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Applied developmental psychology
JOURNAL
OF APPLIED
DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
4,319-327
(1983)
ADP SYMPOSIUM ARTICLE:
Applied
Developmental
Psychology*
KEITH G. Scorr University
of Miami
Applied developmental psychology is emerging as a new subspecialty in psychology. The perspective provided in this paper is grounded in the premise that it is primarily a research discipline of scholars and researchers who will carry out their activities in a university setting. The students of the described program have found academic or research institute positions. Most of these have been in an academic department of psychology. Some have been in medical schools or research institutes with university affiliations. I believe there is a further market, for example in hospital or school settings, where a research and evaluation program or center is maintained. However, applied developmentalists, as such, should not be expected to be in the business of primary care delivery. This paper is based on the experience of establishing an applied developmental program that is described briefly below. In addition, the content is influenced by a consulting role in establishing a program at another university and from the small conference on Training in Applied Developmental Psychology held at the Mailman Center in 1980.
A decision was made at the University of Miami in 1974 to create a research program on the behavior of children that would be the complement of the health care focus of a Department of Pediatrics. The conception of the program was unique in that it was not to be limited to the behavior problems associated with the delivery of health care, but was an attempt to consider a framework of total child care: education, family and health. Some years later, in 1978, the program was affiliated with the Department of Psychology and undergraduate and graduate programs were added. There are currently 18 faculty associated with the program. The setting is a large university affiliated facility, The Mailman Center for Child Development which was completed in 1970, and whose faculty were to provide interdisciplinary clinical training for a variety of professionals concerned with developmental disabilities as part of a Federal program. Thirty percent of the floor space was dedicated for research in the original plan, to be supported by private funding. The Center includes an adjoining laboratory school (The Debbie Institue) with eight classrooms. It is located in a large medical school/county hospital complex in metropolitan Miami. The Psychology Department is located on the main campus * The author wishes to thank Marcia Scott. Jeffrey Seibert, Anne Hogan and Clyde Hendrick for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Keith G. Scott, University of Miami, P.O. Box 016820, Miami, FL 33101. 319
scol-r
eight miles away. The program faculty are roughly evenly divided between those who hold a primary appointment in Pediatrics and a secondary appointment in psychology or vice versa. All positions are filled via joint search committees from the two departments. The Psychology Department did not have an identifiable developmental program prior to the 1978 joint effort with Pediatrics. What follows, then, is a distilation of the experiences of nine years of a program that began as a research center but has developed a large educational component. I believe the educational component is critically important to the health of the field for at least two reasons. First, the design of a graduate training program forces a structured consideration of the content of the discipline. Second, research center programs in child development, that are not a core part of the educational program of a university, tend to have a short history. In a fiscal crisis they are easily cut or eliminated, especially if they are not generating substantial extramural research funds. THE SUBJECT
MATTER OF APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL
The subject matter of applied developmental psychology has two main sources. First is the developmental model in general as expressed in specific developmental theories. The second source is problems in the care of children that translate into the topics of research investigation. This research tries to determine etiology and place it ultimately in a theoretical framework. Directly, it investigates the developmental pattern associated with detection, incidence, intervention outcome and prediction. Generally, it is concerned with the study of relative change as the product of environmental or historic variables. Induced change in interventions is a major area of concern. In the study of child psychology and behavior, ontogenetic change has been central to most theoretical positions. Thus, it is difficult to think of any aspect of child behavior where age and/or development are not major variables. Thus, in the applied area, at its most elegant, developmental theory plays a clear role. Interventions that have their content based on knowledge of developmental sequence and content organized around a developmental theory are clearly one hallmark of how the field should procede (Seibert & Hogan, 1982). The importance of a theory such as this can be seen in Figure 1. The matrix of behaviors shown is generative for the content of an intervention in that many appropriate examples can be developed from the model. The research may also test a developmental theory at the same time as answering an applied problem, thus achieving theoretical and practical elegance. (Seibert, Hogan, & Mundy, 1983). Sometimes the theoretical import may extend to general psychology. A project that is studying the implementation of alternative listening devices (Oller, Payne, & Gavin, 1980) (tactual vocoders) has high practical importance in making spoken language available to profoundly deaf children. In addition, the demonstration that a child can be trained to “hear through the skin” has fundamental implications for major theories of speech perception and language development. For general psychology, the remarkable ability of the skin to discriminate fine patterns of dynamic stimulation as a result of direct training has important
