T
he De vel op men tal Audit® is a
com pre hen sive means of as sess -
ment and treat ment plan ning that
iden ti fies the cop ing strat e gies un der ly ing
a youth’s maladaptive and self-de feat ing
be hav ior (Brendtro & Shahbazian, 2004).
This is a strengthbased as sess ment that
en gages youth in con flict in the pro cess of
gen er at ing so lu tions rather than fo cus ing
on def i cits. This pro cess in cor po rates re -
search on “pos i tive psy chol ogy”
(Seligman, 2000) which em pha sizes op ti -
mum human func tion ing and strengths
rather than human dys func tion. It also
uses eco log i cal per spec tives (Hobbs,
1982) that em pha size the im por tance of
un der stand ing one’s ecol ogy as part of the
as sess ment and treat ment pro cess.
The De vel op men tal Audit is based on
un der stand ing a stu dent’s “pri vate logic”
and goals as iden ti fied by Al fred Adler
(1932). This in volves using the child as the
ex pert in re tell ing his or her life story. It
also in cor po rates the work of Fritz Redl
(1966) on con struct ing timelines of life
events. Ther a peu tic clues are re vealed
through one’s per sonal nar ra tive and pro -
vide rich in sight into the youth’s “pri vate
logic” through the re con struc tion of his or
her im por tant life events. The pro cess of
the Audit en tails spend ing time with the
stu dent, the fam ily, and other key peo ple
in the stu dent’s life to un der stand the
child’s life space (Long, Wood, & Fecser,
2001). In for ma tion gath ered through the
Audit is used in col lab o ra tion with tra di -
tional as sess ment tech niques in order to
build a com pre hen sive strength-based
growth plan. The overall format of the
Audit includes:
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CYC-Online July 2011 / Issue 149
Au then tic As sess ment for
Re stor ative Out comes
Allison Doerr
• Pre sent ing Prob lem
• Sig nif i cant Life Events
• Sup ports and Strengths
• Pri vate Logic
• Cop ing Strat e gies
• Goals for Growth (Brendtro &
Shahbazian, 2004)
The de vel op ers of the Audit have in -
cluded the fol low ing key com po nents:
tar get ing strengths, form ing re spect ful al li -
ances, iden ti fy ing key con nec tions in the
ecol ogy, clar i fy ing cop ing be hav iors lead ing
to risk or re sil ience, and en list ing the
young per son on the search for re stor -
ative so lu tions. It is grounded in the Cir cle
of Cour age needs for be long ing, mas tery,
in de pend ence, and gen er os ity (Brendtro,
du Toit, Bath, & Van Bockern, 2006).
Prac ti cal Ap pli ca tions
Mountainbrook Com pre hen sive Acad -
emy, part of the Geor gia Net work of
Ed u ca tional and Ther a peu tic Ser vices
(GNETS), is a psychoeducational pro gram
de signed to serve stu dents (kin der gar ten
to 12th grade) de fined as se verely emo -
tion ally and behaviorally dis or dered. The
Clin i cal Ser vices team at Mountainbrook
Com pre hen sive Acad emy con sists of li -
censed psy chol o gists, school psycholog-
ists, coun sel ors, and so cial work tech ni -
cians who have been trained in mod els
such as Re sponse Abil ity Path ways (RAP)
(Brendtro & du Toit, 2005), Life Space
Cri sis In ter ven tion (Long, Wood & Fecser,
2001) and Cir cle of Cour age re sil ience
prin ci ples (Brendtro, Brokenleg, & Van
Bockern, 2002). This team of pro fes sion -
als nat u rally wel comed the op por tu nity to
in cor po rate the De vel op men tal Audit into
their com pre hen sive as sess ment prac tice.
The stu dents re ferred to Mountainbrook
have un der gone nu mer ous psy cho log i cal
eval u a tions and be hav ioral in ter ven tions
and have been in a va ri ety of spe cial ed u -
ca tion class rooms, ju ve nile jus tice
pro grams, and treat ment fa cil i ties.
Mountainbrook is often seen as the last
place ment be fore a stu dent is re moved
from his or her fam ily to enter a res i den -
tial program. Following is a framework of
the assessment and treatment model at
Mountainbrook Comprehensive Academy.
Tar get ing Strengths
The goal of the clin i cal team has been
to merge the best tra di tional psychoedu-
cational as sess ment prac tices with
strength-based as sess ment prac tices to
achieve re stor ative out comes for chal leng -
ing youth. Tra di tional psychoeducational
eval u a tions are based on def i cits in func -
tion ing for the pur poses of meet ing
fed eral and state el i gi bil ity guide lines for
spe cial ed u ca tion. The strengths of stu -
dents iden ti fied with emo tional and
be hav ioral dis or ders are often over looked
in tra di tional as sess ment and ed u ca tional
plan ning. Strength-based as sess ment is
viewed as a crit i cal and es sen tial com po -
nent of psychoeducational evaluation and
treatment planning.
When a stu dent is re ferred to
Mountainbrook Acad emy by the local
school sys tem, con sid er able amounts of
pa per work in clud ing psy cho log i cal eval u a -
tions, IEPs and treat ment plans often
pre cede the stu dent. These doc u ments
rarely in clude the stu dent’s strengths, in -
ter ests, and per spec tive on life. The first
and most es sen tial com po nent in the as -
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