3. Support pathways for students with [un]diagnosed ADHD​​​​​​​

If your student needs glasses, telling them to squint harder will not help them to see better.​

It is the same with ADHD – telling them to try harder does not help.

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3.4 Getting your student assessed for ADHD

It is important to note that you, Special Education Needs Coordinators (SENCOs), and even General Practitioners (GPs) cannot assess and diagnose ADHD.

In New Zealand, children (between the ages of six and 18 years) can only be assessed and diagnosed for ADHD by specialists, including a paediatrician, child and adolescent psychologist, or a child and adolescent psychiatrist. Of importance:

  • a referral from the GP is generally required to access a specialist 
  • the specialist should have specific knowledge of ADHD
  • specialists value input from schools when making an assessment of ADHD (e.g. SNAP IV form), and
  • the diagnostic system used in New Zealand is currently the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V).


​As an aside, specialists ask adults seeking an ADHD assessment to bring their school reports which the specialist scans for comments like “easily distracted”, “does not pay attention”, and “needs to try harder”. So, even in adulthood, the school experience casts a long shadow!

Hear Kim Anketell describe the role of the school in supporting the assessment and diagnosis of ADHD in a student (5.0 mins)

This is provided for educational purposes only. ADHD NZ does not provide medical advice, assessment, diagnosis, or treatment. A GP can recommend a suitable healthcare professional.​

Kim Anketell

​​​​​​​Resource Teacher: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB)

Bio: ​​​​​​​​Kim's roles in education vary from teacher to associate principal to RTLB. She has worked alongside and participated on Boards of Trustees as an educator and senior leader to ensure the high quality of education is maintained and that staff have all the resources they need to accomplish this goal.

What happens when a specialist makes an assessment of ADHD?

A proper assessment for ADHD should do two things:

  1. determine whether a person has ADHD and rule out other potential reasons for the symptoms, and
  2. identify any other potential challenges — e.g. Anxiety, Depression, Dyslexia, Autism, Auditory Processing Disorder or OCD.
  • Depending on the complexity of needs, the specialist assessment may take anywhere from an hour to more than eight hours (which may require several appointments).
  • An appointment is usually 90 minutes, but that assumes all the questionnaires and forms are complete.

Common assessments include: 

  • ADHD rating questionnaires (called psychometrics)
  • cognitive assessments (assessing cognitive strengths, weaknesses and IQ)
  • broad mental health screener questionnaires (psychometrics to help the Specialist narrow down the areas they will need to focus on in the assessment), and/or
  • a neuropsychological assessment of the Attention system or Executive Function (functional tests completed by a Psychologist).

​Why a diagnosis is more important than worrying about labels

Many parents (and teachers) are concerned about the ADHD “label”, making them reluctant to seek an assessment and diagnosis. It is common to hear: “if you send them to a specialist, they are bound to come back with a diagnosis of something”.

​In response to this opinion, you might want to consider:

specialists are highly trained and will only diagnose when a person meets the criteria for a condition. New Zealand implements checks and balances to monitor and prevent overdiagnosis among medical professionals.

medical knowledge of ADHD and other forms of neurodiversity has grown significantly in the last 20 years – largely thanks to brain imaging.

We have a history of underdiagnosis, not a problem with overdiagnosis.

Failure to assess and diagnose a student with ADHD can be detrimental to the rest of their life. 

labels only carry a stigma when we let them. It’s not that long ago when:

  • a person wearing spectacles was often labelled "four eyes". Now you see them so often that people no longer point them out, or
  • a student caught writing their left hand was punished and forced to use their right hand. Now it does not matter which hand does the writing.

It is time to destigmatise ADHD, and you can help that happen.

if a person has ADHD, then avoiding an assessment and diagnosis will make things increasingly worse for them.A student with ADHD may scrape by at primary school, but the increased expectations to be self-directed and organised in secondary school will make achievement more difficult. 

You are 57% of the way through eLearning module: 3. Signs that students with [un]diagnosed ADHD are struggling at school.