Tests for Childhood Trauma: Clinician Screen List

The six screens

ACE questionnaire

• Instrument: ACE questionnaire, meaning the CDC ACE Study forms (Family Health History and Health Appraisal), not a public 10-item quiz.

• Age range: Adults reporting experiences in childhood. These forms are not a child self-report.

• Who completes it: The adult client, about their own childhood. Do not hand the study forms to a child, and do not ask a caregiver to complete them as a child symptom scale.

• Items and time: CDC posts four questionnaires (Family Health History and Health Appraisal, male and female versions). They cover child abuse, neglect, and household challenges. CDC does not publish a minute count on the resources page. If your agency uses a shorter module, name that module in the chart.

• Cost and access: Use the official CDC file from the resources page. Chart the file you actually handed over. A screenshot from a wellness site is not this form.

• Official link: CDC ACE study questionnaires

Childhood Trauma Questionnaire

• Instrument: Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), a retrospective self-report of maltreatment.

• Age range: 12 and older, per the Pearson Clinical product page.

• Who completes it: The client, self-report, looking back at childhood. You score it. It is not a caregiver form and not a free handout.

• Items and time: 28 items, about 5 minutes. Pearson lists hand scoring and a paper form. Five clinical scales cover physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect, plus a minimization/denial scale.

• Cost and access: Paid. Pearson lists qualification level B. Order the kit, forms, or manual from Pearson Clinical in your region. The age band, timing, and qualification on this row come from the Pearson Clinical Canada product page. Do not treat a borrowed booklet as a form you hold, and do not paste item wording into the note.

• Official link: Pearson Clinical CTQ

Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen

• Instrument: Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen (CATS), a DSM-5 screen for potentially traumatic events and posttraumatic stress symptoms.

• Age range: Caregiver report for ages 3 to 6. Self-report and caregiver report for ages 7 to 17. ISTSS notes that the younger form follows the DSM-5 preschool symptom criteria.

• Who completes it: The child or youth, the caregiver, or both, depending on the form. An interview may fit better when the child is young or reading is hard.

• Items and time: 15 event items, 20 DSM-5 symptom items, and 5 functioning items, about 15 minutes. If no event is endorsed, ISTSS says you stop. You do not score symptoms against a blank trauma history.

• Cost and access: Free. ISTSS states there are no copyright or licensing fees. A high total is a screen, not a PTSD diagnosis. ISTSS recommends a clinical interview next. Their suggested mark for a clinically relevant total is 16 or higher for ages 3 to 6 (items 1 to 16) and 21 or higher for ages 7 to 17 (items 1 to 20). Use the current scoring note on the ISTSS page before you treat either number as a cutoff in your setting.

• Official link: ISTSS Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen

UCLA PTSD Reaction Index

• Instrument: UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-5.

• Age range: School-age children and adolescents on the self-report. BHI lists a parent/caregiver report, and a separate parent/caregiver report for children age 6 and younger.

• Who completes it: The child or adolescent on the self-report, or the parent or caregiver on the caregiver forms. Do not substitute the adult PCL-5 for this index.

• Items and time: The product page does not list an item count or a minute count. It is a trauma-history review plus the full range of DSM-5 posttraumatic stress symptoms, not a five-minute checklist. The self-report license includes a brief screen.

• Cost and access: Paid. The child/adolescent self-report page lists $4 per administration on a one-year license, minimum 25 administrations, as of October 2026. The scoring program uses Windows and does not run on Apple. License the form. Do not file a stray PDF as if you hold it.

• Official link: UCLA PTSD Reaction Index, Behavioral Health Innovations

Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children

• Instrument: Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC).

• Age range: 8 to 16 years, per the National Child Traumatic Stress Network measure review.

• Who completes it: The child, self-report. NCTSN states the TSCC is appropriate for individual or group administration.

• Items and time: NCTSN does not list an item count or a minute count on the measure review. The review describes related symptom areas including anxiety, depression, anger, and dissociation. Do not paste item wording into the note.

• Cost and access: Cost involved and copyrighted, per NCTSN. Order the form from Psychological Assessment Resources. Do not treat a borrowed booklet as a form you hold.

• Official link: Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children, NCTSN

PCL-5 for an adult recalling childhood

• Instrument: PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), used after a childhood event is the index event. It is a current-symptom checklist, not an exposure inventory.

• Age range: Adults. The National Center for PTSD lists it with adult self-report measures. It is not a child measure.

• Who completes it: The adult client, self-report. You interpret the total. Name the childhood event first, with the ACE study forms, the CTQ, a brief Criterion A check, or the Life Events Checklist for DSM-5. The Center says the version without Criterion A fits when exposure is measured another way.

• Items and time: 20 items, about 5 to 10 minutes. Summing the items gives a severity score from 0 to 80. Cluster scores follow the DSM-5 B, C, D, and E groups.

