The NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale for Parents
If a parent or guardian needs to check if their child has ADHD, then issue the NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale in order to help with diagnosing the child and developing a care plan!
Fact Checked by RJ Gumban.
What is the NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale for Parents?
The National Institute for Children’s Health Quality developed the in 2002 to assess ADHD in children and help with the diagnosis.
What the assessment scale will attempt to pinpoint is if ADHD is affecting a child’s academic performance and general behavior. The scale has a questionnaire with items related to possible anxiety, depression, impatience, defiance, and more.
It comes in two versions, one for teachers and one for parents. We’ll focus on the version for parents in this guide, a fifty-five-item questionnaire.
Printable NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale for Parents
Download NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale for Parents to assess if children have ADHD.
How to use the NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale for Parents
Issue this to the parents reporting on their children.
If parents/guardians set up an appointment with you about their child and they mention suspicions about the child having ADHD, it’s best to issue this assessment scale.
Before immediately diagnosing the child, it’s better to have the parents answer and submit a fully-accomplished NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale in order to make a better judgment when actually diagnosing the child.
Have the parents answer the questionnaire.
Once you’ve given them the assessment scale, they can answer it on the spot or take it home and submit it during the next appointment. Or they can send it to you online.
What they need to do is simply rate the following:
- Items 1-47 must be rated on a scale of 0-3 (Never to Very Often)
- Items 48-55 must be rated on a scale of 1-5 (Excellent to Problematic)
All their ratings must be considered in the context of what is appropriate for their child’s age.
Record the scores.
Once the parents have given you a fully-accomplished assessment scale, it’s time to take note of the following:
- The total number of questions scored 2 or 3 in questions 1–9
- The total number of questions scored 2 or 3 in questions 10–18
- Total Symptom Score for questions 1–18
- The total number of questions scored 2 or 3 in questions 19–26
- The total number of questions scored 2 or 3 in questions 27–40
- The total number of questions scored 2 or 3 in questions 41–47
- The total number of questions scored 4 or 5 in questions 48–55
- Average Performance Score
Before making a diagnosis, you must also take note of the following designations:
Predominantly Inattentive subtype
■ Must score a 2 or 3 on 6 out of 9 items on questions 1–9 AND
■ Score a 4 or 5 on any of the Performance questions 48–55
Predominantly Hyperactive/Impulsive subtype
■ Must score a 2 or 3 on 6 out of 9 items on questions 10–18 AND
■ Score a 4 or 5 on any of the Performance questions 48–55
ADHD Combined Inattention/Hyperactivity
■ Requires the above criteria on both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity
To meet the criteria for diagnosis, they must have at least six positive responses to either the inattentive 9 or hyperactive 9 core symptoms, or both! Do remember that a positive response is a 2 or 3.
The first part of the scale also has symptom screens of the following:
Oppositional-Defiant Disorder Screen
■ Must score a 2 or 3 on 4 out of 8 behaviors on questions 19–26 AND
■ Score a 4 or 5 on any of the Performance questions 48–55
Conduct Disorder Screen
■ Must score a 2 or 3 on 3 out of 14 behaviors on questions 27–40 AND
■ Score a 4 or 5 on any of the Performance questions 48–55
Anxiety/Depression Screen
■ Must score a 2 or 3 on 3 out of 7 behaviors on questions 41–47 AND
■ Score a 4 or 5 on any of the Performance questions 48–55
These are screened by the number of positive responses in each segment separated by the “squares.”
The second part of the scale, the Performance Set (Items 48-55), has a different rating range. To meet the criteria for ADHD diagnosis, at least one item from this set must score a 4 or 5. You can record the scores for that. There’s even an Average Performance Score, calculated by adding the scores and dividing them by the number of Performance Set items rated.
Diagnosis and plan.
The next part is making a diagnosis (or not, depending on the results) and a care plan. Make sure to tailor-fit the plan to the child by basing it on the ratings in the questionnaire.
Issue a follow-up (if needed), then plan accordingly based on results.
You may also reissue this, especially if they’re taking medicine. This is so you can monitor them for improvements and see if your care plan works.
The parents need to do the same thing, but this time, there are only twenty-six items to rate. They must also indicate if their kid experienced problems like headaches, trouble sleeping, being listless, etc.
Once you receive a fully-accomplished follow-up, make sure to indicate:
- The total Symptom Score for questions 1–18
- Average Performance Score for questions 19–26 (add them up and divide by number of Performance criteria answered)
NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale for Parents Example
Here is a filled-out NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale for Parents sample. Download a free printable NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale for Parents from Carepatron and use it for your practice!
Download this NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale for Parents Example (Sample) here:
When does one typically use the NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale for Parents?
This is normally issued when parents visit their child’s pediatrician or psychologist to discuss any suspicions they might have about their child having ADHD.
Once the child has been diagnosed and a care plan was made for them, the pediatrician or psychologist may reissue this to help monitor the progress, especially if the parents set up another appointment to discuss their child’s ADHD.
You can have them answer the scale on the spot, or you can have them take it home if they want to observe their child first in order to make more informed answers.
Who can use this printable NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale for Parents?
The following healthcare practitioners can use the NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale for Parents for their respective practices:
- Pediatricians
- Psychologists
- Psychiatrists
- Psychotherapists
The child’s parents will be engaging with the scale the most since they will be rating their child based on the prompts.
What are the benefits of using the NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale for Parents?
Since parents are the ones who will be filling out this assessment, they will have the chance to reflect on their child and observe them to make properly-informed ratings per item.
In the event that their answers lead to an ADHD diagnosis, they know what to focus on in order to help their child, and themselves live with the fact that they have ADHD. Based on the care plan you’ll make for them and the answers they gave, they might be able to determine what to do and what to avoid in order to prevent ADHD from negatively impacting their child.
Why use Carepatron for pediatric software?
Here at Carepatron, we care about helping healthcare practitioners improve productivity and efficiency, especially when streamlining their clinical documentation. By taking advantage of our easy-to-navigate EHR system, you’ll gain access to various pediatric assessmentsm such as the NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale.
Using the NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale will help you assess the child and make an informed ADHD diagnosis. It can also be used to monitor the child post-diagnosis!
You can even store this assessment (both the initial version and the follow-up version) in a HIPAA-compliant manner and secure them by setting up who can access these documents besides you.
Not only are our pediatric software and assessments intuitive, but they’re also easily accessible! Whether using an office desktop, a laptop, or even just your phone, you can access your depression scale assessments anytime, anywhere!
Convenience. Accessibility. Security. You get all three with Carepatron.
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Commonly asked questions
The NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale was designed to assess if there is ADHD in children aged 6-12.
Yes. This assessment scale for parents has two forms. One is for the initial assessment. The other one is for follow-ups. After diagnosis, the follow-up scale will be used. It’s also much shorter than the initial assessment scale.
If parents or guardians set up an appointment with you to discuss their child and their suspicions that their kid might have ADHD, issue this to them during the discussion. Or after. You may have them answer on the spot, but if they need more time to think about their answers, have them take it home and fully accomplish it before your next appointment with them. The sooner that you can assess and diagnose the kid, the better because you can create a plan that’ll benefit them in the long run.
