adhd services

ADHD assessment

To be able to provide effective psychological intervention our psychologists need a thorough understanding of the difficulties that you (or your child) are seeking help with.  Assessing for the presence of ADHD may be necessary when planning the intervention and support that is likely to be most helpful.  

In your very first session your psychologist will ask you about many aspects of your wellbeing - past and present.  At the end of this session the psychologist would discuss with you whether assessing for ADHD or any other condition could be worthwhile, and what the next steps could look like.   If going ahead with an ADHD assessment, it will typically involve:

• Two further sessions, of at least least 50 minutes each.  Most of this time would be spent establishing whether the diagnostic criteria for ADHD are met, and whether there any other conditions likely to be present.

nb: For children and adolescents, at least one parent (or carer) is required to be present at the sessions as well. 

• Review of any school reports you have access to, along with any other reports prepared by a health or allied health professional, or a school psychologist/counsellor. 

nb: State education departments or individual schools are often able to provide copies of reports they have stored electronically if you no longer have copies yourself.

• Completion of several questionnaires by yourself and by at least one other person who knows you well. 

This may be a partner, a family member or close friend you have known for a long time.  For children and adolescents we also require questionnaires to be completed by at least one teacher.  

Some assessments may require us to gather additional information, via the completion of further questionnaires, or through discussion with others that know you well, or through an additional session with yourself. 

 

Whilst it is not always possible to draw a conclusive outcome from an assessment, we will always be able to provide intervention regardless (or refer you to another service for intervention if more appropriate). 

 

At the end of the assessment process we do the following:

• Advise you as to the outcome of the assessment.

We take you through our reasoning for our conclusions, discussing each of the diagnostic criteria.  We give you the opportunity to ask as many questions as you wish, and to discuss how you're feeling about the conclusion.  

• Discuss intervention and support options available to you.

This includes intervention the psychologist is able to provide, as well as intervention that other health professionals may be able to provide (such as medication), along with resources and supports that you may wish to access online.  We can discuss with you the research evidence that exists for various interventions along with how each may be able to assist you with progressing towards your goals.  We can also discuss the meaning and importance of 'neurodiversity-affirming' approaches to ADHD.

• Provide you with a brief letter stating the outcome of the assessment. 

This letter does not contain any of your personal information beyond the assessment outcome.  It is intended to be a document you can choose to pass on at any point in time, and is commonly used to provide evidence of an ADHD diagnosis to educational institutions or an employer, should it be required.

• Ask if there are any other health or allied health professionals that you wish to receive more detailed information about your assessment. 

With your consent, we can forward summary notes and supportive documents directly to another health professional.  As this information is clinical in nature, we can only provide  copies of it to appropriately qualified health professionals for interpretation.   The summary notes explain how we conducted the assessment and the reasoning behind the conclusions drawn for each of the diagnostic criteria.  The supportive documents we  include are those provided in writing by yourself, or by someone else for the purpose of your assessment (e.g. your completed intake paperwork, questionnaire responses by yourself and others, copies of school reports etc.).   There is no fee for forwarding this information to a health professional of your choice. 

 

It is important to be aware that a health professional will not prescribe medication for ADHD based on a diagnosis determined by another health or allied health professional.  Whilst they may take the previous diagnosis and any associated documents into account, they are still are required to conduct their own assessment before prescribing any medication. 

 

Lastly, it is important for you to be aware that we do not provide large formal reports with sets of recommendations (like those commonly provided after a cognitive/educational assessment) as a standard inclusion in our assessment process. This is for several reasons:

• We aim to keep fees affordable for as many people as possible. 

Formal reports are costly due to the time taken to prepare them, but are not actually necessary for most clients.  The summary notes described above are sufficient for the purpose of informing other health and allied health about your ADHD assessment.  Formal reports can be requested for other purposes if required, and the fee in each instance is determined based on the time that would be required to prepare the report.

• We aim to ensure that any sets of recommendations our psychologists provide are likely to be of maximum benefit, and are a worthwhile investment of effort for all involved.

We only provide sets of recommendations that are established by working together over the course of a number of intervention sessions.  We find this approach to give better outcomes as each individual with ADHD will have their own unique set of challenges that they experience; their own views on what is most important to them to address; plus a set of strategies and approaches that they already successfully use (whether they know it or not!) along with a sense of what doesn't work for them.