Assessment Explained

Before your assessment

Before the clinical appointment, you may be asked to complete questionnaires and provide background information.

Depending on the assessment, this may include information about:

• Childhood and development
• Education
• Employment
• Relationships
• Physical and mental health
• Current difficulties
• Previous assessments or diagnoses
• Family history

For children and young people, information from parents or carers is particularly important, and information from school may also be relevant.

For adults, information from someone who knew you during childhood can sometimes be helpful where available

During the assessment

Your clinician will explore your experiences in detail.

This is a conversation rather than an examination you can pass or fail.

You may be asked about childhood, school, relationships, employment, daily routines, attention, communication, sensory experiences and the ways any difficulties affect everyday life.

The exact process differs depending on whether the assessment is for ADHD, autism or both.

Why developmental history matters

ADHD and autism are neurodevelopmental conditions, which means their characteristics originate during development.

Understanding childhood experiences is therefore an important part of assessment even when someone is being assessed as an adult.

Not remembering every detail of childhood does not automatically prevent an assessment from taking place. The clinician will consider the information that is reasonably available.

Clinical assessment tools

Structured interviews, questionnaires and recognised assessment tools can contribute valuable information.

However, no individual questionnaire, test or assessment tool should be interpreted in isolation.

Clinical judgement involves considering information from multiple sources and determining whether the overall pattern meets recognised diagnostic criteria.

Considering other explanations

A thorough assessment should also consider whether something other than, or in addition to, ADHD or autism could explain the difficulties being experienced.

This can include other neurodevelopmental differences, mental-health conditions, physical-health conditions, sleep difficulties and individual circumstances.

This process is known as differential diagnosis and is an important part of reaching an accurate clinical conclusion.

Receiving your outcome

Once the assessment has been completed and the available information considered, your clinician will explain the outcome.

If diagnostic criteria are met, they will explain the diagnosis and what it means.

If the criteria are not met, this should also be explained clearly. Not receiving a diagnosis does not mean that the difficulties someone experiences are not genuine.

Your written report

Following assessment, you should receive a written clinical report explaining the findings and recommendations.

The report may include:

• Relevant developmental and clinical history
• Information considered during assessment
• Clinical findings
• Diagnostic conclusion
• Individual strengths and difficulties
• Recommendations and possible next steps

What happens after diagnosis?

Next steps depend on the individual and the diagnosis.

They may include learning more about the condition, reasonable adjustments, practical strategies, psychological support, educational or workplace support and, for ADHD, discussion of treatment options where appropriate.

The purpose of assessment is not simply to provide a diagnostic label. It should help create a clearer understanding of the person and what may help them moving forward.