BELLA VISTA FOUNDATION

A Basic List of Child and/or Parent Assessment Tools

This is by no means a comprehensive list of assessment tools, but these are the ones which I have learned about through reading and
mostly through Bella Vista Foundations grantees. In some cases, I have included links to papers that might include a copy of a
measurement tool, however, please be careful to determine whether or not the tools mentioned are copyrighted before using them in
your program evaluation.

Name

Website ( for cost see

website)

This measures/
Ages of children

Administered
by

Ages and Stages

Questionnaires (has a
Social/Emotional
version: ASQ:SE)

http://www.brookespublishing
.com/resourcecenter/screening-andassessment/asq/ /

parent/caregiver
Parents complete the simple, illustrated 30-item
questionnaires at designated intervals, assessing
children in their natural environments to ensure valid
results. Each questionnaire can be completed in 1015 minutes and covers five key developmental areas:
communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem
solving, and personal-social.

Arnett Caregiver
Interaction Scale

http://www.fpg.unc.edu/sites/ measures caregivers effectiveness with children

default/files/resources/assessm
ents-andinstruments/SmartStart_Tool6
_CIS.pdf

Program using
it
Campbell Even
Start, Pre To
Three

Jewish Family
and Childrens
Services (Marin
ECMH project)

BITSEA: Brief Infant and http://jpepsy.oxfordjournals.or social-emotional/behavioral problems and delays in

Toddler Social/Emotional g/cgi/content/abstract/29/2/14 competence
3
Assessment Scale

parents

Bright Systems

Physicians, parents Kaiser

Permanente
doctors/patients

http://xnet.kp.org/permanente Developed by Kaiser Permanente, includes several

journal/spring00pj/brightrevie tools for physicians and parents: health
w.html
questionnaires, information, an age-specific risk
assessment tool.

Child Behavior Checklist http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/i "social competence" and "behavior problems" in

(CBCL)
cpsrweb/PHDCN/descriptions children ages 4-18
/cbcl-w1-w2-w3.jsp

Family Service
Agency of San
Mateo

Child Global Assessment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C measures level of emotional functioning

hildren's_Global_Assessment_
Scale (CGAS)
Scale
http://www.thereachinstitute.
org/files/documents/cgas.pdf

Family Service
Agency of San
Mateo

Comments:

Assessment Tools for Pregnant or Parenting Adults or Children 0-3

Consultation
measures satisfaction with early childhood mental
Questionnaire
health consultant

Jewish Family
and Childrens
Services (Marin
ECMH project)

DECA-C: Devereux Early http://www.kaplanco.com/stor designed to support early intervention efforts to

Childhood Assessment e/trans/productDetailForm.asp reduce or eliminate significant emotional and
behavioral concerns in preschool children. The
?PID=98817
Clinical Form
DECA-C can be used to: (1) Guide interventions, (2)
Identify children needing special services, (3) Assess
outcomes and (4) Help programs meet Head Start,
IDEA, and similar requirements. Designed to help
childcare providers, early childhood personnel, and
families evaluate the learning environment

personnel trained
to give the test

JFCS (Santa
Clara ECMH
project)

Denver Developmental
Screening

professionals
(pediatricians) or
trained
paraprofessionals

Edgewood used
to use; Santa
Clara Co.Health
Providers

http://www.denverii.com

if a child's development is within the normal range; 06; 125 performance-based and parent report items in
4 areas of child dev: fine motor; gross motor;
andpersonal, social and language skills

Desired Results (DRDP) http://www.desiredresults.us/ the progress made by children 0-13 and families in
achieving desired results; will provide information to
help practitioners improve their child care and
development services
Depression Anxiety and http://www.depressionStress Scales (DASS-21) test.net/support-files/dass21dmz.pdf

Self-report

A resource, not an assessment tool.

Used by clinicians and researchers of many different
orientations (e.g., biological, psychodynamic,
cognitive, behavioral, interpersonal, family/systems).
DSM-5 has been designed for use across settings

trained health or
mental health
professionals

http://www.infantinstitute.org/
measures-manuals/

DSM 5

Diagnostic and Statistical

Manual of Mental Disorders
DSM-5
http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/D
efault.aspx

Dyadic Parent-Child
Interaction Coding
System (DPICS)

http://67.199.123.90/Measure measures the quality of parent-child social

s/dpics-manual.pdf
interactions

Last updated 9/2013. M. Gregory, Bella Vista Foundation

Head Start

A 42-item questionnaire designed to measure the

severity of a range of symptoms common to both
depression and anxiety. A shortened version is used
by the SFCAPC.

Diagnostic for PTSD in

preschool children

in-house
measurement tool

trained
professionals

SF Child Abuse
Prevention
Center

the standard
classification of
mental
disorders used
by mental
health
professionals in
the U.S.

