Child Assessment Tools for Emotional Health

There are several factors that can negatively affect a child's emotional health, such as sickness, divorce or a death in the family. As many children have difficulty expressing the full extent of their emotions until they get much older, it is not always easy to tell if a child needs extra help coping with problems. Fortunately, there are various psychological assessment tools designed specifically to determine a child's emotional health.

Coping Inventory and Early Coping Inventory

• The Coping Inventory utilizes a form for parents, teachers or therapists to assess their observations regarding the coping ability of children 3 to 16 years of age. It helps determine a child's ability to adapt to his environment and take care of his needs. It uses three scales of coping strategies, including "Flexible-Rigid," "Productive-Nonproductive" and "Active-Passive." The Early Coping Inventory is intended for very young children between the ages of 4 and 36 months old.

Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (Youth Version)

• Designed for youth from the ages of 7 to 18, this tool assesses a child's social and emotional functioning, while also testing for social and emotional intelligence. This 30-minute test is filled out by the child and includes 133 items. Some of the specific traits it tests for are adaptability, stress management, optimism and empathy.

Emotional Disturbance Decision Tree (EDDT)

• This tool helps to determine whether a child between the ages of 5 and 18 qualifies for special education -- under the category of Emotional Disturbance -- by using federal criteria. Some of the scales it includes are "Pervasive Mood/Depression," "Inability to Build or Maintain Relationships" and "Cluster and Possible Psychosis/Schizophrenia." This test should not be administered unless there is sufficient reason to believe there is a serious emotional disturbance in the child. The test requires around 20 minutes to complete, and consists of 156 items.

Behavior and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS-2)

• This assessment tool is designed for children ages 5 to 18, and is therefore a useful tool for checking the long-term progress of a child. It does not only check for problem areas, but also identifies emotional strengths and abilities. One definite advantage is its multimodal capabilities -- it uses the perspective of the parent, child and teacher to achieve a three-dimensional understanding of the child. This tool tests for affective strength, involvement with the family and school functioning, among others.