How to choose an ADHD evaluator

The listings on this site give you the starting facts of every provider: the practice address, the phone number and the credentials published in the CMS NPI Registry. Everything else about fit — experience, style, testing, insurance, wait time, cost — is a question you ask on the phone before you book. Here is the order that most people find useful.

Start with credentials and profession. For a formal ADHD evaluation for accommodations, a clinical neuropsychologist or clinical psychologist is the most common choice, because the full assessment with cognitive testing is their core training. A psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse practitioner also diagnoses ADHD and can prescribe, but their evaluation is usually a clinical one rather than a multi-hour cognitive assessment. Match the provider type to how the report will be used: if a school, employer or the Americans with Disabilities Act process will read the report, ask whether that provider's reports meet that process.

Then ask about experience with your age group. ADHD looks different in a seven-year-old, a sixteen-year-old and a forty-year-old, and the measures and questionnaires differ. Ask directly: "How many of your evaluations are for children, for adolescents, for adults?" and "Do you assess adults who suspect they have had ADHD their whole life without a diagnosis?" That last question matters, because late-diagnosed adults are a large share of this directory's audience, and not every practice is set up for them.

Ask what the evaluation actually includes. A defensible evaluation has a clinical interview, standardized rating scales completed by more than one informant where relevant, and direct measures of attention. Ask for the names of the measures, how many sessions there will be, and who fills in questionnaires (parents, teachers, partners). Ask whether you will receive a copy of the raw data with the report, because you are entitled to your own records and they help a second opinion.

Ask about the report before you pay: how long it is, how soon after the last session it arrives, whether it states a diagnosis and recommendations, and whether the provider will discuss it with the school or employer office that will read it. A great evaluation with a report that does not answer the accommodation question is money spent twice.

Then ask about logistics and money: wait time for the first appointment and for the report, whether telehealth is an option and what it changes in the testing, whether the provider is in network with your insurance, whether they offer a superbill for out-of-network reimbursement, and their full fee and cancellation policy. This site never prints prices or wait times, because clinics report them differently and they change; treat a number you hear on the phone as the truth only if it is in writing.