Vanderbilt Assessment (ADHD) Test: Get Separate Inattention and Hyperactivity Scores
The Vanderbilt Assessment (ADHD) Test screens a child's attention and activity through parent ratings adapted from Vanderbilt symptom items. Get instant domain scores to discuss with your child's clinician.
Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW 
Vanderbilt Assessment (ADHD) Test is a free, confidential 18-question self-assessment, based on the NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale. It takes about 8 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language score across 3 interpretation bands plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
The Vanderbilt scale, reproduced faithfully for parents
The NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale is one of the most widely used parent rating tools for childhood ADHD. It keeps two symptom domains separate and applies a specific counting rule, because a child can run high on one domain and low on the other. This screening reproduces that structure so the result reflects your child.
Inattention symptoms
The nine inattention items from the Vanderbilt parent scale: careless mistakes, trouble sustaining attention, not seeming to listen, unfinished tasks, disorganization, avoiding effortful work, losing things, distractibility, and forgetfulness.
Hyperactivity and impulsivity
The nine hyperactive and impulsive items: fidgeting, leaving the seat, restlessness, trouble playing quietly, being on the go, talking too much, blurting answers, trouble waiting, and interrupting others.
The Vanderbilt scoring rule
Each item is rated Never, Occasionally, Often, or Very Often, and only Often or Very Often counts as a symptom present. The Vanderbilt convention flags a domain when six or more of its nine items are rated Often or Very Often, together with evidence of real difficulty at school or home.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| Reproduces the NICHQ Vanderbilt items | Rarely | Yes, faithful wording |
| Vanderbilt frequency scale (Never to Very Often) | Sometimes | Yes, 0 to 3 scoring |
| Six-or-more counting rule explained | No | Yes, clearly |
| Separate inattention vs hyperactivity subscores | No | Yes, both shown |
| Impairment and two-setting reminder | No | Yes |
| Optional in-depth personalized report | No | Yes, written to your exact scores |
| Confidential (no data sent) | Often tracked | Runs in your browser |
How scoring works
Answers are scored 0–54 in total. Your result falls into one of 3 bands:
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–11 | Few ADHD symptoms reported | Based on your answers, few of the Vanderbilt behaviors are happening often for your child. That is useful context, though it does not settle the question on its own. |
| 12–27 | Some ADHD symptoms reported | Based on your answers, a moderate number of Vanderbilt behaviors are happening often. This is a reasonable point to start a conversation with a professional. |
| 28–54 | Many ADHD symptoms (consider an evaluation) | Based on your answers, many Vanderbilt behaviors are happening often across one or both domains. Consider arranging a full evaluation. |
How to prepare for your child's evaluation
The Vanderbilt Assessment (ADHD) Test organizes a parent's observations of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity for a clinical conversation. Bringing specifics helps more than bringing worry. Before an appointment, jot down two or three concrete examples for each behavior you are concerned about, when it happens, how often, and what it looks like at home versus at school. Bring your Vanderbilt result and, if you can get one, a completed teacher Vanderbilt too, since pediatricians weigh evidence from more than one setting.
It also helps to write down what you have already tried, such as routines, visual schedules, or shorter homework blocks, and whether any of it made a difference. That history tells a clinician something a single rating scale cannot: how your child responds to structure and support, which shapes what they recommend next.
A Behavior Tracker can help you record what happened before a difficult moment, what your child did, and what helped afterward. Include situations where things went well. If school and home ratings differ, bring both accounts to the appointment; differences in demands, routines, and available support are useful information for the clinician.
Other things that can look like ADHD
Inattention and restlessness are not unique to ADHD. Anxiety, sleep problems, learning differences such as dyslexia or dyscalculia, and autism can all produce similar behavior, and ADHD and autism also commonly occur together. Our Child & Teen Autism Test looks at that overlap separately, and can be a useful second screening if attention concerns come with differences in social communication or routines.
If sleep is a concern alongside attention and activity, our Insomnia Test (ISI) can help you describe that piece more precisely before your appointment. Ruling out these other explanations, or identifying that more than one is present, is exactly the kind of judgment a pediatrician or child psychologist is trained to make. An adult sleep questionnaire should not be completed as though it were a validated pediatric sleep assessment. For a child's sleep concerns, describe bedtime, waking, and daytime tiredness directly to the pediatrician.
What the Full Vanderbilt Scale Also Screens For
The complete NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale, Parent Informant is larger than the 18 ADHD symptom items reproduced on this page. Beyond inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, the full form includes additional items that screen for oppositional and defiant behavior, conduct-related behavior, and anxiety or depression, since these often occur alongside ADHD and can complicate or explain a child's presentation. It also asks a parent to rate the child's performance in several areas, including schoolwork, relationships with classmates, and relationships with parents, because the Vanderbilt treats real-world impact as part of the clinical picture, not an afterthought.
