Abstract
The Thompson-Patterson Scale of Psychosocial Development (TP) is a parent interview questionnaire, each item scored on a 3 point scale and computer analyzed to yield a histogram profile consisting of 11 scale scores. Eight of these scales measure coping styles characteristic of sequential stages of psychosocial development and the remaining 3 are symptom scales. A pilot study was conducted to assess the usefulness of the TP as a diagnostic and therapeutic assessment instrument for preschoolers. The results indicated the following: i) a “healthy” profile emerged in the control group ii) a significant difference existed in the initial assessment profiles of the clinic and control groups; iii) the control group profiles were stable over the period of study; and iv) the profiles of the clinic group showed a movement towards health with treatment that reflected changes in the clinical status of the children. The promising results of this preliminary study suggest there is value in further investigation of the TP scale as an instrument for the dynamic developmental assessment of preschool children.