A.D.H.D. Assessment

Please complete and submit the Autism, A.D.H.D. and Combined Assessment Suitability Form provided on this page. The same form may also be accessed through the Enquiries page, where the current wait-list status is displayed. This is the appropriate form for a standalone A.D.H.D. Assessment and for any combined pathway in which A.D.H.D. forms part of the assessment question. A Parent Consultation is required before a full assessment through this pathway can be agreed.

The Clinical Psychologist will review the submitted information to determine whether the pathway appears clinically appropriate and falls within the Scope of Practice. The form gathers information about the referral question, legal guardianship and consent, relevant health, developmental and educational history, previous assessments, current mental-health and support needs, and any circumstances that may affect meaningful participation, assessment timing, or interpretation. Additional information, previous reports, school-based findings, or educational and health records may also be requested where relevant.

Where the referral is accepted for progression to the Parent Consultation, the appropriate Consent Form and Intake Form must be completed and reviewed before the child or young person can be added to the relevant assessment wait list. When consultation capacity becomes available, the family or young person will receive a booking link for the required Parent Consultation. The Parent Consultation is a separately booked professional service, and the appropriate assessment pathway, scope, fee, and booking arrangements will be confirmed separately where a full assessment is subsequently agreed.

For a child under 16, consent is required from all legal guardians. A young person aged 16 or 17 may provide their own consent in accordance with the applicable consent, capacity, confidentiality, and guardianship arrangements. Any involvement of a parent or caregiver, and any sharing of the young person’s assessment information with them, remain subject to the young person’s valid consent and confidentiality rights. The child’s or young person’s participation, views, assent, or consent will also be addressed in a developmentally appropriate manner throughout the assessment process.

The standalone A.D.H.D. Assessment considers whether the applicable diagnostic criteria for A.D.H.D. are met. It includes consideration of the relevant developmental, contextual, multi-informant, direct-assessment, and functional evidence, together with clinical formulation, one Feedback Appointment, and a comprehensive Psychological Report. It does not automatically include formal diagnostic assessment for Autism, S.L.D., Intellectual Disability, a language disorder, a mental-health condition, or another neurodevelopmental or developmental presentation. Any additional or combined assessment component must be clinically appropriate, fall within the Scope of Practice, and be separately agreed following the Parent Consultation.

Acceptance remains subject to individual clinical suitability. Where the referral question cannot be appropriately addressed through the A.D.H.D. Assessment pathway, or another assessment, medical, psychiatric, multidisciplinary, or therapeutic service appears more suitable, this will be explained and appropriate signposting may be provided.

Please review the Terms of Service and the information on this page before submitting an Assessment Suitability Form.

Before the Parent Consultation, information will be gathered from parents or caregivers, the child’s or young person’s school or another relevant everyday setting, and the child or young person directly where developmentally appropriate. Parents or caregivers will also be asked to provide any previous psychological, developmental, educational, medical, or other professional reports that may assist the consultation. Requested questionnaires, reports, and educational records must be provided in advance so that they can be reviewed and considered during the appointment.

The standardised measures selected will depend on the individual referral and may include the Conners, Fourth Edition (Conners 4), the Sensory Processing Measure, Second Edition (S.P.M.-2), and any other measures considered clinically relevant to the assessment question. The applicable parent or caregiver, teacher or other educational-informant, and self-report forms will be selected according to the child’s or young person’s age, developmental presentation, circumstances, and the intended use of each measure.

Additional information from school or another relevant setting may include educational records and descriptive information about the child’s or young person’s attention regulation, activity level, impulse regulation, executive functioning, emotional experience, sensory processing, learning, relationships, everyday participation, and support needs. Standardised questionnaires provide structured information about the experiences and functioning being described, but no questionnaire or rating scale independently establishes or excludes an A.D.H.D. diagnosis.

Information from different people and environments does not need to be identical. Attention, activity level, impulse regulation, executive functioning, and emotional regulation can vary according to structure, interest, novelty, familiarity, individual support, consequences, environmental stimulation, competing demands, and the effort involved in compensation. Differences between accounts are considered as clinically relevant information within the wider developmental, contextual, and functional formulation.

