Child Schizophrenia Test
A quiet look at what you have noticed in a child's behavior, and how much of it is ordinary. Not a verdict, just a clearer view.
≈3 min Questions: 16
If you’re here, something the child did made you look twice. This test doesn’t decide whether the child is alright, and it isn’t grading you either; it shows what you have noticed and how much of it lines up with the patterns it tracks. Pick the answer that fits what you have seen lately. It takes about three minutes, and at the end you get a calm reading of what you noticed and what to do with it. What would it feel like to look at this clearly, without rushing to a conclusion?
Child Schizophrenia Test
Ordinary Days
Worry can be loud. It is also a form of care.
You came looking for this test because something made you look twice, maybe a murmur in an empty room during play.
Checking is not a fault. Someone who checks is someone who pays attention, and that needs no apology.
What you describe lines up with ordinary childhood. Imaginary friends, chatter during play, a fear of the dark or of monsters, a made-up story told with full conviction: all of it belongs to growing up, and none of it worries anyone by itself.
This reading reflects only what you have seen lately. It does not mean nothing deserves ordinary attention, only that what you describe does not point toward childhood schizophrenia.
One small step: play one short game with the child.
StillNormal
Maryna Lyadneva psychologist
Child Schizophrenia Test
Ordinary Days
Worry can be loud. It is also a form of care.
You came looking for this test because something made you look twice, maybe a murmur in an empty room during play.
Checking is not a fault. Someone who checks is someone who pays attention, and that needs no apology.
This is my result. What will the test show you?
Take the test · stillnormal.com
Child Schizophrenia Test
Now and Then
Is it strange to notice? It is what attention does.
You have caught something here and there, a mood that dipped or a sentence that came out crooked, and then it passed.
Keeping track of these moments does not make you anxious by nature. Anyone who cares would keep track.
What you have described still mostly lines up with ordinary childhood. Mild experiences like these are frequent in children around nine to twelve, and most fade on their own. A long chat with an invisible companion can look strange for a moment and be perfectly normal.
Worry tends to reach for the most unusual explanation first. Here the everyday one still fits better, and it is worth letting it in.
One small step: send one person you trust a message saying you have been worried.
StillNormal
Maryna Lyadneva psychologist
Child Schizophrenia Test
Now and Then
Is it strange to notice? It is what attention does.
You have caught something here and there, a mood that dipped or a sentence that came out crooked, and then it passed.
Keeping track of these moments does not make you anxious by nature. Anyone who cares would keep track.
This is my result. What will the test show you?
Take the test · stillnormal.com
Child Schizophrenia Test
Things Stand Out
You are not overreacting. You are paying attention.
A couple of things stand out to you now, and you turn them over late at night.
Wondering what they mean is a reasonable response to unusual moments, and no failing of yours.
What you describe includes a few things that stand out without yet forming a clear picture. Many scattered details across many areas add up to less than one real shift in how the child usually is.
Everyday explanations still fit best here: a pretend companion, a long conversation with a toy, monsters under the bed, a tall tale told with a straight face. The useful question is whether any of it is new for this child.
One small step: sit down with a warm drink.
StillNormal
Maryna Lyadneva psychologist
Child Schizophrenia Test
Things Stand Out
You are not overreacting. You are paying attention.
A couple of things stand out to you now, and you turn them over late at night.
Wondering what they mean is a reasonable response to unusual moments, and no failing of yours.
This is my result. What will the test show you?
Take the test · stillnormal.com
Child Schizophrenia Test
Patterns Across Areas
Your worry is doing its job. It is asking what changed.
You keep noticing things in several areas, and they pile up in your mind faster than you can sort them.
Being alert here is nothing to feel guilty about. Anyone in your position would feel the weight of it.
What you describe forms a pattern across several areas, without a clear change from how the child usually is. The count itself matters less than the change: is this new for the child, and has something they always did reliably fallen away?
Nothing here is a determination. Other explanations still fit this picture, and the child's own account, which this reading cannot include, matters most.
One small step: ask the child what they enjoyed most today.
StillNormal
Maryna Lyadneva psychologist
Child Schizophrenia Test
Patterns Across Areas
Your worry is doing its job. It is asking what changed.
You keep noticing things in several areas, and they pile up in your mind faster than you can sort them.
Being alert here is nothing to feel guilty about. Anyone in your position would feel the weight of it.
This is my result. What will the test show you?
Take the test · stillnormal.com
Child Schizophrenia Test
Change Noticed
You looked closely. Looking is how care starts.