1
Volun-
Level 3
Aeaulation
Anticipatory
Level 4
Feedback
Regulation
by
Dif-
ferentiated
Complex
Level 2
differentiated
tary lln-
Simple
LeVe,
Resoonsive
Level 0
Levels
Desired
Object
Events
Obtaining
pursuit and
Permanance
for
M.98tlS
Causality
Operational
Object Dimensions
in Space
Relations
Object Obiects
to
Relating
for
Schemes initiating Social Interaction
irlesponding to Social loterection
1
lnterection
Social
Maintaining
Level After Seibert and Hogan
Social Dimensions
TABLE 1 Matrix for Object and Social Scale Dimensions by Cognitive Developmental II 982)
Visual
Organizational
322
SCOTT
implications for theories about critical periods and sensory-deprivation. This is applied developmental psychology at its most elegant-a mature field of applied science. However, some problems are not so easily placed in a theoretical framework, but cannot be ignored for this reason. This brings us to the second source of subject matter in applied developmental psychology, the problem focus. The concern is with problems of children that are generated by social concern often in the absence of any current theoretical framework. An example is adolescent pregnancy (Scott, Field, & Robertson, 1981). Applied developmentalists have important research tools to study such a pressing problem. In attacking a problem area a number of logical levels of analysis can be identified. In some areas a primary concern may be in identification through referal screening and follow-up diagnosis. With this aspect understood the societal impact can be addressed through an analysis of incidence and prevalence in various subpopulations. This, in turn, can lead to the study of etiology and modifiability. With such an analysis, causation and treatment models for prevention, prediction and intervention can be developed. At each of these stages there are relevant theoretical and methodological models. For example, adolescent pregnancy has largely been studied in epidemiologic and social demographic terms. However, there are relevant theoretical models that are testable and can be developed (Quay, 1981). I see problem-focused topics in applied developmental as analogous to the pediatrician’s concern about child health. It is the concern about how to raise children. That is, how can we best deal with problems as they arise, and develop preventive models through implementation of quality child care and parenting. This focus is substantially different from traditional child development where learning, perceptual development, social development, and language development, for example, are identified as the area of professional activity or the title of a graduate course. Considering the prototypical products from traditional child development compared to applied development programs, both overlaps in training and sharp differences will appear. The traditional developmentalist will have acquired a very detailed knowledge of the basic developmental literature on learning, cognition, personality, social development, and so on. Often in a university preschool, most of this traditional developmentalist’s research experience will be in a one-to-one testing situation. The focus of this persons methodological skills will involve analysis of variance designs and group comparisons. The applied developmentalist will know less of the basic child developmental literature, having substituted this with a broader set of methodological skills including a variety of evaluation, correlational work with causal models and path analysis and, perhaps, epidemiology. The applied developmentalists will also have worked in more applied settings and have formal and informal interdisciplinary experience. In general, this person will be familiar with problems of applied settings, control, sampling, attrition and multifactorial analyses. Both the traditional and applied developmentalists will have a sound background in developmental theory and the contrast sketched here will be more or less sharp in different programs.
APPLIED
DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
323
In contrast to developmental programs, both traditional and applied, clinical child psychology commonly has a psycho-pathological model as its basis. The most marked difference then is in the content background of courses and theory in child development. Also, the emphasis both on research experience and research methodology is very marked in the nonclinical compared to clinical programs. Clinical students acquire much more therapeutic experience than do developmental students. However, the variety of these interventions and settings in which they occur tends to be limited. Applied developmental students will be more commonly exposed to a wide variety of interventions, in the home, nursery, classroom, hospital, playground or other settings where children spend their time. THE SETTINGS OF APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
Various branches of psychology have been concerned with children in specific settings. For example, pediatric psychology has a concern with children in the context of the health care delivery system, educational psychology with the child in the school setting and other less clear subdisciplines have focused on nonmaternal care-infant stimulation, and so on. Applied developmental psychology is an attempt to consider the care of the child as a general topic. It is analogous to the concern in modem pediatrics for children’s health, rather than the management by subspecialties of children’s diseases in an organ-disease model. A result is that a well-trained applied developmentalist will have some overview of the settings in which children are cared for, from the newborn nursery to the home and school. A student’s particular research activity may take him/her primarily to one of these settings, but the hallmark of this education is an overview