Chinese version of Vanderbilt Assessment Scales

The initial assessment scales are designed to measure the severity of ADHD symptoms for children aged 6–12. There are two versions available: parent assessment scale and teacher assessment scale. Each version consists of three components: symptom assessment, performance impairment and comorbid diseases. The symptom assessment screens for symptoms related to inattentive (items 1–9) and hyperactive (items 10–18) ADHD. Scores of 2 or 3 in each question of symptom assessment part (scored 0–3) reflect often-occurring or very often-occurring behaviours. The performance measures in the scale are located in items 49–56 and 36–43 of the parent and teacher assessment scales, respectively. Scores of 4 or 5 in the performance measures (scored 1–5) mean somewhat of a problem or problematic. Items 19–48 in the parent assessment scale and items 19–35 in the teacher assessment scale are used to screen for comorbid diseases—oppositional-defiant disorder, conduct disorder and anxiety/depression and scores of 2 or 3 are considered positive. To meet the DSM-5 criteria for ADHD diagnosis, one must score 2 or 3 on 6 out of either the inattentive 9 or hyperactive 9 core symptoms or both and score 4 or 5 on any of the performance questions. Higher scores indicate a worse outcome. Symptom assessment combined with performance measures are divided into three subtypes: predominantly inattentive subtype, predominantly hyperactivity/impulsive subtype and combined type. The score criteria are detailed in table 1.^{30 31}

The score criteria for ADHD subtypes and comorbidities using the Vanderbilt assessment scales³⁰

ADHD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

With the same assessment items on symptom (items 1–18) and performance (items 19–26) as the initial scales, the parent and teacher follow-up scales have added a side-effect reporting scale that can be applied to evaluate and monitor the occurrence of adverse effects to prescribed medications, if any, such as headache, stomach ache, change of appetite, extreme sadness or unusual crying and so on. The scoring criteria evaluated at weeks 4 and 8 are as follows: (1) calculating total symptom score for questions 1–18 and (2) calculating average performance score for questions 19–26. Higher scores indicate worse outcome.