Interviewing Children Skills, Principles, and Protocols: Child Development and Linguistic Implications

Interviewing Children
Skills, Principles, and Protocols:
Child Development
and Linguistic Implications
Interviewing Children
Contents
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Skills
Principles
Protocols
Child Development
Linguistic Implications
Cultural Considerations
Basic Interview Skills
• Inquiry: process of asking
questions
• Reflecting: process of
communicating to the client that
you have heard them
• Observing: non-verbal behaviors;
incorporating this info into your
communication with the client
• Listening: 2 ears & 1 mouth
Basic Interview
Principles
• Child friendly: their best interest
comes first
• Sit on the same level
• Limit # of words used in a sentence
• Avoid pronouns
• Use the child’s language and terms
• Check the child’s understanding of
what you have said; ask the child to
repeat
Basic Interview
Principles
• If the child doesn’t understand: rephase
• Avoid sentences with time sequences
• Patience
• Language effects understanding
• Paraphrase to make sure you
understand the child’s version
• Summarize to review for the child
Child Interviews:
A Comparison
• Clinical
– Goal: Understand
child’s psychological
state and overall
functioning
– client: child; parent
– Role of
Professional:
therapeutic/advoca
te
– Stance: Pro-child
• Forensic
– Goal: Obtaining
uncontaminated
data
– Client: Child’s needs
are a priority,
however, the client
= judicial system
– Role of
Professional: fact
finder
– Stance: Neutral
Child Interviews:
A Comparison
• Clinical
– Assumption:
Trustworthiness of
child; important
suggestive reality
– Technique:
Therapeutic
• Forensic
– Assumption:
Consider multiple
hypothesis and
questioning
reflects this;
important objective
reality
– Technique: legally
defensible
Forensic Interview
Protocol
• Rapport
– Goal is to establish comfort,
communication, competence
– child drawing
– Truth/Lie component
– Reliability instructions
– family, house, & school drawing
Forensic Interview
Protocol
• Anatomy Identification
– Goal is to identify the child’s terms for
body parts
– Use appropriate drawings
• gender
• age
• race
Forensic Interview
Protocol
• Touch Inquiry
– Goal is to explore touches he or she
likes;
– Touches he or she doesn’t like;
– Where on the body he or she likes
touches; doesn’t like touches;
– Questions will move from general to
specific
Forensic Interview
Protocol
• Abuse Scenario
– Goal to to explore any statements
about abusive touches:
• Did anything happen?
• Fact Finding
• Verbal disclosure
• Dolls: use if verbal disclosure is made
Forensic Interview
Protocol
• Closure/Prevention Scenario
– Goal is to help the child identify who are
“safe” people to tell if it happens again;
and to
– Thank the child for hard work, not for
what they told
Thoughts to Keep in Mind
• Am I going to fast?
• Am I hearing this child?
• Am I sacrificing the child’s interests
for some other objective?
• Is my attention on the child’s words,
behavior, and emotions?
• Am I failing to reassure the child or
to remove blocks to communication?
Thoughts to Keep in Mind
• Am I too anxious about “getting the
information?”
• Am I trying to “confirm” rather than
“discover” abuse?
• Am I driven by a desire to “get the
offender?”
• Am I concerned about how I’m going
to look if the interview doesn’t
“produce?”
Child Language
Development
• Very young children can tell us
what they know; provided we ask
the right questions; and we ask
them in the right way
• 2-3 year olds can recall & report
past experiences (Hewitt, 1999)
• 3 year olds have testified
competently and credibly in court
(State v Brovold; Minn. 1991)
Language Development
Pre-School
• Use and interpret language literally
• Don’t handle abstractions well
• Have difficulty collecting ideas into
categories
• Use words for time, distance, size,
etc. long before they understand
meaning
• Define words in simple, actionoriented ways
Language Development
Preschool
• Difficulty with pronoun reference
• Difficulty with negatives
• May supply responses to questions
even if they have no knowledge
• Do best with simple sentences:
Subject, Verb, Object.
• Focus on one aspect of a question
Language Development
Pre-School
• Don’t organize events like adults; may
omit settings, descriptors, etc.
• Still acquiring language
• Usually don’t know they don’t
understand something
• Believe, in general, that adults speak
the truth, are sincere, and would not
trick them
Language Development
School Age (7-10)
• Still have difficulty with abstract
concepts
• Still struggle with processing
complex questions
• Still make errors with passives and
pronoun preference
• Still confused by complex negation
• Still not mature at organizing details
Language Development
School Age (7-10)
• Still unequipped to deal with adult
insincerity; sarcasm, irony, etc.
• May still believe adults, in general,
tell the truth
Language Development
Adolescents (11-18)
• May or may not have developed adult
narrative skills
• May not understand time as a
historical and day-to-day concept
• Some difficulty with complex
negation
• Confused by linguistic ambiguity: ads,
idioms, metaphors, jokes, etc.
Language Development
Adolescents (11-18)
• May lose track of long, complex
questions
• Reluctant to ask for clarification or
acknowledge they don’t understand
• Many teens may be developmentally
“stuck”
Language Development
Key Suggestions
• Use simple, common, everyday words
and phrases
• Use names and places instead of
pronouns
• Stay away from negatives
Language Development
Key Suggestions
• Use questions/comments that keep
the # of ideas to a minimum
• Start your questions/comments with
the main idea
• Remember you are speaking with a
child
Language Development
Key Dynamics
• We don’t interview children
– interview one child at a time
• age, disability/ability, trauma, cultural
differences
• Language shaped by experience
– see, hear, experience
– how words are used; the context
– significant variability
Language Development
Key Dynamics
• Children & adults don’t speak the
same language
• Language is not an all or nothing
affair
• Inconsistency = normal
• Children are literal in their approach
to language; cognitively - moving from
general to particular is not developed
Language Development
Key Dynamics
• Adult-like use doesn’t reflect adultlike understanding: language &
cognition
• Difficulty with multi-part, multi-idea
questions
• Pausing is productive
• Children will not necessarily tell you
that they don’t understand
Language Development
Key Dynamics
• Framing is good
• Children’s responses may not be
answers to your questions:
• Reciting cultural lists not the
same as ability to understand the
contents; alphabet, days of the
week, etc.
• Children acquire the ability to
provide a narrative account =
Language Development
Key Dynamics
• Some families talk to each other;
some do not
• Familiarity matter
• So does culture
• Young children can be competent
Interviewing Children
Pitfalls
• Prepositions: most, not all
acquired by 5-6 years old
• Pronouns/pointing words mastery is slow
• Specific words:
– ahead of/behind; always/never; any;
ask/tell; before/after; big;
different/same; forget; first/last;
inside; know/think/guess/sure;
more/less; neither/either; some/all;
Interviewing Children
Pitfalls
• Legalese
• Complex sentences
– abstractions & low frequency
words; ambiguity; embedding; leftbranching; negation; nominalizations;
passives
• Two or more questions into one
• Asking restricted choice
questions
Interviewing Children
Pitfalls
• Asking manipulative questions
– “I believe you told us….”; “Isn’t it a
fact…”
• Asking tag questions
• Shifting topics suddenly
• Asking about relative concepts
– age, dimensions, kinship, number, time
• Asking the difference between
truth/lie
Interviewing Children
Pitfalls
• Asking children if they understand
you
• Asking why questions
• Asking how questions
• Asking non-specific questions
• Asking children questions that
require tracking: who said what to
whom when
• Asking Jell-O questions
Cultural Considerations
• Culture: a constantly changing
pattern of behaviors relating to the
values and beliefs of a group of
people through which they adapt to
one another and their physical and
social environment; or
• Culture influences beliefs, behaviors,
and choices
Cultural Considerations
Native Americans
• There is no resource more vital to
the continued existence and integrity
of the Indian Tribes than their
children (ICWA).
