DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY CHECH-LIST FOR CHILDREN (DPCL)

DR. (MRS) MALAVIKA KAPUR

A DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY YES

Did the mother,before during or just after child birth, suffer from any problems like illness of difficult
1 0
labour.

2 Did the child have any serious illness soon after birth, if yes, specify. 0

3 Has the child has epilepsy, head injury, infections or any other serious illness.?(if yes, specify) 0

4 Has the child any problem in seeing.? (if yes, describe) 0

5 Has the child any problems in hearing ? (if yes, describe) 0

6 Between the ages of 1 and 3, could the child walk climb throw a ball ? ( if not mark as present) 0

7 Could the child by the age of 3 cut paper, thred, beads? (if not mark as present) 0

8 Between thr age of 1 and 3, could the child speak in small sentenses? (if not mark as present) 0 1

Could the child between the age of 1 and 3 years show eproprite emothional expression, in relation
9 0 1
to parents and others and did he/she enjoy playing with other children? (if not mark as present)
Could the child between the age of 3 and 5 years , feed wash and drres him/herself? (if not mark as
10 0 1
present)
B DEVELOPMENTAL PROBLEMS 0

Currentaly or in the past, has there been a problem:

11 Of dropping things, falling and tripping, frequentaly. 0 1

12 For brief periods when the child cried countinuosly to the extent of holding breath, become stiff, and t 0 1

13 Or making odd or funny, repeated movement of the face body, arms and legs. 0 1

14 In pronouncing words clearly (for example: "labbit", for "rabbit" ) 0 1

15 In speaking as stammering or stuterring 0 1

Currently does the child have the problem of :

16 Not talking at all and remaining mute, despite knowing how to speak on some, situation and to some 0 1

17 Reapeating the words spoken by others exactly in the manner it was heard, without appearing to un 0 1

18 Appearing to understand what is being said but seemingly 0 1

19 Of not being able to understand what is being spoken. 0 1

Appearing to understand and know how to speak, but speaking in a manner which other people find
20 0 1
difficult to understand and refusing to use gestures to convey his/her needs.

21 Not being able to relate to people 0 1

22 Not being able to play with other children. 0 1

Feeding such as overating a undereating , food feds or fussy eating habits and eating non edible
23 0 1
things such as mud. (if present specify)

24 Wetting clothes or bed from a very early ages. 0 1

25 Resuming wetting of the clothes or bed, after being dry earlier on. 0 1

26 Of soilling of the clothes with stools or has constipation (if present specfy) 0 1

27 Sleeping such as sleep-walking, such-talking , teeth grinding, nightmares etc. (if present specify) 0 1

28 Masturbating or any other sexual problems (which is indulged in public) 0 1

(The items below are marked as being present only when they occur often or most of the
time but not when they occur sometimers)
Does the child have the problem of :

29 Poor attention 0 1

30 Distractibility-(if the is doing a task and someone enteres the room, or he hears a sound 0 1
does he easily get destracted by this. )

31 Inablity to sit in a place, and always moving around. 0 1

32 Acting without thinking , like while crossing the road not looking out for the troffic. 0 1

33 Stubborrness 0 1

34 Disobedience 0 1

35 Often interuppting other games talk being desruptive while playing or, breathing/throwing 0 1

36 Quarrelsemeness and fighting. 0 1

37 Agression as seen by heatting, bitting and pinching other (with/without rovocation ) 0 1

38 Getting very angry, crying a lot, rolling on the ground and countinuaring to be so for a l 0 1

39 Going to school and coming back on time but actually does not a tend the school. 0 1

40 Indulging and lyining and cleating. 0 1

41 Refusing to go to school and staying back home for a duratin of weeks or months 0 1

42 Poor school performance. 0 1

43 Redding difficulty. 0 1

44 Difficulty in writing. 0 1

45 Difficulty in arthmetic 0 1

46 Forgetfullness or poor memory 0 1

47 Day dreaming 0 1

48 Being very quiet and reserved (withdrawn) 0 1

49 Talking very littile even with family members. 0 1

50 Worrying. 0 1

51 Ansiousness and nurversoness 0 1

52 Shyness and timidity. 0 1

53 Is fearfull of animals people/situations. 0 1

54 Clinging 0 1

55 Crying easily 0 1

Going on doing a perticular thing over and again, such as washing hands, or repeatedly
56 saying certain nembers or expressing that certan thoughts come to his/ her mind 0 1
repeatedly to the extent that it interferes with his/her daily activities.

57 Complaining of dizziness or giddiness. 0 1

58 Complaining of aches and pains. 0 1

59 Complaining of/ appearing to be always tired. 0 1

60 Complaining of stomach ache 0 1

61 Fainting spells 0 1

62 Attach of jerky movements or uncosciousness(fits or conversions to be differenttiated from 0 1

63 Complaining of pulling sensation of the limbs. 0 1

64 Chronic physical illness (specify, if present) 0 1

65 Physical handicaps (specify, if present) 0 1

66 Of hearing voices and seeing things when no one was around. 0 1

67 Of maintaining postures, being stiff, over long periods of time. (if present, describe) 0 1
 Of saying that he/she was a great person, or a bad person or that he/she was being
68 0 1
harmed by other people without a real basis for such beliefs.
69 Of talking and laughting to self. 0 1

