Clinical instrument

Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS-25)

A 25-item retrospective self-report of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, using the official short form of discriminating items from Ward et al. (1993). Rate how you were as a child for each characteristic. It is used as an aid in the retrospective assessment of childhood ADHD in adults and should be administered under clinician oversight.

This is a clinical instrument. It is not publicly self-administered; a clinician assigns it through a secure patient link.

You learn whether your memories of childhood behavior fit an attention-deficit pattern.

For adults who wonder whether childhood restlessness or inattention fits an attention pattern.

It comes from adult attention-deficit research on recalling childhood behavior.

Sample result, example data. Illustrative chart with invented scores; it does not describe any real respondent.

What this test is

Welcome. A 25-item retrospective self-report of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, using the official short form of discriminating items from Ward et al. (1993). Rate how you were as a child for each characteristic. It is used as an aid in the retrospective assessment of childhood ADHD in adults and should be administered under clinician oversight.

The measure

The Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS-25) was developed by Ward and colleagues (1993). It has 25 items, each answered on a 5-point (Not at all or very slightly … Very much) scale.

Ward, M. F., Wender, P. H., & Reimherr, F. W. (1993). The Wender Utah Rating Scale: an aid in the retrospective diagnosis of childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150(6), 885–890.

At a glance

Items

Response scale

5-point (Not at all or very slightly … Very much)

Est. time

~4 min

Access

Assigned only · no per-report charge

What it measures

Twenty-five statements ask an adult to recall what they were like as a child, between about eight and ten years old: having concentration problems and being easily distracted, being anxious and worrying a lot, being nervous and fidgety, being inattentive and daydreaming, being hot- or short-tempered, having temper outbursts, acting without thinking, being disobedient with parents, having trouble with authorities, and doing poorly in school. Each is rated from not at all or very slightly to very much.

Wender developed the original rating scale at the University of Utah to help identify adults whose difficulties began with childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), since the diagnosis in adults requires that symptoms were present in childhood.

The twenty-five ratings are summed into a total. Higher totals describe a more pronounced childhood pattern of inattention, impulsivity, temper and school difficulty; lower totals describe a childhood with few such features. The report places the total within the published reference ranges. Because the scale depends on memory, it is best read together with other sources, such as school reports or a parent's recollection, and it is not a diagnosis on its own.

The scale is used in adult ADHD assessment and in research. On this site, the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS v1.1) asks about current adult symptoms, the ADHD trait scale describes related tendencies in personality terms, and the SNAP-IV is completed by a parent or teacher for a child.

Nomological network

The Wender Utah Rating Scale asks adults to recall childhood symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and its scores distinguished adults with that disorder from people with depression and from people without a disorder (Ward et al., 1993).

Its items include childhood mood and conduct problems as well as inattention and impulsivity, so it overlaps with depression and with conduct problems, which limits its discriminant separation from those conditions (Ward et al., 1993).

Example item

“Concentration problems, easily distracted”

Not at all or very slightlyMildlyModeratelyQuite a bitVery much

Illustrative only. During administration items are presented one screen-set at a time; response-key direction is never shown to respondents.

Scoring & interpretation

Item responses are summed to a total score and compared against published screening cutoffs.

The report explains which published screening bands your score falls in and what they mean.

References

Ward, M. F., Wender, P. H., & Reimherr, F. W. (1993). The Wender Utah Rating Scale: An aid in the retrospective diagnosis of childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150(6), 885–890.

Sample report preview

The report shows your total score and where it falls across the range of possible scores, followed by a plain-language explanation of what scores in that region describe. Where the instrument has published interpretive bands, the report names the band and what it means. It closes with notes on how to read the result and on when a conversation with a qualified professional may be useful.

Report contents
Section	What it shows
Score	Your scale score, computed with the published scoring key.
Score bands	Where your score falls among the published bands listed on this page.

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