OCD in Children Symptoms Checklist

Learn about OCD in Children Symptoms Checklists, then download our PDF template and use it for your practice!

By Matt Olivares on Aug 2, 2025.

Fact Checked by RJ Gumban.

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What is OCD?

Before we discuss what the OCD in Children Symptoms Checklist is, let’s discuss what Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is first.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, or OCD for short, is a mental health disorder characterized by two things: obsessions and compulsions.

Obsessions are these recurring intrusive thoughts, fears, urges, and mental images. These enter a person’s mind out of the blue or because of particular triggers, no matter how small. Those with this disorder will likely take on certain behaviors and perform specific actions as a response to these obsessions. These responses are referred to as compulsions, and they are often done routinely or religiously.

Depending on the severity of a person’s OCD, their obsessions and compulsions have the potential to disrupt their daily life. If the OCD is moderate or severe, the person will likely tend to become anxious or distressed.

Those with OCD who are anxious and distressed often enact their compulsions as a way for them to relax and find inner peace, no matter how temporary. If they don’t, their distress or anxiety might get worse and continue to disrupt their day.

To diagnose a patient with OCD, healthcare professionals will conduct a comprehensive examination that involves interviewing patients and asking them about their OCD symptoms, personal medical history, and whether they’re related to people with OCD. It also consists of conducting patient assessments and cross-checking every information collected with the OCD criteria of the most recent edition of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

OCD in Children Symptoms Checklist Template

OCD in Children Symptoms Checklist PDF Template

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How to use the OCD in Children Symptoms Checklist:

One way of kickstarting a comprehensive examination of a patient for OCD, especially children, is to use checklists. If you’re a specialist who diagnoses and treats patients with OCD, you can use our OCD in Children Symptoms Checklist if you ever have parents scheduling their kids for examinations to check if they have OCD or not.

Our OCD in Children Symptoms Checklist is easy to use! Those using it only have to do the following:

Write down their full name
Write down the full name of the child they’re assessing
Indicate their relationship with the child
Indicate the day or days they observed the child

Once reporters write the basic information above, they must observe and tick all the listed signs and symptoms. Here are some examples of statements they will see on the list:

The child is afraid of germs and dirt
The child refuses to be touched for fear of getting germs and dirt on them
They often have repeated doubts, so they constantly check things repeatedly
They are obsessed with symmetry and go out of their way to make things symmetrical
They have a standard of perfection, often unreasonable and sometimes unrealistic, so they keep repeating specific tasks until they feel perfect to them
They often ask for reassurance from others
They pay too much attention to detail
They wash their hands a lot

After ticking everything they’ve observed, they can submit this to a specialist, and scheduling a comprehensive examination can be discussed.

When is it best to use an OCD in Children Symptoms Checklist?

When parents suspect that their child has OCD.

Suppose you’re a healthcare professional who specializes in assessing, diagnosing, and treating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and you have parents consulting with you about their child having potential OCD. In that case, you can hand them a copy of this checklist.

Once you have handed it to them, tell them to observe their child for the signs and symptoms listed for a week or two, then schedule another meeting to discuss their findings.

When teaching staff suspect their student has OCD.

Teachers can observe children for potential developmental or mental health disorders since they will spend a lot of time with their students, sometimes more so than the parents of their students do. If they notice several signs and symptoms of OCD in a child, they can discuss this with the child’s parents, and if they’re all for having their child observed and assessed, teachers can use this checklist to jot down their observations while parents do the same at home.

OCD specialists can use the checklist to document changes over time.

Let’s stipulate that a child has been diagnosed with OCD and is receiving active treatment for it. This checklist can be used again from time to time to check if there are any improvements. Specialists can document any changes between check-ups and adjust or maintain the treatment/management plan to keep the disorder at bay and not disrupt a child’s daily life and development.

What are the benefits of using an OCD in Children Symptoms Checklist?

It gives OCD specialists the chance to detect OCD in children early.

If parents, guardians, and teachers discuss potential OCD in children with an OCD specialist, the specialist can provide this checklist to them to find out what specific signs and symptoms the child has that could point to them having OCD. Once a fully accomplished checklist is submitted to them and enough signs and symptoms have been ticked, they can schedule a comprehensive examination and diagnose the child as soon as possible. The sooner they are diagnosed, the earlier they can get treated for it.

It can keep healthcare professionals in the loop about children with (potential) OCD.

OCD specialists, despite being able to assess, diagnose, and treat children with OCD, don’t get to spend as much time with children with (potential) OCD compared to parents, guardians, and teachers. This checklist can help establish a line of communication between these people and OCD specialists.

If OCD specialists instruct parents, guardians, and teachers to observe the child they suspect of having OCD for a week or two, they can send copies of filled-out checklists now and then within the mandated time frame of observation.

It can be used to monitor children diagnosed with OCD.

Speaking of keeping OCD specialists in the loop, if a kid has been diagnosed with OCD and treatment/management plans have been implemented, the checklist can serve as a tool that can help the specialist determine if the treatment is going well or not. If the signs and symptoms have lessened in number or at least in severity, then it’s safe to say the plan is working and should be maintained.

If the parents, guardians, or teachers note more signs and symptoms have emerged or notify the specialist that the severity of each one remains the same, then adjustments need to be made.

Commonly asked questions

No. It’s a screening tool. It’s something that’s best used at the beginning of a comprehensive examination and as a monitoring tool. Please don’t use this to diagnose kids with OCD. Just because they have a sign or symptom of OCD, that doesn’t mean they have OCD.

Healthcare professionals will likely describe anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication, and similar medications to manage the distress that patients feel when their obsessions are bothering them too much.

Therapy, specifically Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, might be recommended. Another example is Exposure and Response Prevention, which should expose them to triggers and help them realize there’s nothing to worry about.

It depends on the discussions with OCD specialists. They might instruct people to use this checklist once daily, every two or three days, or even once a week. It depends on the suspected severity of the potential OCD and its signs and symptoms.