Identify one historical event or development and discuss ways it has impacted the development of assessment in counseling. Distinguish between formal and informal assessment and explain how the historical event you selected might influence your use of formal and informal assessments in your future counseling practice.

Identify one historical event or development and discuss ways it has impacted the development of assessment in counseling. Distinguish between formal and informal assessment and explain how the historical event you selected might influence your use of formal and informal assessments in your future counseling practice.

Then, describe one way you might use informal assessments and one way you might use formal assessments in your future counseling practice. A historical development that impacted assessment in counseling would be Francis Galton and his theory of eugenics. The notion that genius and understanding better traits are through heredity. Galton’s theory opened the door to a whirlwind that you can make “better humans”. He has done lots of research, especially with twins, and compared their development through nature vs. nurture (Bulmer, 1999). Informal assessments are usually questions that the counselor will ask during a session or interview. Things like a checklist, mind-mapping, self-monitoring, etc. These kinds of tools are a quick and great thing for the counselor to use to get a good placement of how the client is. Formal assessments are long-term and continuous it allows one to keep track of the process a client is making. The historical development of Francis Galton’s theory on eugenics has influenced the use of formal assessment in future counseling in terms of longevity. One way I would use formal assessment would be through behavioral assessment because of its behavior-based observation and data tracking (Hiebert, 1996). An informal tool I would use would be self-assessment. It would be used to get a quicker read on how the client is doing at that moment in time. Finally, identify two skills you currently possess and two skills you need to further develop related to assessment that would help you fully integrate formal and informal assessment into your future counseling practice. Explain how you might further develop the skills you identified. Be specific and use examples to support your post. The two skills that I have that can help me in future assessments are empathy and listening. The two skills are important with working with a client especially when you want to form that bond with the client and have them open to you. Two skills that I think I need further development in are good time management and quick response. These skills are specifically because it’s good to be on time for anything. But it’s more about making time for the essential things that can happen in a session. Planning things out can make a great session. A quick response is not always a bad thing but the best option kind of the situation. I am a thinker and so I will think in my head and sometimes it will get the best of me and I would be scared to say anything