Words Matter . . . Is a Stuffed Animal Real or...
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Transcript of Words Matter . . . Is a Stuffed Animal Real or...
Workshop Objectives
1. Identify 4 significant biases impacting how children respond to adult questions
2. Differentiate language development in pre-school, grade school and middle school children
3. Identify the three phases of child interviewing4. Identify the 5 most common pitfalls when
questioning children
Who do you think are more reliable sources for information . . . children or adults . . . and why?
Children Adults
1. COGNITION AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
TWO PRIMARY FACTORS AFFECTING RELIABILITY OF INFORMATION
Age Who What Where When # of Times Circumstance
3
4 - 6
7 - 8
9 - 10
11 - 12
Children’s Advocacy Center, of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court,Tampa, Florida
Guidelines for Age-Appropriate Interview Questions
Victim Characteristics for Investigations Received Aug-2015 to Aug-2017
Alleged Maltreatment by Age0 – 2 21%3 – 6 25%
7 – 10 24%11 – 17 30%
Children Adults
2. FALSE STATEMENTS vs. INTENTIONAL DECEPTION
FACTORS AFFECTING RELIABILITY OF INFORMATION
✓ ANSWER BIAS
✓ GIVING DIRECTIONS BIAS
✓ YES BIAS
✓ WORD MORPHING
1. COGNITION AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Answer Bias
Children may supply a response to questions even when they
have no knowledge
• QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FORM AN INDIVISIBLE PAIR
• IF A QUESTIONS IS LEFT UNANSWERED THEN SOMETHING IS PERCIEVED TO BE WRONG
“Yes” Bias
The answer children supply is often (but not always) “Yes”
IT IS OFTEN PERCEIVED AS THE ANSWER THE ADULT WANTS
IT IS A VALUED ANSWER WHICH INDICATES COOPERATION
Children usually don’t know or won’t tell you that they don’t understand something
(Walker & Warren, 1995)
‘Giving Directions’ Bias
‘Word Morphing’
Children often use words before they really understand
them
SAME WORD BUT DIFFERENT MEANING
SAME WORD USED IN DIFFERENT CONTEXT
“Flying planes can be dangerous.”
‘Word Morphing’
SAME WORD USED IN DIFFERENT CONTEXT
Grade School
Child: “He’s my advocate.”Adult: “Who’s Tim?”
Adult: “What’s an advocate?”
Child: “Someone who prays and has sex with you.” (Baladerian, 1993)
‘Word Morphing’
SAME WORD(S) BUT DIFFERENT MEANING
It all depends upon you asking the right question in the right way!!!
✓ ANSWER BIAS
✓ GIVING DIRECTIONS BIAS
✓ YES BIAS
✓ WORD MORPHING
FALSE STATEMENTS COGNITION/LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Asking the Right Questions in the Right
Way
Interview Practices to Apply from the Start
Follow the Lead of Forensic Interviewing!
Closure PhaseSubstantive Phase
Rapport Building Phase
Rapport Building Phase
• Help the child feel comfortable
• Teaching the child what is expected
• Assess the child’s developmental functioning➢ Receptive and expressive language skills➢ Ability to give narrative responses➢ Willingness to talk
√
✓ ANSWER BIAS ✓ YES BIAS ✓ GIVING DIRECTIONS BIAS
• Children are often reluctant to admit they do not understand
• Children may think they understand a question when they in fact do not
Rapport Building Phase
Teaching the child what is expected
Rapport Building Phase
Teaching the child what is expected
“Do not guess at an answer.”
“Tell me when you don’t understand a question.”
For young children, unless child is given practice verbal instructions have no effect
If only given examples, children are likely to overuse the response
NOT just telling the child what is expectedX
Instructing the Child: “I don’t know.”
1. If I ask you a question and you don’t know the answer, just say, “I don’t know.”
2. So if I ask you, “What is my dog’s name?” what do you say?”
3. Child: “I don’t know.”You: “O.K., because you don’t know.”
4. You: “But what if I ask you, “Do you have a dog?”Child: “Yes/No.”You: “O.K., because you know.”
Instructing the Child: “I don’t know.”
So if I ask you, “What is my dog’s name?” what do you say?”
Child: Waldo.”You: “No, you don’t know what my dog’s name is. Let’s try another one.”
You: “What is my cat’s name?”Child: “I don’t know.”You: “Good, because you don’t know my cat’s name.”
Rapport Building Phase
Assess the child’s developmental functioning➢ Receptive and expressive language skills➢ Ability to give narrative responses➢ Willingness to talk
Teaching the child what is expected
Rapport Building Phase
Assess receptive and expressive language skills
• Children and adults do not speak the same language➢ Nearly complete grammatical use age 10+
Categorization “has anything like this happened before?”
“CLAMP it down!”
Categorizing Confuses . . .
Grade School
“Were your clothes on or off?”
Child: “Off.”
(But child later reported she was wearing pajamas)
Child: “On.”
(But adult had unzipped and pulled them down)
Rapport Building Phase
Assess receptive and expressive language skills
• Children are very literal in their early approach to language
Categorization “has anything like this happened before?”
Literality Concrete and literal is the norm
“CLAMP it down!”
Free Vision Test!
Pre-school
“Can you read an eye chart?”
“No! It doesn’t make words.”L I T E R A L LY N O
Middle School10 year-old
Interviewer: What did John touch you with?Child: His finger.
Interviewer: Where was John’s finger?
Interviewer: How did you know where John’s finger was?
Child: On his hand.
Child: It was on his hand.