This screening focuses on the ADHD symptom items because they are what most parents are looking for when they search for a Vanderbilt test, and because they map directly onto the DSM criteria for ADHD. If anxiety, mood, or behavior concerns feel like a bigger piece of the puzzle than attention and activity, mention that clearly to your child's pediatrician, since the full Vanderbilt is built to catch exactly that overlap. The Psychology.com tests hub has screenings for many of those related concerns, and the Psychology.com therapist directory can help you find a child specialist directly if you would rather start there.
This online adaptation omits the full form's performance and additional condition screens. Its total-score bands are website interpretation aids, not the Vanderbilt's diagnostic scoring criteria. Read the domain symptom counts alongside examples of daily difficulties, and ask the clinician to use the complete assessment when appropriate. A low total does not settle concerns about a particular setting.
Methodology & sources
The 18 core questions reproduce the symptom items from the NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale, Parent Informant (Wolraich et al., 2003), a public-domain instrument built around the DSM criteria for ADHD. They are worded to stay faithful to the validated scale while being readable for parents, and are framed in the first person (My child) because a parent or caregiver completes the scale about their child. The instrument splits into nine inattention items and nine hyperactivity and impulsivity items, each rated on the Vanderbilt frequency scale: Never (0), Occasionally (1), Often (2), or Very Often (3).
Following the Vanderbilt scoring convention, only items rated Often (2) or Very Often (3) are counted as a symptom present, because most children show many of these behaviors occasionally and what matters clinically is how frequent and consistent they are. The Vanderbilt flags a domain when six or more of its nine items reach that level, and the full instrument also asks about performance at school and home, because a diagnosis requires evidence of real impairment in more than one setting. We present the point totals as a guide and the two subscores separately, and your result also computes each domain's Often-or-Very-Often count directly, so you can see the six-of-nine pattern a clinician would look for without counting by hand. This is a parent screening for education and reflection, not a diagnosis. A formal ADHD evaluation is carried out by a qualified professional such as a pediatrician, child psychologist, or psychiatrist, and typically gathers Vanderbilt ratings from a teacher as well. For a broader parent screener that blends the Vanderbilt with the SNAP-IV, see our companion Child ADHD Test (Parent Report).
This page adapts the parent symptom wording and does not administer the complete Vanderbilt form. The original validation study therefore does not establish the accuracy of this shortened online presentation or its total-score bands. A clinician needs additional information about functioning, development, and behavior across settings before drawing diagnostic conclusions.
References
- Wolraich ML, Lambert W, Doffing MA, Bickman L, Simmons T, Worley K. Psychometric properties of the Vanderbilt ADHD Diagnostic Parent Rating Scale in a referred population. J Pediatr Psychol. 2003;28(8):559-568.
- American Academy of Pediatrics, National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality (NICHQ). NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scales. Public-domain ADHD assessment instrument.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Diagnosing ADHD. cdc.gov/adhd/diagnosis/index.html
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, September 16). Vanderbilt Assessment (ADHD) Test. Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/vanderbilt
Vanderbilt Assessment (ADHD) Test FAQ
What is the Vanderbilt Assessment Scale?
It is a widely used parent and teacher rating scale for childhood ADHD, developed for the NICHQ and the American Academy of Pediatrics and based on the DSM symptom criteria. A parent rates how often their child shows nine inattention behaviors and nine hyperactive or impulsive behaviors. This screening adapts the parent symptom items. It is a screening, not a diagnosis.
How is the Vanderbilt scored?
Each item is rated Never, Occasionally, Often, or Very Often. Often and Very Often count toward a domain's symptom count; six or more of nine flags that domain. The full Vanderbilt also assesses performance and impairment. This page shows domain subscores and counts, but omits those performance questions. Its banded total is an orientation guide, not an official diagnostic cutoff. Bring the domain counts and examples of difficulties at home and school to a clinician.
Why are only Often and Very Often counted?
Almost every child loses things, gets distracted, or squirms sometimes. The clinical scales, including the Vanderbilt, only count a behavior as a sign when it happens often or very often, because frequency and consistency are what distinguish ADHD from ordinary childhood. Counting this way keeps the result honest and meaningful. Frequency alone cannot establish ADHD; developmental context and impairment also matter.
Can this test diagnose my child?
No. Only a qualified professional such as a pediatrician, child psychologist, or psychiatrist can diagnose ADHD, using rating scales from more than one setting, a developmental history, and information about how difficulties affect daily life. This screening organizes what you are noticing so you can bring it to that conversation. A teacher usually completes a Vanderbilt too.
How is this different from your Child ADHD Test?
This page adapts the NICHQ Vanderbilt parent items and explains the Vanderbilt counting rule specifically. Our companion Child ADHD Test (Parent Report) is a broader parent screener that blends the Vanderbilt with the SNAP-IV. Both give the same two subscores, so you can use whichever fits and compare the results. Their results are not interchangeable with a clinical evaluation, and agreement between overlapping questionnaires does not independently confirm ADHD.
Is the test really confidential?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser. Your individual answers are scored in your browser and are never sent to us or linked to you or your child. They stay in this tab so you can return to your result, and closing or clearing the tab clears them. If you ask us to email the PDF, we receive your summary scores with your email address, never your individual answers. No account is needed.
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