title: Defining the "disruptive" in preschool behavior: what diagnostic observation can teach us.
abstract: This paper presents the clinical/developmental framework underlying a new diagnostic observational tool, the Disruptive Behavior Diagnostic Observation Schedule (DB-DOS). The special importance of observation for clinical assessment during the preschool period is delineated. The developmental rationale for a multi-dimensional assessment of disruptive behavior in young children, including problems in modulation of negative affect and low competence is discussed. The ways in which the DB-DOS will elucidate distinctions between normative and atypical behavior during this developmental period via (a) the integration of qualitative and quantitative dimensions of behavior within a clinically-sensitive coding system, (b) the observation of child behavior both within, and outside of, the parent-child context and (c) the use of specially designed tasks to "press" for clinically salient behaviors are addressed. The promise of this new method for yielding a more precise, developmentally based description of the phenotype of early onset disruptive behavior problems and for providing a standardized clinical tool for observational assessment of disruptive behavior in young children is presented. Large-scale validation of the measure is currently underway.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Juvenile Research, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago 60608, USA. lwakschlag@psych.uic.edu
authors.forename: Lauren S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Wakschlag
authors.forename: Bennett L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Leventhal
authors.forename: Margaret J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Briggs-Gowan
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Danis
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Keenan
authors.forename: Carri
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Helen L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Egger
authors.forename: Domenic
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cicchetti
authors.forename: Alice S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Carter
mesh_terms: D019958:Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D019370:Observation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires