A THERAPISTS GUIDE TO CHILDRENS SELF-ESTEEM

The term self-esteem is frequently used by occupational therapists and other health care professionals who work with children. There are dif fering interpretations as to what this term actually means. In this ar ticle, we use Susan Harter's model of self-esteem to define the nature of self-esteem and apply it to clinical practice. We outline the deve lopmental characteristics important to consider when addressing the se lf-esteem of young children, such as the findings that young children' s self-esteem is often more related to their perceptions of parental a cceptance than perceptions of competence and that children are general ly unable to accurately verbalize their level of self-esteem until 8 y ears of age. Specific implications for occupational therapy evaluation include whether the use of self-report or observer-report measures is preferable and whether self-esteem or self-concept should be measured We discuss when to address self-esteem and which dimensions of self-e steem should be treated The dimensions of self-esteem that are identif ied as low during the evaluation and that the child perceives to be im portant are addressed. The reevaluation issue of what specifically sho uld be measured after intervention is also discussed For example, it i s recommended that the reevaluation instrument be sensitive to the dom ains of self-concept targeted for intervention.