This document discusses various methods of behavioral assessment, including behavioral rating scales, direct observation, and other indirect methods. Behavioral rating scales can measure the frequency and intensity of behaviors through informant reports. Direct observation involves observing and recording behaviors in natural settings. Other methods discussed include continuous performance tests, which measure attention and executive function, and psychophysiological assessments, which record physical changes in the body. The document provides examples of assessment tools for different populations and contexts.

1. Behavioural Assessment
A few observations and much reasoning lead to error; many
observations and a little reasoning to truth.
- Alexis Carrel
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2. Learning Objectives
• Be able to discuss the different situations that require behavioural
observation
• Describe different types of behavioural observation
• Discuss the various uses of behavioural observation with children
• Summarize the behavioural observation activity that we did in class
• Describe commonly used assessments of childhood behavioural and
emotional problems.
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3. Assessing Behaviour
• We all engage in the assessment of behaviour on a
regular basis
• We observe others behavior, or perhaps our own, and make
inferences about internal processes (e.g., thoughts, emotions,
motivations)
• Two major uses:
• When the goal is to measure overt behavior
• When it is difficult or impossible to evaluate the underlying
processes guiding behavior (emotions and thoughts)
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4. Behavioural Assessment
• Behavioural assessments help practitioners and
researchers determine:
• The degree to which specific behaviours cluster together
• The associations between behaviours and covert processes
(emotions and thoughts)
• Behavioural assessments can be used to predict
outcomes, such as the likelihood of a clinical diagnosis
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5. Behavioural Rating Scales
• Behaviour rating scales can measure:
• The frequency of a behavior
• The intensity of a behavior
• Can be completed by:
• A trained observer
• A reliable informant
• The person of interest
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6. Behaviour Rating Scales, cont’d.
• Inventories that ask informants to rate an individual on
a number of dimensions
• Informants may be parents, teachers, a spouse, or
health care worker
• Often used with children and adolescents
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7. Benefits of Behaviour Rating Scales
• Children may have difficulty reporting feelings and
thoughts
• Cost-effective and time-efficient
• Having informants complete the scales allows
evaluation of less common behaviours, across different
settings
• Multiple raters/informants provide a broad sample of
behaviours across settings and times
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8. Benefits of Behaviour Rating Scales, cont’d.
• Facilitate accurate diagnosis
• Predicts future behaviour and learning problems
• Helps detect changes in behaviour
• Predicts what types of interventions are likely to be
effective
• Crucial for clinical child interventions
• Important in the practice of evidence-based treatments
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9. Weaknesses of Behaviour Rating Scales
• Subject to response sets
• May be less helpful when assessing “internalizing”
problems
• Ratings of behaviour are impressionistic
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10. Direct Observation
• Oldest method of behavioural assessment; still widely
used
• Observe the examinee in natural setting
• Behaviours are specified and counted
• Provides true ratio scale data
• Adds another dimension to assessment
• Observer can note antecedents, as well as
consequences.
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11. Direct Observation
• Can occur with or without a standardized recording
scheme
• Standardized observation forms:
• Enhance observer training
• Observer impartiality
• Improve consistency and accuracy
• Do limit the flexibility of direct observation
• Advantages seen as outweighing the limitations
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12. Behaviour Assessment of Children:
Direct Observation
• Behaviour specialists observe behaviour and count the
frequency and intensity of target behaviours.
• Two types:
• Structured interaction between a child and a caregiver
(usually the mom).
• Observation of the child performing various tasks, sometimes
in different settings
• Used in research settings, early childhood primary
health programs, clinical diagnostic approaches, schools
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13. Behavioural Assessment of Children: Direct
Observation, cont’d.
• Evaluation of the mother-child relationship
• Attachment style is a vital predictor of developmental outcomes
• Identifying at-risk children early in life permits appropriate supports
to be put in place
• A wide variety of behavioural assessment tools are available to
evaluate the quality of mother-child interaction
• The Strange Situation test that evaluates attachment style of the child
is widely used
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14. Assessment of Mother-Child Relationship
Quality
• Parent-Child Interaction Therapy is based on direct behavioural
observation of the quality of the mother-child relationship and then
uses direct observation coaching to make corrections in the mother’s
behaviour
• Many benefits of the early evaluation/early intervention approach to
child, family and society, but much resistance to widespread
population health programs
• More commonly used in the U.S. and across the U.K.
