Assessment

Abstract

Courses and books on assessment often focus on methods and techniques, such as the technical aspects of administration, scoring, and interpretation of psychological tests. However, our focus in this chapter is not on technical issues. Rather, our focus is on the ideas and ways of doing things that we have found useful in the work we have done on assessing children with phobic and anxiety disorders. Although we recognize that it is important to have a solid background in the technical issues related to assessment methods, we also consider it just as important to have a “pragmatic,” problem-focused orientation that recognizes a full range of goals as well as means. The goal of our assessment activities is, after all, more than solving technical and methodological problems; our ultimate goal is to identify the type of help that children in distress need.