The Child Behavior Checklist & Behavior Assessment System

Introduction

Assessing the behavior of children is an important aspect of making sure that there is the effective development of an understanding of the reasons behind why they behave the way that they do. There are a number of tools that have been adopted for the purpose of making sure that there is the advancement of understanding concerning the behavior of children in different scenarios. This is especially considering that these tools involve a situation where it is essential to not only assess, but also make an analysis of the behavioral problems that these individuals might encounter. In this paper, there will be an assessment of the Behavioral Assessment System for Children (BASC) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

The Behavior Assessment System

The BASC is a well-designed and essentials set of measures that can be used for making sure that there is the creation of an understanding of children of school going age. This is especially the case when it comes to assessing and identifying the emotional disturbances that they might experience as well as the detection of behavioral disorders. There are a number of measures that are used in bringing about a full BASC diagnosis and these involve the following: teachers, parents, direct observations, students, and historical records (Garcia-Barrera, Duggan, Karr, & Reynolds, 2014). This variety of sources is important in the advancement of the assessment of child behavior because it combines information from a number of sources in a way that ensures that there is a well-rounded approach to behavioral problems. It can be a useful tool both in the schools and home environment because it ensures that children are monitored at all times while at the same time aiding psychologists to have a better assessment of the manner through which the emotional and behavioral states of these individuals are governed (Kiperman, Black, McGill, Harrell-Williams, & Kamphaus, 2014). The achievement of this goal is a fundamental aspect of BASC because it allows for behavioral problems in children to be detected early and support systems to be put in place so that the children involved can be assisted in adjusting their behavior. Therefore, despite its shortcomings, BASC, because of its multidimensional nature, is an essential means of bringing about the best measures aimed at supporting children with behavioral disorders to achieve a sense of normalcy.

The Child Behavior Checklist

The CBCL, on the other hand, is formatted as a questionnaire in order to ensure that the different aspects of assessment are addressed directly. The questionnaires are often of high quality and are standardized in such a way that they screen measures of the child’s emotional or behavioral problems. In addition, it is made use of to analyze the social competencies of the children involved so that a clear assessment of their problems can be made. This model has been specifically developed in order to be used by parents, teachers, and children to come to terms with emotional and behavioral problems (Bordin et al., 2013). It is also a comprehensive approach aimed at making sure that there is the assessment of the maladaptive and adaptive functioning of children so that it becomes possible to guide them accordingly. The CBCL is widely used when it comes to the provision of mental health services for children, especially in the context where the child is in need to guidance, and training. Through the questionnaire format, it is possible to ask direct questions concerning the manner through which children’s emotions and behaviors are triggered and the reasons behind why they behave as they do (Hudziak, Copeland, Stanger, & Wadsworth, 2004). Through the advancement of this knowledge, it becomes possible to find out the root causes of problems and how they can be handled in such a way that makes it possible for children to attain the guidance that they need to change their behavior for the better. As an essential model of detecting inattentiveness among children, it allows for the advancement of their welfare.

Comparison of the Behavioral Assessment System and the Child Behavior Checklist

The BASC and CBCL scales are essential tools in the assessment of the behavior of children. This is especially the case with respect to finding out whether children are suffering from such conditions are attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from those without the condition. Furthermore, they are also useful tools when it comes to assessing whether the children are either affected by ADHD or are essentially just individuals that are essentially the inattentive type (Ameis et al., 2016). These tools have different classification analyses that are made use of for the purpose of bringing about an understanding as well as conclusions concerning the behaviors of individuals. However, despite their being used in some of the same circumstances, both of these tools can be considered to have different strengths in a diverse number of assessments. For example, the BASC is an important tool when it comes to distinguishing between ADHD to non-ADHD children and this is an essential assessment tool because it has greater strength than the CBCL model. In addition, the CBCL is an essential means of predicting when children are inattentive and this is to such an extent that in this case, it is deemed superior to the BASC model (Villabø, Oerbeck, Skirbekk, Hansen, & Kristensen, 2016). A consequence of this situation is that it ensures that there is the advancement of methods that can be used to predict child behavior in such a way that they describe the behavioral dimensions that are associated with a diverse number of ADHD subtypes. These tools are therefore pertinent in the advancement of knowledge concerning child behavior and the manner through which they can be diagnosed effectively.

Analysis of BASC and CBCL

One of the most fundamental aspects of the CBCL is that it involves the filling in of questionnaires by parents, teachers, and children. This is aimed at getting critical information concerning the behavior of children not only from themselves, but also from those individuals that have daily interactions with them, namely their parents and teachers. A result of filling in questionnaires is that it brings about a situation where it becomes possible to assess the behavioral status of children from various viewpoints in order to ensure that the correct evaluation and diagnosis of the children’s status is reached. In addition, it ensure that there is the advancement of means through which therapists of counselors are better able to study the behavior of children, the questionnaires found in the CBCL are structures in such a way that there is a step by step assessment of the progress that a child is making towards a certain emotional or behavioral attribute, such as inattentiveness either in the class or home environments. The BASC model, on the other hand, seeks to ensure that there is the accurate assessment of children that suffer from ADHD. It is an important method because it ensures that there is the involvement of not only parents and teachers, as is the case with the CBCL, but it also seeks to analyze the records, historical or otherwise, of the child being analyzed. A result is that it takes on a well-rounded approach to emotional and behavioral problems in children; ensuring that when a diagnosis is made, it is done after all potential issues have been evaluated. The diverse symptoms and social functioning of children are assessed through the BASC to such an extent that it leads to the advancement of better means through which problems are identified at an early stage. Therefore, both BASC and CBCL are important models for the diagnosing and understanding child behavior to such an extent that they enable counselors and therapists to undertake to help those with problems efficiently.

Conclusions

The CBCL is one of the more efficient methods of ensuring that there is the effective assessment of emotional and behavioral problems among children. This conclusion is based on assessment of literature above which has shown that the CBCL has a more rigorous method that can be made use of to ensure that emotional and behavioral problems in children are approached objectively. The behavior checklist is important because it allows parents, teachers, and children themselves to ensure that they make an analysis of the child in such a way that their disparate opinions are put into consideration. The diversity of observations are essential when making the assessment because it ensures that the diagnosis is based on the observations of the different parties directly involved in the child’s life rather than being based on assumptions. Because the child himself is involved in the process, and his or her opinions are put into consideration, it becomes possible to seek out the child’s perspective of the matter and how they view their social environment. The use of questionnaires in the CBCL is an essential tool when it comes to getting an idea about the events that are taking place in a child’s life and how they might be the cause of the behavioral problems that they might be experiencing. A consequence is that the this model is more efficient than its BASC counterpart when it comes to finding out whether children are having behavioral problems; allowing for a more efficient method of dealing with the problem before they get out of hand.