The School Years Screening Test for the Evaluation of Mental Status in Children

Ouvrier, Hendy, Bornholt & Black

A Brief Introduction to the SYSTEMS Screening Test

The SYSTEMS test (School-Years Screening Test for the Evaluation of Mental Status) is a useful, brief test for school age children designed to screen cognitive functioning of a child, during an initial assessment. A score below the age-appropriate cut-off score suggests cognitive impairment or cognitive deterioration, which means the child needs a more detailed cognitive assessment.

SYSTEMS has high sensitivity with respect to cognitive impairment and is suitable for a range of clinical and research settings. It is easily and quickly administered by trained health professionals such as neurologists, paediatricians and other clinicians, as well as clinical, developmental and educational psychologists.

A child's response to the SYSTEMS screening test provides an indicator of her or his cognitive functioning. The term cognitive functioning is used in a broad sense to mean cognitive manipulation as well as general information and skills. The activities therefore include attention, memory, mental manipulation, drawing and language, as well as reading, spelling, arithmetic and autobiographical information such as date of birth. The cognitive capacities incorporated in the SYSTEMS screening test for children reflect the initial purpose of the Mini-Mental Status for adults developed by Folstein and colleagues, our collective clinical experiences, as well as constructive discussions of current ideas, practical purposes and research in the fields of neurology, clinical neuropsychology, developmental and educational psychology.

The SYSTEMS Manual provides a description of the research project involved with the development of the test. Reliability (internal consistency, inter-rater and test-retest) are reported along with validity (sensitivity, specificity and concurrent) results. A guide for test administration, scoring procedures and age-related cut-off values are also included in the manual.

Contact Details

Professor Robert Ouvrier
Neurology Department
The Children's Hospital at Westmead
Telephone: +61 02 9845 2667
Fax: +61 02 9845 3905
E-mail: roberto@chw.edu.au

How to Order SYSTEMS

When you order SYSTEMS you will receive the following items:

SYSTEMS Manual
Provides a description of the research project involved with the development of the test. Reliability (internal consistency, inter-rater and test-retest) are reported along with validity (sensitivity, specificity and concurrent) results. A guide for test administration, scoring procedures and age-related cut-off values are also included in the manual.

SYSTEMS Video
Provides detailed administration instructions in the context of a case study.

SYSTEMS Testing Forms and Materials
25 copies are provided, photocopying of further forms and materials is permitted.

Cost of SYSTEMS

The cost of SYSTEMS is $300 AUD plus $30 GST AUD.

Please send payment (via credit card, cheque or mail order in Australian Dollars) along with a completed order form to:

Scott Day
Manager
Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery
The Children's Hospital at Westmead
Locked Bag 4001
Westmead NSW 2145
AUSTRALIA
Phone: 61 2 9845 2667
Fax: 61 2 9845 3905
Email: scottd@chw.edu.au