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Behaviour Observation

Behaviour observation is a key component in psychological assessment. Observing the behaviours of our clients is a method to be used in conjunction with standardised tests, interviews, behavioural and personality checklists in the assessment process. While conducting behaviour observation, there are a few considerations before we start. For instance, psychologists need to:

• Determine the purpose of behaviour observation

  •  e.g., Are the recorded behaviour descriptions used to facilitate school placement decisions or for assessing if the   child has anxiety issues?

• Choose who, what, when and where to observe after determining the purpose

  •   e.g., to determine a suitable school placement for a student (purpose), a psychologist may choose to observe a student’s (who) classroom behaviours (what) during his lesson time (when) in his EIPIC centre (where) as one of the components for assessment.

• Decide which type of recording method to use to record behaviours

  • Following the previous example, only narrative recording is needed for general descriptions of classroom behaviours for the purpose of determining a suitable school placement for a student.

Here are some ideas and resources to spark your learning and thinking: 

Observation methods

Sattler (2014) – Chapter 8 on Observation Methods, Part 1

It covers major observational methods but one can focus on narrative recording for behavioural observation for the purpose of school placement assessment (p. 258-271). It covers:

• What to consider when conducting observations

• How to objectively record observed behaviours

• Strengths and weaknesses of observation methods

• Observational settings and sources

• Context of observations, i.e., ecological observation or planned incident observation

• How to use, design and make a narrative recording

Sattler, J. M. (2014). Foundations of Behavioral, Social, and Clinical Assessment of Children Sixth Edition. San Diego: Jerome M. Sattler, Publisher, Inc. 

Read more here.

Observing with Purpose: Strategies for Observing Young Children’s Learning and Development

This video summarises how to go about observing children in different settings and times and what to look out for. It highlights the objectives of the observations and attitudes we need to adopt as an observer.

Writing Observations: Documenting a Child's Development Through Observations

This video lays out simple principles on how to observe and write young children’s behaviours effectively. It illustrates how to document childhood development in an early childhood class and provides the type of information to include when writing a behaviour record and what to avoid. It contains examples to contrast the “wrong” way of writing versus the “corrected” writing.

We have gathered some useful tips that are used by our psychologists in this area:

Template for Behavioural Observation in Classroom

This is a template that may be a helpful guide for making classroom observations of your client prior to conducting the assessment.

Behaviours to observe during psychological assessment

This document highlights some behaviours to consider when we observe clients during psychological assessments. Test behaviours of the client can have a significant impact on his/her performance on the assessment. This document can be used before and/or after the psychological assessment.