# Request your child's ADHD assessment

Published by Pawel Jozefiak. [About this project](https://adhd100.jock.pl/about/), [How we check sources](https://adhd100.jock.pl/methodology/)

- Canonical: https://adhd100.jock.pl/seek-child-adhd-assessment/
- Language: en
- First published: 2026-09-29
- Evidence checked: 2026-09-29, using AI-assisted source verification
- Clinical review: Not clinically reviewed
- Number 3 of 100 in the list: https://adhd100.jock.pl/#seek-child-adhd-assessment

An assessment across home and school helps identify ADHD and other reasons your child may be struggling.

**The number:** Assess concerns using information from more than one setting ([American Academy of Pediatrics, 2019](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7067282/))

## The evidence

- How sure: Certainty of evidence: Guideline advice, not formally graded. Measured in people with ADHD.
- Evidence grade: A. Grade A: moderate or high certainty evidence in people with ADHD, or an explicit ADHD guideline recommendation.
- Basis: AAP 2019 key action statements 1 and 2 (AAP evidence grade B, strong recommendation); AAP grades are not GRADE certainty
- Benefit: 88/100. The benefit score is an editorial prioritization for the general list, weighted by certainty. It is not a prediction of what will happen for you.

## Why it matters

A good child assessment pulls together your child's developmental history, their own experience, and reports from more than one setting. The AAP recommends evaluating children who have persistent attention or behaviour concerns and impairment, and checking for other possible causes along the way. No single test confirms ADHD, and support does not have to wait for the final diagnosis.

## How to do it

1. Contact your child's healthcare provider and name the specific learning or behaviour concerns.
2. Ask a teacher or childcare worker to write down what they see in their setting.
3. Bring the developmental history, plus any hearing, vision or learning assessments that bear on it.
4. Find out how your child will be included, and what help can start while the assessment is pending.

## Talk to a clinician first

A qualified clinician should tell ADHD apart from normal developmental variation and other conditions. Assessment routes differ between countries.

## Putting it into practice

### Start now

- 1 minute: Picture one recent moment when your child needed more support than they got. That is your opening example.
- 5 minutes: Write a short request to your child's clinician that describes the main concern.
- 15 minutes: Put the school feedback and developmental information you already have in one folder.

### What it looks like

- Describe what is hard at home, and ask a teacher for a separate account from school.
- Bring the school support report you already have instead of writing a new long document.

### Common mistakes

- A quiet clinic visit does not describe every setting; bring observations from everyday life.
- A school concern is useful information, but it should lead to a clinical assessment, not just a label.

### A structured start

**Build a shared picture**

1. Describe concerns to your child's clinician.
2. Gather input from school and include your child's perspective.
3. Agree the assessment and interim support plan.

### Trusted how-to guides

- [Diagnosing ADHD](https://www.cdc.gov/adhd/diagnosis/index.html), CDC
- [ADHD in children and young people](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/adhd-children-teenagers/), NHS

## Sources

- [Clinical Practice Guideline for the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of ADHD in Children and Adolescents](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7067282/), American Academy of Pediatrics, 2019 (Tier 1 guideline)
- [Diagnosing ADHD](https://www.cdc.gov/adhd/diagnosis/index.html), CDC, 2026 (Tier 1 guideline)
- [ADHD in children and young people](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/adhd-children-teenagers/), NHS, 2025 (Tier 1 guideline)

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General information about ADHD, not a diagnosis or an individual treatment plan. Tailoring changes the order of suggestions; it does not assess you. Medication decisions belong with you and a qualified clinician.

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