A parent describing a happy childhood against a patient who remembers otherwise is not a contradiction to be resolved by picking a side. Why accounts diverge, the six factors that determine weight, and how to record a discrepancy so the report survives a careful reading.

The Taskforce reported in November 2025 and NHS England has set three-year expectations. Four changes land on assessors: support during the wait, needs-led help, expanded primary care roles and data. What to do about it now, and what has not changed at all.

Adults recall their own childhood symptoms imperfectly, and the error runs toward under-reporting rather than over. What the evidence base actually supports, why recall fails in the specific ways it does, what that changes in practice, and what it does not support.

A report written in 1994 by a teacher who never heard the word ADHD is one of the best documents you will ever get. Who holds childhood records, how to request them free of charge, what the phrases actually map onto, and the three things the documents cannot do.

The instrument takes 60 to 90 minutes and your clinic template says 50. Where the time actually goes, which savings are safe, which shortcuts quietly remove the diagnosis, and why the fix is redesigning the template rather than compressing the appointment itself.

Criterion E asks which conditions you considered and why each was set aside. Listing eight names satisfies nobody. The three discriminators that do most of the work, condition-by-condition wording, and what to write when the alternatives cannot be cleanly separated.

A symptom count is not impairment, and a severity rating is not evidence. The five DIVA-5 domains and what belongs in each, how to evidence impairment in patients who are objectively succeeding, and why a concrete consequence always beats an adjective in a report.

A patient who lives alone and works remotely appears to have one setting. They rarely do. Where the second setting hides — household administration, money, health, study — and how to word Criterion C so that two named settings each carry their own distinct consequence.

A first appointment that begins with information-gathering is one that will overrun. What to have in place four weeks out: referral reviewed, screening sent, informant invited, childhood records requested, adjustments arranged, and enough time actually in the diary.