• Cost and access: Obtain the current form from the National Center for PTSD. Use it to track symptom change, to screen, or to support a provisional symptom count. It is not a diagnosis. The Center states that a structured interview such as the CAPS-5 is the diagnostic standard. Initial research suggests a cutoff between 31 and 33. The Center tells you to choose a cutoff for your setting and your purpose, not to treat 31 as a rule. Read the current interpretation note on that page before you write a cutoff into the plan.

• Official link: PCL-5, National Center for PTSD

How you choose

You already have six named forms. The next move is smaller than it looks. Ask who is in the room, what the number has to do, and whether you hold the form.

You are choosing tests for childhood trauma, so the form has to match the person in the room. An adult ACE count does not tell you whether a 9-year-old has PTSD symptoms this month. A PCL-5 total does not tell you which childhood categories an adult lived through. Pick the job, then the form.

Client in the room	You need	Start here
Adult, looking back	Exposure categories from the CDC study forms	ACE study questionnaires
Age 12 or older	Maltreatment subscales, paid form	CTQ
Child, ages 3 to 17	Free symptom screen today	CATS
School-age child, licensed	Full DSM-5 symptom index	UCLA PTSD-RI
Child, ages 8 to 16, purchased	Paid child self-report of trauma-related symptoms	TSCC
Adult, event already named	Current PTSD symptoms	PCL-5

Jordan is 34, names repeated physical abuse by a parent before age 12, and asks for tests for childhood trauma before any processing work. You need an exposure form you can defend. If you can order the CTQ, that is the subscale screen. If you cannot, use the CDC study questionnaires and write the category count those forms actually support. Do not chart the quiz they saved on their phone.

Sam is 9. A caregiver can stay for the hour. You do not hold a UCLA license, and you need tests for childhood trauma you can give today. CATS self-report plus the caregiver form is the fit. The adult ACE questionnaires are the wrong age. The TSCC is the wrong purchase status if the booklet is not in the drawer.

Which person can finish the form without you reading every line? If Sam struggles with the text, ISTSS already points you to an interview. Reading items aloud is a clinical choice. It is not a reason to swap in a shorter public quiz.

A positive child screen is not a protocol. When a caregiver can take part and you are ready to sequence sessions, use the TF-CBT trauma-focused CBT guide. Consent, pacing, and what stays out of a shared chart still sit in trauma-informed care basics. Ask those questions before the form, not after a high score surprises you.

If the job is a repeated depression or anxiety total, not a trauma history, leave this list. The scales for mental health matrix is the selection sheet for that hour.

What you chart

A score without a form name is not a result. When you chart tests for childhood trauma, write the instrument, the date, who answered, the total or category count, and one next step. That line is what a colleague can follow. A free-text “childhood trauma positive” is not.

The note fails the same way if you paste items. The CTQ, the TSCC, and the UCLA index are publisher forms. The CATS and the PCL-5 are free to obtain, and you still do not need item wording in the chart. Name the scale, the score, and the band the manual actually gives you.

Copy the blank stem when the case is not Jordan’s. Fill it in the hour. Do not leave the brackets in the signed note.

Put that line in the session note the same day. Session documentation features are one place it can live. The paper form still has to be the publisher’s form. A software field does not create a license you do not hold.

When you stop

Stop the screen when the hour is no longer a form-selection problem.

If a child names abuse that is still happening, or an adult names a child in danger now, leave the score. Follow your practice’s child-protection pathway. Finish the form later, if you finish it at all.

If the hour is an active crisis, including a suicide signal, follow the practice risk pathway. A trauma total is not the safety response.

If you do not hold the CTQ, the TSCC, or a current UCLA license, do not use a borrowed file. Use CATS or the CDC study forms when those fit the age, or wait until the ordered form arrives. A borrowed PDF is not a backup plan.

If the client arrives with a public quiz total, thank them for the effort and do not enter that number as a clinical score. Offer the official form that matches their age. When you need tests for childhood trauma, chart a publisher or CDC file you can name.

If you already have a stable brief measure for depression, anxiety, alliance, or functioning, do not add a trauma screen because the hour feels heavy. One primary measure is enough until the formulation says the trauma history is the question you still cannot answer.

Download the scales matrix

You already chose among the six forms. The scales matrix is the next job: which brief outpatient measure you repeat, and when you stop. It does not replace an ACE form, a CATS, or a licensed child inventory.

References

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d.). Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs): Resources.
• Pearson Clinical Assessment. (n.d.). Childhood Trauma Questionnaire: A retrospective self-report.
• International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. (n.d.). Child and Adolescent Trauma Screen.
• Behavioral Health Innovations. (n.d.). UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-5.
• Behavioral Health Innovations. (n.d.). UCLA PTSD Reaction Index for DSM-5: Child/adolescent self-report.
• National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (n.d.). Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children.
• Weathers, F. W., Litz, B. T., Keane, T. M., Palmieri, P. A., Marx, B. P., & Schnurr, P. P. (2013). The PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). National Center for PTSD.