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Home 9 Clinical Resources 9 Child/Adolescent Trauma Assessments

Child/Adolescent Trauma Assessments

Assessment materials and other resources for clinicians and researchers focused on trauma-related assessment of children and/or adolescents.


If you are interested in submitting a child/adolescent assessment for review, please complete the ISTSS
Assessment Submission Form. Please send the completed form to Rachel Liebman, Ph.D.

Acute Stress Checklist for Children

Available only to ISTSS members, the Acute Stress Checklist for Children (ASC-Kids) is a stand-alone self-report measure of acute traumatic stress reactions (including ASD diagnostic criteria) in children and adolescents aged 8 to 17.

Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5

The Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 Child and Adolescent Version (CAPS-CA-5) is a 30-item clinician-administered PTSD scale based upon DSM-5 criteria for children and adolescents ages seven and above. It is a modified version of the CAPS-5 that includes age-appropriate items and picture response options.

Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen

The Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen (CATS) questionnaire is a brief, freely accessible screening instrument based on the DSM-5 criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is a measure of potentially traumatic events and of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS).

Childhood Attachment and Relational Trauma Screen

The Childhood Attachment and Relational Trauma Screen (CARTS) project is one the projects conducted by ISTSS in collaboration with other traumatic stress societies worldwide as part the Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress. It is a computerized survey of individuals’ recollections of the quality of their relationships with their family members during childhood, and of relational traumatic experiences occurring during childhood (Frewen et al., 2013, 2015).

Child PTSD Symptom Scale for DSM-5

The Child PTSD Symptom Scale for DSM-5 (CPSS-5) is used to measure posttraumatic stress disorder diagnosis and severity in the past month in children aged eight to 18. It takes approximately 30 minutes to administer as an interview measure (by a clinician or a therapist; CPSS-5-I) and 10 minutes to complete as a self-report (CPSS-5-SR).

Child Trauma Screen

The Child Trauma Screen (CTS) is a free screening measure for child trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms.  It was empirically developed and intended to be used by people with or without clinical training in a range of child-serving settings.

UCLA PSTD Assessment Tools

The UCLA Child/Adolescent PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-5 assesses a child's trauma history and the full range of DSM-5 PTSD diagnostic criteria among school-age children and adolescents. The UCLA Brief COVID-19 Screen for Child/Adolescent PTSD is available at no cost to facilitate PTSD risk screening and triage to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on children, adolescents and their families.

Reactions to Research Participation Questionnaires for Children and Parents

Available only to ISTSS members, these instruments assess the effect of clinical research studies on child and parent participants. They are short questionnaires that may be used as a basis for the ethical conduct of research.