¶ … Developmental Audit (DA) provides an alternative assessment beyond traditional standardized tests and psychiatric diagnosis. It explores a young person's motivations, beliefs, and behaviors within the ecological context of family, school, peer group, and community (Bronfenbrenner, 1986). This paper seeks to determine the intricacies as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the DA and how to effectively employ the DA regarding vulnerable youth. The keys to discerning the perceptions and experiences of the young person and those who know this individual best include a number of variables provided from a number and variety of resources. The DA is used in a number of different settings and according to Brendtro et al. (2012) those settings can include schools, treatment centers and juvenile outreach programs, and of course, in the courts. Brendtro surmises that the DA is not just an information gathering tool, but that it can also be used to develop growth plans "for resilient life outcomes" (p. 7). Freado and Bath (2014) state that the Developmental Audit is designed as a specific acknowledgement that the young people who are participating in the DA face some very serious challenges. Many of these young boys and girls can be affected with serious emotional and conduct disorders, and face such issues as depression and anxiety. Application

By using the DA to discover the underlying, or root causes for the behavior, the therapist or technician will have some idea as to how to approach the youth involved within a developmental setting. As Freado et al. (2014) suggests that the DA is not only designed to acknowledge the challenges life presents for these young people, but that it is oftentimes use in mental health and social service settings "as a format for treatment planning and case evaluation" (p. 21).
Main Points

The main points of the article are that the DA is an effective tool to gather information and data about and from vulnerable youth in order to understand in a more comprehensive manner, why these youth are acting out in the manner in which they do. The DA is helpful in developing an understanding of the 'complex causal pathways that lead to childhood disasters' (p. 23); and the DA helps to accomplish that by delivering a multi-faceted, developmentally-focused approach. Bendtro et al. (2012) support the articles assertion by finding that the DA is grounded on risk and resilience…