The BPM Scales
The BPM’s Internalizing (INT), Attention Problems (ATT), Externalizing (EXT), and Total Problems (TOT) scales comprise items from the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6-18 (CBCL/6-18), Teacher’s Report Form (TRF), and Youth Self-Report (YSR). The items, scales, and norms are based on decades of research and practical experience, as summarized in the BPM Manual (Achenbach, McConaughy, Ivanova, & Rescorla, 2011).

Linking Brief Assessments with Comprehensive Assessments
Frequent brief assessments are often needed to evaluate responses to interventions designed to reduce problems and improve adaptive functioning. Brief assessments are also needed to monitor functioning in special education, inpatient, partial hospitalization, and residential facilities. To optimize their value, brief assessments must be closely linked to comprehensive initial assessments for pinpointing specific needs and for designing interventions. Brief assessments should also be closely linked to comprehensive outcome assessments for evaluating post-intervention functioning. The BPM counterparts of CBCL/6-18, TRF, and YSR items and scales enable users to link BPM assessments closely with the more comprehensive initial and outcome assessments afforded by the CBCL/6-18, TRF, and YSR.

Cross-Informant Comparisons
Because children’s behavior often varies from one context and interaction partner to another, brief assessments should compare data from multiple informants. The BPM-P, BPM-T, and BPM-Y enable users to obtain parallel parent, teacher, and self-ratings. The BPM software makes it easy to compare item ratings and scale scores obtained from multiple informants. The software compares item ratings and scale scores from up to 4 informants on each rating occasion. See sample.

Trajectories of Scale Scores
To document the course of BPM scale scores across multiple rating occasions, the software displays trajectory graphs of scale scores obtained from each rater on up to 10 occasions. See sample.

The Importance of Norms
Scale scores cannot be properly interpreted without considering scores obtained by a child’s peers, as rated by particular kinds of informants. For each scale, the BPM software displays T scores based on norms for the child’s gender, age group, and the type of informant (parent, teacher, youth). Equally important, multicultural options enable users to select norms for dozens of societies. T scores > 65 (93rd percentile for the relevant norm group) are marked on the bar graphs and trajectories as being high enough to be of concern. In addition to providing scale scores, the BPM software thus alerts users to scores that warrant special attention.

Rater Comments & User-Specified Items
Raters can write comments that can then be entered and stored in the BPM software. Users can also add up to 3 problems and/or strengths to be rated, key entered, and then displayed on the profile.