ALREADY BOOKED · CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE

How to prepare for your child’s ADHD assessment.

If your child or teenager already has an ADHD assessment arranged, this guide will help you understand what may happen before, during and after the appointment, including the part played by parents or carers, school or college and the young person themselves.

Every service works a little differently. Treat this as general guidance rather than a description of your child’s particular appointment, and follow any specific instructions from their provider.

IN SHORT

If you don't read any further

Stick to what the service you have booked with has asked you to do.
Expect the assessor to look at information from various sources such as you, your child and their school or college.
Support at school or college does not have to wait for a diagnosis.
Use the free assessment preparation checklist if it would help you keep the practical details, questions and notes together. There is a link near the end of this page.

What happens while we wait?

Check the appointment confirmation carefully, including any requirements, and make a note of anything the assessment service has asked you to complete or return beforehand. This might include questionnaires, information from school or college, previous reports, or information from a parent or carer.

If something they have requested is going to be difficult to provide, tell the service rather than trying to fill the gap yourself. It is also worth checking what happens if school information or other forms arrive late, and who to contact if the appointment needs to be changed.

What should we have ready?

Have to hand whatever the assessment provider has specifically asked for. Depending on the service, useful information may include:

Appointment details: date, time, location or video link
School or college reports
Information from a SENCo or learning-support team, if available
Any questionnaires the service has sent
Previous assessments or relevant professional reports
A list of current medication and doses
Relevant health information
Short real-life examples of things you have noticed
Your child’s own thoughts about what they find easy and what they find difficult
Your completed ADHD Junction checklist, if you have used it and want to refer to or share anything from it

What will happen at the assessment?

There is no single identical process used by every service.

The clinician will usually want to understand your child’s development, current difficulties, how things are going in different parts of life and whether anything else could be contributing. They may also ask about things such as sleep, physical and mental health, routines, stress and other factors that could affect how your child is feeling or functioning.

Information may come from the young person, parents or carers, school or college, previous reports, questionnaires and clinical interviews. Some services may also use additional tests or structured activities, but these do not replace the clinician’s overall assessment.

Depending on the young person’s age and the service, the clinician may speak to the young person themselves as well as to a parent or carer. You can ask beforehand whether any part of the appointment is likely to take place separately.

Outcome 01

A diagnosis is made

The clinician explains what they have concluded and what happens next.

Outcome 02

ADHD is not diagnosed

Ask what the clinician thinks may explain the difficulties and what support or further assessment may still be useful.

Outcome 03

More information is needed

The service may ask for further information or arrange another appointment before reaching a conclusion.

How should I prepare my child?

Explain it as a conversation about how things are for them: what feels easy, what feels difficult and what they would like help with. There is nothing to revise and no particular answer they are expected to give.

Encourage them to describe things as they actually experience them, including anything they find easy, difficult or hard to explain. Tell them they can simply be themselves and do not need to behave in any particular way for the appointment.

It is fine for a young person to say that they do not know, cannot remember, disagree with an adult’s description or experience something differently at school and at home. Those differences can themselves be useful information.

The young person’s own views matter.

Try not to promise that the appointment will result in a particular diagnosis. A useful explanation might simply be that the clinician is trying to understand what is making some things difficult and what support might help.

What happens afterwards?

Ask when you should expect to hear the outcome and when the written report will be available.

If ADHD is diagnosed

Find out what happens next and whether there will be another appointment to discuss treatment and support. Ask what options may be appropriate for your child, including non-medication approaches if you would like to understand the alternatives. If medication is being considered, it is also worth asking who will be responsible for starting it, follow-up, reviews and ongoing prescribing.

If ADHD is not diagnosed

That does not mean the difficulties your child is experiencing are unimportant. Ask what the clinician thinks may explain them, what support may still be useful and whether any further assessment or referral should be considered.

If the outcome is not yet clear

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

Useful things to find out

You will probably not need all of these. Pick the questions that matter to you and keep them somewhere easy to find. These are all covered in the checklist if you choose to use it.

BEFORE

Before the appointment

What information do you still need before the assessment?
Do you need anything from school or college, and what happens if it is unavailable or arrives late?
Who will take part in the assessment?
Who makes the final diagnostic decision, and when is that decision usually made?
Will my child or teenager be spoken to separately for any part of the appointment, and how is that handled if they or I have concerns about it?

DURING

During the assessment

How will my child’s own views be included?
What happens if home and school describe things differently?
If questionnaires or computer-based tests are used, how do they contribute to the overall assessment?
What happens if my child becomes restless, distressed, overwhelmed or needs a break during the assessment?
How will you consider other possible explanations or co-occurring conditions?

AFTER

Afterwards

When should we expect the outcome?
When should we expect the written report?
If ADHD is not diagnosed, will the report explain what else might account for the difficulties you have identified?
If another assessment appears necessary, who would arrange or refer us for it?
What happens if the outcome remains unclear?
What support might still be useful regardless of the diagnostic outcome?
Who should we contact if we have questions afterwards?

FREE CHECKLIST · NO ACCOUNT REQUIRED · NOTHING 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.

For a child or teenager, you can use it together: a parent or carer can keep track of the practical information while the young person contributes anything they want the assessor to understand.

Free to use · No account required · ADHD Junction does not receive or see what you enter.

Open the free checklist

Where to next

HUB