Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Getting assessed and diagnosed
Assessing a child's thinking used to mean a referral, a waiting list and a report some months later. Brief cognitive tools an ordinary clinician can run have changed that, and the gap between noticing something and having a plan can now be a session rather than a season.
Learn one of them properly instead of dabbling in three. Know what it measures, what it does not, and how to talk about a score without turning it into a verdict on a child. Where a full neuropsychological assessment is warranted this does not replace it, though it does make the waiting far more useful.
Qur’an and Sunnah
'May I follow you so that you can teach me some of the right guidance you have been taught?' (Quran 18:66). Moses learns a new practice from someone who already has it, which is the unglamorous part of picking up any new tool.
قَالَ لَهُۥ مُوسَىٰ هَلۡ أَتَّبِعُكَ عَلَىٰٓ أَن تُعَلِّمَنِ مِمَّا عُلِّمۡتَ رُشۡدࣰ ا
Moses said to him, ‘May I follow you so that you can teach me some of the right guidance you have been taught?’
Qur’an 18:66read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
Wider access is worth wanting because access has not been even. A study of United States health system records found adult ADHD diagnoses rising sharply, with rates differing by racial and ethnic group, which suggests who gets assessed has depended on more than symptoms. It looked at diagnosis rates rather than at any particular tool, so it is a reason to welcome easier measurement without assuming a brief test settles anything.
Chung W, Jiang SF, Paksarian D, Nikolaidis A, Castellanos FX, Merikangas KR, Milham MP. (2019). Trends in the Prevalence and Incidence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Among Adults and Children of Different Racial and Ethnic Groups.. JAMA network open doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
A plan can only be aimed once somebody has measured something.
When not to
A brief cognitive measure is not a diagnosis and does not stand in for a full assessment where one is needed.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
If you are being assessed for attention, say something about your mood and your worry as well, even if nobody asks.
Check the licensing before assuming you cannot afford a good instrument. Some come with permission to photocopy once you have bought the manual.
A reward that comes every time is easy to walk away from. A reward that turns up unpredictably is the one you cannot put down, and that is exactly how your phone is built.