Literal and Concrete is the Norm
A pediatrician calls the Hotline reporting that his 5 year-old patient has primary syphilitic sores located on the inner cheeks of her mouth.
A mother reports that while her 8 year-old daughter was sleeping over at her best friend’s dad’s home both girls were groped under their pajamas while sleeping.
Explaining Away Inconsistencies
Literal and Concrete is the Norm
“Did you put daddy’s penis in your mouth?”
Child: “No.”
(It wasn’t the child who did the putting, it was Daddy)
“Did you ever go to his house?”
Child: “No.”
(She later stated she went to his apartment)
Rapport Building Phase
Categorization “has anything like this happened before?”
Literality Can you “read” an eye chart?
Abstractions Demonstrate not Articulate
“CLAMP it down!”
Assess receptive and expressive language skills
• Children can’t articulate abstract concepts (or detect ambiguity) until age 12
Consciousness of Duty to Speak the Truth
Research shows that children have acquired a good basic understanding of the meaning of “truth” and the wrongfulness of lying by elementary school but have trouble articulating that understanding.
Lyon et al., 2010
Consciousness of Duty to Speak the Truth
“Do you know the difference between the truth and a lie?”X “Do you promise you
will tell the truth?”
Public Defender: Is the judge’s robe red?
Child: Yes.
Prosecutor: Please rephrase the question.
Demonstrate rather than articulate
Voir Dire7 year-old
Qualifying: Truth vs. Lie
Voir Dire7 year-old
Public Defender: Is the judge’s robe red?
Child: Yes.
Prosecutor: Please rephrase the question.
Judge: Holds out arm of robe and pointsto it.
Public Defender: If I said the part of therobe the judge is pointingto was red, would that be a lie?
Child: Yes, because it’s black.
“Here’s a picture. What is this?”
“O.K., that’s a truck.” This boy looks at the truck and says ‘That’s a plane’. “Did the boy tell the truth?”
So the boy looked at the truck and said ‘That’s a plane’. “Did the boy say something good?”
Rapport Building Phase
• Young children have difficulty attending to more than one or two things at once
“CLAMP it down!”
Assess receptive and expressive language skills
Categorization “has anything like this happened before?”
Literality Concrete and literal is the norm
Abstractions Demonstrate not Articulate
Multiples Multiple Negation . . . Multiple Ideas
“You don’t deny you said it, do you? Multiple Negation
“Was your mom home when he was there, and did she see him?”
Multiple Part/Idea Question
“When your were eating, did Suzie share her secret?”
OR“Did Suzie share her secret while you were eating?
Unintended Consequences - Leading
Ordering
Rapport Building Phase
• Young children have difficulty attending to more than one or two things at once
“CLAMP it down!”
Assess receptive and expressive language skills
Categorization “has anything like this happened before?”
Literality Concrete and literal is the norm
Abstractions Demonstrate not Articulate
Multiples Multiple Negation . . . Multiple Ideas
Pronoun references he she it they this that
ASSESS THIS QUESTION FOR CHALLENGES IT CREATES FOR A 5 YEAR-OLD’S RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE SKILLS
Q: Do you recall talking to her on the Sunday after they found –discovered something had happened to Doug and asking her, “Do you know Mark? and then saying, “That is who did it”? Do you remember telling her that?
(Questions asked of 5 year-old witness during a murder trial.)
Rapport Building PhaseAssess the child’s developmental functioning
➢ Ability to give narrative responses➢ Willingness to talk
• Research has repeatedly shown that children give more information and more accurate information when asked free recall questions.
• Provides a baseline of the child’s language abilities.
• Provides a baseline of the child’s willingness to share.
• Practices with the child the way information will be shared.
Free Recall = Narrative Event Practice
Used in the early stages of the interview on a neutral topic and allows the child to explain what happened with little prompting.
What are you teaching the child here?
“Do you like school?” “Yeah.”
“What’s your favorite subject?”
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
Adult Child
“Math.”
“An astronaut.”
‘Practice (Narrative!) Makes Perfect’
1. Frame the Content - provide an early context
‘Practice (Narrative!) Makes Perfect’
Adult: “Do you like school?” Child: “Yeah.”
Adult: “You do. Well, that’s good. Um, do you know the difference between the truth and a lie?”
Child: Silence
X
‘Practice (Narrative!) Makes Perfect’
Adult: “TELL ME about your morning from the time you woke up until you left the house.”
Child: “My alarm went off but I rolled over. My mom yelled, ‘get up now!’ and I got up and went to the bathroom. Then I got dressed and ate breakfast. Got my stuff for school and left for the bus.”
2. Choose a neutral topic
‘Practice (Narrative!) Makes Perfect’
Adult: “I heard you say that you got dressed. Tell me all about getting dressed.
Child: “I had to put on my school uniform. So I grabbed my shirt off the floor and put on my pants. They are the khaki ones. My blue ones were too dirty. I couldn’t find one of my shoes so I was late for the bus. ”
3. Demonstrate there will be follow-up questions
Adult: “Tell me all about looking for your shoes.
‘Practice (Narrative!) Makes Perfect’
Adult: “I’m a little mixed up. Would you tell me more about Mojo?
4. Demonstrate there will be clarifying questions
Child: “Well, first I looked all over my room, then I went downstairs to look by the door, not there . . . then I finally found it right where Mojo left it . . . but all covered with slobber! That’s why I was late!”
Closure Phase
• Re-introduce neutral topic
• Intended to put the child in a more positive state of mind after discussing difficult topics
• Allow the child to ask questions
