The Testing Psychologist Podcast

Dr. Ben Lovett is back and talking all about his book, Testing Accommodations for Students with Disabilities. He has a stellar command of the research in this field from having done it himself and reviewed so much of it while writing the book.

This podcast focuses on the importance of using checklists in psychological and neuropsychological testing to reduce errors and improve consistency. It draws inspiration from Atul Gawande's book, 'The Checklist Manifesto,' and provides practical checklists for implementation. The benefits of using checklists in various settings, such as psychological practices and group hiring, are also discussed.

How many times have you run into challenging or ambiguous ethical situations and looked around your office, wishing an attorney would appear to answer all of your questions? For me, it’s countless. Dr. Amanda Zelechoski doesn’t answer ALL the questions that have ever come up, but she came really close on today’s episode!

Today I’m addressing another frequent question from the Facebook group and my consulting clients: where can I find CEU credits on assessment-related topics?

Irritability in kids has been a personal and professional interest for nearly two decades. I went to grad school at a time when pediatric bipolar disorder was the “hot” diagnosis, only to find out several years later that the irritability so often seen as representative of bipolar in kids did not actually predict a bipolar diagnosis during adulthood. The advent of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder advanced our knowledge quite a bit, yet these irritable kids continue to fall in a gray area as far as diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Melissa Brotman is here with me chatting all about her work with pediatric mood concerns, with a focus on the irritability and angry outbursts that so many of us see.

I cannot count how many times I’ve seen requests for clinical consultation come up in the Testing Psychologist Community and elsewhere. Fortunately, Dr. Kathryn Esquer has made a career out of connecting with others and helping them connect with one another. She is here today talking with me about the research and practice of clinical consultation, from both the consultant’s side and the consultee’s side.

Today’s interview was fascinating. I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Ted Cunliffe and Dr. Jason Smith, two of the co-authors of the book, Understanding Female Offenders. These guys have spent their careers working with- and studying female offenders and share a wealth of information from their own research and elsewhere.

We’ve been talking a lot about systems on the podcast lately. Today I have a true master of systems, Natasha Vorompiova from Systems Rock, to share some of her philosophy and secrets on developing systems in your practice. I really connected with Natasha on our shared love of noticing and eliminating inefficiencies in daily life.

The realm of psychopathology assessment is fascinating to me. Today I’m speaking with the developers of the SPECTRA Indices of Psychopathology, Dr. Mark Blais and Dr. Justin Sinclair, about their work to develop this measure over the last decade or so. They are kind enough to endure my naive questions about the measure and the assessment of psychopathology in general.

Uriah Guilford, the owner of The Productive Therapist virtual assistant company, joins me again today for another wide-ranging and dynamic conversation.