There is no single medical, neurological, or attentional test that can reliably identify ADHD. But, by monitoring patterns of behavior , and taking a series of tests can help t identify this mental disorder. The particular combination of tests selected to test you for ADHD will depend on your clinician, but will likely include assessments of personality and problem solving styles, current fears and concerns, and intellectual functioning.

Testing for ADHD is a somewhat difficult process because unlike many things, you can't simply take a swab of saliva, or a vile of blood from the patient to see if they have this or that. In order to properly diagnose the disorder, a number of steps are taken when testing for ADHD. Usually you will undergo all or most of the following:

• An interview with your clinician.
• A look at your medical history. This should include asking a parent about the social, emotional, educational, and behavioral history of the child.
• A physical examination.
• Behavior rating scales or checklists for ADHD. These are given to parents and teachers to evaluate the child's symptoms.
• Several verbal and written tests for associated disorders. It can be difficult to determine whether a child's behavior problems are caused by ADHD, other conditions with similar symptoms, or a combination of ADHD and another condition. Several verbal and written tests for associated disorders are used to help with this determination.
• Tests to rule out other problems. This is similar to the above mentioned step, but is an important part of figuring out if you have ADHD.
• Parents often question whether ADHD is over-diagnosed as they see more and more people who claim to have ADHD. The response is one that is simple, most health professionals and researchers believe that the increase in ADHD diagnoses results from improved detection techniques, especially the standardization of assessment criteria. Current and future research should help in answering this question, but for now, ADHD is diagnosed with the following.
  
  An Interview
  
  One of the best ways for a psychologist to determine if your child has ADHD is simply to observe them in an interview. This interview will usually consist of questions designed for specific responses, and to test your child in certain ways. Alone this is not enough for a diagnosis, but combined with other tests, it is a big part of diagnosis.

Medical history

Your child's medical history and their family history are big in diagnosing ADHD. If you know this mental disorder runs in your family, there is a good chance that your child may have it as well. Medical professionals will look at the social and emotional side of your child's medical history as well.

Behavior rating scales or checklists

Structured interviews are important, and usually during these interviews your child will take a number of questionnaires or behavior rating scales or checklists. Let's take a look at some of the behavior rating scales or checklists that you must undergo when being tested for ADHD.

Before we look at specific tests, let's look at why they are important, and what they tell the physician about your child. Self-report instruments are generally a series of questions to which a person responds about their own symptoms, thoughts, and feelings, these are used for identifying ADHD. However, in addition to self-reporting, there are behavior checklists, or "report by other" scales. So, these are filled out by a person who spends a significant amount of time with the child suspected of having ADHD. Then, if a high score presents itself in both types of scales, there is probably a higher-degree of ADHD likelihood.

Jut because you or your child is inattentive, hyperactive, or impulsive does not necessarily mean you suffer from ADHD. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has established a list of criteria for diagnosing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These criteria divide the condition into three basic types based upon major symptoms:

1. ADHD, predominantly inattentive type
2. ADHD, predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type
3. ADHD, combined type

In addition, some people are diagnosed with "ADHD, not otherwise specified" which is when they have symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and/or impulsivity present but these symptoms do not fit into one of the three types.

The following is a list of some of the most common tests performed to determine if a person has ADHD, each test for specific symptoms and areas of affectedness.

ACTeRS

ACTeRS is a self-report instrument. It is mainly used to identify ADD children, both with and without hyperactivity. This method uses four factors: Hyperactivity, Oppositional Behavior, Attention, and Social Skills. Basically, the ACTeRA instrument is designed for kindergartners through eighth graders. It is a test that can be taken with paper and pencil or in computerized forms.

Brown Attention Deficit Disorder Scales - Adolescent Version

This is once again a self-report test. It has 40-items used as a quick way to screen for adolescent ADHD. This particular site highlights 6 target areas, the ability to: sustain attention, sustain effort to complete tasks, activate and organize work tasks, recall learned material, utilize short-term memory, and regulate moods.

Connors' Rating Scales - Revised

This particular scale was one of the first rating scales developed to evaluate children and adolescents with ADHD. This particular system also includes scales for outside the child or person, in fact it also provides scales for parents or caregivers, teachers, and adolescents. This is an 80-item form that includes questions about behavioral symptoms in categories such as oppositionality, social problems, anxiety and inattention.

Copeland Symptom Checklist for Attention Deficit Disorders - Child and Adolescent Version

This is a fairly basic checklist designed to determine whether a child or adolescent has symptoms characteristic of ADHD, their severity, and which functional areas are most affected. It has 10 key areas it tests for, including: emotional difficulties, peer relationships, family-interaction issues, maturity level, distractibility, activity level, impulsivity, degree of compliance, attention-seeking behaviors, and cognitive and visual-motor achievement.

The Vanderbilt Assessment Scale

The Vanderbilt Assessment Scale involves symptom assessment and an assessment of impairment of performance at home, school, and other social settings. It screens for ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, anxiety and depression in children. The parent side has 55 items, and the teacher version has 43 items and focuses on behavior and observations at school.

The Wender Utah Rating Scale

This scale is used to test adults. Many adults with ADHD have never been diagnosed or treated. Since ADHD is a lifelong condition that, left untreated, it can lead to low self-esteem, frustration, educational or job failure, drug abuse, and depression. This particular scale is a written test that consists of 25 questions about childhood difficulties that are often seen with the condition. The scale evaluates the presence and severity of ADHD symptoms during childhood.

Verbal and written tests:

Besides the above scales and checklists, written and verbal tests will be administered by a psychologist, and will be used to help identify ADHD. Psychologists are the only mental health clinicians that have specific training and expertise in using and interpreting psychological tests.

So, to get the best testing you want to find a psychologist who has experience working with people with ADHD. You want someone who has administered these tests before. Since ADHD can have a big impact on school performance, you do not have to worry about the cost of these tests, usually the school district in which a child resides will pay for testing. Of course, you can use a private psychologist.

Tests to rule out other problems:

One of the symptoms of ADHD in children is difficulty in learning. This many be difficulty learning to read, write, or do math problems. However, having trouble in this area is not always because of ADHD. Testing for other learning disabilities or problems will help teachers develop the best educational plan for a child with these difficulties, and help physicians determine if these symptoms are ADHD related.

The additional tests that may be done to identify other medical problems that might explain the child's symptoms, could include:

•    Hearing or vision impairment. This type of disability often interferes with school achievement, and if not recognized may lead one to believe a child has ADHD.
•     Lead exposure. Children who have even small amounts of lead in their bodies can have symptoms similar to ADHD.
•     Low red blood cell counts (anemia) is a condition that can cause low energy and poor concentration, which is often misinterpreted as ADHD. This condition is easily diagnosed by doing a complete blood count.
•     Thyroid disease. Blood tests can help determine whether a person has too much or too little thyroid hormone, which also can affect energy and attention. This is more common in adults than children, but is not completely unseen in children.
•     Seizures. Seizures can affect brain function and result in unusual behavior, so you will want to have an EEG to determine if you are having seizures.