YOUR QUESTION. A CLEARER NEXT STEP.
What is the Conners 3rd Edition (Conners-3)?
The Conners 3rd Edition (Conners-3) is a widely used, structured rating questionnaire that helps clinicians understand attention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and related behaviours in children and young people aged about 6 to 18 years. It gathers information from parents, teachers and the young person themselves, comparing observations across home and school against age-matched norms. It assesses areas such as inattention, hyperactivity, learning problems, executive functioning and peer relationships — but it is one tool within a wider assessment and never a diagnosis on its own.
In this answer 5 sections
A widely used questionnaire that gathers the voices of parents, teachers and the child themselves to understand attention, behaviour and learning.
In short
The Conners 3rd Edition (Conners-3) is a well-established, structured rating questionnaire that helps clinicians understand attention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and related behaviours in children and young people, typically aged 6 to 18 years. It gathers information from several viewpoints — parents, teachers, and (for older children) the young person themselves — so that a fuller picture emerges across home and school. It is one piece of a careful assessment, never a diagnosis on its own.
What the Conners-3 assesses
The Conners-3 focuses closely on the behaviours linked with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conditions that often appear alongside it. The rating forms cover areas such as inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, learning problems, executive functioning (planning, organising and getting started on tasks), aggression, and peer or family relationships. Because the same child can behave quite differently at home and in the classroom, the Conners-3 deliberately draws on multiple raters — a parent or carer, a teacher, and the young person — to compare observations across settings. The responses are compared with age-matched and gender-matched norms, which helps a clinician judge how a child's profile sits relative to peers of the same age. The result is not a label but a structured snapshot that guides further conversation and assessment.
How it fits into a wider assessment
A questionnaire alone never diagnoses ADHD or any other condition. The Conners-3 is one trusted tool among many — used alongside clinical interview, developmental history, observation and other measures — by a qualified clinician who weighs everything together. Think of it as one carefully designed lens that helps the whole picture come into focus.
The Pinnacle way
This is general information, not a diagnosis — a clinical AbilityScore® and any diagnosis are formed only at a Pinnacle Blooms Network centre, under qualified clinician care, never from an app or form. Our team uses validated tools such as the Conners-3 alongside structured clinical assessment, and where attention or learning support is helpful we draw on services like behavioural therapy within an individualised plan.
Trusted sources
The American Academy of Pediatrics and HealthyChildren guidance on ADHD evaluation in children; CDC information on ADHD and how it is assessed using information from parents and teachers; NICE guidance on the recognition and assessment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Next step — If you have questions about your child's attention, behaviour or learning, book a developmental assessment so a qualified clinician can build the full picture and guide any support.
CONNECT THE ANSWER TO YOUR CHILD’S DAY
Something to notice. Something to discuss.
What to notice
Persistent difficulty sustaining attention, frequent restlessness or impulsivity, trouble getting started on or finishing tasks, and behaviour or learning concerns that show up across both home and school settings.
In everyday life
If you're completing a Conners-3 form, answer based on your child's usual behaviour over recent weeks, not their best or worst day — honest, everyday observations from both home and school give the clinician the most useful picture.
Bring your observations and questions to your child’s professional. Choose activities that suit your child’s comfort, abilities and agreed plan.
Bring your questions to a first visitQuestions families ask
What age range is the Conners-3 used for?
The Conners-3 is typically used for children and young people aged about 6 to 18 years, with separate forms for parents, teachers and the young person themselves.
Does the Conners-3 diagnose ADHD?
No. The Conners-3 is a structured rating questionnaire that supports assessment, but a diagnosis is only made by a qualified clinician who weighs it together with clinical interview, history and observation.
Why does the Conners-3 ask parents and teachers separately?
Children can behave differently at home and at school, so gathering observations from multiple settings gives a fuller, more balanced picture of a child's attention and behaviour.
What does the Conners-3 actually assess?
It covers areas such as inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, learning problems, executive functioning, aggression and peer or family relationships.
FOLLOW THE SOURCE
References behind this answer.
- Organisation website · further readingAAP HealthyChildren — ADHD evaluation in children
- Organisation website · further readingCDC — ADHD diagnosis and assessment
- Organisation website · further readingNICE — recognition and assessment of ADHD
References are supplied with this answer. An organisation homepage offers further reading; it does not establish an independent review of this page.
Content attribution: SETU Consortium · Pinnacle Blooms Network.
PEOPLE, TOPICS & DEVELOPMENT
See the connections.
Browse the wider question collections connected with this answer’s audience, developmental area and stage.
FROM UNDERSTANDING TO PURPOSEFUL SUPPORT
One question. Your child’s whole life.
Your child’s self-sufficient, mainstream-included life is the purpose from the beginning. At Pinnacle, that purpose shapes what we understand, the goals we choose, the people we bring together, everyday practice and review.
Connect this question with the right support.
Start with your child’s strengths, your observations and what you want everyday life to become.
Make the next conversation useful.
Bring the situations you notice at home or school. We’ll explain a suitable service, centre and first visit, including availability and fees, before you decide.
How PinnacleAI® connects the journeyExplore the seven stages
- 1Understand abilities
A starting picture of your child’s capabilities.
- 2Choose meaningful goals
Readiness and a plan shaped around the child.
- 3Bring the right support together
Suitable therapies and people for those goals.
- 4Carry practice into everyday life
Guidance for family, home and school.
- 5Track and correct
Use observations to adjust the plan.
- 6Reassess and review
Decide what to continue, change or do next.
- 7Grow independence and participation
The child’s life gives each step its purpose.
Explore the whole PinnacleAI® system → · Participation at school and in the community →
PINNACLE’S EVIDENCE, OPEN TO YOU
Look at the evidence behind our work.
Read our research, inspect the original regulatory documents and check what each institutional measure means.
General information supports a conversation with an appropriately qualified professional. Advice, goals and support depend on the individual child.