Interpretation aof Storytelling in the Clinical Assessment of Children and Adolescents

There are many available methods and procedures for the clinical assessment of children and adolescents. Among them, narrative approaches have long held popularity with practicing clinicians for a variety of reasons. Storytelling is an engaging activity that is familiar and appealing to most children across ages and cultures. Thus, as a task demand, stories are often a welcome addition to a battery of tests. Furthermore, in the process of storytelling, the child or examinee reveals considerable aspects of himself or herself that might not other­wise be communicated. In the broadest sense, children’s stories can be analyzed to evaluate thoughts, behaviors, emotions, perceptions of self, relationships with others, and coping and problem-solving skills. As such, they can inform clinical conceptualizations from multi-theoretical perspectives, including psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, inter­personal, and family systems orientations.This chapter explores the history and theoretical underpinnings of the storytelling approaches. An overview of the Thematic Apperception Test and interpretive systems with applications for children and adolescents is provided. The discussion then focuses on three principal storytelling tests developed specifically for children, namely the Children’s Apper­ception Test (C.A.T; Beliak & Beliak, 1949), the Roberts Apperception Test for Children (RATC; McArthur & Roberts, 1982; Roberts-2; Roberts & Gruber, 2005), and the Tell-Me-A-Story test (TEMAS; Costantino, Malgady, & Rogler, 1988). Finally, a case example is pre­sented, integrating data from social history information, intellectual assessment, behavior report forms, and self-report inventories.