Example. Copy Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire yee For each item, please mark the box for Not True, Somewhat True or Certainly True. It would help us if you answered all tems as test you can even if you ae not absolutely certain or the item seems daft! Please give your answers on the basis ofthe child's tehaviour over the last six months o his school year. Chi’s Name oun nalig.. Brown. GuaidFemate Date of Birth... A BLN 21 2ONO,, Not Somewhat Certainly True True___‘True ‘Considerate of other people's feelings oO w oO Restless, overactive, cannot stay still for long ‘Often complains of headaches, stomach-aches or sickness ‘Shares readily with other children (treats, toys, pencils ete.) (Often has temper tantrums or hot tempers Rather solitary, tends to play alone Generally obedient, usually does what adults request Many worries, often seems worried Helpful if someone is hurt upset or feeling ill Constantly fidgeting or squirming "Has at least one good friend ‘Often fights with other children or bullies them ‘Often unhappy. down-hearted or tearful ‘Generally liked by other children Easily distracted, concentration wanders ‘Nervous or clingy in new situations, easily loses confidence Kind to younger children Often lies or cheats Picked on or bullied by other children ‘Ofien volunteers to help others (parents, teachers, other children) ‘Thinks things out before acting Steals from home, school or elsewhere ‘Gets on better with adults than with other children Many fears, easily scared ‘Sees tasks through to the end, good attention span IQINITIN QO OOO QO O\yQo\g ONO ‘ojO|O OW OOOO R goo goo O00 Oooo |O|O}00 QIQQoj\o|00 O/O|OW9 0 Oy Do you have any other comments or concerns? Please turn over - there are a few more questions on the other sideOverall, do you think that this child has difficulties in one or more of the following areas: ‘emotions, concentration, behaviour or being able to get on with other people? Yes Yes: Yes- minor definite severe No difficulties difficulties. difficulties o o oO ine Ifyou have answered "Yes", please answer the following questions about these difficulties: «+ How long have these difficulties been present? Less than 1-5 6-12 Over amonth ‘months months ayear Oo ca Qa oO + Do the difficulties upset or distress the child? Not Only a Quite A great atall little alot deal oO wy Oo + Do the difficulties interfere with the child's everyday life in the following areas? Not Only a Quite A great atall litle alot deal PEER RELATIONSHIPS oO a (E oOo CLASSROOM LEARNING oO Qo Oo ia + Do the difficulties put a burden on you or the class as a whole? Not Only a Quite A great atall little alot deal o ay o Signature non Goo RACE Css TeacFom Tutor/Head of Year/Other (please specify:) Date TAAMy, OME. ‘Thank you very much for your help oot innscone 06 October 2015 Scoring the Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaire for age 4-17 The 25 items in the SDQ comprise 5 scales of 5 items each. It is usually easiest to score all 5 scales first before working out the total difficulties score. ‘Somewhat True’ is always scored as 1, but the scoring of ‘Not True’ and ‘Certainly True’ varies with the item, as shown below scale by scale. For each of the 5 scales the score can range from 0 to 10 if ll items were completed These scores can be scaled up pro-rata if at least 3 items were completed, e.g. a score of 4 based on 3 completed items can be scaled up to a score of 7 (6.67 rounded up) for 5 items. Table ‘Scoring symptom scores on the SDQ for 4-17 year olds i ITEM 15: Easily distracted, concentration wanders (/ am ITEM 3: Often complains of headaches... ( get a lot of headaches...) ITEM 8: Many worries... (J worry a lot) ITEM 13: Often unhappy, downhearted... (Iam often unhappy...) ITEM 16: Nervous or clingy in new situations... (J am nervous in new situations...) ITEM 24: Many fears, easily scared (I have many fears...) ITEM 5: Often has temper tantrums or hot tempers ( get very angry) ITEM 7: Generally obedient... (! usually do as | am told) TEM 12: Often fights with other children... (Ifight a fot) ITEM 18: Often lies or cheats (am offen accused of lying or cheating) ITEM 22: Steals from home, school or elsewhere (take things that are not mine) vit ITEM 2: Restless, overactive... (/.am restless...) ITEM 10: Constantly fidgeting or squirming (/ am constantly fidgeting...) easily distracted) TTEM 21. Thinks things out before acting (/ think before / do things) ITEM 25: Sees tasks through to the end... (finish the work ! am doing) t ITEM 6: Rather solitary, tends to play alone (! am usually on my own) ITEM 11: Has at least one good friend (/ have one goof friend or more) ITEM 14: Generally iked by other children (Other people my age generally ‘ike me) Not Somewhat True True Certainly True =” o2 = Pr TTEM 18: Picked on or bullied by other children... (Other children or young | ‘people pick on me) ITEM 28: Gets on better with adult than with other children (I get on better with adults than with people my age) Prosocial scale ITEM 1: Considerate of other people's feelings (/ try to be nice to other people) ITEM 4: Shares readly with other children... (/ usually share with others) ITEM S: Helpful if someone is hur... (Iam helpful is someone is hurt...) TEM 17: Kind to younger children (Tam kind to younger children) ITEM 20: Often volunteers to help others... (often volunteer to help others)tenencT Scone 08 October 2015 2 Total difficul re: This ay The resultant score ranges from 0 to 40, and is counted as missing of one of ql ‘component scores is missing, Using these two amalgar may be preferable to using the four separate scales in community samples, whereas using the four separate scales may add more value in high-risk samples (see Goodman & Goodman. 