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15. Behavioural Assessment: Depressed Mothers
and Their Children
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Measure Age Method Context Content Comments
Global Rating
Scales of Mother-
Infant Interaction
(Murray, Fiori-
Cowley, Hooper, &
Cooper, 1996)
2 to 6
months
Face-to-
face free
play,
without
toys (5
minute)
Home or lab
setting
Mother: sensitivity,
intrusiveness, withdrawn
style, depressive behavior
Infant: engagement/
communicative,
inertness, distress
Dyad: flow of interaction,
enjoyment, satisfaction,
quantity and quality of
engagement
Specifically developed to
assess PPD mothers and
their infants. Minimal
coding time (30-40
minutes for the
experienced coder). Used
extensively cross-culturally.
Sensitive to changes
following treatment, to
range of maternal
psychopathology, and to
social and economic
adversity

16. Behavioural Assessment: Depressed Mothers
and Their Children, cont’d.Interaction
Rating
Scales
(Field,
1980)
3 to 6
months
Face-to-face
free play (and
feeding)
Home or lab
setting
Mother: state, physical activity, head
orientation, gaze, silence during infant
gaze aversion, facial expressions,
vocalizations, imitative behaviors,
contingent responsivity, game-playing
Infant: physical activity, head
orientation, gaze behavior, facial
expressions, vocalizations, and
fussiness.
Inconsistent
differentiation
between
depressed and
non-depressed
mother-infant
interactions in
high risk groups.
Maternal
Behavior
State
System
(Cohn,
Matias,
Tronick,
Connell, &
Lyons-Ruth,
1986)
2 to 6
months
Face-to-face
free play (3
minute)
Lab setting Mother: intrusive (anger/poke, elicit),
withdrawn (disengage), or good
interaction (none of the above or
positive/play)
Infant: protest, look away, attend, and
play
Categorizations of
depressed
mothers as
Intrusive or
Withdrawn are
very widely used.
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17. Behavioural Assessment: Depressed Mothers
and Their Children, cont’d.
Parent-Child
Early
Relational
Assessment
(Clark, 1985,
1999)
2 to 62
months
Face-to-face free play,
structured task, feeding
(each 5 minutes). Many
have only coded free play
episodes.
Home or
lab setting
Mother: 29 items reflecting
positive affective
involvement and
verbalization, negative affect
and behavior, and
intrusiveness, insensitivity
and inconsistency
Infant: 28 items reflecting
positive affect, social and
communicative competence,
quality of play, interest, and
attentional skills, and
dysregulation and irritability
Dyad: 8 items reflecting
mutual enjoyment and
reciprocity, and
disorganization and tension
Can be used with
mothers and
fathers. Requires
intensive coding
time. The ERA has
been used
extensively with at-
risk populations,
but as not much
with PPD mothers
specifically. The
measure enables
assessment across a
very wide infant
age-range.
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18. Behavioural Assessment: Depressed Mothers and
Their Children, cont’d.
Strange Situation
(Ainsworth & Bell,
1970)
11 to 18 months
(maybe up to 24)
Separation and
reunion episodes
Lab
setting
Infant: attachment behaviors
(distress, soothability,
proximity seeking, and
attention to caregiver) coded
to categorize infants as
Securely or Insecurely
(Avoidant or Resistant).
Infant is given an additional
categorization as Organized
or Disorganized.
Extremely widely
used in the
developmental
literature. Requires
intensive coding
time and set-up of
an artificial
situation. Not
appropriate for use
with infants < 11
months.
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19. Parent-Child Preliteracy Activities Rating Scale
• Proposed adjunct to the Read to Me! Program
• Pilot study evaluated mother-infant relationship while reading
• Used The Global Rating Scales of Mother-Infant Interaction
• Activity: PaCPARS video coding
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20. Indirect Behavioural Assessment of Children
• Usually relies on parent and teacher reports
• The most widely used approach to evaluating childhood behavioural
and emotional troubles
• Child Behavior Checklist is the most common
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21. Achenbach System of Empirically
Based Assessment (ASEBA)
• Child behaviour Checklist (CBCL)
• Teacher Report Form (TRF)
• Scales contain two basic sections
• The first section collects information about the child’s
activities and competencies in areas such as recreation, social
functioning, and school.
• The second section assesses problem behaviours.
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22. ASEBA
• Computer-scoring software is available
• Strengths
• Relatively easy to use
• Time efficient
• Have a rich history of clinical and research applications
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23. BASC 3rd Edition
• Behavioural Assessment Scales for Children
• A Pearson product…like the text book
• An integrated set of instruments that includes:
• Teacher Rating Scale (TRS)
• Parent Rating Scale (PRS)
• Self-report scales
• A classroom observation system
• The Parenting Relationship Questionnaire
• A structured developmental history
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24. BASC-3, cont’d.
