The Adaptive Challenge Identification Procedure (ACIP) in psychoeducational assessment
The purpose of this article is to present the Adaptive Challenge Identification Procedure (ACIP), an observational procedure that is an essential part of psychoeducational assessment. It consists of determining the adaptive challenge facing an individual in a specific context: what the person must cope with, what the subject must learn to meet his needs given the prevailing circumstances. The intervention plan is based specifically on this procedure, which consists of a six-step process: 1- selection of an observational focus; 2- description of the behavior sequence; 3- ongoing awareness of the observer’s own emotions or personal judgments elicited by the behaviors of the observed subject; 4- formulation of hypotheses regarding subject’s behavior in relation to subject’s own needs; 5- analysis of the behavior sequence to provide support for the most plausible hypothesis, taking into account the immediate context, the subject’s own interpretations, and known aspects of the global context including subject’s life story; 6- formulation of the adaptive challenge. When the subject is a psychoeducator, the ACIP specifies what must be improved to perfect intervention based on implemented strategies.