Syndromal Diagnosis and the Behavioral Assessment of Childhood Disorders

Abstract

The recent appearance of the Third Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) will impact considerably on child behavior therapists. However, the extent to which syndromal diagnosis in general, and DSM-III in particular, enhances behavioral assessment has yet to be explicated. The present paper suggests that the synthesis of child behavioral assessment and DSM-III diagnosis is both warranted and useful. Such a synthesis gives behavior therapists access to the nomothetic considerations inherent to syndromal diagnosis, at the same time bringing the specificity and treatment planning capacities of behavioral assessment to bear upon DSM-III diagnosis. This paper discusses the utility of nomothetic and idiographic data in child behavioral assessment, and proposes a model for the synthesis of syndormal diagnosis and child behavioral assessment. Illustrations of the model in clinical practice are provided.