Childhood: 57 questionnaires and rating scales

The TOMQ-36 is an observational questionnaire for children aged 6 to 9, completed by an adult who knows the child well. It explores theory of mind skills, that is, the ability to understand that others may have emotions, thoughts, intentions, beliefs, desires, and points of view different from one's own. Based on everyday situations, it draws up a descriptive clinical profile that is useful for identifying the child's strengths and vulnerabilities, guiding the interview, refining observation, and monitoring progress over the course of support.

The SSIS is a scale used to assess social skills, problem behaviors, and academic performance in children and adolescents in school settings. It provides a multidimensional approach through questionnaires for teachers, parents, and students, thus giving a comprehensive view of young people's social interactions and skills. The tool is used to diagnose, plan interventions, and monitor progress over time.

The Sensory Profile 2 is a battery of questionnaires designed to assess how children process and respond to sensory information in their daily lives. Used mainly to identify sensory differences likely to affect behavior, learning, or participation, the SP2 makes it possible to establish a detailed sensory profile based on observations by people close to the child.

The Conners Early Childhood (EC) is an assessment instrument designed to measure various aspects of development and behavior in young children, mainly between the ages of 2 and 6. It helps identify behavioral and emotional problems, as well as early signs of developmental disorders. It includes parent and teacher versions in order to obtain a complete picture of the child's functioning across different settings.

The DECA is a standardized tool designed to assess the resilience strengths and social-emotional needs of young children aged 2 to 5. Used mainly by psychologists, educators, or early childhood professionals, it aims to identify the child's internal and external resources to promote social and academic success, while detecting possible emotional or behavioral difficulties.

The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) is a standardized questionnaire designed to assess social competencies, adaptive behaviors, and behavioral and emotional problems in children and adolescents. It exists in two main standardized versions: the CBCL 1½–5 for young children, and the CBCL 6–18 for older children and adolescents. One version is completed by parents (or guardians), allowing an assessment from the family's perspective.

The BRIEF is an observer-rated questionnaire for parents and teachers designed to identify executive function difficulties in everyday life in children and adolescents aged 5 to 17. It explores inhibition, flexibility, emotional control, initiation, working memory, planning, organization of materials and monitoring, in order to objectively document the functional impact of attention disorders, learning disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders or certain neurological conditions. In clinical practice, it is a useful complement to a neuropsychological assessment, providing an ecological view of the child's functioning at home and at school.

In its language form, the CDI is a parent questionnaire for screening oral language development in children aged 15 months to 5 years 11 months. It assesses two core dimensions, expressive language and language comprehension, using items ordered according to developmental progression. The tool makes it possible to estimate a language development age, to detect a possible delay early, and to guide the clinical decision toward further assessment when the profile appears below the expected age. It is particularly useful in developmental psychology, pediatrics, early childhood consultations, and language disorder screening contexts, because it is quick, simple to administer, and based on parents' everyday observations.

The CDI-2 is a self-report questionnaire used to measure the severity of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents. It allows professionals to detect, assess, and monitor depressive disorders in this population and facilitates the early identification of at-risk youth.

The ToMI (Theory of Mind Inventory) is a behavioral assessment tool designed to measure the child's understanding of their own and others' mental states (beliefs, intentions, emotions, desires). Completed by a parent or another key adult, the tool aims to identify the child's theory of mind skills, often in the context of screening for or monitoring neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder.

The UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-5 is a self-report questionnaire for identifying and assessing the severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms in children and adolescents following one or more traumatic experiences. It is explicitly based on the DSM-5 criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder and provides a quantitative estimate of symptomatology, making it a suitable tool for screening as well as for monitoring in clinical practice and research.

The Family Environment Scale (FES) assesses family members' perceptions of the family climate and functioning across different dimensions, including cohesion, expressiveness and conflict. It is mainly intended to guide clinical interventions and to support research in family psychology.

The SCARED is a questionnaire completed by the parent to screen for anxiety symptoms in their child or adolescent. The parent rates their child's behavior over the past 3 months in order to identify different anxiety disorders: panic disorder, generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social phobia, and anxiety-based school refusal.

The SCAS is a self-report questionnaire that measures the extent of anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents according to DSM-IV criteria. This tool distinguishes between different anxiety disorders (panic disorder/agoraphobia, separation anxiety, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety, specific phobia), which helps guide diagnosis and intervention.

The ECI-4 is a questionnaire designed to collect information from parents or educators about the behavior of young children (aged 3 to 6) with respect to various psychiatric disorders according to DSM-IV criteria. It allows rapid screening for symptoms related to behavioral disorders, anxiety disorders, autism spectrum disorders, mood disorders and other early-onset conditions.

