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Discussion: Assessment Tools

Assessments are an integral part of the planned change process. During this part of the process you will accumulate, organize, and review the information you will need to begin the planning and intervention phases of treatment. Content and information are obtained from multiple sources (the child, family members, school personnel, etc.) and in various forms (interviews, records, and observation). It is essential to collect data in a comprehensive manner—understanding the presenting problem from an ecological model that seeks to gain insight into the concern on a micro, mezzo, and macro level. Focusing on a multilevel approach to a client’s concern and taking into account the environmental factors that contribute to the presenting problem distinguishes social work from other disciplines.

By Day 3

Post a description of the importance of using multiple evidence-based tools (including quantitative, open ended, and ecologically focused) to assess children. Explain how each complements the other in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the young client’s concerns and situation. Then, describe the use of an eco-map in assessment and explain the different systems you will account for in your assessment of a child.

Support your posts with specific references to this week’s resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

By Day 5

Respond to at least two colleagues with your views on what makes this form of assessment specific to social work.

Support your responses with specific references to this week’s resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.
Colleague 1: Melinda
It is important to use the multiple evidence-based tools when assess children due to the age of the client and bias opinions of others reporting. “ACEs can have negative, lasting effects on health, wellbeing, and opportunity. These exposures can disrupt healthy brain development, affect social development, compromise immune systems, and can lead to substance misuse and other unhealthy coping behaviors” (CDC, 2013). Using this evidence-based tools to help reduce ACEs. We want to ensure we are using data collection within clinical interview, structured interview, self-report data, direct observations, or reviews of existing records (Woolley, 2013). We want to review this report data by interviews with client and parents to see what they have observed and feel about situations or behaviors. If there was a previous doctor, therapist, social worker or any kind of diagnosis in the past, reading up on these records would help the social worker have a better understanding on how things were up until the time of their first meeting. We want us open ended question to help understand target goals. It was stated by Woolley, this part of the assessments focus on the social aspects of clients and struggles distinguished assessment (2013). This would be another way to bring up different things that may have not been brought up during the interviews. Using Ecological focus to map out their system relationship. Personal favorite tool is the genogram. The genogram can help the social worker understand the relationships and family dynamics with the clients life.

Eco-mapping would “map in a dynamic way the ecological systems in which the family lives and interacts. The eco-map facilitates an informal, conversational approach to family information gathering, including identification of immediate and extended family members, friends, and neighbors; recreational, employment, and community supports; and formal resources accessed by the family” (McCormick, 2008). The difference within the eco-mapping and other systems such as genogram are the structure, plotting sense, and mapping. Genogram’s focus is the relationship and map of the family dynamics. It does not focus on the extended family, friends and/or neighbors.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2013). Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ace

McCormick, K. M., Stricklin, S., Nowak, T. M., & Rous, B. (2008). Using eco-mapping to understand family strengths and resources. Young Exceptional Children, 11(2), 17–28.

Woolley, M. E. (2013). Assessment of children. In M. J. Holosko, C. N. Dulmus, & K. M. Sowers (Eds.), Social work practice with individuals and families: Evidence-informed assessments and interventions (pp. 1–39). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Colleague 2: Kristine 

Description of the importance of using multiple evidence-based tools for the assessment of children

According to Holosko et al. (2013), in Social Work Practice with Individuals and Families, “developing reliable and valid assessment tools requires careful and rigorous research” (pg. 20).  By using evidence-based approaches, we are able to get the whole picture by using tools that have been proven to work through reliability and validity testing.  

How each approach compliments the other 

In my experience, children’s attitudes and behaviors change as they grow, meet new people, enroll and attend school, adapting to those that they feel are important to them. When working with elementary aged children you need to work within their development levels so that they have an understanding of what you are asking them. By using an interactive approach, where the tactile part of being a child comes into play, you can watch them do things such as role play, to see how they comprehend the situations that you instigate, or they come up with on their own. Add in the visual assessment, looking at body language, facial expressions, and interactions with others and how they process the information they are given, and you have a little more to their story. As with adults, children have ticks and things they do in uncomfortable situations, by using multiple approaches, you see more of what the story of the child is. 

Describe the use of Eco-Mapping in assessment 

Eco-mapping is a visual tool used to see how different systems overlap and show strengths and weaknesses in the family unit. According to the article, Using Eco-Mapping to Understand Family Strengths and Resources, written by McCormick, Stricklin, Nowak, and Rous (2008), “practitioners use eco-maps to build rapport, learn more about family perceptions during their initial encounter, organize important information and facts, set goals for intervention, and monitor progress”. This is a tool that can be repeated throughout the course of intervention to see where gains have been made, and where they need to focus their attention.  

In assessing a child, I will utilize the experience of not only the child, but also that of the parents/guardians, teachers, using the person-in approach, witnessing the behaviors of the child in their environments, including home and school, to see how the child interacts with those environments. I will use self-report surveys, direct interviews, and hands on assessment tools to understand the level of understanding the child has of the environments they interact most with. Using a tool such as an eco-map, I will be able to create the picture that will inform the next best steps for helping this child with the problem behaviors. 

References 

Wooly, M. E. (2013). Assessment of Children. In M. J, Holosko, C. N. Dulmus, & K. M. Sowers (Eds). Social Work Practice with Individuals and Families: Evidence-Informed Assessments and Interventions, (pp. 1-39). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley

McCormick, K. M., Stricklin, S., Nowak, T. M., and Rous, B. (2008) Using Eco-Mapping to Understand Family Strengths and Resources.