ADHD Assessment for Children, Teens & Adults
Identifying and Understanding ADHD: Helping children, teens, and adults make sense of attention and regulation challenges with clarity and confidence.
Attention‑Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects behavioural inhibition, sustained attention, resistance to distraction, and the ability to regulate activity level to meet situational demands. These challenges may appear as inattention, hyperactivity, restlessness, or impulsivity, and they can affect individuals differently across home, school, work, and daily life.
At Constellation Psychology, we provide comprehensive ADHD assessments for children, adolescents, and adults in Calgary and surrounding areas for in‑person services, and offer online assessments for clients in British Columbia, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Our evaluations clarify whether ADHD is present, identify how attention and executive functioning difficulties are affecting daily functioning, and offer evidence‑based strategies to support growth and well‑being.
Types of ADHD
There are currently three subtypes of ADHD, including:
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Inattentive Presentation: This presentation involves difficulties with sustained attention, organization, follow‑through, and working memory. Individuals may appear forgetful, easily distracted, or inconsistent in completing tasks that require mental effort. Challenges often become more noticeable as academic or workplace demands increase.
- Hyperactive/Impulsive Presentation: This presentation is characterized by high activity levels, restlessness, impulsive decision‑making, and difficulty waiting or taking turns. Younger children may run, climb, or move excessively, while adolescents and adults often experience internal restlessness or a persistent sense of being “on the go.”
- Combined Presentation: Combined Presentation is diagnosed when an individual meets criteria for both inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptoms. This is the most common presentation across childhood and adolescence, though symptom patterns may shift with age.
Core Features of ADHD
Research—including work by Dr. Russell Barkley—highlights several core impairments that help explain how ADHD affects daily functioning:
Impaired Response Inhibition
Individuals may act before thinking, interrupt others, or struggle to pause long enough to consider consequences. This difficulty with inhibition underlies many behavioural and emotional challenges associated with ADHD.
Reduced Impulse Control and Difficulty Delaying Gratification
ADHD can make it harder to wait, tolerate frustration, or work toward longer‑term rewards. This may appear as choosing immediate, smaller rewards over larger, delayed ones, or becoming overwhelmed when tasks require patience or persistence.
Difficulty Regulating Activity Level
Younger children may show overt hyperactivity, while adolescents and adults often describe internal restlessness, fidgeting, or difficulty sitting still for extended periods. Activity level may feel mismatched to the demands of the situation.
Challenges with Sustained Attention and Mental Effort
Attention is particularly vulnerable during tasks that are repetitive, uninteresting, or require prolonged effort. Individuals may struggle to complete assignments without supervision, stay focused during independent work, or maintain effort on tasks that lack immediate reward.
School-Related Difficulties
Children with ADHD may experience challenges that affect learning, behaviour, and peer relationships. Difficulties with attention, impulse control, and activity regulation can make it harder to follow classroom routines, manage frustration, and stay engaged in tasks that require sustained effort. These challenges can contribute to academic underachievement, inconsistent work completion, and social difficulties with peers or teachers.
Common School‑Related Challenges
Children with ADHD may exhibit:
- Difficulty attending to task instructions or classroom lessons
- Inconsistent or poor test performance
- Challenges with study skills and organization
- Disorganized notebooks, desks, or written work
- Reduced persistence on tasks that require sustained mental effort
- Distractibility during independent work
- Difficulty completing assignments without supervision
Behavioural and Social Impacts
Adult ADHD
Are you an adult who believes you may have an underlying attention problem?
Many adults with ADHD have lived with their symptoms for years without recognizing them as part of a neurodevelopmental condition. Because these patterns often begin in childhood and become woven into daily life, adults may attribute their difficulties to personality, motivation, or unrelated mental health concerns. It is common for adults to feel confused about why they continue to struggle, especially if their challenges were never identified earlier in life.
ADHD frequently co‑occurs with other conditions, so adults often seek help for issues such as anxiety, depression, sleep difficulties, low motivation, disorganization, or chronic procrastination—without realizing these may be connected to underlying attention and executive functioning differences.
Many adults also pursue assessment after their child receives a diagnosis and they begin noticing similar patterns in themselves. A family history of ADHD is common, as ADHD has a strong genetic component, and this can be an important part of understanding an adult’s lifelong pattern of symptoms.
Adults with ADHD may experience a lifelong pattern of attention, organization, or impulse‑related challenges that affect daily functioning. These common indicators may include:
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Persistent difficulties with attention, distractibility, or impulsivity
- Challenges with organization, time management, or follow‑through (missed appointments, unfinished projects, chronic lateness)
- Inconsistent work performance or frequent job changes
- Emotional reactivity or difficulty managing frustration
- Strain in relationships due to forgetfulness, interrupting, or speaking impulsively
- Restlessness, excessive talking, or difficulty relaxing
- Challenges establishing routines or maintaining consistent parenting practices
- Financial difficulties related to impulsive spending or inconsistent bill payment
- Increased risk of accidents or driving difficulties related to inattention or impulsivity
- Academic challenges such as reduced course loads, difficulty completing assignments, or inconsistent performance
- Working harder than peers to meet the same expectations or relying on coping strategies that are no longer effective
- Noticing similar patterns in family members, particularly children or parents
ADHD Assessment
A typical ADHD psychoeducational assessment for children and adolescents takes approximately 12 hours to complete and costs $2,820.00 (flat fee). The process begins with an initial online intake appointment, where background information is gathered, the assessment plan is reviewed, and consent is obtained. After testing is completed, families receive a comprehensive written report, and results are discussed during a feedback meeting. The full process typically takes four to six weeks. This assessment provides a detailed understanding of cognitive abilities, academic skills, social‑emotional functioning, behaviour, attention, executive functioning, and daily adaptive skills, and helps identify learning difficulties that often occur alongside ADHD, such as challenges with reading comprehension, writing, or math.
An adult ADHD assessment requires approximately 9 hours to complete and costs $2,115.00 (flat fee). The process begins with an initial online intake appointment to gather background information, plan the assessment, and review consent. After testing is completed, clients receive a comprehensive written report, and results are reviewed during a feedback meeting. The typical timeline from intake to feedback is four to six weeks. Adult ADHD assessments explore cognitive functioning, social‑emotional wellbeing, attention and concentration, and executive functioning, providing a clear understanding of how ADHD symptoms may be affecting daily life, work, and relationships.
A fully virtual option (tele‑assessment) is available at a reduced cost of $1,645.00 (flat fee). This option excludes the intellectual assessment and requires the following before booking: 1) A private, quiet, and distraction‑free room, 2) computer or laptop, 3) Chrome browser, 4) wired mouse and 5) headphones or external speakers.
