Diagnostic Decision-Making: How Much Do Behavior Rating Scales Influence School Psychologists?

Behavior rating scales are commonly used as part of the evaluation process throughout the field of psychology. Behavior rating scales help assess social, emotional, and/or behavioral problems in children, adolescents, and teens. Behavior rating scales indicate the severity of problem behaviors compared to a normative sample. Four scenarios were developed that varied scores on a behavior rating scale and the amount of other information that supported a specific diagnosis. A rating of the likelihood of a diagnosis was requested to see how much influence behavior rating scale scores have on diagnostic decision-making. Each of the four scenarios was sent to 200 school psychologists across the country for a total of 800 potential participants. An overall response rate of 37.5% was achieved. The findings revealed that behavior rating scales do have some influence on school psychologists’ diagnostic decision-making. However, school psychologists put more weight on other supporting information, such as classroom observations and teacher and parent reports, than on behavior rating scale scores when making a diagnostic decision.

Name thesis:degree_name

Specialist in Education

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Department of Psychology

Year

2010

Author dc:creator

• Higgins, Lesley Ann

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Carl Myers (Director), Dr. Elizabeth Jones, Dr. Reagan Brown

• school psychology
• educational tests and assessments
• behavioral assessment of children
• Child Psychology
• Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
• Educational Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/157

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-1159