Laboratory and performance-based measures of childhood disorders: introduction to the special section.

Serves as an introduction to a special section of the journal on laboratory and performance-based measures of childhood disorders. The articles in the special section were part of the work of a task force established by Division 12 of the American Psychological Association on "Upgrading the Science and Technology of Assessment and Diagnosis." In this introduction, I raise a number of issues involved in the use of laboratory and performance-based measures for the assessment of childhood psychopathology that cut across the different disorders covered in the special section. Some of these issues are common to most techniques used in the assessment of childhood psychopathology; others are more specific to this particular method of assessment. However, by focusing on these issues related to the use of laboratory and performance-based measures, it will hopefully encourage a critical examination of all techniques currently being used in the assessment of psychopathology and highlight important issues involved in translating measures that were developed primarily for use in research into forms that are useful in clinical practice.