The online ADHD assessment process is convenient for people with cognitive conditions. It’s a private way to take that first step to combat overwhelming ADHD symptoms, and they can do it from the comfort of their zone. Convenience, accessibility, and quick results are all crucial benefits of taking ADHD assessments online.
Once people take the assessment, most platforms guide them to additional resources, such as licensed therapists, counselors, and ADHD support groups.
Are you curious to know more about taking online ADHD assessments? Let’s get deeper into the concept.
What is an Online ADHD Assessment?
An assessment for ADHD or any other condition is a process that informs a clinician, such as a Nurse Practitioner, whether a diagnosis should be formed and communicated to the client. Most assessments for either childhood or adult ADHD are followed by a thorough diagnostic conversation between the client and the diagnosing health professional.
An online ADHD assessment is a thorough process that examines your lifestyle, circumstances, co-occurring issues, along with any symptoms of ADHD. Since the rates of other disorders such as anxiety, depression, and even obsessive-compulsive disorder are triple those for non-ADHD people, it is important than any assessment for ADHD include attention to these factors.
Differences between online and in-person ADHD assessments
Some clients feel more comfortable visiting a clinician in-person in a physical clinical setting. However, since ADHD is a behavioral condition and does not show up in blood work, tissue samples, or other physical tests, there is little qualitative difference between online and in-person ADHD assessments.
Benefits of Online ADHD Assessments
The importance of a thorough assessment for ADHD cannot be underestimated. Specific symptoms can have many different causes. It is important, for instance, to determine whether someone is easily distracted due to ADHD, lack of sleep, a perpetually stressful home environment, or unresolved trauma.
Many physicians decline to conduct ADHD assessments because they cannot be done in the usual duration of a visit to a doctor’s office. Any online ADHD assessment should be measured in hours, not minutes!
Related: How to get adult ADHD diagnosis?
How Accurate Are Online ADHD Assessments?
The accuracy of online ADHD assessments comes down to two factors: the experience of the clinician, and the time taken to conduct the assessment. Some clinics rush through the assessment process and seem all too eager to diagnose everyone with ADHD, for commercial reasons. And some clinics employ people without much experience to conduct assessments.
An accurate assessment for childhood or adult ADHD takes time and expertise. In addition, a quality online ADHD assessment will extend its reach beyond the individual client and include observations by the client’s family members or close friends, who can alert the clinician to other factors which may alter the course of diagnosis.
Related: How to find a therapist Toronto?
Who Can Benefit from Online ADHD Assessments?
Surprisingly, the answer to this question is not simply, “Those with ADHD.” Since ADHD is much-talked about these days, it is possible for people who do not have ADHD to undertake an online ADHD assessment only to discover that they do not have ADHD. This is almost as valuable as actually receiving a diagnosis of ADHD.
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Once someone has completed an ADHD assessment, they are referred to a healthcare professional who has the legal capacity to form and communicate a diagnosis. This professional, such a Nurse Practitioner or Medical Doctor, also has the legal authority to prescribe certain medications that can help clients with their symptoms.
These professionals typically have training that is broader than ADHD alone, and they may be able to form and communicate alternative diagnoses and/or refer a client to a healthcare professional with other specializations. So the answer is that anyone with ADHD symptoms can benefit from an online ADHD assessment.
What to Expect in an Online ADHD Assessment
An online ADHD assessment usually includes an initial consultation in which a client is “screened” for ADHD and oriented to the assessment and diagnosis. A qualified clinician may at that point direct the client elsewhere if it is clear to the clinician that the client has other, more urgent, needs to be addressed.
Following the initial consultation, if an ADHD assessment is warranted, the clinician will usually send the client several questionnaires to be completed, sent back to the clinician, and reviewed in the online assessment session. These questionnaires should involve those who know the client very well, to help fill out the picture for the assessing clinician.
The assessment will touch on most health-related dimensions of the client’s life and well-being, and include a personal health history. The client’s responses will be recorded in a format that will be recognizable to other clinicians and become part of the client’s medical record.
Next step after Assessment
Once an adult ADHD assessment is completed, if it indicates that ADHD is present or highly likely, the client should be referred to a healthcare professional who is qualified to form and communicate a diagnosis. The record of the initial consultation, the completed questionnaires, and the record of the assessment session should be made available to the (potentially) diagnosing professional.
Some clinics prefer to have both assessing and diagnosing professionals within the same clinic, so both can access the same comprehensive set of records. It is also helpful if the assessing and diagnosing clinicians know each other and have worked together so that communication has maximum clarity and minimal slippage.
If an individual has been both assessed and diagnosed as having ADHD, a prescription for one of several ADHD medications, in a specified dosage, can be written and sent to a pharmacist of the client’s choosing. Follow up with the prescribing clinician, called medication-management, is essential, especially in the first few months of treatment. And, if other health concerns have come to light in the process, they can be addressed by referral to healthcare professionals, such as Medical Doctors or Registered Psychotherapists.
If you want to know more about assessment and diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Toronto, feel free to connect with us.