of the continuum of caretaking settings. This concern to function in a variety of settings represents a major difference between applied developmental psychology and clinical child psychology. In clinical child psychology, the emphasis is on the individual assessment and treatment of a child in a one-to-one situation. Training individual psychotherapeutic interventions is a major portion of most clinical child programs. In applied developmental, the settings are much more varied and notably include daycare, preschool, classroom and school settings. Other specialized places like the neonatal nursery, the hospital, clinic, residential institutions, and the courts may be involved. Care in applied developmental psychology goes much beyond the individual therapist model and even where this is appropriate includes educational and social skills components beyond what is traditionally thought of as psycho-therapeutic. While it is not unique, applied developmental psychologists are deeply concerned with the family, not only with respect to mental health but also to other matters such as optimal stimulation, and generally with the family-educational institutional relationship. THE INTERDISCIPLINARY
CONTEXT
Applied developmental psychology, since it is concerned with children and their care in a variety of settings, is also necessarily interdisciplinary in its context. Most
324
SCOTT
applied developmental research is done in a facility that is managed by other professionals. We introduce our students to clinical geneticists, obstetricians, midwives, neonatalogists, pediatricians, daycare and preschool personnel, school psychologists, clinical psychologists, and so on. An interdisciplinary course in which each profession is presented through a knowledgeable scholar/practitioner, gives color to a wide variety of world views about children. The applied developmentalist needs to be aware of these world views or biases to function effectively in his/her work. METHODOLOGY Since I have said that developmental knowledge is central to applied developmental psychology, it might be thought that lifespan developmental theory (Baltes, Reese, & Nesselroade, 1977) would provide an adequate methodological framework for the discipline. While knowledge of lifespan developmental methodology is a component, the methodology used in applied developmental research is much more extensive. Since it is not appropriate to develop a history here, let me simply assert that the dominant influence on methodology in child development is experimental psychology. On one hand, this has provided an apetite for rigor and a general understanding of experimental methodology, particularly in the use of analysis of variance designs. On the other, it has bought an intense insularity with respect to the use of correlational techniques and an almost total ignorance of other methodologies such as evaluation research and modem epidemiology. One regularly learns and reads in the work of reviewers the glib statement that science cannot be built using correlation. Clearly, this is not true (Kenney, 1979), but going even beyond causality, explanatory models are more appropriate (Harre’ & Secord, 1973). It is with respect to methodology that the largest inadequacies in training and knowledge exist in traditional developmental and clinical child psychology with respect to research training in applied developmental. As a basis for understanding research design in applied developmental, students need a basic understanding of the idea of causation and of explanatory models. In this framework experimental methodology, lifespan models, correlation models and analytic epidemiology should be introduced. Among the useful basic skills are the techniques of data base management. Many applied questions are addressed within the framework of large and complex data sets and understanding this technology is a critical skill in areas of followup and longitudinal research. There are many examples but the followup of “high risk” neonates and research on school effectiveness stand out as dramatic instances. Also, in the last 20 years there have been huge advances in the techniques of analytic epidemiology developed in the study of chronic disease. The methodology has mainly been applied to cardiovascular disease and cancer. Recently, I have shown how this applies to mental retardation (Scott, 1983). The importance of this methodology, and its consideration of explanatory inference must play an increasing role as applied developmental psychology becomes more mature and concerns itself increasingly with the maintenance of good child care and parenting and thus with prevention of developmental problems.
APPLIED
DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
325
The applied developmentalist must also become familiar with the particular methodological problems that are central topics in applied research. Examples of this are the design and methodological problems surrounding intervention research (Scott, Michuda, & Mundy, 1983) and screening (Scott & Hogan, 1982). Another topic, not covered in traditional programs, is sampling methodology. The lack of rigor, especially in small sample studies, is a glaring feature of the developmental literature. in preparing teaching materials the lack of a methodological literature in these areas has been very noticeable. ISSUES IN TRAINING DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGISTS
Three issues seem particularly troublesome in the design of graduate applied developmental programs: 1) what is the appropriate balance between applied developmental psychology specialized courses and those in traditional developmental psychology?, 2) what is the appropriate format and extent of practicum experiences?, and 3) what is the need for liscensing? The balance of coursework will no doubt depend practically more on local academic politics than anything. The belief that experimental child psychology or developmental are peculiarly rigorous needs to be resisted. As I have shown, they are found also to be particularly narrow. Professional programs in psychology and in medicine, are plagued by the belief that the only way to train a scientist practitioner is to teach him all the basic science background and all the applied skills. This has reduced many professional programs to memory and hurdle jumping marathons. The Boulder Model in clinical psychology and the model of medical education advocated in the Flexner Report on medical education have become increasingly inadequate as producers of applied scientists. Programs simply cannot be designed in an encyclopedic fashion. A core review of developmental knowledge is advocated plus specialized coursework. Practicum experiences are essential to applied research training. Ideally, they should be integral to the program from the beginning. Postgraduate or internship practicum training is very difficult to control and is apt to be restricted to a single setting or environment. It is therefore advocated that it be a core part of an ongoing graduate program. Fifteen to 20 hours per week including summers might be considered as a basic requirement. Licensing is undoubtedly necessary in many parts of the country. At this time it is probably a negative influence as it produces programs designed to meet regulations rather than based on a clear conceptualization of educational need. If students are to acquire clinical certification it is suggested that this become the focus of an additional year of doctoral or of postdoctoral education. Some students find this desireable. For others, for example those who are working on tactual decoders for deaf children, to cite one of my earlier examples, it will be quite irrelevant. Their time is better spent acquiring computer, education, or other technical skills. Thus, it should not become a requirement that may unnecessarily lengthen training. In Table 2 can be seen the outline of the requirements of a program that is similar to that developed at the University of Miami. The theoretical and methodological bias of the program should be clear. However, the Comprehensive
SCOTT
326
TABLE 2 Developmental
Outline of an Applied
Psychology Program
Core Requirements (Common to Psychology Department Programs): Statistics I 81 II Psychobiology Psychopathology Cognition & Learning Social Psychology Thesis Comprehensive Written Literature Review Dissertation Core Requirements (Applied Developmental): Practicum-15-20 hours per week in research setting. (This is formally evaluated but not credit earning). In many locations formal credit would be more appropriate. This is determined by tuition considerations. Applied Developmental-Developmental Methodology, problems in intervention screening, sampling techniques and an introduction to epidemiology. epidemiology. Deviant Social Development-This ders, and social deviance.
covers childhood psychopathology,
and
conduct disor-
Deviant intellectual Development-This covers prediction of intellectual development, intellectual giftedness, mental retardation, learning disabilities, school failure, dyslexia and asphasia. Theories of Development-The description and evaluation provided by modern philosophy of science.
of theory in a framework
Interdisciplinary Aspects of Child Development-(See Text) Electives: Data Base Management Causal Models Epidemiology of Maternal Child Health Infant Assessment Childhood Assessment Program Evaluation Test Construction plus a variety of topical courses in traditional child development, social psychology, behavioral medicine, physiological psychology, experimental psychology as found in a department with a large graduate program.
Literature Review, Thesis and Dissertation requirements produce in-depth knowledge in typically at least two content areas that cover both basic science information as well as the applied literature. Supervised teaching of a small undergraduate section, of no more than 20 students, is required and most students select the introductory child and adolescent course to meet this requirement. This further insures some broad overview of child development.
REFERENCES Balks, P. B., Reese, H. W., & Nesselroade, research methods. Belmont,
J. R. Life-span developmenmlpsychology:Inrroducrion to CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1977, 82-99.
APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL Hm’,
PSYCHOLOGY
327
H., & Secord, P. F. The explanation of social behavior. Totowa, NJ: Littlefield, Adams and co., 1973. Kenney, D. Correlation and causality. New York: Wiley Interscience, 1979. Oher, D. K., Payne, S., & Gavin, W. J. Tactual speech perception by minimally trained deaf subjects. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 1980, 23, 769-778. Quay, H. C. Psychological factors in teenage pregnancy. In K. G. Scott, T. Field, & E. Robertson (Eds.), Teenage parents and their offspring. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1981, Scott, K. G. A multiple risk factor model of mental retardation. Invited address, Gatlinburg Conference on Mental Retardation. Gatlinburg, TN, 1983. Scott, K. G., Field, T., & Robertson, E. (Eds.). Teenage parents and rheir oflsppring.New York: Grune and Stratton, 1981. Scott, K. G., & Hogan, A. E. Methods for identifying high risk and handicapped infants. In C. Ramey and P. Trahonis (Eds.), Finding and educaring the high-risk and handicapped infunr. Baltimore, MD: University Park Press, 1982. Scott, K. G., Michuda, N., & Mundy, P. C. Methodological issues in intervention research. Unpublished manuscript, 1983. Seibert, J., & Hogan, A. E. A model for assessing social and object skills and planning intervention. In D. P. Clowry, A. M. Guilford, & S. 0. Richardson (Eds.), Infant communication, development assessment and intervenrion. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1982. Seibert, J. M., Hogan, A. E., & Mundy, P. C. Developmental assessment of social-communication skills for early intervention: Testing a cognitive stage model. In R. A. Glow (Ed.), Advances in the behavioral measurement of children. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1983.
