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The article discusses the highlights of "Biography and its Place in the History of Psychology and Psychiatry," a one-day symposium convened by Emma Sutton, of the Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London, England on June 10, 2011. The conference presented seven papers, most being more psychological than psychiatric. Key speakers included Daniel Todes from Johns Hopkins University, Mathew Thomson from Warwick University, and Sarah Chaney from University College London.

This paper describes current professional practice in assessment and intervention with children under the age of 5, attending early years settings in England. Multi-professional focus groups held in three urban local authorities were used to explore the range of assessment and intervention practices in Children's Centres, recently established within local authorities to improve the integration of early years services and the co-ordination of multi-agency support for families. Focus groups considered the range of early years assessments carried out by different professionals. Transcripts were analysed using a qualitative procedure and a range of issues identified. Themes that emerged included the variable nature and extent of change in practice as a result of Government initiatives, the impact on levels of general assessment activity and implications for assessment of pre-school children with special educational needs. Furthermore, themes relating to the operation of multiagency working and the role of specialists within integrated teams in Children's Centres were identified. The discussion explores the need to co-ordinate assessment practices across agencies, integrate these within cohesive intervention plans and routinely review outcomes using recognised evaluative frameworks. The authors consider the challenge to develop robust systems where psychology can contribute to the development of collaborative case conceptualisations between parents and other professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]