2009 Strengths and difficulties questionnaire as a dimensional measure of child mental health. J ‘Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 48(4), 400-403). Gener: re When using a version of the SDQ that includes an ‘impact supplement, the items on overall distress and impairment can be summed to generate an impact score that ranges from 0 to 10 for parent- and self-report, and from 0 to 6 for teacher-report. Table 2: Scoring the SDQ impact supplement Not Onlya Amedum — Agreat atall little amount _deal T Difficulties upset or distress child 0 0 1 2 Interfere with HOME LIFE 0 0 1 2 Interfere with FRIENDSHIPS: 0 0 1 2 Interfere with CLASSROOM LEARNING 0 0 1 2 Interfere with LEISURE ACTIVITIES 0 0 1 2 = or distress chi 0 2 Interfere with PEER RELATIONS: 0 2 Interfere with CLASSROOM LEARNING 0 0 1 a Difficulties upset or distress child 0 0 1 2 Interfere with HOME LIFE 0 ° 1 2 Interfere with FRIENDSHIPS 0 0 1 2 Interfere with CLASSROOM LEARNING 0 0 1 2 Interfere with LEISURE ACTIVITIES o 0 4 2 Responses to the questions on chronicity and burden to others are not included in the impact score. When respondents have answered ‘no’ to the first question on the impact supplement (ie. when they do not perceive themselves as having any emotional or behavioural difficulties), they are not asked to complete the questions on resultant distress or impairment; the impact score is automatically scored zero in these circumstances.06 October 2015 3 rf jon Cuty for SDQ scores: ‘Although SDQ scores can be used as continuous variables, it is sometimes convenient to ‘categorise scores. The initial bandings presented for the SDQ scores were ‘norma’, ‘borderline’ and ‘abnormal’. These bandings were defined based on a population-based UK survey, attempting to choose cutpoints such that 80% of children scored ‘normal’, 10% ‘borderline’ and 10% ‘abnormal’ More recently a four-fold classification has been created based on an even larger UK ‘community sample. This four-fold classification differs from the original in that it (1) divided the top ‘abnormal’ category into two groups, each containing around 5% of the population, (2) renamed the four categories (80% ‘close to average’, 10% ‘slightly raised, 5% ‘high’ and 5% ‘very high’ for all scales except prosocial, which is | 80% ‘close to average’, 10% ‘slightly lowered’, 5% ‘low’ and 5% ‘very low’), and (3) changed the cut-points for some scales, to better reflect the proportion of children in each category in the larger dataset. bls Calero 900 acre fr 4:17 yor Original henson ‘ewerourbandsigoraavon a an eae a. “Total dificuties score 013 14-16 O13 1446 17-19 20-40 Emotional problems score | 0-3 4 03 4 56 7-10 Conduct problems score | 0-2 3 02 3 45 610 Hyperactivity score 0-5 6 05 67 8 810 Peer problems score 0.2 3 02 3 4 5-10 Prosocial score 6-10 5 8-10 7 6 05 Impact score ° 1 ° 1 2 310 ficulties score on 1216 = 1640 | O41 12-15 Emotional problems score | 0-4 5 610 | Comm 4 Conduct problems score | 0-2 3 410 02 3 Hyperactivity score 05 6 7-10 05 67 Peer problems score 0-3 4 510 | mm | 34 Prosocial score 610 5 O4 6-10 5 Impact score 0 1 26 ° Total dificuties score 015 «= 1619 «2040 | O14 = 1517 18-19 20-40 Emational problems score | 0-5 6 7-10 4 5 6 7-10 Conduct problems score | 0-3 4 5-10 03 4 5 610 Hyperactivity score 05 8 7-10 05 6 7 8-10 Peer problems score 03 45 6-10 02 3 4 5-10 Prosocial score 610 5 4 7-40 8 5 One Impact score 0 1 2-10 ° 1 2 340 Note that both these systems only provide a rough-and-ready way of screening for disorders, ‘combining information from SDQ symptom and impact scores from multiple informants is better, but still far from perfect.Example interpretation of SDQ - Charlie Brown Charlie's total difficulties score 17/40 was ae Further i shows that his internal og score 4/20 is close to average However his extern ue score 13/20 indicates an area of sake Charlie's score for the prosocial scale, 1 was in the ‘very low’ range indicating an area of difficulty. The teacher’s impact score 3 falls in the ‘very high’ range indicating that these difficulties often interfere with his classroom learning and sometimes cause him to feel upset. Actions + Class Teacher used SDQ scores as evidence to support a referral to PCAMHS service to support Charlie's difficulties with hyperactivity. + Charlie's Class Teacher adapted her daily planning to ensure that activities were delivered in short achievable bursts with movement breaks every 30 minutes. A visual timetable and language of ‘now’ and ‘next’ was introduced. + The SENCO conducted further language assessments and identified that difficulties with receptive language were impacting negatively on Charlie's prosocial skills and learning conduct behaviour. The Class Teacher implemented pre-teaching of key topic vocabulary and increased the use of visual support in the classroom when introducing new concepts. + Charlie participated in a time-limited, small group intervention using social stories to develop his understanding of other children's feeling and needs. + SDQ Score was followed up in 6 months and the Designated Teacher for LAC reported them on the e-PEP to evaluate impact of educational provision.