Category

Child and Adolescent Assessment Tests

Child and adolescent assessment tests examine a child's development, mood and behaviour with methods suited to their age. Because children do not describe their inner world the way adults do, no single source is trusted here; information is gathered from the child, the parent, the teacher and from direct performance. This heading brings together four different kinds of instrument. Mood and anxiety screeners (CDI, SMFQ, SCARED, RCADS-25) measure depressive and anxious symptoms through the child's own report. Behaviour questionnaires (SDQ) rest on parent or teacher observation. Performance tests (the D2 attention test, the Peabody picture vocabulary test, the Metropolitan school readiness test, Bender-Gestalt, AGTE) directly measure attention, vocabulary, school readiness and visual-motor skill. Qualitative tools (sentence completion, projective drawing) produce observational material for expert interpretation rather than a numeric score.

In an assessment these tools are normally used together: a high score on a screener acquires meaning only alongside performance testing and a clinical interview. Since a child's age, language level and willingness to engage directly affect the result, no single session is generalized. The pages below explain what each instrument measures, which age range it suits and how its result is read.

Child & Developmental Assessment12 scales

D2 Test of Attention

D2

A clinician-administered, timed attention task measuring attention, concentration and processing speed for ages 9–60.

~10 min · Clinician-administered · in person

Metropolitan Readiness Test

MOOT

A clinician-administered test assessing the school readiness of 5–6 year-old children across 6 subtests.

100 questions · ~24 min · Clinician-administered · in person

Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)

PPVT

A clinician-administered, individually applied test measuring receptive language and picture-word vocabulary in children.

~15 min · Clinician-administered · in person

Ankara Developmental Screening Inventory (AGTE)

AGTE

A caregiver-report inventory screening the development of 0–6 year-old children across four areas.

154 questions · ~30 min · Clinician-administered · in person

Bender-Gestalt Visual Motor Test

A test assessing visual-motor integration based on a child copying 9 geometric figures.

~15 min · Clinician-administered · in person

Children's Depression Inventory (CDI)

CDI

A 27-item self-report scale assessing depressive symptoms in children and adolescents aged 7–17.

27 questions · ~15 min

Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ)

SMFQ

An open-access 13-item self-report scale screening depressive symptoms in children and adolescents aged 6–17.

13 questions · ~5 min

Sentence Completion Test (Child)

A projection-based assessment in which the child completes unfinished sentences in their own words across 11 thematic areas.

22 questions · ~20 min

Projective Drawing

A qualitative assessment that gathers the Draw-a-Person, Draw-a-Family and House-Tree-Person tasks through professional observation.

~25 min · Clinician-administered · in person

Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

SDQ

A 25-item scale screening emotional and behavioural difficulties across 5 subscales in children aged 4–17.

25 questions · ~5 min

Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED)

SCARED

A 41-item self-report scale screening anxiety disorders across 5 subscales in children and adolescents aged 8–18.

41 questions · ~10 min

Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale — Short (RCADS-25)

RCADS-25

A 25-item short form screening anxiety and low mood in children aged 8–18.

25 questions · ~8 min

This page is informational and does not contain the actual scale items. The tools listed here are screening and assessment instruments; none provides a diagnosis on its own. Results should be interpreted only by a licensed mental-health professional as part of a clinical evaluation.