OF APPLIED
DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
4,319-327
(1983)
ADP SYMPOSIUM ARTICLE:
Applied
Developmental
Psychology*
KEITH G. Scorr University
of Miami
Applied developmental psychology is emerging as a new subspecialty in psychology. The perspective provided in this paper is grounded in the premise that it is primarily a research discipline of scholars and researchers who will carry out their activities in a university setting. The students of the described program have found academic or research institute positions. Most of these have been in an academic department of psychology. Some have been in medical schools or research institutes with university affiliations. I believe there is a further market, for example in hospital or school settings, where a research and evaluation program or center is maintained. However, applied developmentalists, as such, should not be expected to be in the business of primary care delivery. This paper is based on the experience of establishing an applied developmental program that is described briefly below. In addition, the content is influenced by a consulting role in establishing a program at another university and from the small conference on Training in Applied Developmental Psychology held at the Mailman Center in 1980.
A decision was made at the University of Miami in 1974 to create a research program on the behavior of children that would be the complement of the health care focus of a Department of Pediatrics. The conception of the program was unique in that it was not to be limited to the behavior problems associated with the delivery of health care, but was an attempt to consider a framework of total child care: education, family and health. Some years later, in 1978, the program was affiliated with the Department of Psychology and undergraduate and graduate programs were added. There are currently 18 faculty associated with the program. The setting is a large university affiliated facility, The Mailman Center for Child Development which was completed in 1970, and whose faculty were to provide interdisciplinary clinical training for a variety of professionals concerned with developmental disabilities as part of a Federal program. Thirty percent of the floor space was dedicated for research in the original plan, to be supported by private funding. The Center includes an adjoining laboratory school (The Debbie Institue) with eight classrooms. It is located in a large medical school/county hospital complex in metropolitan Miami. The Psychology Department is located on the main campus * The author wishes to thank Marcia Scott. Jeffrey Seibert, Anne Hogan and Clyde Hendrick for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Keith G. Scott, University of Miami, P.O. Box 016820, Miami, FL 33101. 319
scol-r
eight miles away. The program faculty are roughly evenly divided between those who hold a primary appointment in Pediatrics and a secondary appointment in psychology or vice versa. All positions are filled via joint search committees from the two departments. The Psychology Department did not have an identifiable developmental program prior to the 1978 joint effort with Pediatrics. What follows, then, is a distilation of the experiences of nine years of a program that began as a research center but has developed a large educational component. I believe the educational component is critically important to the health of the field for at least two reasons. First, the design of a graduate training program forces a structured consideration of the content of the discipline. Second, research center programs in child development, that are not a core part of the educational program of a university, tend to have a short history. In a fiscal crisis they are easily cut or eliminated, especially if they are not generating substantial extramural research funds. THE SUBJECT
MATTER OF APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL
The subject matter of applied developmental psychology has two main sources. First is the developmental model in general as expressed in specific developmental theories. The second source is problems in the care of children that translate into the topics of research investigation. This research tries to determine etiology and place it ultimately in a theoretical framework. Directly, it investigates the developmental pattern associated with detection, incidence, intervention outcome and prediction. Generally, it is concerned with the study of relative change as the product of environmental or historic variables. Induced change in interventions is a major area of concern. In the study of child psychology and behavior, ontogenetic change has been central to most theoretical positions. Thus, it is difficult to think of any aspect of child behavior where age and/or development are not major variables. Thus, in the applied area, at its most elegant, developmental theory plays a clear role. Interventions that have their content based on knowledge of developmental sequence and content organized around a developmental theory are clearly one hallmark of how the field should procede (Seibert & Hogan, 1982). The importance of a theory such as this can be seen in Figure 1. The matrix of behaviors shown is generative for the content of an intervention in that many appropriate examples can be developed from the model. The research may also test a developmental theory at the same time as answering an applied problem, thus achieving theoretical and practical elegance. (Seibert, Hogan, & Mundy, 1983). Sometimes the theoretical import may extend to general psychology. A project that is studying the implementation of alternative listening devices (Oller, Payne, & Gavin, 1980) (tactual vocoders) has high practical importance in making spoken language available to profoundly deaf children. In addition, the demonstration that a child can be trained to “hear through the skin” has fundamental implications for major theories of speech perception and language development. For general psychology, the remarkable ability of the skin to discriminate fine patterns of dynamic stimulation as a result of direct training has important
