How to Prepare for Your Child's ADHD Assessment

The best way to prepare for your child's ADHD assessment is to gather a small set of useful information, organise concrete examples and write down your main questions. You do not need to prove ADHD, collect every document or decide what the information means. The clinician assesses, interprets and decides.¹

Start with the reason you are seeking help

Write a short description of what prompted the assessment. Focus on the difficulties affecting daily life, when you first noticed them, where they occur and what support has already been tried.

Concrete examples are more useful than broad labels. Instead of writing that your child is disorganised, note what happens, such as missing instructions, losing items needed for school or needing repeated support to begin a routine.

Gather history and records that may be relevant

Depending on the child and the service, useful material may include:²

• developmental, medical and family history
• school reports or learning-support information
• previous assessments, reports or relevant care plans
• a current list of medicines and health conditions
• examples from home, school and other activities
• your child's own questions, concerns and strengths.

Do not delay an appointment because something is missing. Bring what you have and tell the clinician what is unavailable. They can decide whether more information is needed.

Ask about school information

School information is commonly valuable because it describes another important setting. The clinician or service may request a questionnaire, observations, school reports or another form of input. No single teacher form is universally required.¹

Before contacting the school, check what the service is asking for and what consent or privacy steps apply. The companion resource Getting Your Child's Teacher Input for an ADHD Assessment can help you plan that conversation.

Include your child's perspective

Ask your child what feels easy, difficult or misunderstood, what helps and what they want the clinician to know. The way this is done should suit their age, communication and comfort. Their account is part of the picture, not a score that determines the outcome.

Prepare questions for the clinician

Consider asking what the assessment will include, whether more information is needed, how other explanations will be considered and when you can expect to discuss the outcome. The companion resource Questions to Ask Your Clinician provides a practical checklist.

How Threadline helps

Threadline guides families to gather and organise reported history, examples, questionnaires and source documents into an Assessment Package for clinical review.

The Assessment Package is an organised information package. It does not conduct the clinical interview, medical or mental-state assessment, determine whether diagnostic requirements are met or guarantee that every clinician will consider the information complete. The clinician may request additional information and remains responsible for interpretation and diagnosis.

You do not need perfect preparation

A clear summary, a few useful examples and the records you already have are a strong starting point. It is acceptable to arrive with gaps, differences between reports or questions you cannot answer. These are matters for the clinician to explore, not problems you must resolve before the appointment.

For a detailed overview of the information that may be considered, read ADHD Assessment in Australia: A Guide for Parents. For the Australian pathway, see How to Get an ADHD Diagnosis in Australia.

Start Your Journey

Sources and further reading