Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Division 53, American Psychological Association

Thomas H. Ollendick

The field of clinical child and adolescent psychology has a long and rich tradition. Arguably, clinical child and adolescent psychology served as the forerunner of clinical psychology itself, inasmuch as the founder of clinical psychology, Lightner Witmer, was a psychologist with strong interests in the problems of children and adolescents (Routh, 1994). A professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, Witmer is also credited with founding the first psychological clinic in 1896, and it is still in existence today. His first case at the clinic was a child with learning difficulties. Witmer is reported to have reasoned that if the science of psychology were worth its mettle, it should be able to contribute to the understanding, assessment, and treatment of practical problems such as those found in school, educational, and other applied settings. In subsequent years, he and his clinic specialized further in the problems of ...

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