "probably efficacious" interventions for children. Given the range of providers working with children—clinical psychologists, child psychiatrists, clinical social workers, school psychologists, and marriage and family therapists—this book is designed to provide all professionals the information they now need about the use of these evidence-based interventions (EBIs), as well as the evaluation criteria used to determine their efficacy in in meeting the mental health needs of children. Alfano and Beidel have assembled a team of experts to write the disorder chapters. Each chapter begins with an overview of the disorder then delves into evidence-based approaches to treatment, the impact of parental involvement, case-by-case modifications, progress measurement, and clinical examples. In overview chapters the editors cover: The role of development in treatment planning and implementation Dissemination of EBIs into school and community settings The use of controversial therapies with children Emerging methods of service delivery and access improvement Comprehensive Evidence Based Interventions for Children and Adolescents provides clinicians, researchers, and students alike with the theoretical, conceptual, and practical skills to provide children and adolescents with the best care possible.