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 • • • • • • 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.
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