Is your child having difficulty paying attention, staying organized, completing homework, managing time, or controlling impulses?
You may be wondering whether these challenges are related to ADHD or whether something else may be contributing.
At Gladiola Psychology Center, we provide comprehensive ADHD assessments for children and adolescents to help families better understand their child’s attention, executive functioning, behaviour, and overall functioning.
Could Your Child Have ADHD?
Children with ADHD can experience difficulties that affect school, home, relationships, and everyday activities. Parents may notice that their child:
- Has difficulty sustaining attention
- Is easily distracted
- Needs frequent reminders to complete tasks
- Starts assignments but has difficulty finishing them
- Frequently loses or forgets belongings
- Has difficulty organizing schoolwork
- Struggles with planning and time management
- Has difficulty following multi-step instructions
- Appears not to listen when spoken to directly
- Procrastinates or avoids tasks requiring sustained mental effort
- Acts impulsively
- Has difficulty waiting or taking turns
- Is frequently restless or fidgety
- Has difficulty managing frustration or emotions
Not every child who has attention difficulties has ADHD. Similar difficulties can occur in children experiencing anxiety, learning difficulties, sleep problems, emotional stress, or other developmental concerns.
A comprehensive assessment helps distinguish among these possibilities.
What Does an ADHD Assessment Look At?
An ADHD assessment considers your child’s functioning across different areas and, when possible, across different settings. Depending on the referral question, the assessment may consider:
- Attention. How well your child maintains focus and manages distractions.
- Executive Functioning. Planning, organization, working memory, task initiation, flexibility, and self-monitoring.
- Impulse Control. The ability to pause, think, and regulate behaviour.
- Cognitive Functioning. How your child processes and works with information.
- Academic Functioning. Whether attention difficulties are affecting learning and school performance.
- Emotional and Behavioural Functioning. How anxiety, mood, frustration, emotional regulation, or other factors may be influencing attention and behaviour.
- Developmental History. The history and pattern of symptoms over time are important when considering ADHD.
What Is Included in the Assessment?
The assessment is individualized according to your child’s age and concerns and may include:
- Parent interview
- Review of developmental and school history
- Standardized attention and executive-functioning measures
- Cognitive assessment when appropriate
- Behaviour and attention questionnaires
- Parent and teacher questionnaires when available
- Review of academic functioning
- Assessment of other factors that may contribute to attention difficulties
- Clinical observations
- Written report
- Parent feedback session
The goal is to understand the whole child, rather than relying on a single test or questionnaire.
What Happens After the Assessment?
Following the assessment, we review the findings with you and provide a detailed written report.
The report explains:
- Your child’s strengths
- Attention and executive-functioning difficulties
- Relevant cognitive and academic findings
- Diagnostic conclusions, when appropriate
- Factors that may be contributing to the difficulties
- Recommendations for home and school
The goal is to help you understand what is happening and what can be done to help.
Not Sure Whether Your Child Needs an ADHD Assessment?
You don’t need to make that decision on your own.
During a brief consultation, we can discuss your concerns and determine whether an ADHD assessment or another type of assessment would be most appropriate.