The Gordon Diagnostic System (GDS) is a test designed to assess sustained attention and impulse control in children and adolescents, and it is also used with adults. It provides objective measures for the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other attention disorders. This system collects data on omission errors, commission errors, and reaction time.

The ADHD-RS is a standardized rating scale that measures the severity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in children and adolescents, based on DSM-5 criteria. It is usually completed by a parent or teacher and is used for diagnosis, monitoring, and evaluating the effectiveness of interventions.

The MASC-2 is a standardized self-report questionnaire for measuring and understanding the different aspects of anxiety in children and adolescents. It includes several subscales assessing different dimensions, such as social anxiety, separation anxiety, physical fears, and school performance.

The SDQ is a behavioral screening tool designed to assess strengths and difficulties in children and adolescents (aged 4 to 17). This questionnaire is completed by parents or guardians. It covers several dimensions: emotional symptoms, conduct, hyperactivity/attention, peer relationships and prosocial behavior.

The CTQ - Children Version is a self-report tool for detecting and quantifying traumatic experiences endured during childhood, including different forms of maltreatment and neglect. It is divided into several subscales assessing emotional, physical and sexual abuse, as well as emotional and physical neglect. This tool is used for both clinical and research purposes, to better understand the impact of early trauma in children.

The PHCSCS-2 is a self-report tool designed to measure global self-esteem and its dimensions in children and adolescents. It provides a detailed profile of self-concept across several domains, making it useful for screening, intervention planning, and psychological research.

The Rathus Assertiveness Schedule for Adolescents (RASA) is a self-report tool designed to measure the level of assertiveness in adolescents. It helps identify difficulties in expressing one's opinions and needs, or in asserting one's rights in various social situations. The resulting score helps psychologists target areas for intervention and assess progress during therapy follow-up.

The Paykel Suicide Scale - Adolescent Version (PSS-A) is a quick self-report tool designed to detect the presence and severity of suicidal thoughts and associated behaviors in adolescents. This questionnaire is often used during psychological follow-up or in school settings to quickly identify at-risk youth and guide interventions.

The Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (PSPCSA-Harter) is designed to assess, through pictures, the sense of competence and social acceptance of children aged 4 to 7. Presented with two illustrated situations, the child chooses the one that is most like them. This test is mainly used in the assessment of social-emotional development in clinical or school settings.

The School Burnout Inventory (SBI) is a self-report questionnaire designed to assess the level of burnout students feel in relation to their school experience. It specifically measures symptoms of exhaustion, cynicism toward school, and feelings of incompetence, adapted to the school context. It allows psychologists to identify students experiencing high levels of school stress in order to target school burnout prevention interventions.

The CABI is an observer-rated questionnaire completed by parents to identify and quantify a wide range of emotional, behavioral and functional difficulties in children and adolescents. The 2.0 parent version covers 11 domains that can be used together or separately: sluggish cognitive tempo, anxiety, depression, inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity, oppositional defiant disorder, limited prosocial emotions, social impairment, peer rejection, social withdrawal and academic impairment. Its modular format, precise response anchors and short administration time make it a useful tool for clinical screening, initial assessment and progress monitoring.

The ADHD Rating Scale-IV Preschool Version is an observer-rated scale for screening and quantifying ADHD symptoms in preschool children, generally between 3 and 5 years of age. It covers the 18 DSM-IV symptoms, worded with examples better suited to young children's everyday functioning, to improve the clinical relevance of the observations gathered from parents and teachers. The tool provides separate estimates of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, as well as a total severity score. It is useful in outpatient practice, child psychiatry, developmental psychology, and intervention monitoring, particularly to compare how symptoms manifest across settings. Its main advantages are its ease of administration, good acceptability, and the availability of preschool standardization data. It is a screening tool and an aid to clinical assessment, and is not sufficient on its own to make a diagnosis.

The CRIES is a questionnaire intended to assess the impact of traumatic events in children. It is designed to measure symptoms of avoidance, intrusion and hyperarousal following a traumatic event.

The CPTS-RI is a self-report questionnaire designed to screen for post-traumatic stress symptoms and estimate their severity in children and adolescents after a potentially traumatic event. Widely used in child psychotraumatology, it mainly explores re-experiencing, avoidance, emotional numbing, and physiological hyperarousal. This tool helps the psychologist objectify the intensity of the clinical impact, guide the diagnostic assessment, and monitor symptom progression over the course of treatment. It does not replace a structured clinical interview, but it is a particularly relevant screening and monitoring aid in clinical, medical-psychological, and research settings.

The K-SADS-PL is a semi-structured diagnostic interview used to assess current and past episodes of psychopathology in children and adolescents, combining information from the young person, the parent(s), and clinical observation. The core consists of a screening interview covering 82 symptoms across 20 diagnostic areas, after which supplements are administered based on positive responses. The tool is particularly useful for exploring mood, anxiety, psychotic, behavioral, and attention disorders, as well as several other psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents.

The PARS is an assessment tool for professionals that measures symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in preschool children, based on observations and reports from parents or teachers.

The AQ-Child is a screening questionnaire completed by a parent or caregiver to estimate the intensity of autistic traits in children aged 4 to 11. It comprises 50 items exploring social skills, attention switching, attention to detail, communication and imagination. This tool is mainly useful for clinical screening, referral for specialized assessment and research, particularly when the aim is to objectively document behaviors consistent with autism spectrum disorder. It helps structure parental observation but does not replace a full clinical diagnosis.

The ASSQ is a screening tool designed to identify the characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children and adolescents. It is usually completed by parents or teachers who know the child well. It helps detect early signs suggestive of ASD in order to guide referral for a comprehensive assessment.

The Strange Stories Test (SST) is a clinical assessment tool that measures the understanding of advanced mental states, such as intentions, beliefs, or emotions, in children and adults. It is mainly used to assess theory of mind, particularly in populations with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or social development disorders. The test consists of telling short stories in which the participant is asked to understand situations that require inferring what a character thinks or feels.

The IPPA-R is a self-report questionnaire assessing adolescents' perceived quality of attachment to their parents and peers. It measures dimensions such as trust, communication, and alienation. This tool identifies young people's perspectives on the quality of their interpersonal relationships, which is useful in clinical assessment or in research on socio-emotional development.

The Inventory of Early Schemas for Children (ISPE) is a psychometric tool developed by Stéphane Rusinek and Marc Hautekeete. Adapted from Jeffrey Young's work on early maladaptive schemas in adults, this inventory aims to identify the deep cognitive structures that form during childhood in response to unmet emotional needs.

The ECAP is a self-report scale for children and adolescents aged 8 to 17, used to identify fears and phobic anxiety. It explores both the overall intensity of fears and their behavioral impact, particularly through the avoidance of certain situations. The tool provides a total score as well as several clinically useful dimensions: phobic avoidance, self-image and sense of competence, interactions with the peer group, and fear of dangers threatening the physical integrity of the child or their parents. In practice, the ECAP can help the psychologist objectify anxious manifestations, pinpoint areas of vulnerability, and guide the clinical assessment or therapeutic follow-up.

The ERC is a questionnaire used to assess emotion regulation and problems with emotional expression in children, based on observations by their parents or teachers. It includes two main dimensions: emotion regulation and lability/negativity. This tool is useful for the early detection of emotional difficulties and for guiding therapeutic interventions.

The EMBU-C is a self-report questionnaire for children, designed to explore how they perceive their parents' rearing attitudes. It measures four core dimensions of perceived parenting style separately for the father and for the mother: emotional warmth, rejection, control attempts or overprotection, and favoring of the child. The tool is mainly used in clinical psychology and research to document the child's relational experience, better understand the links between perceived parenting practices and emotional or behavioral symptoms, and enrich the assessment of the family context.

The SADRS is a brief tool for the daily monitoring of separation anxiety in children and adolescents. It aims to quantify, day by day, the intensity of anxiety manifestations related to being away from attachment figures, as well as their impact in usual situations such as school, bedtime, being alone or unexpected separations. In clinical practice, it is mainly useful for symptom monitoring, identifying triggers, assessing treatment response and objectively documenting progress between sessions, particularly in CBT. It should be considered first and foremost as a daily severity monitoring scale rather than as a stand-alone diagnostic instrument.

The CY-BOCS is a semi-structured clinical interview scale designed to assess the severity and types of obsessive and compulsive symptoms in children and adolescents. It makes it possible to measure symptom change before and after therapeutic intervention, clearly distinguishing frequency, intensity, interference, and resistance.

The Security Scale developed by Kerns and colleagues is a self-report questionnaire designed to measure the degree of attachment security the child perceives toward their mother. It is mainly used in research to assess individual differences in secure attachment among children aged 8 to 12. This questionnaire helps identify perceptions of the maternal figure's support, availability, and reliability.

The RCADS-47 is a self-report questionnaire designed to assess symptoms of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents. It measures different types of anxiety disorders (panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social phobia, specific phobia, major depressive disorder) according to DSM criteria, thus offering a detailed clinical overview of emotional disorders in young people.

The ADRS is an assessment tool used to measure the severity of depressive symptoms in adolescents. It is often used in clinical settings to help diagnose and monitor depression in this population.

The CP QOL-Child is a cerebral palsy-specific questionnaire designed to assess the child's perceived quality of life. Unlike measures focused solely on functional limitations, it explores the child's subjective experience in several clinically relevant domains, including social well-being, emotions, self-image, participation, pain, the experience of daily functioning, and the care environment. This tool is particularly useful for psychologists, pediatric neurologists, rehabilitation teams, and researchers who wish to document the overall impact of cerebral palsy on the child's life, monitor changes over time, and guide individualized interventions. The CP QOL-Child is available in self-report and parent-proxy versions; the version used here is the child self-report, used when the child's comprehension and communication skills allow it.

The SDSC for ages 4 to 16 is a screening questionnaire for sleep disorders in children and adolescents, completed by a parent or caregiver based on observations over the past six months. The validated French version has 25 items and explores five clinically useful dimensions: insomnia, parasomnias, nocturnal breathing problems, nonrestorative sleep, and excessive daytime sleepiness. The tool is particularly relevant in psychology, child psychiatry, and pediatric consultations, and in identifying difficulties associated with neurodevelopmental disorders and with emotional, attentional, or behavioral difficulties.

The ASIC is a self-report questionnaire that measures anxiety sensitivity in children. It identifies the intensity of the fear of bodily sensations associated with anxiety, which is useful for diagnosis, treatment planning or assessing progress during treatment.

The AQS is a method for assessing attachment in young children based on observing their behavior in a natural setting, most often at home. It relies on a trained observer sorting 90 behavioral descriptions, sometimes supplemented by a parent who knows the child well. The tool mainly aims to estimate attachment security from everyday behaviors such as proximity seeking, exploration, emotional regulation, and the way the child uses the attachment figure as a secure base.

The Barkley School Situations Questionnaire (BSSQ) is a behavioral assessment tool that measures the frequency and severity of behavior problems in children across different school situations. This questionnaire is mainly intended to gather teachers' observations of attention, impulsivity, and oppositional difficulties, and helps document the diagnosis of ADHD and associated behavioral disorders in the school setting.

The Child Attachment Interview (CAI) is a semi-structured interview designed to assess attachment patterns in children aged 7 to 15. It gathers the child's representations of their attachment relationships through narratives and answers to questions about situations of closeness, separation, and comfort with parental figures.

The SNAP-IV is a behavioral rating scale used mainly to screen for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder in children. It collects information from teachers and parents on the frequency and severity of symptoms related to ADHD and other behavioral disorders.

The preschool version of the SWAN scale (Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD Symptoms and Normal behavior Rating Scale) is an observational tool completed by adults in the child's environment (teachers, parents) to assess the spectrum of behaviors related to attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, ranging from problematic to optimal functioning, in young preschool-aged children. It provides a more nuanced perspective on ADHD symptoms by integrating both strengths and difficulties.

The Vanderbilt ADHD Diagnostic Rating Scale (VADRS) is a structured questionnaire used mainly in school and clinical settings to assess the presence of symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents, according to DSM criteria. It can also screen for other co-occurring disorders (oppositional behavior, anxiety, depression). There is a parent version and a teacher version.

The CPSS is a self-report instrument designed to measure the severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in children and adolescents following a traumatic event. It quantifies both the presence and the frequency of symptoms, as well as the functional impact on the child's daily life.

The CBQ is a screening questionnaire completed by a parent or a close caregiver to identify a profile consistent with pediatric bipolar disorder. It explores 65 emotional and behavioral manifestations, including mood lability, excitability, sleep disturbances, distractibility, irritability, impulsivity, aggression, grandiosity, risk-taking behaviors, certain anxiety symptoms and unusual perceptual experiences. Used in clinical practice and research, it helps objectively document symptom severity and several dimensions of functional impairment. Its main value lies in early detection and in guiding the diagnostic evaluation.

The Barkley Home Situations Questionnaire is a self-report scale designed to collect information from parents about the frequency and severity of the child's behavior problems in various situations at home. It is one of the recommended tools for assessing behavioral disorders, particularly ADHD, and makes it possible to observe how behavior varies across home contexts.

The child EQ-SQ is an observer-rated questionnaire, usually completed by a parent, designed to assess two dimensions of cognitive style described by the empathizing-systemizing theory in children aged 4 to 11: empathy, that is, the ability to identify and understand other people's mental and emotional states and to respond to them appropriately, and systemizing, that is, interest in regularities, rules, categories, and how systems work. The tool comprises 55 items mixing the two dimensions in order to limit response bias. It is mainly used in research and as a complementary clinical measure of the socio-cognitive profile, particularly in exploring developmental particularities and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism.