Examen psychologique de l'enfant et de l'adolescent

This course explores various aspects of the psychological examination of children and adolescents.
Analysis of the notion of mental health and the issues surrounding the assessment and categorization of mental disorders in infant and adolescents with a descriptive, developmental and relational perspective.
Study of the particular relational situation induced by the consultation with children and adolescents.
Presentation of the different moments of the psychological examination (analysis of the request, anamnesis, investigation, interviews, observation, communication of conclusions).
Deepening of the issues surrounding announcement of a possible diagnosis.
Different clinical evaluation approaches (categorical, dimensional, mixed, structural) will be presented and various screening and diagnostic tools (semi-structured interviews, self-reported questionnaires, scales, etc.) will be illustrated. Particular attention will be paid to the screening and diagnosis of anxiety, depressive and obsessive-compulsive disorders.
Presentation of a methodology to analyse various mediating tools that are specific or adapted to the child (Scéno-Test, CAT, PN, drawing ...).

General objectives

• Prepare the student for the practice of clinical and diagnostic examination of babies, children and adolescents by stimulating a reflective and multireferential approach (categorical, dimensional, mixed).
• Provide students with various assessment tools (screening and diagnosis).
• Introduce the student to the practice of mediating tools in the encounter with the child.
• Prepare the student to anchor the reading of a case in a theoretical reflection.

Specific objectives

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Describe the overall approach of the clinical evaluation and identify the different stages of a psychological examination with children and adolescents.
• Analyze and compare the interest of using different clinical assessment approaches for psychopathological disorders in their future practice as a (neuro) psychologist, including categorical, dimensional and mixed nosographic approaches.
• Reflect on the particular relational situation and the specific difficulties and limitations associated with the practice of examining a child.
• Reflect on mental health and mental disorders based on various references and clinical theoretical models.
• Identify good practices in child and adolescent examination (consensus conference).
• Select the most appropriate tests according to several parameters (the objectives of the exam, the age of the children, etc.).
• Use various screening and diagnostic tools frequently used in psychology. Explain the ethical and scientific requirements for their use. Mobilize knowledge of the procedures for administrating the tests (knowing the instructions, the order in which the material is to be taken, etc.).
• Use the scoring grids proposed by Boekholt (2006) for verbal and play tools. Analyze the data collected by applying a three-step reading grid: observation, analysis and synthesis.
• Know the precautions to be taken when giving conclusions or a diagnosis to the child / adolescent and his parents.

Required and Corequired knowledge and skills

Knowledge of the overall development (sensory, motor, linguistic, motor, socio-emotional, cognitive) of children and adolescents.

Complementary educational approaches will be used to promote the learning of an assessment process in infant and juvenile clinics and in psychopathology.

• Lectures on campus. According to the evolution of the situation, lectures on campus could be replaced by online presentations
• Personal readings from "thematic reading files" proposed by the teacher on different disorders and on different assessment tools.
• Illustrations of clinical cases and discussion of readings in class and in the Forum (on StudiUM) in order to promote the links between theory and practice.

Teaching materials :

• Virtual university https://uv.ulb.ac.be/course/ PSYC-E419
• Lecture notes prepared by the teacher
• Various readings (scientific articles, book extracts, DSM-5)

Contribution to the teaching profile

This course allows the student to understand the specificity of the meeting with the baby, the child and the adolescent and to become familiar with the psychological examination of this population.

Developed skills (according to the teaching profile of the faculty)  :

• Adopt an ethical and deontological posture.
  • Develop a questioning of the ethical implications of research or intervention in the disciplines taught, taking into account the legislative framework and the main codes of ethics.
• Learn about a scientific research process.
  • Identify the epistemological paradigm and the theoretical framework used in a research.
  • Characterize the research methods to be applied according to the type of data collected.
• Identify and situate oneself in relation to questions relating to the psychological sciences.
  • Analyse societal issues (for example of a categorical diagnosis) in the light of theoretical knowledge.
  • Identify approaches, methods, analysis and intervention tools for psychological assessment.
  • Distinguish between the different levels of analysis (eg biological, developmental, psychosocial, interindividual) allowing to approach a psychological fact.

References, bibliography, and recommended reading

A reading file available on the Virtual University will contain various links, readings and extracts from books as well as notes prepared by the teacher.
 
Recommended readings (more references will be available or suggested on the Virtual University)
 

• American Psychiatric Association (version française, 2015). DSM5 : Manuel diagnostique et statistique des troubles mentaux (M.-A. Crocq & J.D. Guelfi, Trad.). Issy-les-Moulineaux : Elsevier Masson. Collection : Ebook Central.

• Bouvard, M. (2008) (sous la direction de). Echelles et questionnaires d’évaluation chez l’enfant et l’adolescent. Volume 1 et volume 2. France : Elsevier Masson.

• Dumas, J.E. (2013, 4e édition revue et augmentée). Psychopathologie de l’enfant et de l’adolescent. Bruxelles : De Boeck.

• First, M. B. (2016). Dsm5® : diagnostics différentiels. (M.A. Crocq & R. M. Moraru, Trans.). Elsevier Masson.

• Lauth, B. (2012). 17. Entretiens diagnostiques semistructurés et structurés. Dans : , P. Ferrari & O. Bonnot (Dir), Traité européen de psychiatrie et de psychopathologie de l'enfant et de l'adolescent (pp. 137143). Cachan, France: Lavoisier.

• Petot, D. (2018). L'évaluation clinique en psychopathologie de l'enfant. Paris: Dunod.

• Ravit, M. (2013). L’examen psychologique au fils des âges : du bébé au sujet âgé. Cursus Armand Colin. Chapitres 1, 2 et 3 : L’examen psychologique du bébé, de l’enfant, de l’adolescent.

• Speranza, M. & Valeri, G. (2010). Trajectoires développementales en psychopathologie : apprentissages et construction de soi chez l'enfant et l'adolescent. Développements, 6(3), 5-15.

Course notes

• Université virtuelle

Additional information

Lectures on campus which could be partially adapted to virtual mode (Zoom or Teams).

Contacts

Teacher contact details

Developmental and Family Psychology Unit
Professor Lotta De Coster
Email: lotta.de.coster@ulb.be

Preferential communication methods

Via the Virtual University
https://uv.ulb.ac.be/course/
 

Campus

Solbosch

Method(s) of evaluation

• written examination

written examination

Written exam with multiple choice questions.

Answers to multiple-choice exam questions require careful study (memorization) and understanding of the material and will assess multiple levels of material appropriation.

• Memorization and knowledge (for example choosing the correct answer among several definitions or enumerations, linking a concept or a test to an author).
• Memorization and comprehension (for example linking a concept to an example).
• Analysis of concepts and integration of theories / methods: resolution of a clinical case, comparison between concepts / diagnoses in terms of convergence, divergence (for example finding the intruder in a series).

Mark calculation method (including weighting of intermediary marks)

The exam is graded on 20 points.
More details will be provided at the beginning of the semester.

Language(s) of evaluation

• french