School and other observer information is interpreted according to its quality, relevance, context, and relationship to the available evidence as a whole. Consideration is given to how long and in what circumstances the observer has known the child or young person, the demands and supports within that environment, and the range of situations reflected in the information provided. An account in which few A.D.H.D.-related characteristics are identified does not automatically exclude A.D.H.D., although the assessment must still contain sufficient evidence of the required developmental pattern across more than one important area of everyday life.

The Parent Consultation is attended by parents or caregivers without the child or young person. It develops an initial clinical understanding of the child’s or young person’s developmental course, current presentation, strengths, support needs, everyday functioning, educational experience, relevant relationships and contexts, and the reasons an A.D.H.D. Assessment is being considered.

The discussion may explore attention regulation across different activities and environments, activity level and movement needs, impulse regulation, task initiation and completion, organisation, planning, working memory, time management, emotional regulation, relationships, social participation, learning, sleep, physical health, language, sensory experiences, environmental demands, available supports, compensatory strategies, and possible co-occurring or alternative explanations. The Intake information, questionnaire responses, school or other observer information, and available previous records are considered as part of this wider clinical discussion.

Indicators of Autism, S.L.D., language or communication needs, mental-health needs, sleep-related difficulties, or another relevant presentation may inform the preliminary differential formulation and the assessment pathway subsequently considered. Any additional or combined assessment component must be clinically appropriate, fall within the Scope of Practice, and be separately agreed.

The consultation also considers whether the child’s or young person’s A.D.H.D.-related support needs and the type of professional input being sought remain appropriate for this Clinical Psychologist-led, non-prescribing pathway. Moderate support needs are considered individually in relation to the child’s or young person’s overall presentation, functioning across settings, co-occurring needs, current supports, and the assessment evidence available at that stage.

Following the consultation, the Clinical Psychologist will determine whether a standalone A.D.H.D. Assessment appears appropriate, whether a combined or broader assessment should be considered, whether further preliminary information is required, or whether another professional service would be better placed to address the child’s or young person’s needs. The Parent Consultation does not provide a diagnostic conclusion. Completion of the Parent Consultation does not commit the parents or caregivers, the young person, or the Clinical Psychologist to proceed with a full assessment. Any full assessment pathway, scope, fee, and booking arrangements will be agreed separately where further assessment is recommended.

The child or young person participates directly in an in-person assessment with the Clinical Psychologist. This includes developmentally appropriate discussion and observation through which the child or young person can describe their own experiences of attention, activity level, impulse regulation, organisation, time management, emotional regulation, learning, relationships, and the effort involved in managing everyday demands.

Where applicable to the child’s or young person’s age and developmental presentation, the Conners 4 Self-Report is completed with the Clinical Psychologist. This provides a structured opportunity for the child or young person to contribute their own perspective on relevant experiences and functioning. Their responses are considered alongside the parent or caregiver, teacher or other observer, developmental, educational, direct-assessment, and contextual evidence rather than being interpreted in isolation.

The direct assessment also includes either a Cognitive Assessment or the Conners Continuous Performance Test, Third Edition (C.P.T.-3). The component selected is determined through professional judgement following the Parent Consultation and review of the available assessment evidence, taking account of the referral question, the child’s or young person’s age and individual presentation, previous assessment findings, and which procedure is most likely to contribute meaningful information to the formulation.

Where a Cognitive Assessment is selected, it is completed using an age-appropriate standardised measure, ordinarily the W.I.S.C.-V U.K. or W.A.I.S.-IV U.K. It provides information about the child’s or young person’s individual profile across areas such as verbal comprehension, visual–spatial reasoning, fluid reasoning, working memory, and processing speed. These findings can identify areas of strength, contribute to understanding learning and everyday functioning, and assist the consideration of relevant alternative or co-occurring explanations. Cognitive findings do not independently establish or exclude A.D.H.D.