Novato Youth
Center

Assessment Tools for Pregnant or Parenting Adults or Children 0-3

based on parental
Eyberg Child Behavior
http://vinst.umdnj.edu/VAID/T conduct/behavioral problems in children and
adolescents ages 2-16; intensity of behavior and how report
estReport.asp?Code=ECBI
Inventory
much of a problem it isdoes it bother the parent or
others?
for observing and assessing a childs emotional and
social functioning in the context of the relationship
with his or her caregiver as well as the caregivers
capacity to support the childs emotional
development; 7 mos-4 years

FEAS: Functional
Emotional Assessment
Scale; The
Interdisciplinary Council
on Developmental and
Learning Disorders
www.icdl.com

http://icdl.com/FEDQ-IEC.pdf
(parent rating form)
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/progra
ms/opre/ehs/perf_measures/re
ports/resources_measuring/res
_meas_cdir.html

Five Facet Mindfulness

Scale

http://www.mindfulnessandac measures the change in the mindfulness of the clients

ceptance.vcu.edu/documents/ daily life and experiences during the course of the
Five_Facet.pdf
mindfulness-based prenatal yoga series

Global Assessment of
Relational Functioning
(GARF) Scale

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ describes and quantifies the relational context within

entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrie which patients live and problems occur
ve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8
886770&dopt=Abstract

trained and
experienced
examiner

Infant/Toddler Symptom
Checklist

Head Start

Blossom Birth

Headstart

KIPS: Keys to Interactive http://comfortconsults.com/

Parenting Scale

Measures 12 parenting behaviors: 1. Sensitivity of

Responses, 2. Supports Emotions, 3. Physical
Interaction, 4. Involvement in Childs Activities, 5.
Open to Childs Agenda, 6. Engagement in Language
Experiences, 7. Reasonable Expectations, 8. Adapts
Strategies to Child, 9. Limits & Consequences, 10.
Supportive Directions, 11. Encouragement, 12.
Promotes Exploration & Curiosity
Children 2-71 months

Center for Child

Wellness (SF)

Maternal Attachment
Inventory

http://www.ingentaconnect.co Measure the postpartum impact of learning

m/content/springer/nmeas/19 mindfulness-based prenatal yoga to help clients
94/00000002/00000002/art0 effectively connect with their new baby
0004

Blossom Birth

M-CHAT: Modified
Checklist for Autism in
Toddlers

http://www.firstsigns.org/down For toddlers 16-30 months to assess for risk of autism 23 questions can
loads/m-chat.pdf
spectrum disorders.
be completed by
parents in 2-3
minutes.

Santa Clara Co.

Health Providers

Last updated 9/2013. M. Gregory, Bella Vista Foundation

Assessment Tools for Pregnant or Parenting Adults or Children 0-3

must be a certified
Nursing Child
http://www.ncast.org/index.cf a well-developed set of observable behaviors that
m?fuseaction=page.display&p describe parent-child communication and interaction learner or a
Assessment Satellite
during the Feeding process; 0-1 year
certified instructor
age_id=39
Training (NCAST)
Parent-Child Interaction
(PCI) Feeding Scale
(U. of Washington)
must be a certified
Nursing Child
http://www.ncast.org/index.cf a means of observing and rating caregiver-child
m?fuseaction=page.display&p interaction during a novel situation for the purpose of learner or a
Assessment Satellite
assessing a dyad's strengths and areas needing
certified instructor
age_id=39
Training (NCAST)
improvement; 0-3 years
Parent-Child Interaction
(PCI) Teaching Scale
(U. of Washington)
Parents Evaluation of
Developmental Status
(PEDS)

http://pedstest.com/

Parenting Sense of
Competence Scale

http://www.childcareresearch.
org/location/ccrca5250

Pregnancy Experience
Scale

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ measures discomforts and uplifts during pregnancy

pmc/articles/PMC2805904/

Blossom Birth

Prenatal Attachment
Inventory

http://wjn.sagepub.com/conte measures the likelihood of increased attachment with

nt/15/2/199.extract
the growing baby

Blossom Birth

Prenatal Psychosocial
Profile

http://www.dtic.mil/cgimeasures specific stress indicators experienced during

bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA406 pregnancy
967 (page 34)

Blossom Birth

Temperament and
Atypical Behavior Scale

http://www.redleafpress.org/T critical temperament and self-regulation problems

emperament-and-Atypicalthat can indicate a child's risk for developmental
Behavior-Scale-Assessmentdelay.
Tool-P769.aspx

University of Idaho
Survey of Parenting
Practices

http://www.webpages.uidaho. Measures change in parenting behavior, used by

edu/familylife/docs/UISPP_To Parents As Teachers
olkit-info.pdf

Vineland SocialEmotional Early

Childhood Scales

http://www.pearsonassessmen
ts.com/HAIWEB/Cultures/enus/Productdetail.htm?Pid=PA
a3600&Mode=summary

Last updated 9/2013. M. Gregory, Bella Vista Foundation

addresses a wide range of developmental issues

including behavioral and mental health issues

2-10 minutes to be Santa Clara

completed by
Co.Health
parents
Providers
interview

Parents

Three scales, which combine into a Social-Emotional professional

Composite, are used to evaluate a childs ability to
interviews
parent/caregiver
pay attention, understand emotional expression,
cooperate with others, construct and observe
relationships, and develop self-regulation behaviors.

Pre-to-Three,
San Mateo

Choices for
Children

pre/post
design

A kit costs
$85, surveys
in Eng & Sp

Edgewood