Issue 149: july 2011

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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Au then tic  As sess ment  for

Re stor ative  Out comes

Allison Doerr

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• 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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