ADHD answers
PublishedWhat is the Vanderbilt ADHD assessment?
The NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scales are ADHD rating scales completed separately by a parent and a teacher. Each rater reports how often specific attention, hyperactivity and impulsivity behaviours appear, plus how the child is functioning. A clinician interprets the results; the scales themselves do not diagnose.
Key points
- Two forms: one parent or caregiver, one teacher.
- Records behaviour frequency and day-to-day functioning.
- Published by NICHQ; the 2002 first edition is freely downloadable from NICHQ.
- It is an observation record, not a diagnostic test.
- Most useful when repeated, so change over time is visible.
The fuller answer
Rating scales exist because a clinician cannot watch a child through a school week. Structured questions give two people who do see that week a consistent way to report it.
Because the parent and teacher forms are scored separately, a provider can compare settings instead of averaging them into one number that hides where the difficulty lives.
We describe the instrument and link to the official source. We do not reproduce the questionnaire items on this site.
What to do next
Start a free ADHD baseline and invite your child's teacher, so the parent and teacher views arrive together instead of months apart.
Related reading
Primary sources
- 1. NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scales (first edition, 2002) (opens in a new tab), National Institute for Children's Health Quality (NICHQ) (2002)
- Author: Threaded Care editorial team
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