1
Volun-
Level 3
Aeaulation
Anticipatory
Level 4
Feedback
Regulation
by
Dif-
ferentiated
Complex
Level 2
differentiated
tary lln-
Simple
LeVe,
Resoonsive
Level 0
Levels
Desired
Object
Events
Obtaining
pursuit and
Permanance
for
M.98tlS
Causality
Operational
Object Dimensions
in Space
Relations
Object Obiects
to
Relating
for
Schemes initiating Social Interaction
irlesponding to Social loterection
1
lnterection
Social
Maintaining
Level After Seibert and Hogan
Social Dimensions
TABLE 1 Matrix for Object and Social Scale Dimensions by Cognitive Developmental II 982)
Visual
Organizational
322
SCOTT
implications for theories about critical periods and sensory-deprivation. This is applied developmental psychology at its most elegant-a mature field of applied science. However, some problems are not so easily placed in a theoretical framework, but cannot be ignored for this reason. This brings us to the second source of subject matter in applied developmental psychology, the problem focus. The concern is with problems of children that are generated by social concern often in the absence of any current theoretical framework. An example is adolescent pregnancy (Scott, Field, & Robertson, 1981). Applied developmentalists have important research tools to study such a pressing problem. In attacking a problem area a number of logical levels of analysis can be identified. In some areas a primary concern may be in identification through referal screening and follow-up diagnosis. With this aspect understood the societal impact can be addressed through an analysis of incidence and prevalence in various subpopulations. This, in turn, can lead to the study of etiology and modifiability. With such an analysis, causation and treatment models for prevention, prediction and intervention can be developed. At each of these stages there are relevant theoretical and methodological models. For example, adolescent pregnancy has largely been studied in epidemiologic and social demographic terms. However, there are relevant theoretical models that are testable and can be developed (Quay, 1981). I see problem-focused topics in applied developmental as analogous to the pediatrician’s concern about child health. It is the concern about how to raise children. That is, how can we best deal with problems as they arise, and develop preventive models through implementation of quality child care and parenting. This focus is substantially different from traditional child development where learning, perceptual development, social development, and language development, for example, are identified as the area of professional activity or the title of a graduate course. Considering the prototypical products from traditional child development compared to applied development programs, both overlaps in training and sharp differences will appear. The traditional developmentalist will have acquired a very detailed knowledge of the basic developmental literature on learning, cognition, personality, social development, and so on. Often in a university preschool, most of this traditional developmentalist’s research experience will be in a one-to-one testing situation. The focus of this persons methodological skills will involve analysis of variance designs and group comparisons. The applied developmentalist will know less of the basic child developmental literature, having substituted this with a broader set of methodological skills including a variety of evaluation, correlational work with causal models and path analysis and, perhaps, epidemiology. The applied developmentalists will also have worked in more applied settings and have formal and informal interdisciplinary experience. In general, this person will be familiar with problems of applied settings, control, sampling, attrition and multifactorial analyses. Both the traditional and applied developmentalists will have a sound background in developmental theory and the contrast sketched here will be more or less sharp in different programs.
APPLIED
DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
323
In contrast to developmental programs, both traditional and applied, clinical child psychology commonly has a psycho-pathological model as its basis. The most marked difference then is in the content background of courses and theory in child development. Also, the emphasis both on research experience and research methodology is very marked in the nonclinical compared to clinical programs. Clinical students acquire much more therapeutic experience than do developmental students. However, the variety of these interventions and settings in which they occur tends to be limited. Applied developmental students will be more commonly exposed to a wide variety of interventions, in the home, nursery, classroom, hospital, playground or other settings where children spend their time. THE SETTINGS OF APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
Various branches of psychology have been concerned with children in specific settings. For example, pediatric psychology has a concern with children in the context of the health care delivery system, educational psychology with the child in the school setting and other less clear subdisciplines have focused on nonmaternal care-infant stimulation, and so on. Applied developmental psychology is an attempt to consider the care of the child as a general topic. It is analogous to the concern in modem pediatrics for children’s health, rather than the management by subspecialties of children’s diseases in an organ-disease model. A result is that a well-trained applied developmentalist will have some overview of the settings in which children are cared for, from the newborn nursery to the home and school. A student’s particular research activity may take him/her primarily to one of these settings, but the hallmark of this education is an overview of the continuum of caretaking settings. This concern to function in a