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FAQs: ADHD Testing 

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What are the components of a Comprehensive ADHD Evaluation at MindWeal?

A Comprehensive ADHD Evaluation at MindWeal includes four main components:

  • Comprehensive Psychiatry Evaluation
     This includes the M-Wise Assessment and a full clinical evaluation, where we gather history from caregivers, speak with your child, and complete a mental status examination.
    (Click HERE to learn more about our Comprehensive Psychiatry Evaluation.)
  • Collateral information from teachers
     Teacher input helps us understand how symptoms appear in the school environment and how they affect learning, behavior, and social functioning during the school day.
  • Objective ADHD testing (when needed)
     Objective testing is not required for every child, but it becomes very helpful when symptoms overlap with other conditions, vary across settings, or when learning difficulties are present.
  • Final integrated report
     Your provider brings all information together—M-Wise results, clinical findings, teacher input, and objective testing (if completed)—to prepare a clear, comprehensive final report that includes the diagnosis, clinical reasoning, recommendations, and school accommodations.

What exactly is Objective ADHD testing at MindWeal?

MindWeal’s ADHD testing is a specialized, objective evaluation that measures your child’s levels of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. The test compares your child’s performance to other children of the same age and gender and provides a percentile score for each of these traits.

These scores:

  • Do not diagnose ADHD by themselves
  • Are one important piece of the diagnostic puzzle
  • Help us understand if symptoms are higher than what is developmentally expected
  • Help clarify which symptoms are causing the most difficulty
  • Complement our clinical evaluation and M-Wise assessment

ADHD testing gives us objective data that supports a more accurate diagnosis and a personalized treatment plan.

When is ADHD testing recommended or needed? Is it always required to diagnose ADHD?

ADHD is defined by symptoms of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity—but arriving at the correct diagnosis can be complex. During onboarding, our M-Wise assessment gathers a deep, structured understanding of your child’s symptoms and tries to determine the root cause of their struggles. During the new patient clinical visit, your provider builds on that information, clarifies symptoms, addresses grey areas, and completes a full mental status exam. In many cases, this combination of M-Wise + clinical evaluation is enough to diagnose ADHD.

However, there are several situations where additional objective testing becomes extremely helpful or necessary.

When symptoms look different in different environments

Children often behave one way at home and another way at school. Parents, teachers, and caregivers witness different parts of a child’s daily functioning, which can lead to mixed or even contradictory histories. Because of this, it can be difficult to know how significant symptoms truly are.

Objective ADHD testing provides standardized and unbiased data, allowing us to understand the actual strength of symptoms independent of environment, observer, or perception.

When perceived inattention may be caused by a psychiatric comorbidity

Sometimes what appears to be ADHD may actually be caused by another mental health condition, such as anxiety, trauma-related concentration difficulties,  sleep problems,  poor motivation due to depression,  other psychiatric comorbidities.  Teachers and parents cannot reliably separate these conditions from ADHD—and even a clinical interview may not fully distinguish them. While M-Wise and your provider’s clinical assessment do an excellent job identifying root causes, when symptoms overlap or multiple possible diagnoses exist, objective ADHD testing helps quantify:

  • How much of the difficulty is related to ADHD
  • How much is due to other comorbidities such as anxiety or mood-related issues

This helps us understand what is driving symptoms, what needs to be treated first, and in what order.

When learning struggles are present

When a child is struggling with learning in school, there can be multiple reasons for it. Attention is only one part of the learning process, and there are other thinking skills that can affect how a child learns. When a child is not doing well academically, we often need to understand exactly which parts of the learning process are giving them trouble. Learning happens in three major steps:

Step 1: Taking in information
 This includes:

  • Perception — noticing what you see and hear
  • Attention — choosing what to focus on and ignoring distractions

If attention is weak, a child may miss important information from the beginning.

Step 2: Storing the information
 This includes:

  • Short-term memory
  • Working memory (holding information in your mind while using it)

These skills are part of “executive functioning” and affect how well a child remembers and organizes what they learn.

Step 3: Using the information
 This includes:

  • Applying what you learned
  • Solving problems
  • Thinking flexibly

This step depends on overall thinking and reasoning skills.

