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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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Scoring and severity cutoffs

Subscale sums with parent-rated cutoffs derived from Swanson’s canonical average thresholds × item count.

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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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SNAP-IV vs ASRS, and vs the Conners

Age decides the first one. The SNAP-IV is the parent- or teacher-rated scale for children and adolescents; the ASRS v1.1 is the adult self-report scale. The SNAP-IV also covers oppositional symptoms, which the ASRS does not — useful, because ADHD and oppositional presentations arrive together often enough that measuring only one gives you half the picture. For comorbidity, pair it with the RCADS for anxiety and depression, or the SDQ for a broader screen across conduct and peer relationships. Against the Conners scales: the Conners is the other widely used pediatric ADHD rating scale, and it is licensed by MHS and paid for per use. Rivet doesn’t include it. The SNAP-IV covers the same three domains — inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity and oppositional symptoms — is public domain, and carries no fee for however many families you use it with. If a school board or assessment protocol requires the Conners specifically, you’ll be running it wherever you licensed it.

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Is it free to use?

Yes. The SNAP-IV is public domain — there is no licence to buy, no permission to request and no fee, whether you use it once or with every family on your caseload. That holds for the parent-rated version here and for the teacher-rated version you may be sent alongside it. That is unusual enough to be worth knowing. Several of the better-known pediatric ADHD scales are copyrighted and priced per administration, which is often what decides whether a practice uses them at all.

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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.