Explain what is lifelong and what is new
I would like to discuss whether ADHD, another health problem, or both could explain my attention problems and brain fog. Could we compare any childhood difficulties with what is happening now? What information is missing, and do I need a full ADHD assessment? Which other checks would help in my case?
Questions for the assessment
- What parts of my history support ADHD, and what parts point to another cause?
- What childhood information would be useful if school records are missing?
- Which other problems should we check, such as poor sleep, depression or anxiety, learning difficulties, medicine effects, substance use, or physical illness?
- Is a questionnaire enough to start, or do I need a specialist assessment?
- Would cognitive testing answer a separate learning or memory question, or would it add little to the ADHD assessment?
- If we try new care, which task should become easier, and how will we measure the change?
Questionnaires and other checks
Questionnaires record symptoms; they do not establish ADHD on their own. The history may also give a reason to assess sleep, mood, learning, hearing, vision, medicines or physical health.
ASRS-v1.1 Adult ADHD Screener
Records adult ADHD symptoms. A doctor reads it with childhood history and examples from daily life. It does not diagnose ADHD.
Read the test guideFull ADHD clinical assessment with childhood history and examples from home, school, work, or relationships
Checks childhood history, daily problems, symptoms in more than one place, and other possible causes.
Ask your doctorParent, teacher, or school rating forms for a child or teenager
Shows what a child is doing at home and school. One adult's report is not enough by itself.
Ask your doctorPHQ-9 Depression Questionnaire
Checks for depression symptoms that can affect sleep, energy, and focus.
Read the test guideGAD-7 Anxiety Screener
Checks for anxiety symptoms that can affect sleep, energy, and focus.
Read the test guideSleep apnea screening or a sleep study when snoring, gasping, morning headaches, or daytime sleepiness are present
Checks whether poor sleep or sleep apnea may be causing or worsening the attention problem.
Read the test guideTSH may identify a thyroid problem. Ferritin may identify low iron stores. Vitamin B12 may identify a deficiency. A clinician chooses among them using your symptoms, diet, medicines, bleeding history, and previous results.
Checks thyroid, iron, and B12 questions only when the person's symptoms or health history make them useful.
Read the test guideHearing and vision checks for a child when these have not been reviewed
Checks whether trouble seeing or hearing is making school and attention harder.
Ask your doctorBring examples from daily life
Three real examples of missed deadlines, lost items, late bills, school problems, unsafe driving, or other daily effects.
School reports, old comments, or a family member's examples if they show the same difficulties in childhood.
A completed ASRS-v1.1 if you are an adult. Include the date and version you used.
A full list of medicines, supplements, caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, cannabis, and other substances.
One week of sleep times, daytime sleepiness, meals, medicine timing, and when focus was better or worse.
For a child, bring information from home and school. One person's view isn't enough.
Ask a parent, relative, teacher, or another person who saw the difficulties at the time. Write down what they remember about attention, organization, impulsive behavior, schoolwork, or daily routines, and the age when it happened.
How the doctor assesses this
Signs ADHD may be part of your brain fog
- Attention, planning, or impulse-control problems began in childhood, even if nobody named them then.
- These problems affect daily life in different settings, such as home, work, school, money, driving, or relationships.
- Attention may improve with a clear routine, reminders, close support, strong interest, or a deadline. It still causes problems in daily life.
Signs another health problem may be part of your brain fog
- The attention problem began suddenly in adulthood with no similar difficulties in childhood.
- The problem happens in only one place and does not cause clear difficulty in daily life.
- Poor sleep, depression, anxiety, a medicine, substance use, concussion, thyroid disease, iron deficiency, or another health problem began before the new concentration problems and explains when they occur.
- Thinking keeps getting worse or new physical or neurological symptoms appear.
What to understand before choosing care
What the assessment needs to establish
- Decide whether the attention difficulty began in childhood and still causes problems across daily life.
- Check for poor sleep, mental health or learning difficulties, medicine effects, substance use, and physical illness that may look like ADHD or happen alongside it.
- Agree on the next assessment step and how to measure daily improvement.