When a child falls behind in learning, any one of these steps—or more than one—may be affected. For example:

  • A child may understand information but need more time to process it. This is called a processing speed issue, which can look similar to inattention.
  • A child may pay attention well but struggle with storing or using the information. 
  • A child may have trouble with all three steps

Objective ADHD testing helps us figure out:

  • Whether the main issue is attention
  • Whether thinking skills like memory or processing speed are involved
  • Whether both are contributing to learning difficulties
  • Whether ADHD medication might help
  • Whether a more detailed evaluation, called a neuropsychological test, is needed. 

Understanding which parts of learning are affected helps us create the right treatment plan, suggest better school supports, and avoid guesswork.

When treatment decisions depend on understanding symptom severity

Objective testing is extremely helpful for treatment planning because it can show the exact severity of inattention, impulsivity, or hyperactivity. This information helps families and providers decide:

  • Whether medication is needed or whether behavioral interventions may be sufficient
  • What type of medication may work best
    • For example, if impulsivity and hyperactivity are the main issues, a non-stimulant may be more appropriate
  • Whether multiple treatment targets exist—such as ADHD combined with anxiety

When we need to know if ADHD treatment is working

For children already taking medication, objective testing provides measurable data about:

  • How well the medication is working
  • Whether attention is fully treated or only partially improved
  • Whether the dose is appropriate
  • Whether remaining symptoms are actually due to psychiatric comorbidity or cognitive/executive functioning deficits rather than ADHD

This avoids guessing and allows treatment to be fine-tuned with precision.

Summary — When Testing Is Recommended

ADHD testing is especially helpful when:

  • Parent and teacher reports differ
  • Symptoms vary across settings
  • ADHD symptoms overlap with anxiety, depression, trauma, or other psychiatric comorbidities
  • Learning issues may be related to cognitive deficits, executive functioning deficits, or processing disorders
  • Parents want more tailored and accurate treatment recommendations
    There are questions about how well treatment is working
  • Treatment decisions depend on identifying the main driver and understanding symptom severity

Testing is not always required, but it is often extremely valuable for reaching the most accurate diagnosis and treatment plan.

What tests are included in ADHD testing at MindWeal, and how does the process work?

ADHD testing at MindWeal is completed in person and administered by a trained Medical Assistant. The appointment lasts about 30 minutes and includes two standardized tests. Although we call it a “test,” the main portion is actually a simple but repetitive computer task used to measure attention and impulse control—not school knowledge. No preparation or studying is needed.

IVA-2 CPT (Continuous Performance Test)

Age range: 6 years & older
Duration: ~15 minutes

How is the test taken:

  • Your child watches and listens for the numbers 1 and 2.
  • When “1” appears or is heard → they click the left mouse button.
  • When “2” appears or is heard → they do nothing.
  • The task alternates between slow and fast speeds to measure consistency and impulse control.
  • This test does not measure intelligence or academic skills—only attention and response style.

What it measures:

  • Visual and auditory attention
  • Impulse control
  • Hyperactivity

Purpose of the test:

  • Quantifies levels of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity
  • Provides percentile scores comparing your child to other children of the same age and gender
  • Helps clarify whether symptoms fall within typical limits or may be clinically significant

MeSA Executive Functioning Test

Age range: 8 years & older
Duration: ~5 minutes

How the test is taken:

  • Using a stylus, the child connects numbered circles in sequence (1 → 2 → 3 → …) without lifting the stylus.
  • Next, they complete a sequence that alternates between numbers and letters (1 → A → 2 → B → …).

What it measures:

  • Central processing speed
  • Working memory
  • Cognitive flexibility

Duration: ~10 minutes

Purpose:

  • Helps determine whether ADHD-like symptoms may actually stem from executive functioning weaknesses or broader cognitive deficits rather than ADHD
  • Helps identify whether the child may benefit from a neuropsychological evaluation (a more detailed assessment of learning, IQ, memory, and academic skills)

How and why is information from teachers needed? Is it mandatory?

Collateral information from teachers plays an important role in making an accurate ADHD diagnosis. Objective testing tells us how strong the symptoms are (the quantity), but to diagnose ADHD, symptoms must also cause functional difficulties in more than one setting. This means we need to know how your child functions:

  • At home — through information from you and your child
  • At school — through information from teachers

Teacher input helps us understand whether the symptoms measured during testing actually affect learning, classroom behavior, social interactions, and task completion in the school environment.

Teacher information is not mandatory, but it is strongly recommended, because it adds valuable insight that testing and home reports alone cannot provide. It often answers the final missing piece of the diagnostic puzzle.