Where the C.P.T.-3 is selected, it provides a standardised, performance-based assessment of sustained attention and response regulation under structured conditions. Its findings can contribute information about performance during the task but do not reproduce the range of demands, supports, interests, motivations, and environmental conditions encountered in everyday life. Performance on the C.P.T.-3 does not independently establish or exclude A.D.H.D.

Where sufficiently recent and clinically suitable cognitive or other relevant assessment findings are already available, they will be considered when selecting and planning the direct-assessment component. The existence or date of a previous report does not determine the assessment plan automatically, and further testing will not be undertaken solely to repeat information that is already sufficiently informative.

The selected direct-assessment component forms part of the agreed A.D.H.D. Assessment pathway and does not attract a separate Cognitive Assessment or C.P.T.-3 fee. No direct discussion, observation, self-report measure, cognitive finding, or performance-based attention measure determines the diagnostic outcome independently. Strong performance during a structured or engaging appointment does not automatically exclude A.D.H.D., while difficulty during a cognitive or attention task does not establish a diagnosis by itself.

Once all agreed assessment components have been completed, the Clinical Psychologist integrates the developmental, contextual, informant, self-report, direct-assessment, observational, and functional evidence. This includes the Conners 4, S.P.M.-2, Cognitive Assessment, C.P.T.-3, and any other standardised findings where those measures form part of the agreed assessment. No individual instrument, score, observation, informant, or setting determines the outcome independently.

The formulation considers whether the relevant characteristics are persistent and developmentally significant, are evident across the required areas of everyday life, have meaningful functional consequences, and are more coherently accounted for by A.D.H.D. than by another explanation. Evidence that supports A.D.H.D. is considered alongside material evidence that may point away from that conclusion, differences between information obtained across settings, and reasonable alternative or co-occurring explanations.

The formulation may support a diagnosis of A.D.H.D., identify A.D.H.D. alongside another presentation falling within the agreed assessment scope, indicate that another explanation provides a more coherent account of the child’s or young person’s presentation, describe a meaningful profile of strengths, differences, and needs without supporting a formal diagnosis, or conclude that genuine diagnostic uncertainty remains. A formal diagnosis is made only where the applicable diagnostic criteria are met and the conclusion is adequately supported by the assessment as a whole.

A diagnosis is not reached by averaging questionnaire scores, counting supportive observations, requiring every informant to provide the same account, or relying on a single interview, rating scale, cognitive score, self-report, or performance-based attention measure. This formulation-led approach is consistent with applicable NICE guidance on A.D.H.D., which requires diagnosis to be based on a full clinical and psychosocial assessment, developmental history, observer information, and assessment of functioning across relevant settings rather than on rating scales or observational findings alone.

Where A.D.H.D. is considered within an agreed combined assessment, the formulation also integrates the other relevant assessment components and professional perspectives. Where multidisciplinary input forms part of that pathway, each clinician remains professionally responsible for their own work, and the assessment conclusion is reached through integration of the relevant evidence rather than through any single professional contribution or assessment component.

One formal Feedback Appointment is included within the A.D.H.D. Assessment pathway. Once the clinical formulation has been completed, the appointment provides dedicated time to review the assessment findings and the diagnostic, non-diagnostic, or uncertain outcome supported by the evidence, discuss the recommendations and any appropriate next steps, and address questions arising from the assessment.

For a child under 16, formal feedback is provided only to the appropriate parent or legal guardian, or to another caregiver where the applicable consent and confidentiality arrangements permit this. All Kinds of Minds Assessments does not provide a formal Feedback Appointment directly to a child under 16. The child’s understanding should instead be supported gradually through informal, developmentally appropriate conversations over time by the adults who know and support them, with attention to their individual communication needs, level of understanding, and emotional readiness.

For a young person aged 16 or 17, formal feedback may be provided directly to the young person where this is clinically appropriate and agreed in advance. Separate discussions with the young person and their parent or caregiver may be arranged where appropriate. The arrangement takes account of the young person’s wishes, developmental readiness, communication preferences, capacity to engage meaningfully with the information, and the likely value of direct feedback. Any feedback provided to a parent or caregiver, and any sharing of the young person’s assessment information, remain subject to the young person’s valid consent and confidentiality rights.