variety of settings represents a major difference between applied developmental psychology and clinical child psychology. In clinical child psychology, the emphasis is on the individual assessment and treatment of a child in a one-to-one situation. Training individual psychotherapeutic interventions is a major portion of most clinical child programs. In applied developmental, the settings are much more varied and notably include daycare, preschool, classroom and school settings. Other specialized places like the neonatal nursery, the hospital, clinic, residential institutions, and the courts may be involved. Care in applied developmental psychology goes much beyond the individual therapist model and even where this is appropriate includes educational and social skills components beyond what is traditionally thought of as psycho-therapeutic. While it is not unique, applied developmental psychologists are deeply concerned with the family, not only with respect to mental health but also to other matters such as optimal stimulation, and generally with the family-educational institutional relationship. THE INTERDISCIPLINARY
CONTEXT
Applied developmental psychology, since it is concerned with children and their care in a variety of settings, is also necessarily interdisciplinary in its context. Most
324
SCOTT
applied developmental research is done in a facility that is managed by other professionals. We introduce our students to clinical geneticists, obstetricians, midwives, neonatalogists, pediatricians, daycare and preschool personnel, school psychologists, clinical psychologists, and so on. An interdisciplinary course in which each profession is presented through a knowledgeable scholar/practitioner, gives color to a wide variety of world views about children. The applied developmentalist needs to be aware of these world views or biases to function effectively in his/her work. METHODOLOGY Since I have said that developmental knowledge is central to applied developmental psychology, it might be thought that lifespan developmental theory (Baltes, Reese, & Nesselroade, 1977) would provide an adequate methodological framework for the discipline. While knowledge of lifespan developmental methodology is a component, the methodology used in applied developmental research is much more extensive. Since it is not appropriate to develop a history here, let me simply assert that the dominant influence on methodology in child development is experimental psychology. On one hand, this has provided an apetite for rigor and a general understanding of experimental methodology, particularly in the use of analysis of variance designs. On the other, it has bought an intense insularity with respect to the use of correlational techniques and an almost total ignorance of other methodologies such as evaluation research and modem epidemiology. One regularly learns and reads in the work of reviewers the glib statement that science cannot be built using correlation. Clearly, this is not true (Kenney, 1979), but going even beyond causality, explanatory models are more appropriate (Harre’ & Secord, 1973). It is with respect to methodology that the largest inadequacies in training and knowledge exist in traditional developmental and clinical child psychology with respect to research training in applied developmental. As a basis for understanding research design in applied developmental, students need a basic understanding of the idea of causation and of explanatory models. In this framework experimental methodology, lifespan models, correlation models and analytic epidemiology should be introduced. Among the useful basic skills are the techniques of data base management. Many applied questions are addressed within the framework of large and complex data sets and understanding this technology is a critical skill in areas of followup and longitudinal research. There are many examples but the followup of “high risk” neonates and research on school effectiveness stand out as dramatic instances. Also, in the last 20 years there have been huge advances in the techniques of analytic epidemiology developed in the study of chronic disease. The methodology has mainly been applied to cardiovascular disease and cancer. Recently, I have shown how this applies to mental retardation (Scott, 1983). The importance of this methodology, and its consideration of explanatory inference must play an increasing role as applied developmental psychology becomes more mature and concerns itself increasingly with the maintenance of good child care and parenting and thus with prevention of developmental problems.
APPLIED
DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
325
The applied developmentalist must also become familiar with the particular methodological problems that are central topics in applied research. Examples of this are the design and methodological problems surrounding intervention research (Scott, Michuda, & Mundy, 1983) and screening (Scott & Hogan, 1982). Another topic, not covered in traditional programs, is sampling methodology. The lack of rigor, especially in small sample studies, is a glaring feature of the developmental literature. in preparing teaching materials the lack of a methodological literature in these areas has been very noticeable. ISSUES IN TRAINING DEVELOPMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGISTS
Three issues seem particularly troublesome in the design of graduate applied developmental programs: 1) what is the appropriate balance between applied developmental psychology specialized courses and those in traditional developmental psychology?, 2) what is the appropriate format and extent of practicum experiences?, and 3) what is the need for liscensing? The balance of coursework will no doubt depend practically more on local academic politics than anything. The belief that experimental child psychology or developmental are peculiarly rigorous needs to be resisted. As I have shown, they are found also to be particularly narrow. Professional programs in psychology and in medicine, are plagued by the belief that the only way to train a scientist practitioner is to teach him all the basic science background and all the applied skills. This has reduced many professional programs to memory and hurdle jumping marathons. The Boulder Model in clinical psychology and the model of medical education advocated in the Flexner Report on medical education have become increasingly inadequate as producers of applied scientists. Programs simply cannot be designed in an encyclopedic fashion. A core review of developmental knowledge is advocated plus specialized coursework. Practicum experiences are essential to applied research training. Ideally, they should be integral to the program from the beginning. Postgraduate or internship practicum training is very difficult to control and is apt to be restricted to a single setting or environment. It is therefore advocated that it be a core part of an ongoing graduate program. Fifteen to 20 hours per week including summers might be considered as a basic requirement. Licensing is undoubtedly necessary in many parts of the country. At this time it is probably a negative influence as it produces programs designed to meet regulations rather than based on a clear conceptualization of educational need. If students are to acquire clinical certification it is suggested that this become the focus of an additional year of doctoral or of postdoctoral education. Some students find this desireable. For others, for example those who are working on tactual decoders for deaf children, to cite one of my earlier examples, it will be quite irrelevant. Their time is better spent acquiring computer, education, or other technical skills. Thus, it should not become a requirement that may unnecessarily lengthen training. In Table 2 can be seen the outline of the requirements of a program that is similar to that developed at the University of Miami. The theoretical and methodological bias of the program should be clear. However, the Comprehensive
SCOTT
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TABLE 2 Developmental
Outline of an Applied
Psychology Program
Core Requirements (Common to Psychology Department Programs): Statistics I 81 II Psychobiology Psychopathology Cognition & Learning Social Psychology Thesis Comprehensive Written Literature Review Dissertation Core Requirements (Applied Developmental): Practicum-15-20 hours per week in research setting. (This is formally evaluated but not credit earning). In many locations formal credit would be more appropriate. This is determined by tuition considerations. Applied Developmental-Developmental Methodology, problems in intervention screening, sampling techniques and an introduction to epidemiology. epidemiology. Deviant Social Development-This ders, and social deviance.
covers childhood psychopathology,
and
conduct disor-
Deviant intellectual Development-This covers prediction of intellectual development, intellectual giftedness, mental retardation, learning disabilities, school failure, dyslexia and asphasia. Theories of Development-The description and evaluation provided by modern philosophy of science.
of theory in a framework
Interdisciplinary Aspects of Child Development-(See Text) Electives: Data Base Management Causal Models Epidemiology of Maternal Child Health Infant Assessment Childhood Assessment Program Evaluation Test Construction plus a variety of topical courses in traditional child development, social psychology, behavioral medicine, physiological psychology, experimental psychology as found in a department with a large graduate program.
Literature Review, Thesis and Dissertation requirements produce in-depth knowledge in typically at least two content areas that cover both basic science information as well as the applied literature. Supervised teaching of a small undergraduate section, of no more than 20 students, is required and most students select the introductory child and adolescent course to meet this requirement. This further insures some broad overview of child development.
REFERENCES Balks, P. B., Reese, H. W., & Nesselroade, research methods. Belmont,
J. R. Life-span developmenmlpsychology:Inrroducrion to CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1977, 82-99.
APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL Hm’,
PSYCHOLOGY
327
H., & Secord, P. F. The explanation of social behavior. Totowa, NJ: Littlefield, Adams and co., 1973. Kenney, D. Correlation and causality. New York: Wiley Interscience, 1979. Oher, D. K., Payne, S., & Gavin, W. J. Tactual speech perception by minimally trained deaf subjects. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 1980, 23, 769-778. Quay, H. C. Psychological factors in teenage pregnancy. In K. G. Scott, T. Field, & E. Robertson (Eds.), Teenage parents and their offspring. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1981, Scott, K. G. A multiple risk factor model of mental retardation. Invited address, Gatlinburg Conference on Mental Retardation. Gatlinburg, TN, 1983. Scott, K. G., Field, T., & Robertson, E. (Eds.). Teenage parents and rheir oflsppring.New York: Grune and Stratton, 1981. Scott, K. G., & Hogan, A. E. Methods for identifying high risk and handicapped infants. In C. Ramey and P. Trahonis (Eds.), Finding and educaring the high-risk and handicapped infunr. Baltimore, MD: University Park Press, 1982. Scott, K. G., Michuda, N., & Mundy, P. C. Methodological issues in intervention research. Unpublished manuscript, 1983. Seibert, J., & Hogan, A. E. A model for assessing social and object skills and planning intervention. In D. P. Clowry, A. M. Guilford, & S. 0. Richardson (Eds.), Infant communication, development assessment and intervenrion. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1982. Seibert, J. M., Hogan, A. E., & Mundy, P. C. Developmental assessment of social-communication skills for early intervention: Testing a cognitive stage model. In R. A. Glow (Ed.), Advances in the behavioral measurement of children. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1983.