• Authors recommend that interpretation follow a “top-
down” approach
• The clinician starts at the most global level
• Then progresses to more specific levels
• Most global measure is the behavioural symptoms
Index (BSI)
• Reflects the overall level of behavioural problems
• Provides clinicians nonspecific index of pathology
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25. BASC-3, cont’d.
• The clinician then proceeds to the four lower order
composite scores
• The third level of analysis involves examining the 16
clinical and adaptive scales.
• Finally, clinicians may examine the individual items.
• The TRS and PRS have several unique features that
promote their use.
• Contain a validity scale
• Assess both negative and adaptive behaviours
• Provide three norm-referenced comparisons
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26. FIGURE 11–1 An example of a completed TRS profile.
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27. Student Observation System (SOS)
• A component of the BASC-3
• Allows for the observation of 14 dimensions of
behaviour
• Useful in any structured setting that has educational
goals
• Uses a momentary time sampling (MTS) procedure
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28. Student Observation System (SOS)
• Important to have good operational definitions of
behaviours
• This contributes to good inter-rater reliability
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29. Student Observation System (SOS)
• MTS is also important in making direct observation
practical, as well as accurate.
• The observer watches the target individual for a specified
period then marks the relevant behaviours.
• BASC-3 SOS MTS is set to be a total of 15 minutes.
• Learn more: BASC website
• Learn more: BASC-3 webinar
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30. Omnibus Rating Scales
• Measure a wide range of symptoms – examples:
• BASC-2 TRS and PRS
• The CBCL and TRF
• Sensitive to symptoms of both internalizing and
externalizing disorders
• Should always be used for initial screening and
assessment
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31. Single-Domain Rating Scales
• Provide a more thorough assessment of a specific
domain or syndrome
• Resemble the omnibus scales in format, but focus on a
single disorder or behavioural dimension
• Can be useful in supplementing more comprehensive
assessment techniques
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32. Single-Domain Rating Scales
• Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS)
• Designed to help identify autism
• Adequate reliability and validity evidence
• BASC Monitor for ADHD
• Designed for use with children suffering from ADHD
• Contains a teacher’s and parent’s rating scale
• Good reliability and validity evidence
• Pediatric Behaviour Rating Scale
• Contains a teacher’s and parent’s rating scale
• Help identify early onset bipolar disorder
• Adequate initial reliability and validity evidence
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33. Adaptive Behaviour Rating Scales
• Adaptive behaviour
• Conceptual skills
• Practical skills
• Social skills
• Important in the assessment of individuals
with developmental and intellectual
disabilities
• The Vineland Adaptive behaviour Scales –
Second Edition (Vineland-II)
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34. Adult Behaviour Rating Scales
• Clinical Assessment Scales for the Elderly (CASE)
• Omnibus behaviour rating scale
• Completed by a caregiver with frequent contact with
examinee
• Contains separate self-report scale for cognitively intact
seniors to complete
• Various clinical scales focus Axis I or clinical disorders
• Three validity scales are provided with the full-length
scales.
• Screening versions of the CASE are also available.
• Typically completed in 30 minutes or less
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35. The Brief Child and Family Telephone
Interview (BCFPI)
•Helps to reduce self-report problems
•Not a clinical interview but the scores are
highly predictive of childhood mental illness
•Activity: BCFPI discussion
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36. Other Types of Assssment
• Continuous Performance Tests (CPTs)
• Specific type of behavioural test originally designed to
measure the following:
• Vigilance
• Attention
• And more generally, executive control
• Different CPT paradigms have been devised
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37. CPT
• Typically, a CPT requires an examinee to view a
computer screen.
• Respond when a simple stimulus or sequence of stimuli
appear on the screen
• Inhibit responding at all other times
• Can be complex and use auditory presentation
• Highly sensitive to problems with self-regulatory and
executive control systems
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38. CPT
• A recent CPT added working memory assessment to the
standard CPT paradigms.
• Tasks of Executive Control (TEC)
• Consists of a set of six different tasks
• Manipulates working memory as a component of:
• Attention
• Vigilance
• Response inhibition
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39. Psychophysiological Assessments
• Typically involves recording physical changes in the
body
• Lie detector or polygraph is perhaps the best-known
example
• Other examples:
• Electroencephalographs (EEGs)
• Electromyographs
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