Interviewing the Child Victim-Outline

Phase I: Introductions, Rapport, Informal Developmental Assessment

Introduce yourself as someone who helps children and comment on something positive/attractive about the child's appearance, behavior, or demeanor. Children are responsive to complimentary comments about their shoes, clothes, or general appearance. Ask the child if she knows why she is there. This evokes a variety of responses, usually "no" or "I don't know," but provides an opportunity to clarify any misconceptions the child has about who you are and what you do. Point out the communication aids and say something like, "We use these things to help us talk, draw, or show and tell about things we need to figure out," "Kids come to see me (I go to see them) when things happen that make them or someone else upset or something makes them feel sad, mad, or scared."

It is important early in the interview to establish that you are interested in the child as more than a source of evidence. Children are very "feeling" people and if you ignore their feelings, they won't think you know very much about kids.

Ask what the child wants to be called. Names are very important to children. You may say, "Let's write it down." This provides introduction to paper, markers, crayons-a young child's favorite media. As the child engages with the media, you can proceed with an activity that will provide developmental information while establishing rapport.

Markers are a good technique to assess the child's capacity to provide the kind of information you will need during the interview. You can say, "Let's use these markers for a game" to identify colors, and establish understanding of concepts. Use primary colors. Some young children cannot distinguish shades.

Concepts important to the interview are:

• Positions: on/off, under/over, in/out, top/bottom, up/down
• Prepositions: next to, with, by, for
• Action words: hug, hit, bite, pinch, pull, pat, poke, stick, stroke, lick, rub, kiss, hold, tickle
• Numbers: more, less, twice, counting

Examples of how to use the markers to assess the child's knowledge of numerical concepts:

• Place three markers in a vertical line and ask which is on top, bottom, middle.
• Which color is under another color.
• Add several markers and ask how many; take away one marker and ask again.
• Slowly place the markers in a horizontal line one at a time and ask the child which one you put down first, third, last.

The child's understanding of these concepts is important because the interviewer will be asking about the number and sequence of events during the interview (Levy, 1991).