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The SNAP-IV is the workhorse pediatric ADHD rating scale. Twenty-six items rated by a parent (or teacher, with different cutoffs), covering the three diagnostic clusters that come up over and over in 6-18-year-olds: inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and oppositional behaviour.

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What it measures

Three subscales mapped directly to DSM-IV criteria:
  • Inattention (items 1-9) — careless mistakes, sustained attention, following through, organisation, losing things, distractibility, forgetfulness
  • Hyperactivity/Impulsivity (items 10-18) — fidgeting, leaving seat, excessive talking, interrupting, can’t wait turn, “on the go”
  • Oppositional (items 19-26) — temper, arguing with adults, defying rules, deliberately annoying others, blaming others
The combination lets you see at a glance whether you’re looking at ADHD, ODD, or — often — both.

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When to use it

  • Initial pediatric ADHD/ODD evaluation
  • Treatment-response tracking, especially when medication or behavioural intervention starts
  • Cross-informant comparison — give the parent version, then a separate copy to the teacher, and compare subscale patterns

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How parents fill it out

Five to ten minutes. Each item rates a behaviour over the past six months (or since the school year began) on a 0-3 scale (Not at all / Just a little / Quite a bit / Very much).

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How Rivet scores it

Subscale sums with parent-rated cutoffs derived from Swanson’s canonical average thresholds × item count.
SubscaleItemsParent cutoffPer-item average
Inattention1-9≥16≥1.78
Hyperactivity/Impulsivity10-18≥13≥1.44
Oppositional19-26≥15≥1.88

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Teacher cutoffs are higher

If you administer this same form to a teacher instead of a parent, apply these higher sum thresholds when you read the result:
  • Inattention ≥23
  • Hyperactivity/Impulsivity ≥16
  • Oppositional ≥16
Same instrument, same wording — the population difference (teachers observe a comparison group of classroom peers) is what raises the threshold. A teacher-specific variant of the template isn’t in the library yet; for now, capture the teacher’s responses on the parent form and apply the higher cutoffs by hand.

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Picking the right ADHD measure

  • Children and adolescents — SNAP-IV (this measure)
  • Adults — ASRS v1.1
  • Comorbidity check — pair with the RCADS (for anxiety and depression) or the SDQ (for a broader mental-health screen)

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Citation

Swanson, J. M. The SNAP-IV is the public-domain version distributed at adhd.net and ADHDProfiles.org. One of the most widely used pediatric ADHD/ODD rating scales worldwide. Public domain.

ASRS v1.1

Adult ADHD screener — for clients aging out of the SNAP-IV.

RCADS (parent 6-18)

Rule out anxiety or depression as a driver of concentration problems.

SDQ (self-report 11-17)

Broader adolescent mental-health screen when you need wide-angle before going specific.