ABSTRACT
A clinician can help a child to the extent that he or she understands that child’s subjective concerns. e interview is one way clinicians get to know their young clients. In conversing with a child, an interviewer hopes to hear about the child’s experienced events and interpretations of those events. e goal of most clinical interviews is to assess the child’s needs as well as his or her cognitive and emotional processes. What makes one interview more useful than another? While an interview’s quality is related to the amount of information the child shares, the accuracy/reliability of what is shared is just as, if not more, important. How can a clinician elicit the most reliable information from a young interviewee? What steps can a clinician take to maximize the likelihood that a child understands the interviewer? And to what extent can a clinician trust that a child’s report is reliable? Knowing what to expect from the young interviewee-the child’s cognitive capabilities and limitations, as well as the child’s own expectations for the interview-will give a clinician some necessary tools for conducting a useful interview.