70 Of very poor appetite, sometimes leading to loss of weight. 0 1

71 Of poor sleep/ disturbed sleep. 0 1

72 Of wetting and soilling during illness and was unaware of it. 0 1

73 Of loss f interest in play and daily activities. 0 1

74 Of moving and respnding unusually slowely. 0 1

75 Of being depressed, sad and dull. 0 1

76 Of talking much more or faster than he/she normally used. 0 1

77 Of being irritable. 0 1

78 Of being unusually cheerful and happy. (others , if any) 0 1

Family history of : 0 1
79 Any on having maintal illness. 0 1

80 Any one taking alcohol excessively. 0 1

81 Any one having epilepsy. 0 1

82 Any one having problemes. In reading, writing or arthmatical 0 1

83 Any one having bed wetting. 0 1

84 Any one having speech problems. 0 1

85 Any one being very dull or mentally retarded. 0 1

86 Have there been any precipitating events at the time of oneset of the problems. (specify, i 0 1

E. INTERACTION IN THE FAMILY

Is there any evidence of:

87 Problemes with parents.(if present, describe) 0 1

88 Sibling rivalry (jealously of brothers and sisters) 0 1

89 Marital disharmony (parents fight a lot) 0 1

90 Panltiveness: parents frequantly resort to hitting, betting or punishing the child. 0 1

91 Over expectionans: (the parents expect from the child beyond his abilities.) 0 1

Over involvement: (the parents are involved with all the childs activities to the extent that he/she does
92 0 1
not do anything on his/her own.)

93 Over indulgence : (the parents meet all the demands of the child, weather resonable or not.) 0 1

94 Indifference : (the parents are not bothered about the childs physical or psychological needs.) 0 1

D. PHYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS
The items to be marked as parents, weather it was there in the past of parents.
95 Inconsistant disciplining :(the parents do not agree about the way to discipline the child.) 0 1
96 Multiple care taking:(the child is brought by a number of adults in the family.) 0 1
97 Single parents: (the child has been cared for by a single parents.) 0 1
98 Any change of school, medium of specific subjects or teachers. 0 1
99 The child comlaining of problems with teachers. 0 1
100 The child having problems in playing, mixing or socialising 0 1
The child having problems such as poverty and other stressors, not covered in the above section (if
101 0 1
present, specify.)
Temperament profile

Descriptions of some aspects of the childs nature of temperament are given and, each description has
F three option to choose from. Encircle the option which fit the child best . If the description is not
applicable, it may be mentioned, especially for younger children.

S R T Not applicable
A. PSYCHOSOCIAL
102 Easy to manage Mostly 0 Not at all 1 Somewhat 1
Independent (can manage
103
himself/herself) Mostly 0 Somewhat 1 Not at all 1
104 Dependable Mostly 0 Somewhat 1 Not at all 1
Sensative
105 (to others needs, emotionas) Mostly 0 Somewhat 1 Not at all 1
106 Sensative (only about one self ) Somewhat 0 Mostly 1 Not at all 1
107 Trusting Mostly 0 Somewhat 1 Not at all 1
108 Trustworthy
Morai (discriminates Mostly 0 Somewhat 1 Not at all 1
between good and bad,
109 Mostly 0 Somewhat 1 Not at all 1
knows it is bad to hit
others, steal etc. )
Bio-social
110 Sleep Moderate 0 Too littil 1 Too much 1
111 Appetite Moderate 0 Too littil 1 Too little 1
112 Activity Moderate 0 Too much 1 Too little 1
113 Emotionality Cheerful 0 Angry/tense)1 Dull (dull reactive ) 1
114 Persistance Good 0 Veriable 1 Too little 1
115 Sociability with family mem Adequate 0 Mostly 1 Not at all 1
116 Sociability with others outsi Adequate 0 Mostly 1 Not at all 1
117 Aggression (verbal) Not at all 0 Mostly 1 Some what 1
118 Aggression ( Physical TOTAL Not at all 0 Mostly 1 Some what 1
Lesser the scores better the tempermant Each column total shows the predominance of Satvik, Rajasik
Note :
or Tamasik temperament in comparison to each other.
I HELPFUL FACTORS FOR MANAGEMENT
Does the child have any helpful person at home/outside: somebody with whom the child is attached to,
119 0 1
who help the child, takes him /her out , boys the child gifts? (if yes, describe )
120 Does the child have friends in the neighborhood or school ? ( if yes, describe ) 0 1
121 Does the child have interest in drawing, painting, games music, etc ? ( if yes, describe ) 0 1
122 Does the child have any special talents ? ( if yes, describe ) 0 1
123 Is the child good at sports ? ( if present describe ), and 0 1
124 Is the child creative, can put together commen place objects in a new fashion, or make objects with hands 0 1
Other observation, if any :
 A. Development history 1-Sep
B. Development problems including autism Oct-27
C. Psychopathology
i) Hyperkinesis 28-30
ii) Conduct disorder 31-39
iii) Learning problems 40-45
iv) Emotion disorder 46-54
v) Obsesive-compulsive neurosis 55
vi) Somatic symptoms ( including hysteria ) 56-64
vii) Psychoses ( mania, depression and schizophrenia ) 65-77
D. Psychosocial stressors 79-101
E. Temperamental profile 102-118
F. Helpful for management 119-124
The details of scroring and standardization and the transalated versions in, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu,
Note : Malayalam, Marathi, Hindi and Gujrathi are available with the author and may be provided to the users
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