Chapter 4 Classification, Assessment and Diagnosis, and Intervention

Question 1

Classification

Answer 1

A system for describing the important categories, groups, or dimensions of disorders.

Question 2

Diagnosis

Answer 2

The method of assigning children to specific classification categories.

Question 3

Categorical classification

Answer 3

A clinical classification approach based on the identification of cooccurring symptoms reflecting distinct disorders.

Question 4

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM)

Answer 4

Published by the American Psychiatric Association, the DSM, now in its fifth edition, provides a listing of forms of mental illness, along with diagnostic criteria.

Question 5

Reliability

Answer 5

A measure of whether different clinicians, using the same set of criteria, classify children into the same clearly defined categories.

Question 6

Interrater reliability

Answer 6

The measure of whether two or more clinicians, gathering information about one child’s developmental history and current difficulties, come to the same decision about the type of disorder.

Question 7

Cross-time reliability

Answer 7

The measure of whether a child is similarly diagnosed by the same clinician at two different points in time.

Question 8

Validity

Answer 8

A measure of whether the classification gives true-to-life, meaningful information.

Question 9

Internal validity

Answer 9

In the context of classification, reflects the degree to which children with the same diagnosis have similar developmental histories and current symptom pictures.

Question 10

External validity

Answer 10

In the context of classification, external validity reflects the degree to which a diagnosis provides useful information about the implications (i.e., likely outcomes, effective treatments) of a disorder.

Question 11

Externalizing dimension

Answer 11

In the empirical, dimensional classification system, this dimension involves problematic patterns that are directed outward toward others (e.g., disruptive or aggressive behavior).

Question 12

Internalizing dimension

Answer 12

In the empirical, dimensional classification system, this dimension involves problematic patterns that are directed inward (e.g., low positive affect or anxiousness).

Question 13

Heterogeneity

Answer 13

Involves the ways in which children with the same disorder or diagnosis display idiosyncratic sets of difficulties or symptoms.

Question 14

Comorbidity

Answer 14

The cooccurrence of two or more disorders in one individual.

Question 15

Assessment

Answer 15

The systematic collection of relevant information in order to both differentiate everyday or transient difficulties from clinically significant psychopathology and classify a child’s particular disorders.

Question 16

Differential diagnosis

Answer 16

Decisions about mutually exclusive categories of disorder.

Question 17

Diagnostic efficiency

Answer 17

The degree to which clinicians maximize diagnostic hits and minimize diagnostic misses.

Question 18

Interviews

Answer 18

Either structured evaluations or unstructured conversations about adjustment and maladjustment, allowing parents and children to explain their concerns and, more broadly, to tell their stories; they also provide opportunities to start to build the helping relationship, an especially important consideration when a clinician knows that he or she will be working closely with children and various family members.

Question 19

Standardized tests

Answer 19

Measures such as intelligence tests and some personality tests, in which the data from a particular child can be compared to data gathered from large samples of children, including typically developing children and those with a variety of diagnoses.

Question 20

Projective measures

Answer 20

Measures such as the Rorschach inkblots and the Thematic Apperception Test that are based on the assumption that, given an ambiguous stimulus, individuals’ responses will reflect the projection of unconscious conflicts.

Question 21

Observations

Answer 21

A source of valuable information involving careful watching by a clinician. Clinicians usually observe children in clinical settings such as offices, but may also observe children in naturalistic settings such as the home or school.

Question 22

Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA)

Answer 22

A federal law that defines and governs the provision of special education services.

Question 23

Outcome research

Answer 23

Studies of whether, at the end of treatment, children and adolescents have improved relative to their pre-treatment status compared to others who have not received treatment.

Question 24

Process research

Answer 24

Studies of the specific mechanisms and common factors that account for therapeutic change.

Question 25

Primary prevention

Answer 25

Reducing or eliminating psychopathology-related risks, thereby reducing the incidence of disorder in children.

Question 26

Universal preventive measures

Answer 26

A type of preventive measure provided for entire populations (e.g., mandatory immunizations for children).

Question 27

Selective preventive measures

Answer 27

Type of preventive measures; provided for at-risk groups (e.g., Head Start programs for preschoolers from disadvantaged backgrounds).

Question 28

Indicated preventive measures

Answer 28

A type of preventive measure provided for groups with specific risk factors that include more extensive interventions (e.g., packages of services for families with premature infants).

Question 29

Secondary prevention

Answer 29

Interventions that are implemented following the early signs of distress and dysfunction, before the disorder is clearly established in the child.