Did You Have ADHD as a Child? Answer These Questions to Find Out

To get diagnosed with adult ADHD you have to show that your symptoms originated in childhood, by the age of 7 (although there is talk of moving this cut-off up to the age of 12).

But how can you reach decades back into the memory banks to remember specific behaviors that would confirm or deny a diagnosis of childhood ADD or ADHD? It’s not always an easy task, but tests like the following make the process a little less abstract.

Adult Self Test – Did You Have ADHD as a Child?

This test is very closely based on the Wender Utah Rating Scale for ADHD

Answer the following questions honestly. Answer each question with a statement and when finished add up your responses to get a score and to find out if your score meets the cut-off score for ADHD.

For each question, choose one of the following statements as the response that best matches your childhood experience:

1. Not at all – score 0
2. Mildly – score 1
3. Moderately – score 2
4. Quite a lot – score 3
5. Very much – score 4

When you were a child:

1. Were you an angry kid?
2. Were you moody?
3. Did you have temper tantrums?
4. Were you nervous and fidgety?
5. Did you have trouble concentrating or were you easily distracted?
6. Were you prone to daydreaming?
7. Were you stubborn?
8. Did you have trouble finishing things you started?
9. Did you have a short temper?
10. Were you depressed, unhappy or sad a lot?
11. Did you have a low opinion of your self-worth?
12. Were you irritable?
13. Did you talk back to parents, were you rebellious?
14. Were you anxious
15. Did you act without thinking things through (impulsivity)
16. Were you immature for your age?
17. Did you often feel guilty or regretful about your actions
18. Did you have trouble controlling yourself
19. Did you often act irrationally
20. Were you unpopular or did you have trouble keeping friends or getting along with other children?
21. Did you have a hard time looking at things from another person’s perspective?
22. Did you frequently get in trouble at school or with other authorities
23. Were you a poor student or a slow learner?
24. Did you have a hard time with math?
25. Did people say you weren’t living up to your potential?
    

What’s You Score?

If you scored over 46 there is a good chance you had ADHD symptoms as a child.

When researchers tested the validity of the test they found that if they used a cut-off score of 46, then the test correctly identified 86% people with ADHD.¹