Empirically Assisted Assessment of Family Systems: The Bricklin Scales

Abstract

Our system combines quantified (formal) procedures and informal models. While not data based, semiformal models have many advantages. They guarantee that somewhere in one’s assessment similar data will be gathered from each main participant. Without this, meaningful comparisons are difficult if not impossible to make. Free-form interviews, for example, do not allow meaningful comparisons. This model guarantees that an evaluator will assess every area deemed pertinent in legal and psychological writings, including especially statutory and case law guidelines from the state of jurisdiction, and not unwittingly (or subjectively) fail to consider relevant information. Because these pertinent areas are articulated, they can be challenged as well as continually fine-tuned. Information about parenting knowledge and skills is gathered. The Parent Awareness Skills Survey (PASS), a series of questions asking how a parent would handle critical childhood situations, reflects a parent’s awareness of optimum childcare strategies. The Parent Perception of Child Profile (PPCP) and the Assessment of Parenting Skills: Infant and Preschooler (APSIP) reveal the degree to which a parent is attuned to the developmental and unique needs of a particular child. These tools ask about the range, depth, and specificity of the information each parent has about the child’s daily routine, interpersonal relations, health, developmental history, school issues, fears, personal hygiene, communication style, and disciplinary matters. The Bricklin–Elliot Home Visit Booklet guides home studies, including the investigation of complex topics like relocation.