I hope that by now you are convinced that in the right hands (mouths? minds?) the clinical interview can truly help us to enter the child's mind in a sensitive manner. At the same time, you should realize that the method is extremely difficult to use. It takes great skill and insight to monitor the child's motivation, to reword questions, and to invent discriminating experimental tests, especially when all of this needs to be done “on-line” (or, as we used to say, on the spot). But the difficulty of the clinical interview must not be allowed to detract from its value for research or practice. Many scientific methods take months or even years to master — “reading” x-rays, using a microscope, performing surgical procedures. Does this mean that the methods are unreliable or “unscientific”? No. Good things are often hard to do.

In this chapter, I offer guidelines — general principles — for the conduct of the clinical interview. (Some of these principles are unique to the conduct of the clinical interview. Some will also prove helpful as guidelines for any form of testing with children.)