Ackerman-Schoendorf Scales for Parent Evaluation of Custody

(ASPECT)
by Marc J. Ackerman, Ph.D. and Kathleen Schoendorf, Psy.D.

At a Glance

Purpose: Offers a practical,

standardized, and
defensible approach to
child custody evaluations,
consistent with APA
guidelines
Ages / Grade: For parents of children
between 2 and 18 years of
age
Administration
Varies
Time
Format: Self-report, interview, and
data drawn from other
tests
Scores A clear-cut Parental
Custody Index for each
parent, plus three scale
scores assessing parent's
appearance, social
interactions, and
psychological and mental
functioning

Related Products
Norris Educational Achievement Test (NEAT)
Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI)
Parenting Stress Index (PSI)

Here is a clinical tool that will help you make more objective child custody recommendations. Easy to
use and interpret, ASPECT offers a practical, standardized, and defensible approach to child custody
evaluations. It draws information from a variety of sources, reducing the likelihood of examiner bias.
It incorporates standard assessment tools that many clinicians already use. And it yields a quantitative
score that gives you an objective basis for child custody decisions.

A Custody Index for Each Parent

For each parent, ASPECT produces an overall score--the Parental Custody Index (PCI), which guides
custody decisions. The PCI tells you which parent is more effective--and how much more. If neither
parent is effective, the PCI will reflect that, too.
ASPECT also yields three scale scores:
 Observational (the parent's appearance and presentation)
 Social (the parent's interaction with others, including the child)
 Cognitive-Emotional (the parent's psychological and mental functioning)
Research has shown 90% agreement between ASPECT recommendations and custody decisions made
by judges, in cases where there was a significant difference between the ASPECT scores of the mother
and the father. In addition, ASPECT has differentiated situations in which one parent should obtain full
custody from those in which joint custody is appropriate. And it has proven effective in identifying
parents who need supervision during child visitation.

The Complete Picture

Consistent with APA Guidelines for Child Custody Evaluations, ASPECT requires the user to employ
multiple methods of data gathering. The clinician must answer 56 yes-or-no questions, based on
information drawn from the following sources:
 The ASPECT Parent Questionnaire. This self-report inventory is completed by each parent.
 Interview with and observation of each parent--with and without the child. The ASPECT
Manual provides basic questions and guidelines regarding content and length.
 Test data. Scores are obtained from tests routinely used for child custody evaluation (e.g.,
MMPI or MMPI-2, Rorschach, WAIS-R, WRAT-R, or NEAT for parents and Draw-A-Family, CAT
or TAT, and an IQ measure for the child. (NOTE: These tests are not included in the ASPECT
Kit.)
The ASPECT Manual tells you which information to use in responding to each of the 56 questions. So
there's no guesswork. And you are assured that the same evaluative criteria are applied to both
parents. If you choose computer scoring (Mail-In or FAX Service), you'll get a complete interpretive
report that compares the parents to each other and to the normative sample.

The ASPECT Short Form

A convenient Short Form, the ASPECT-SF, is ideal for clinicians who don't have time to administer all
the tests required to score the complete ASPECT. It eliminates items based on responses to the MMPI,
Rorschach, Draw-A-Family Test, WRAT-R or NEAT, and WAIS-R. Yet the Short Form predicts judges'
orders as accurately as the Full ASPECT, so you can use it with the same level of confidence.

Component
KIT: Includes 20 Parent Questionnaires; 10 ASPECT AutoScore Forms; 5 ASPECT-SF AutoScore Forms;
1 Manual; 2 WPS TEST REPORT prepaid Mail-In Answer Sheets for computer scoring and interpretation