• Strengthening families strengthens
cultures
• Child rearing in the Indian culture is
not a private affair: parents,
extended family, clans, and tribes
share responsibility
Cultural Considerations
Native Americans
• Family values, customs, and traditions
vary among tribes;
• Also vary among different families of
the same tribe;
• So each family must be viewed
individually;
• Being Native may depend on tribal
affiliation, degree of assimilation,
and family history
Interviewing Children
Cultural Considerations
• Native American
– Historic distrust based on many years
of exploitation and discrimination (note
taking)
– Warm up or “talk stories”; warm,
informal, light, personal conversations;
humor
– Low key; non-directive; authentic &
genuine demonstration of concern and
active implementation of a desire to
help
Interviewing Children
Cultural Considerations
• Native American
– Pausing between phrases, sentences or
questions considered an integral part of
communication; could be interpreted
negatively or result in lost information
if questions come to rapidly
– May lower head or not make eye contact
as a sign of respect
– May use a subdued tone of voice
Interviewing Children
Cultural Considerations
• Native American
– kinship terms may refer to other than
relatives
– Time may be marked by seasons,
ceremonies, or activities; forget clock
time; don’t rush
– Unquestioning loyalty and respect for
elders
Cultural Considerations
African American
• Historic oppression & discrimination
• Continued economic oppression
through differential job access
• Heterogeneous family types: two,
single, blended, extended - strong
kinship bonds
• Strong work orientation
Cultural Considerations
African Americans
• Adaptability of family roles
• High achievement orientation
through education
• Religious orientation
Interviewing Children
Cultural Considerations
• African American
– Rapid overlapping speech is not viewed
as rude
– loyalty and respect for elders
– Regional patois
Cultural Considerations
Hispanic Americans
• Historic oppression & discrimination
• Continued economic oppression
through differential job access
• Diverse
• Importance of family/Compradrazgo
• Church
• Machismo
Interview Children
Cultural Considerations
• Hispanic Americans:
– Distrust
– “Talk stories”
– Low key, non-directive, genuine approach
– Bilingual
Cultural Considerations
Asian-Pacific Islander
Americans
• Diverse group; 60 separate ethnic
groups
• “Yellow Race” & “Brown Race”
• Filial piety; parents respected,
revered, and obeyed; hierarchy based
on age & gender
• Family/Clan honor - more important
than individual members; shame
controls
Interviewing Children
Cultural Considerations
• Asian-Pacific Islander Americans:
– Generation conflicts
– Distrust - usually don’t discuss family
issues with outsiders
– “Talk stories” - oral traditions
– May respond to a direct, active and
structured approach
– Speak little unless spoken to
Interviewing Children
Cultural Considerations
• Asian-Pacific Islander Americans:
– Loyal and respectful of elders
– Kinship terms may refer to friends of
the family
– Harmony and self-effacement are
valued
– Bilingual
– Interpreters
Cultural Competence
• A long term process of expanding
horizons, thinking critically about
issues of power and oppression, and
acting appropriately.
• Acquisition of info: world view,
customs, language, common history,
family patterns, relationship &
parenting styles, etc.
Cultural Competence
• Culturally competent individuals
develop a mixture of beliefs,
attitudes, knowledge, and skills that
help them establish trust and
communication with others.
References
• 1st witness Child Abuse Resource
Center protocols/materials
• Cohen, Neil. (1992). Child Welfafe:
A Multicultural Focus. Needham
Heights, MA.: Allyn P& Bacon.
References
• Graffam-Walker, Anne (1999).
Handbook on Questioning Children:
A Linguistic Perspective. Wash. D.C.:
ABA Center on Children and the Law.
• Rauch, Julia, B. (1993). Assessment:
A Sourcebook for Social Work
Practice. Milwaukee, WI.: Families
International Inc.