In counselling, your therapist may conduct formal assessments to obtain essential information about your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. This information will help your counsellor make clinical recommendations and build an appropriate treatment plan for you.
Insight’s trained therapists provide assessments that assist individuals of all ages to improve their lives. Often times, assessments can include tests, interviews, observations, and consultations. Many of these assessments can be done as part of therapy but some may require a higher level of formality depending on the level of need and purpose of the assessment.
What are ADHD Assessments?
Attention-deficit, hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessments are a series of tests designed to help you recognize and understand the extent to which symptoms such as inattention are affecting your everyday functioning.
To assess ADHD, information must be obtained utilizing a variety of methods from different sources. These methods provide your therapist with crucial information so you can get the help you need. From here, Insight can help you make life adjustments and achieve optimal functioning.
Why are ADHD assessments used?
There are many associated symptoms linked to ADHD including, poor time- management skills, problems with relationships, and missing deadlines. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for ADHD to go undetected, and therefore, untreated.
ADHD that goes untreated can impair your daily life functioning and persist to outcomes such as falling short of educational and vocational achievements. Those who are unaware of the causes of their symptoms may also experience low self-esteem and a lack of motivation which can contribute to more serious problems such as substance abuse, depression, and even criminality.
Through an ADHD assessment, Insight’s trained therapists can help you accept and manage your ADHD to avoid these issues and create a long-term care plan that is right for you.
The assessment process
Insight is pleased to offer a vast inventory of ADHD assessment tests including:
- Connors scales
- Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRSv1.1)
- Vanderbilt ADHD Diagnostic Rating Scale (VADRS)
- Child ADHD Screen (SNAP-IV)
- CPT-3, the basic newest version
- Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF Scales)
*Note, you may take the tests for free, but results are only available for review with one of our therapists.
Reference
Adult ADHD: Screening and assessment. CAMH. (n.d.). Retrieved August 15, 2022, from https://www.camh.ca/en/professionals/treating-conditions-and-disorders/adult-adhd/adult-adhd—screening-and-assessment
Clinical assessment in the counselling process: A teaching model. (n.d.). Retrieved August 15, 2022, from https://www.counseling.org/Resources/Library/VISTAS/vistas12/Article_10.pdf
Ginsberg, Y., Quintero, J., Anand, E., Casillas, M., & Upadhyaya, H. P. (2014). Underdiagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adult patients: a review of the literature. The primary care companion for CNS disorders, 16(3), PCC.13r01600. https://doi.org/10.4088/PCC.13r01600
Hamed, A. M., Kauer, A. J., & Stevens, H. E. (2015). Why the Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Matters. Frontiers in psychiatry, 6, 168. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2015.00168Mahone, E. M., & Denckla, M. B. (2017). Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Historical Neuropsychological Perspective. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society: JINS, 23(9-10), 916–929. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1355617717000807
