The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire is a short, free, validated screener developed by child psychiatrist Robert Goodman in 1997. It's one of the most widely used child mental-health tools in the world — translated into 80+ languages and used by schools, pediatricians, and researchers globally.
You answer 25 short questions about your child's behavior over the last 6 months. It takes about 5–7 minutes. The result is scored across 5 areas, and we save it so you can track changes over time as your son grows.
Whoever knows him best fills it out. Mom, Dad, or both — separately is fine and actually useful (different angles). Each answer is just Not True, Somewhat True, or Certainly True based on his behavior over the last 6 months. There are no right answers. Trust your gut.
Run it again every 3–6 months. After 2–3 assessments the Trends tab will show his trajectory across each area — that's the actual insight, not any single score.
No. It's a screening tool — it tells you where to pay attention, not what's wrong. "High" or "very high" scores in research samples correlate with increased likelihood of clinical concerns, but only a clinician can diagnose anything.
Stored only in this browser (localStorage). Nothing is sent to any server. Use the Settings tab to export a JSON backup or wipe the data.
The parent version is validated for ages 4–17. Your son turns 6 in March, so you're squarely in the supported range.
It's the sum of Emotional + Conduct + Hyperactivity + Peer scores (out of 40). It's the headline number researchers use. Prosocial is scored separately because it's a strength, not a difficulty.
Confirm child details, then start. The form is one page — answer at your own pace.
Each line is one of the 5 SDQ scales over time. The Total Difficulties score is the bold line. Hover any point for the exact value.
Everything is stored locally in this browser. Export a backup to keep your records safe, or import on a new device.
SDQ items © Robert Goodman, used non-commercially per sdqinfo.org terms. This app stores nothing on any server.
Build: trend-projection adapted from Princeton's Fragile Families Challenge methodology — once you have 3+ data points, simple linear projection of recent slope outperforms most trained models for n=1 longitudinal data.