Question 1

What should I bring to an ADHD assessment?

Accepted Answer

Clinicians are looking for a pattern: difficulties that show up in more than one setting and that have been there for a long time, rather than a bad week. Useful things to bring are specific examples with dates and context rather than general descriptions, your child's view where they are able to give one, school reports or a written view from a teacher, a note of sleep and daily routines, relevant health history, and any previous reports. Bring it written down. Almost nobody recalls eight months of detail accurately in a room they find stressful, and the appointment is short.

Question 2

What is an observation record (and why does it matter)?

Accepted Answer

Structured questionnaires completed separately by a parent and a teacher — covering attention, activity and impulsivity at home and at school — are a common part of assessment. The value is in the comparison: two settings, filled in independently, over time. A record built as things happen is stronger evidence than one reconstructed from memory the week before the appointment, and it shows change over months rather than a single snapshot on a day that may not have been typical.

Question 3

What actually happens at the appointment?

Accepted Answer

There is no single format, and it varies by service and by whether it is in person or online. Commonly it is a long structured conversation — often an hour or more — with you and, depending on age, with your child, working through development, current difficulties and daily life. It may be split across more than one session, and questionnaires are usually completed before rather than during. There is no blood test or scan for ADHD; the assessment is a clinical judgement built from history and observation, which is why the history you bring carries so much weight.

Question 4

What will they ask about?

Accepted Answer

They will usually ask about early development and milestones, how things go at school and at home, sleep, friendships, mood and anxiety, family history, and anything else that might explain what you are seeing. That last part can feel like being doubted; it isn't. A careful clinician has to consider other explanations — sleep problems, hearing, anxiety, or something happening at school — because several of them look similar from the outside and some are more straightforward to address. Having detail ready for all of it is time well spent.

Question 5

How far back does the history need to go?

Accepted Answer

Further back than most families assume. Clinicians look for difficulties that have been present since childhood and across more than one setting, rather than something that began recently — so early school reports, nursery comments and your own memory of the early years all matter. If you have old reports in a drawer, dig them out before the appointment. Parents routinely find the most useful single document is a school report from years before that describes the same thing the family is describing now.

Question 6

Should my child's school be involved?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it is worth arranging early rather than waiting to be asked. Evidence from school is usually required, not optional, because a pattern that appears only at home is harder to interpret. Tell the SENCO an assessment is underway, ask who will complete the form, and give them a realistic deadline. Schools are not being obstructive when this takes time — a teacher may be asked for several of these a term — but a form that arrives late can hold up an appointment that took a year to get.

Question 7

What if the outcome isn't a diagnosis?

Accepted Answer

It is a common outcome and it is not a wasted appointment. Ask two things before you leave: what else might explain what you are seeing, and what happens next. Support at school is based on need rather than diagnosis, so the record you built does not stop being useful — it is the same evidence a SENCO or an EHC needs assessment works from. If things change, a clear record of what you tried and what happened is exactly what a second referral needs, and you will not have to reconstruct it.

Preparing for the appointment