A screener, not a diagnosis
ADHD test for children
The parent form of the Vanderbilt scale, the one paediatricians and child psychiatrists actually use. An adult fills it in on the child's behalf. Eighteen items, about five minutes, no sign-up.
Each rating should be considered in the context of what is appropriate for the age of your child. When completing this form, please think about your child's behaviors in the past 6 months.
Question 1 of 18
Your answers stay in your browser and are never sent anywhere. We do not see them and we do not store them.
What this scale is
The NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale was developed by Mark Wolraich and is distributed by the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality together with the American Academy of Pediatrics. It is in the public domain, and its parent and teacher forms are a standard tool in primary care.
What we publish here is only the 18 items that mirror the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. The full clinical form runs to 55: alongside ADHD it screens for oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, anxiety and depression, and it rates school performance and relationships. We leave those sections out on purpose. Telling a parent through a web page, on seven items and with no clinician present, that their child may have a conduct disorder does harm rather than good.
The English wording is the official NICHQ form, and so is the Spanish. The Russian rendering on this site is our own translation, which that page says plainly.
How the score works
An item counts when you choose "often" or "very often". Lower frequencies do not meet the criterion, and that is built into the scale itself.
What is counted is not one total but two groups separately. The first nine items cover inattention, the next nine cover hyperactivity and impulsivity, and a group is met at six counted items. A grand total across all eighteen is never used: four items in one group and five in the other means nothing, even though it adds up to nine.
What this scale does not show
The scale is well established in primary care, and a Russian validation reported a Cronbach's alpha of 0.965 with the ADHD structure confirmed by factor analysis. That is a good figure for internal consistency, but it describes the instrument rather than your child.
Here is the main limitation. The diagnostic criteria require the signs to show up in at least two different settings and to genuinely get in the way. A parent form shows the picture at home and nothing else. That is exactly why a clinician also has a teacher form, and a performance section, neither of which is here.
One more thing. Anxiety, disturbed sleep, learning difficulties, hearing or vision problems and a hard situation at home all produce similar behaviour. A questionnaire cannot tell them apart. A clinician will check each of them.
What to do with the result
Take it to a paediatrician, a child psychiatrist or a child neurologist. A paediatrician usually decides whether a fuller assessment is needed and makes the referral.
Bring the group breakdown rather than one number: the button under the result copies your answer to every item as text. What the teacher has noticed, and schoolwork itself, are worth bringing too.
If the threshold was not met and you are still worried, that is not a reason to stop. A parent's worry about their own child is reason enough to put the question to a clinician.
Common questions
- Can this test diagnose my child?
- No. A screening questionnaire shows whether seeing a specialist is worth doing. A diagnosis follows an assessment that looks at how the child behaves across different settings, how much it interferes with learning and friendships, and rules out other causes.
- Why 18 items here when a clinician uses 55?
- Because the remaining sections screen for oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, anxiety and depression. Handing those conclusions to a parent through a web page strikes us as harmful. In a consulting room those questions are asked in context, with someone there to discuss the answer.
- Why two groups instead of one total?
- Because that is how the criteria are written. Six or more items are needed within inattention, or within hyperactivity. A single total would erase the distinction and could show a threshold where neither group actually reached one.
- What ages is this for?
- The Vanderbilt parent form is used from roughly 6 to 12. Preschoolers and teenagers are assessed with different instruments, and behaviour in very young children is looked at in an altogether different way.
- Are my answers about my child stored?
- They are never sent anywhere. Scoring happens in your browser, the draft sits on your own device and a button wipes it. We do not see the answers and we do not tie them to an account.
- The teacher says one thing and home looks different. Is that normal?
- It is a common situation, and it is precisely why a clinician uses two forms. A gap between home and school is information in itself rather than a mistake. A clinician looks at both pictures together.
- Is the test free, and do I need an account?
- It is free, no account is needed and no email is asked for.
- My child is on medication. Does that change the answers?
- It does, which is why the clinical form asks whether the ratings describe a medicated or unmedicated period. If your child is being treated, say so when you bring the result, because otherwise it reads as a picture of untreated behaviour.
Other tests
What this test is not
This page is informational. It is not a medical device and not a diagnostic procedure. We do not diagnose, treat or prevent any condition, and we do not replace medical advice, psychotherapy or medication decisions. If your child's state genuinely worries you, please speak to a clinician.
Sources
Scale copyright
NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scales, parent informant. Developed by Mark L. Wolraich and distributed by the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Public domain.