Preparation guide
Assessments reward preparation more than performance. The clinician needs a lifetime pattern, and you are the archive: what you gather in the fortnight before the appointment often does more for the result than anything you say on the day.
Last checked 8 August 2026
General preparation information, not clinical advice. Costs and figures referenced here are the ones this site maintains and dates; the cost guide holds the detail.
ADHD is developmental, so assessors look for the pattern before roughly age twelve. School reports are gold, not the grades, the comments: bright but does not apply herself, talks in class, careless mistakes, in a world of his own. A parent's memories serve the same purpose, and one honest phone call to a parent often beats a folder of paperwork.
If the paper trail is gone, reconstruct honestly: the phrases teachers used, the report-card sentence your family still jokes about, what homework nights actually looked like. Assessors know most adults do not arrive with documents, and your account of childhood is evidence too.
While you are in the past, note anything that mimics or complicates the picture: sleep problems, thyroid issues, substances, head injuries, and mental health history. Volunteering these strengthens the assessment; a clinician who rules things out is doing the job properly, and the what a proper report contains entry shows why that matters.
Diagnosis needs impairment in more than one setting, so bring specifics from at least two of: work, study, home, money, relationships, driving. Concrete beats general every time: not I am disorganised, but I have paid late fees on bills I had the money for, three times this year.
A useful exercise is one bad ordinary week, narrated: what got missed, what it cost, who noticed. Ten minutes of notes in your phone produces better material than an hour of trying to summarise your personality in the appointment.
If autistic traits are part of your picture too, sensory life, routines, masking, say so at booking and bring those examples as well. Whether both are assessed together changes the process and the price; the AuDHD explainer covers what to ask for.
Four questions in writing before booking: the total gap after the Medicare rebate, the wait for the medication appointment rather than the first chat, the assessing practitioner's full name, and whether their report supports your GP continuing care where your state allows. The answers separate serious services from expensive ones.
Check the practitioner on the Ahpra register before paying anything, and treat guaranteed diagnosis or same day stimulant promises as exits. The full pre-payment checklist, including the telehealth specific checks, lives on the resources page, and the money mechanics in the cost guide.
In Queensland, and South Australia with a trained GP, preparation is the same but the venue is your GP's office and the price is a consultation; the state register shows where the rules sit today.
Expect one to two long appointments: structured questions about now and childhood, screeners you may have already met, and history taking that can feel oddly thorough, that thoroughness is the assessment working. You do not need to perform your worst day; you need to report it accurately.
Afterwards comes the part people forget to plan: a written report, a letter to your GP, and a management conversation, medication, strategies, or both. Before you leave, ask what the follow up schedule looks like and what happens to your care if you move interstate, because the rules change at the border.
And if the result is not ADHD, that is information too: a good assessment that rules ADHD out usually rules something in, sleep, mood, trauma, autism without ADHD, and the report should say where to go next.
The recognition tool sorts thirty-two experiences into ADHD flavoured, autistic flavoured and common to both, and shows where your ticks sit. Two minutes, nothing leaves your device, and it is a mirror, not a test.
Anything showing the pattern before adulthood: school reports with their comments about attention or effort, and a parent or older relative's recollections if available. Plus concrete recent examples across settings, work, home, money, driving, a list of current medicines, and your sleep pattern. None of it is mandatory; all of it helps.
Assessments still proceed. Old report cards are helpful, not required; your own account of childhood, siblings, old friends, even report-style memories, teachers' phrases you still remember, all count as history. Tell the clinician upfront that documentary evidence is thin so they plan the interview accordingly.
Say the word masking to the assessor rather than performing either way. A lifetime of camouflage defeats observation, and naming it invites the developmental questions that see behind it. Answer with what things cost you, not how well you ultimately coped.
The gap after the Medicare rebate in writing, the wait for the medication appointment rather than the first call, the assessing practitioner's full name for an Ahpra check, and whether their report supports GP shared care where your state allows it. A clinic that answers all four plainly is a good sign in itself.