What the assessment can establish
There is no single test for ADHD. Diagnosis uses history, daily-life impact, symptoms in more than one setting, and a review of other possible causes.
ASRS-v1.1 is an adult screening tool. A positive screen does not confirm ADHD, and a low score does not erase a strong lifelong history.
Cognitive or neuropsychological tests can describe strengths and weaknesses, but they do not separate ADHD reliably from every other clinical condition.
For children, US guidance recommends information from parents, teachers, and other adults, plus a check for conditions that can look similar or occur at the same time.
Current guidance warns that ADHD is often missed in girls and women. The same diagnostic rules apply, but the examples brought to the appointment may look different.
Assessment at different ages
Children need age-appropriate assessment. The clinician usually asks parents, teachers, and other adults about behavior in more than one setting.
Teenagers should be asked directly about school, driving, sleep, mood, substance use, and how much effort it takes to keep up.
Adults may be diagnosed late, but the assessment still looks for symptoms that began in childhood and now affect daily life.
Girls and women can go undiagnosed when their problems look more like quiet inattention, disorganization, or heavy coping than obvious hyperactivity.
A new decline in an older adult needs checking before anyone calls it ADHD. Sleep, medicines, mood, neurological problems, and other medical causes need review.
If your doctor will not assess you for ADHD
NIMH says an adult assessment uses interviews, rating scales, or symptom checklists. It also looks for symptoms before age 12 and problems in at least two parts of life. A doctor may check other possible causes before making a diagnosis.
- Find the adult assessment route. A trained professional, not a lab, does an ADHD assessment. Ask where your clinic sends adults and how the referral works.
- Bring records from childhood if you have them. Adult symptoms must have started before age 12. School reports and notes from someone who knew you then can help.
- Give examples from two parts of life. Describe what happens at home, work, school, or with friends. Use one clear example from each place.
- Include sleep, mood, medicines, and past health problems. The assessor needs these details because another condition may cause or add to the symptoms.
Find an assessment service
US United States
Start with an assessment conversation. Bring examples from daily life and childhood. For a child, include information from parents and school. Ask which clinician will complete the full assessment.
- Start with a primary care clinician, pediatrician, psychologist, psychiatrist, or another clinician trained to assess ADHD.
- A child assessment should include information from home, school, and other settings.
- There is no single diagnostic test. Hearing, vision, sleep, mood, learning, and other health questions may need review.
UK United Kingdom
Ask for the right referral. Explain the childhood history, current daily impact, and other problems that may need checking. Ask how referral to the local adult or child ADHD service works.
- Speak with a GP about referral when symptoms began in childhood, continue now, and cause clear difficulty.
- NICE says a trained specialist should make the diagnosis using a full clinical, developmental, and mental health assessment.
- A rating scale can support the assessment but can't make the diagnosis by itself.
AU Australia
Ask who can complete the ADHD assessment. Ask the GP who assesses adults or children locally, what records to bring, and whether another health or sleep check should happen first.
- Start with a GP and ask which local clinician can complete an ADHD assessment for your age group.
- Assessment includes clinical interviews, daily function, childhood history, and information from other people when useful.
- The clinician should also review other conditions that may explain or add to the symptoms.
Describe the effect on daily life
- Describe a specific consequence: a missed payment, unfinished work, a driving mistake, or a household task you could not complete.
- Notice whether the same activity becomes easier with interest, urgency, another person nearby, or fewer distractions.
- Notice when focus is worst and whether sleep, meals, medicine timing, pain, or mood change it.
- For a child, bring examples from home, class, homework, and time with friends.
Sources behind this handout.
- 01
Kessler RC et al., Psychological Medicine. 2005. Validation of the six-question ASRS-v1.1 screener.
DOI - 02
Cortese S et al., World Psychiatry. 2025. Adult ADHD evidence, uncertainties and controversies.
DOI - 03
Wolraich ML et al., Pediatrics. 2019;144(4):e20192528. Clinical practice guideline for ADHD in children and adolescents
DOI - 04
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Diagnosing ADHD. Updated June 1, 2026.
Source - 05
NICE NG87. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management
Source - 06
Australian ADHD Professionals Association. Australian Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline for ADHD.
Source