The Feedback Appointment focuses on the findings already obtained through the A.D.H.D. Assessment and is intended to support understanding and appropriate use of the completed assessment. It does not extend the agreed assessment scope or include additional assessment work.

A comprehensive report is prepared following completion and clinical integration of the A.D.H.D. Assessment. It is a central outcome of the pathway and provides a clear, clinically coherent account of the child’s or young person’s developmental and neurodevelopmental profile, the evidence considered, and the conclusions that can responsibly be supported.

The report records the purpose and agreed scope of the assessment and provides a structured account of the relevant developmental, educational, health, relational, and contextual information, the procedures completed, and the evidence considered. This includes information obtained from parents or caregivers, the child or young person, educational sources and other relevant informants, previous records where applicable, and observations made during direct assessment. The Conners 4, S.P.M.-2, other questionnaire findings, and the selected Cognitive Assessment or C.P.T.-3 findings are incorporated where those measures formed part of the agreed assessment.

Standardised findings are reported fully and interpreted professionally, including standard scores, T-scores, classifications, percentile ranks, confidence intervals, and other applicable interpretive information. Where a Cognitive Assessment forms part of the pathway, the applicable U.K.-normed measure is used and the findings are incorporated into the wider formulation. Standardised results are not presented as isolated test findings. They are interpreted in relation to the developmental history, everyday functioning, information across relevant settings, direct-assessment evidence, and wider clinical context.

The report presents the integrated clinical formulation and clearly states the diagnostic, non-diagnostic, or uncertain conclusion supported for each diagnostic question falling within the agreed scope. It identifies the child’s or young person’s strengths, neurodevelopmental differences, functional needs, areas requiring support, and any factors that materially affect how the findings should be understood. The report is intended to be read as a whole, with its findings, conclusions, and recommendations understood as parts of an integrated professional opinion.

Recommendations are individualised, proportionate, and grounded in the profile established through the assessment. Depending on the findings, they may address educational planning and accommodations, executive functioning, organisation and task management, communication, participation, sensory and environmental support, emotional wellbeing, self-understanding, and practical support at home or school. Further assessment or professional involvement may also be recommended where appropriate. Recommendations relating to a particular support, accommodation, or external scheme are included where they are professionally supported by the assessment evidence and fall within the Clinical Psychologist’s remit.

The report does not provide medication consultation, prescribing, or medication-management advice. Where the findings indicate that medical or psychiatric assessment may be appropriate, this may be identified within the formulation and recommendations, and a separate medically led pathway may be recommended.

Reports issued by All Kinds of Minds Assessments are prepared by a P.S.I. Chartered Clinical Psychologist and are accepted by the Health Service Executive and the Department of Education and Youth as professional psychological reports. They may be used to support clinical and educational planning, appropriate accommodations, and relevant applications. Acceptance of a report as professional evidence is distinct from the outcome of any application or decision for which it is used. Each receiving organisation remains responsible for applying its own current criteria, procedures, evidential requirements, and decision-making responsibilities.

For a privately arranged assessment, the completed report is issued to the appropriate parent or legal guardian of a child under 16 or to the young person where they are aged 16 or 17, in accordance with the consent, guardianship, and confidentiality arrangements established for the assessment. The authorised recipient may retain the report and decide whether to provide it to the child’s or young person’s school, G.P., educational or healthcare professionals, the H.S.E., or another appropriate service. All Kinds of Minds Assessments does not routinely send a complete private report directly to a school, G.P., or other professional.

Where an A.D.H.D. Assessment forms part of an H.S.E.-commissioned referral, the report is prepared and circulated under the reporting and information-governance requirements applicable to that commissioned service. Further information about report use, recommendations, external decisions, secure sharing, and the separate arrangements applying to H.S.E.-commissioned reports is provided in the Terms of Service.