ALREADY BOOKED · YOUR ASSESSMENT

How to prepare for your ADHD assessment.

If your ADHD assessment is already booked, this guide will help you understand what may happen while you wait, what the assessor may ask about, what is worth having ready, what to expect on the day and what happens afterwards.

Every service works a little differently. Treat this as general guidance rather than a description of your particular appointment, and follow any specific instructions from your provider. If you are here about a child or teenager, there is a separate guide for parents and carers.

IN SHORT

If you don’t read any further

Follow anything your assessment service has specifically asked you to do.
Expect the assessor to look at the wider picture rather than only at what happens during one appointment.
Have available anything specifically requested, and don’t worry about creating evidence you do not have.
Use the free ADHD Junction checklist if it would help you keep your notes, questions, practical details and what happens afterwards in one place.

What do I do while I wait?

Read what your service has already sent you. Confirmation letters and emails often carry instructions that are easy to miss: forms to complete, questionnaires to return by a particular date, a number to ring if your circumstances change. Dealing with those is most of the job.

Return anything requested by the date given where you can. If something is going to be difficult — an old school report you no longer have, a relative who cannot help with questions about your childhood — tell the service rather than trying to fill the gap yourself, and ask what they would like you to do instead.

If something useful occurs to you in the meantime, write it down. A few real examples can be useful, but there is no need to monitor yourself continuously or keep a running record of every difficulty.

Support does not always have to wait for the appointment. Adjustments at work or in education can often be discussed on the basis of the difficulties you are having now rather than on a diagnosis.

What will they actually ask me?

Most assessments are built around a long conversation.

The assessor is trying to understand a pattern that holds over time and across different parts of your life. That is why the questions range well beyond how things are this week.

How things are now

Current difficulties and where they show up: work or study, home, relationships, money, appointments, day-to-day organisation. Depending on what you have described, this may take in attention, planning, impulsivity, restlessness and emotional regulation.

Your earlier years

Childhood and development, what school was like, and whether the difficulties are long-standing. Some services ask for old school reports or would like to speak to someone who knew you as a child. Both can be useful when available. If the service has asked for something you cannot provide, tell them rather than trying to recreate it.

Everything else that could be relevant

Physical health, mental health, sleep, medication and other conditions that can produce similar difficulties. Expect questions about what you are good at and what goes well. That is part of the same picture rather than a sign that the assessor is unconvinced.

Questionnaires, rating scales and computer-based tasks may be used alongside the conversation. They contribute to the overall clinical assessment; they do not decide it on their own.

What should I have ready?

Start with whatever your provider has specifically asked for. Beyond that, the following are often useful:

Appointment details: date, time, location or video link
Anything the service has specifically requested
A list of current medication and doses
Previous reports or assessments, if you have them
School reports or other childhood information, if available and requested
A few short examples of difficulties that come up in ordinary life
The questions you want to ask
Your ADHD Junction checklist, if you have been using one

What do I do on the day?

Check whether the appointment is in person or by video. If it is by video, open the link a few minutes early and check your camera and microphone. If you are travelling, allow more time than you think you need. Have your notes and questions somewhere you can actually see them during the conversation.

Take whatever the service asked you to bring, and leave the rest. You do not need a folder of supporting material.

Describe things as they are, in your own words.

There is no particular way you are supposed to come across. You can pause, ask for a question to be repeated or rephrased, and say that you cannot remember. Not knowing is a real answer and assessors hear it constantly.

If a question does not seem to fit your experience, say so rather than picking the nearest available answer. Where your experience sits between the options is itself useful information.

What happens afterwards?

Before you finish, ask when you will hear the outcome and when the written report will be ready. These are often two different dates, and knowing both saves a good deal of wondering.

If ADHD is diagnosed

Ask what happens next and whether there is a further appointment to discuss support and treatment. Find out who is responsible for follow-up, reviews and ongoing prescribing if medication becomes part of the plan, and whether your GP will be asked to take that on. It is also worth asking what the report will say and who receives a copy.

If ADHD is not diagnosed

The difficulties you described are still real. Ask what the assessor thinks may account for them, whether anything else is worth assessing, and what support is available to you now.

If the outcome is not yet clear

Ask exactly what information is still outstanding, who is responsible for obtaining it and when you should expect to hear again.

Useful things to find out

You will not need all of these. Pick the ones that matter to you and keep them somewhere easy to find. They are all in the checklist if you would rather work from that.

BEFORE

Before the appointment

What information do you still need before the assessment?
Is there anything I need to send or bring?
Who will carry out the assessment?
Who makes the final diagnostic decision?

DURING

During the assessment

How do questionnaires or tests contribute to the overall assessment?
How will you consider other possible explanations or co-occurring conditions?
What should I do if I need a break or do not understand a question?

AFTER

Afterwards

When should I expect the outcome?
When should I expect the written report?
What happens if ADHD is diagnosed?
What happens if it is not?
What happens if the outcome remains unclear?
Who should I contact with questions afterwards?

FREE CHECKLIST · NO ACCOUNT REQUIRED · NOTHING ENTERED IS SENT TO ADHD JUNCTION

For people who have already booked an ADHD assessment.

Keep your own notes and questions, practical details of the appointment, information you may need to provide, and a record of what you are told afterwards, all in one place.

This page is the readable summary. The checklist is the working document you fill in as you go.

Open the free checklist

ALSO