History, Overview, and Trends in Child and Adolescent Psychological Assessment Chapter uri icon

abstract

  • Systematically evaluating human performance and predicting important outcomes emerged in the far reaches of recorded history. For example, Gregory (2007) described that as early as 2200 BC Chinese emperors developed physical abilities, knowledge, and specific skill examinations for government officials and civil servants. However, assessment of children's abilities and behavior certainly predates even these distant instances of evaluation of adults. We contend that child assessment has taken place as long as parents and other adults have observed and tracked changes in children's development. Parents notice changes over time within a given child and differences among children in abilities and responses to circumstances. This type of informal evaluation process certainly is a far cry from the empirically based, standardized methods of child and adolescent psychological assessment that have developed over the past 150 years or so, but it is foundational. 2009 Springer New York.

author list (cited authors)

  • Heffer, R. W., Barry, T. D., & Garland, B. H.

citation count

  • 4

complete list of authors

  • Heffer, Robert W||Barry, Tammy D||Garland, Beth H

Book Title

  • Assessing Childhood Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities

publication date

  • January 2009