Early Childhood Assessment (PDF)

A new guide to conducting more comprehensive and meaningfulpsychological assessments of young children

Early Childhood Assessment presents a thorough, step-by-stepapproach to the comprehensive psychological assessment of youngchildren. In addition to covering major psychological tests, thisinvaluable resource includes specific guidelines and formats forinterviewing parents and other caregivers, observing children andcaregiver-child interaction, conducting dynamic assessments,writing reports, and evaluating outcomes of recommendedinterventions.

Dr. Lidz's approach encourages a broad range of observation with anoverarching objective of completing a picture of the "whole" child,from family life to social-emotional and neuropsychologicalfunctioning. She leads the reader through each step of acomprehensive assessment, touching on the major data sourcesnecessary for a full understanding of the child within differentenvironments. Throughout the book, Dr. Lidz advocates bestassessment practices that reflect the interests of children andfamilies.

Features useful information on:

* Conducting initial interviews and observations for setting thecourse of the assessment

* Using standardized and nonstandardized approaches to generateboth qualitative and quantitative data

* Viewing children and families within their culturalcontexts

* Integrating assessment data sources to generate meaningfulrecommendations and readable reports

Plus:

* Includes unique chapters on play, observation of parent-child andteacher-child interactions, and dynamic assessment

Early Childhood Assessment is a valuable tool for professionals andstudents who are concerned about the richness and complexity ofchildren's development within their families and communities.