You keep replaying the small moments: a habit the child dropped, a mood that no longer lifts, and a sense that this is different from before.
You did nothing wrong by looking for a test like this, or by wondering whether you missed something earlier. Attention is not blame, and the child has done nothing wrong either.
What you describe includes a clear, steady change from how the child usually is, worth mentioning to the child's doctor in an ordinary, calm way. People bring observations like these to doctors often, and there are ways of working with them.
No test can say whether a child has a disorder. That takes a clinician, the child, and more than one point of view, so this reading is a reason to talk and no verdict.
One small step: write down what you noticed and when it started, as a note for the child's doctor.
StillNormal
Maryna Lyadneva psychologist
Child Schizophrenia Test
Change Noticed
You looked closely. Looking is how care starts.
You keep replaying the small moments: a habit the child dropped, a mood that no longer lifts, and a sense that this is different from before.
You did nothing wrong by looking for a test like this, or by wondering whether you missed something earlier. Attention is not blame, and the child has done nothing wrong either.
This is my result. What will the test show you?
Take the test · stillnormal.com Maryna Lyadneva psychologist
How this test works
Where the questions come from, what the scale rests on, and why the result is not a diagnosis.
The test measures how many of five outwardly visible patterns one adult has personally noticed in a child: a shift from the child's usual self, hard-to-follow speech, new wariness, unusual described experiences, and a lost skill or habit.
Methodology
The test gathers an adult's firsthand observations of a child. Its questions cover five areas of visible behavior: changes in the child's own social, emotional, and school life; speech that is hard to follow; new suspicion of people and places; unusual experiences the child talks about; and a lost skill or habit.
The answers add up to a picture of how much has been noticed and how steadily. The test does not look inside the child and does not apply diagnostic criteria. Its lower bands are wide on purpose, because a mild odd moment belongs to childhood and most pass.
For further reading, a guide for adults who look after a child or teenager separates ordinary behavior from what merits a conversation and names a first step, while a broad overview of psychosis serves as background and is not focused on children.
This is not a diagnostic instrument and no replacement for a specialist. It cannot show whether a child has childhood schizophrenia or any other psychotic disorder, or whether one might develop. Only a qualified clinician can diagnose, through a wide assessment from several sources in which the child takes part. One questionnaire, or one adult's view, is never enough. The result records what the reader has seen lately and says nothing about the child as a person. No result, the highest included, is an alarm, and a low one leaves room for ordinary attention, showing only that what is described does not point to this condition.
Questions
Is it normal for a child to have an imaginary friend or talk to themselves?
Yes. Invisible companions and a running commentary during play belong to ordinary growing up, and children often keep both for years. On their own they say nothing worrying.
Can this test say whether a child has childhood schizophrenia?
No. That judgment belongs to a trained clinician who gathers information from several places and talks with the child directly. What you get here is a summary of your own observations, and it says nothing more than that.
What is worth mentioning to a doctor?
Experiences the child describes that sound frightening, complicated, or full of several voices, in contrast to fleeting ones tied to dreams or to a game the child runs. A habit or skill that has vanished for no clear reason. A lasting shift in mood, energy, or closeness with others. A pile of small items is not the point; a real change for this particular child is.
How is childhood schizophrenia diagnosed?
A clinician talks at length with the adults in the child's life and with the child, reviews how the child has developed, and runs checks to see whether something else explains what is happening. Handbooks such as DSM-5 and ICD-11 give the field its formal wording, and no questionnaire replaces this process.
If I see signs like these, does it mean schizophrenia?
Not on their own. Most of what worries people has ordinary explanations, such as development, sleep, play, or stress. A reason to speak with a doctor exists when something has really changed for the child, and even then the doctor's assessment decides what it means.
Sources
- Kim, S. J. et al. Differentiating Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia From Other Childhood Disorders. PMC8958114.
- Kelleher, I., Connor, D., Clarke, M. C., Devlin, N., Harley, M., & Cannon, M. (2012). Prevalence of psychotic symptoms in childhood and adolescence: a systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based studies. Psychological Medicine, 42(9), 1857–1863. doi:10.1017/S0033291711002960.
- Dominguez, M.-G., & Garralda, M. E. (2016). Assessing and managing hallucinations in children and adolescents. BJPsych Advances, 22(6), 380–390. doi:10.1192/apt.bp.115.014738.
- Hamasaki, Y. et al. (2021). Testing the clinical application of the child psychosis-risk screening system (CPSS). European Psychiatry, 64(Suppl 1), S638. doi:10.1192/j.eurpsy.2021.1694.
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