The ADHD Map
ADHD rarely shows up as one isolated problem.
Start from something you actually experience, in your own words. The map shows what it may connect to, what commonly appears alongside it, what may help and where to get support.
Starting from an experience
Children and school
Signs across settings, referral routes and support that responds to described need.
01
What you’re experiencing
Children and school
02
What it may connect to
Other reasons concentration slips
03
What may help, and where next
School and the SENCO, Getting a child assessed, Getting assessed in the UK
Start with these
The most useful connections first
What may be worth trying now
Things people commonly find useful. Not treatment.
School and the SENCO (Source)
Classroom support responds to described need. Ask what will be tried, who will do it and when it will be reviewed — support does not wait on a diagnosis.
What to understand next
Including the things that can look like this and are worth ruling out.
Other reasons concentration slips (Source)
Hearing difficulties, undetected learning needs, sleep, anxiety and life events can produce similar classroom behaviour. Assessment exists to tell these apart.
Women and late recognition (Source)
Quiet, compliant difficulty is less likely to be referred, which is part of why girls are recognised later.
I can’t start (Our note)
Homework asks for sustained effort at the end of a day that has already used it up, with a vague task and a distant reward.
When professional support may be appropriate
Nothing here is a diagnosis. A qualified professional is the only route to one.
Getting a child assessed (Source)
The route usually runs through a GP or the SENCO, with information gathered from home and school. A school cannot diagnose.
Everything below is the same set of connections in full, grouped by the kind of relationship.
Can look like
Other reasons concentration slips
Related pattern · Source
Hearing difficulties, undetected learning needs, sleep, anxiety and life events can produce similar classroom behaviour. Assessment exists to tell these apart.
Poor sleep, stress, low mood, anxiety, pain, grief, some physical conditions and some medications all affect concentration. ADHD is one explanation among several.
Why we say this — the evidence
- Supports the claim that
- That assessment considers alternative explanations and coexisting conditions as part of the clinical picture.
- Source
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management (NG87)National Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authority
- Our confidence
- Well established in guidance · last checked September 2026
Commonly described alongside
Women and late recognition
Life context · Source
Quiet, compliant difficulty is less likely to be referred, which is part of why girls are recognised later.
Under-recognition, compensation that stops working, and what changes when demands rise.
Why we say this — the evidence
- Supports the claim that
- That referral bias and under-recognition in girls are described in specialist consensus.
- Source
- Females with ADHD: an expert consensus statement across the lifespanYoung S and colleagues · Expert consensus statement · 2020 · International · Specialist studies, consensus and professional guidance
- Our confidence
- Reasonably supported · last checked September 2026
I can’t start
Experience · Our note
Homework asks for sustained effort at the end of a day that has already used it up, with a vague task and a distant reward.
You know what needs doing, you want it done, and the first move still does not happen.
May help with
School and the SENCO
Assessment and support · Source
Classroom support responds to described need. Ask what will be tried, who will do it and when it will be reviewed — support does not wait on a diagnosis.
Classroom support responds to described need. A school cannot diagnose, and neither can a checklist.
Why we say this — the evidence
- Supports the claim that
- That environmental modification and support across settings form part of ADHD care, and that assessment considers information from people who know the child.
- Sources
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management (NG87)National Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authorityNG87 recommendationsNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authority
- What this does not prove
- What any particular school will provide.
- Our confidence
- Well established in guidance · last checked September 2026
Shows up at
Studying
Life context · Our note
The same pattern continues into college and university, where structure drops away sharply.
Coursework that only begins under deadline pressure, and revision that never quite starts.
Learn more
Getting assessed in the UK
Assessment and support · Our note
Parents often recognise the pattern in themselves during a child’s assessment. The adult route is separate.
GP referral, Right to Choose and private routes, and what an assessment involves.
Where to get support
Getting a child assessed
Assessment and support · Source
The route usually runs through a GP or the SENCO, with information gathered from home and school. A school cannot diagnose.
Usually through a GP or the SENCO, with information gathered from home and school.
Why we say this — the evidence
- Supports the claim that
- That recognition and referral consider impairment across settings, drawing on information from people who know the child.
- Sources
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management (NG87)National Institute for Health and Care Excellence · Clinical guideline · UK · UK clinical and official authorityDiagnosis pathways for adult ADHDADHD UK · Practical guidance · UK · Trusted UK practical and pathway guidance
- Our confidence
- Well established in guidance · last checked September 2026
Looking for an assessment?
Clinics you can look at
If you want to be assessed privately, we keep plain records of UK clinics: who they are, who they assess, how much they charge and what that price covers. No ratings, no rankings, and nobody pays to be listed.
- See the clinic records
Every clinic we have researched, listed alphabetically, with the facts we could source and the ones nobody publishes.
- Compare private assessment in the UK
What private assessment involves, what it costs and what to check before you pay.
- Work out which route fits you
NHS, Right to Choose or paying privately — a few questions, no account, nothing stored.
Nothing on this map is a diagnosis. See every source we use, and its limits.