What tests do parents need to do when they find that their child is inattentive, likes to get into trouble, and suspects ADHD? Can the diagnosis be made by describing the symptoms? There are usually psychological tests, such as psychological scales to assess ADHD and scales to aid in the diagnosis, as well as tests completed by the parents to reflect the child’s attention span. Since an important prerequisite for the diagnosis of ADHD is that the child has normal intelligence, if the intelligence is not normal, even if the child has symptoms of hyperactivity, the child cannot be diagnosed with ADHD, so an intelligence test must also be done. However, intelligence tests often take up to an hour to complete, which is very difficult for children with ADHD, and it is difficult for the child to sit quietly and fill out the test, resulting in a low IQ. Therefore, a comprehensive assessment is needed to see if the whole process of taking the IQ test is due to the child’s low intelligence or the child’s inability to finish the test patiently. As for other tests, such as trace elements, brain MRI, CT, etc., these are only for reference and are not very helpful in diagnosing ADHD because they are designed to detect organic brain lesions such as brain tumors and epilepsy. What tests can confirm the diagnosis? Is it easy to misdiagnose? There are diagnostic criteria for psychiatric disorders, for example, a series of criteria need to be met to determine hyperactivity, and certain criteria need to be met to determine attention deficit. Doctors can assess whether a child meets the diagnostic criteria for ADHD by asking about symptoms and testing the appropriate psychological scales. The diagnosis cannot be made solely by the child’s symptoms, or by the results of psychological testing, as many of the test results are not always objective and can be influenced by the disorder or the patient, resulting in unreliable results. Can this assessment process be done directly in the outpatient setting? Usually in an outpatient setting, it takes 20-30 minutes to complete a series of assessments that require the physician to go over the child’s growth and development and various clinical manifestations in detail.