At MindWeal, obtaining this information is made seamless. We send you a secure link to the correct age-appropriate questionnaire, and you simply share it with your child’s teacher. Teachers complete the form online, and the results come directly to us. These are evidence-based rating scales, customized to gather additional details needed for accurate clinical interpretation.

Many times, the information from teachers provides crucial clarity—helping us understand whether symptoms seen in testing and at home are also impacting school functioning, and ultimately helping us reach the most precise and meaningful diagnosis.

What happens after the testing?

After your child completes the ADHD testing, we carefully review all results together—the IVA-2 scores, MeSA executive functioning data, behavior during testing, teacher input, M-Wise findings, and clinical observations. We integrate this information to reach an accurate diagnosis and prepare a final comprehensive ADHD report.

You receive the report through our secure chat, along with a detailed video walkthrough explaining how to interpret every section of the report. Then, during your follow-up visit, your provider discusses the results with your family, answers your questions, and reviews all recommendations, including treatment options and school accommodations.

How does MindWeal interpret ADHD test results?

MindWeal uses a comprehensive and integrated approach that goes far beyond the test alone. ADHD cannot be diagnosed by testing in isolation. Instead, our clinicians correlate all of the following:

  • Clinical diagnostic impression
    (M-Wise Assessment + full clinical evaluation, including history from caregivers and clinical assessment of the child)
  • Symptom reports from parents
  • Observations made by the Medical Assistant during testing
  • Objective IVA-2 percentile scores
  • Objective MeSA executive functioning data
  • Collateral information from teachers

This integrated analysis helps us determine:

  • Whether ADHD symptoms are present
  • Whether they are developmentally appropriate or excessive
  • Whether symptoms appear in more than one setting
  • Whether symptoms significantly affect:
    • Learning
    • Emotions
    • Behavior
    • Relationships
    • Daily functioning

This approach is essential because attention, impulsivity, and energy levels naturally vary among children, and symptoms often look different in different environments. Our goal is to understand the full picture—not just what happens during testing.

What is the ADHD Testing Report like? 

Your child’s final ADHD report is a thorough, integrated document that brings together every piece of data we collect. We combine:

  • Symptoms you reported
  • Clinical impressions and observations
  • Notes from the Medical Assistant during testing
  • Teacher input
  • IVA-2 percentile scores
  • MeSA executive functioning findings

This helps us understand the nature, severity, and impact of symptoms across home and school and determine whether ADHD is present, whether another condition better explains the symptoms, or whether both contribute.

The report includes:

  • Clear explanation of IVA-2 scores (inattention, impulsivity, hyperactivity)
  • MeSA findings (processing speed, working memory, cognitive flexibility)
  • A unified clinical conclusion
  • Whether ADHD is present
  • ADHD subtype (if diagnosed)
  • Severity of symptoms
  • Detailed breakdown (e.g., visual vs auditory inattention, low-demand vs high-demand attention challenges)
  • Whether symptoms are better explained by executive functioning deficits or processing disorders
  • Tailored classroom accommodations
    • Example 1: if visual inattention is stronger, strategies may include reducing visual overload, using auditory cues, or strengthening visual attention skills
    • Example 2: If auditory inattention is stronger, accommodations shift to support auditory processing

  • Recommendations if auditory or visual processing disorders are suspected
  • Parent strategies to support organization, focus, and behavior
  • Treatment recommendations, including medication options if appropriate
  • Whether comprehensive neuropsychological testing is advised
  • Specialized accommodations for college students (if applicable)

Your provider reviews this full report with you during the follow-up visit, ensuring you clearly understand the diagnosis, reasoning, and recommended next steps for treatment and school support.

Is the testing covered by insurance? 

In most cases, ADHD testing at MindWeal is covered by the insurance plans we accept. We submit the claim directly to your insurance company, and you are responsible only for your usual patient responsibility, such as: Copays, Deductibles, Coinsurance.

Some insurance plans require a prior authorization before ADHD testing. If your plan needs one, we will complete the authorization for you.

Note: Tricare does require prior authorization.

What is the cost of ADHD testing if I am paying out of pocket?

If you are self-pay or if your insurance does not cover ADHD testing, the cost of Objective ADHD Testing is $195. This is in addition to the standard components of the comprehensive ADHD evaluation:

  • $249 — Comprehensive Clinical Assessment
    (includes the M-Wise Assessment)

  • $149–$179 — Follow-up visit
    (to review results, diagnosis, and recommendations)

You may click HERE to view our full Self-Pay Pricing Page.