Reynolds' Child Depression Scale (RCDS)
William M. Reynolds, Ph.D.

The RCDS is the instruments of choice for quickly assessing depressive sympthomatology in children, ages 8-12. It provides school and mental health professional with a straightforward, easily administered measure of the serverity of children's depressive symptoms. The RCDS also can be used in research on depression and related constructs.

It can be administered individually or to large groups of students in school or clinical settings. The RCDS is a 30-item rating scale that measures depressive symptoms. It is appropriate for children in grades 3-6 and can be completed in less than 10 minutes by a student with second-grade reading skills. The test is usually self-administered by students in grades 5 and 6, and read aloud to students in grades 3 and 4.
 
The RCDS manual contains provies basic information on the diagnosis and measurement of depression, a description of the RCDS and its development, normative information, and guidelines for interpretation.

• 30 items screen for depression.
• The RCDS is usually self-administered by students in grades 5 and 6, and read aloud to students in grades 3 and 4.
• 4-point rating scale.
• Useful as a multistage screener in school settings.
• Useful in evaluation of large-scale intervention and prevention programs in school and mental health settings.
• Handscorable Answer Sheet.
• Raw score to percentile rank conversion.
• Cutoff scores guide referrals.
• Case illustrations provided.
• Normative Data derived from 1,620 children by grade and gender.