Difference between trauma screening and trauma assessment tools: Screening tools are brief, used universally, and designed to detect exposure to traumatic events and symptoms. They help determine whether the child needs a professional, clinical, trauma-focused assessment. Functional assessments are more comprehensive and capture a range of specific information about the child’s symptoms, functioning, and support systems. A trauma assessment can determine strengths as well as clinical symptoms of traumatic stress. It assesses the severity of symptoms, and can determine the impact of trauma (how thoughts, emotions, and behaviors have been changed by trauma) on the child’s functioning in the various well-being domains.