Clinical assessment of child and adolescent sleep disturbance

This article provides guidelines for counselors interested in developing their own assessment procedure to evaluate child and adolescent sleep disturbance. The guidelines include reviewing the developmental and medical history, screening for parental psychopathology, obtaining a child behavior rating scale and sleep diary, and conducting a semistructured clinical interview to identify the sleep history and specific concerns. Considerations for referring clients for additional evaluation such as an overnight sleep study are discussed.