Assessment resources
Measure what matters, from screening to progress
Self-reports, structured interviews, and free screening tools for anxiety, OCD, and school refusal in children and teens.
01 / Our recommended measures
Self-reports and structured interviews
Measures for screening, diagnosis, and tracking anxiety and OCD in children and teens. Pair any measure with a clinical interview; no single scale is a diagnosis.
Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC)
A child self-report of anxiety symptoms across physical symptoms, harm avoidance, social anxiety, and separation/panic. A parent version is also available.
March, J. S. (1998). North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health Systems.Visit MHS ›Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule, Child and Parent Versions (ADIS-C/P)
The most widely used diagnostic interview for anxiety and related disorders in youth, with parallel child and parent interviews.
Silverman, W. K., & Albano, A. M. Oxford University Press. (Original listing: DSM-IV edition, 2007.)Visit Oxford University Press ›Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS)
A clinician-rated measure of OCD severity in children and teens, including a symptom checklist and severity ratings for obsessions and compulsions.
Goodman, W. K., et al. Second revision, 1991.Visit SchoolPsychiatry.org ›02 / Free to use
Free screening measures
Widely used, freely available measures that are easy to give in schools, primary care, and community clinics, and to repeat over the course of treatment. The School Refusal Assessment Scale, Revised (SRAS-R) helps identify why a child is avoiding school; see our School Refusal guide for what helps with each reason.
Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED)
A 41-item child and parent screen for anxiety symptoms, including panic, generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social anxiety, and school avoidance.
Birmaher, B., et al. University of Pittsburgh.See the instruments ›Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS)
Child and parent versions measuring anxiety and depression symptoms, with scoring aids and norms.
Chorpita, B. F., et al. UCLA Child FIRST.See RCADS resources ›Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS)
Child and parent reports of anxiety symptoms, available in many languages, with a preschool version.
Spence, S. H.Visit the SCAS website ›SRAS-R, Child Version (SRAS-R-C)
24 items rated from 0 (never) to 6 (always), completed by the child about the last few days.
Kearney, C. A. (2002). Identifying the function of school refusal behavior: A revision of the School Refusal Assessment Scale. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 24(4), 235–245.Download the child version (PDF) ›SRAS-R, Parent Version (SRAS-R-P)
The matching 24-item form completed by a parent or caregiver, so child and parent views can be compared.
Kearney, C. A. (2002). Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 24(4), 235–245.Download the parent version (PDF) ›The Functional Assessment of School Refusal Behavior
How the SRAS-R’s four functions (6 items each) are scored, and how to use it alongside interviews and observation in a full functional assessment.
Kearney, C. A., Lemos, A., & Silverman, J. (2004). The Behavior Analyst Today, 5(3), 275–283.Read the article (PDF) ›SRAS-R forms are hosted by Shropshire Council; the article is hosted by ERIC.
Have an article, measure, or book to suggest? Our web editor, Dr. Muniya Khanna, would love to hear about it.
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