Child and Family Assessment in Social Work Practice


Book Description

This thoroughly revised and updated second edition of Child and Family Assessment in Social Work Practice is an essential guide for social work students and practitioners involved in the assessment of children and their families. Focusing on ′core′ assessments and guiding the reader through the complexities of conducting assessments of need and risk, the book now includes within each chapter a range of specifically-tailored exercises and focus points which encourage readers both to reflect on what they have learnt and to understand how they can apply that learning to practice. Placing a strong emphasis on good, evidence-based, assessment practice, Sally Holland has also, for this new edition, included original research evidence from a wide range of up-to-date research studies which are relevant to today′s practice and which aim to promote a critical and reflective approach to the assessment process. The book is divided into three parts: - Part 1 explores different appoaches to assessment work, outlining policy changes and their implications for working with children and their families. - Part 2 studies those involved in child and family assessments: children and their parents; and the relationship between the assessors and the assessed. - Part 3 - a more practical guide - outlines the actual process of an assessment, illustrated by case studies, focusing on planning assessment methods, analysis, reporting and critical evaluation. Accessibly relating theory and research to actual practice through the use of case studies, exercises, and suggestions for good practice and further reading, this book has a student-friendly structure It will be an invaluable resource for practitioners and academics across the field of social welfare, particularly for those embarking on, or already involved in, child and family assessment.




Couple and Family Assessment


Book Description

The field of family, child, and couple assessment continues to evolve and change since the first edition of this book appeared in 2004. Couple and Family Assessment, Third Edition, is a thoroughly revised and updated resource for anyone working with children, adolescents, couples, and families. It provides an in-depth description of an even larger number of clinically useful assessment tools and methods, including issue-specific tools, self-report inventories, standardized inventories, qualitative measures, and observational methods. Each chapter provides strategies for systematically utilizing these various assessment methods and measures with a wide range of family dynamics that influence couples and families. These include couples conflict, divorce, separation, mediation, premarital decisions, parenting conflicts, child abuse, family violence, custody evaluation, and child and adolescent conditions, i.e., depression, anxiety, conduct disorder, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, autism, Asperger’s syndrome, and learning disorders that can significantly influence family dynamics. This third edition features the latest, most common and important assessment tools and strategies for addressing problematic clinical issues related to working with families, couples, and children. Chapters 3 through 11 include matrices that summarize pertinent information on all instruments reviewed, allowing readers to instantly compare more than 130 assessment devices. Finally, the book provides extensive clinical case material that illustrates the use of these various assessment tools and strategies in a wide array of clinical situations. Couple and Family Assessment, Third Edition, will be useful to both trainees and practitioners as a ready reference on assessment measures and strategies for working with families, couples, and children.




Assessment of Young Children


Book Description

In an era of standards and norms where assessment tends to minimize or dismiss individual differences and results in punitive outcomes or no action at all, Assessment of Young Children provides teachers with an approach to assessment that is in the best interest of both children and their families. Author Lisa B. Fiore explores a variety of ways to study and assess young children in their natural environments, while stressing the importance of bringing children and families into the process. This lively text helps the reader learn how to cultivate developmentally appropriate practice, create appropriate expectations, examine children’s work, interact in groups, and improve their teacher behavior. Accounts of real experiences from children, families, teachers, and administrators provide on-the-ground models of assessment stategies and demonstrate how children are affected. Assessment of Young Children explores both standardized and authentic assessment, work sampling systems, and observation skills. Readers will walk away with strategies for communicating information about children and portfolio assessment, and how the use of formal and informal methods of observation, documentation, and assessment are connected to teacher and student inquiry. Assessment of Young Children encourages an assessment strategy where the child remains the focus and explores how collaboration with children, families, and colleagues creates an image—not a diagnosis—of the child that is empowering rather than constraining. Special Features Include: Case Study examples that anchor the concepts presented in the chapters and engage readers more deeply in the content. "Now what?" and "Avenues for Inquiry" throughout the book present students with concrete extensions of the material that they may pursue for further investigation




Assessment and Treatment Activities for Children, Adolescents, and Families


Book Description

In this comprehensive resource, Liana Lowenstein has compiled an impressive collection of techniques from experienced practitioners. Interventions are outlined for engaging, assessing, and treating children of all ages and their families. Activities address a range of issues including, Feelings Expression, Social Skills, Self-Esteem, and Termination. A "must have" for mental health professionals seeking to add creative interventions to their repertoire.




Mastering Whole Family Assessment in Social Work


Book Description

How do you keep the whole family in mind when carrying out social work assessment? How do you balance the needs of adults and children? How do you ensure that children's welfare and safety are everyone's priority when families face complex difficulties? Mastering Whole Family Assessment in Social Work brings together what social workers in adult and children services need to know about assessment across both services. With tools and frameworks that make sense of the interface between adult life difficulties, family problems, parenting capacity and children's needs, this practical guide will help social workers to think across professional and administrative divides. Case studies, practice vignettes, exercises and suggestions for further reading are included throughout the book to help the reader consider the well-being of the whole family when conducting and interpreting assessments. This guide will help social workers to think holistically and work collaboratively both with each other and with families.




Functional Somatic Symptoms in Children and Adolescents


Book Description

This open access book sets out the stress-system model for functional somatic symptoms in children and adolescents. The book begins by exploring the initial encounter between the paediatrician, child, and family, moves through the assessment process, including the formulation and the treatment contract, and then describes the various forms of treatment that are designed to settle the child’s dysregulated stress system. This approach both provides a new understanding of how such symptoms emerge – typically, through a history of recurrent or chronic stress, either physical or psychological – and points the way to effective assessment, management, and treatment that put the child (and family) back on the road to health and well-being.




Psychological Assessment of Sexually Abused Children and Their Families


Book Description

Designed for professionals in the field of child maltreatment, this authoritative book presents a compelling theoretical framework that guide's assessment of children and adolescents who have been sexually abused and their parents. The book is designed to make it easier for clinicians to select a number of measures or procedures across three dimensions that have considerable clinical relevance – attachment, dysregulations, and self-perception. Psychological Assessment of Sexually Abused Children and Their Families features in particular the assessment of sexually aggressive children and an extensive set of interview formats, checklists, and other forms that clinicians will find especially useful in evaluating children and their families. The book is also richly illustrated with case studies.




Diagnostic and Behavioral Assessment in Children and Adolescents


Book Description

This comprehensive volume shows how to use both diagnostic and behavioral assessment knowledgeably and effectively throughout the process of treatment. The two traditions have developed along separate paths--each with its own conceptual underpinnings and psychometric strengths. Used together, they can produce a complete picture of a child's or adolescent's needs and strengths. The expert editors and contributors describe the full range of evidence-based assessment tools and illustrate their application with two intake-to-termination case examples, both based on DSM-5. Reproducible tools include a behavioral recording form and a multipage case conceptualization worksheet that can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.







Assessment Of The School-Age Child and Adolescent


Book Description

Rely on this easy-to-use reference to provide all of the guidance you need to perform age-specific assessments and screenings of school-age children and adolescents. You’ll begin with a review of basic assessment techniques, then focus on the specific techniques, assessment strategies, and advanced procedures for each body system and age group. Special sections address behavioral and nutritional assessments, as well as meeting the needs of special populations.