Clinical use of rating scales in diagnosis and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Rating scales for the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD capture a lot of information at a relatively low cost and are of particular value in pediatric settings. They identify the expectations for children at a given age and gender for most behavioral problems encountered in practice. Used appropriately, these rating scales help to avoid some of the excesses decried by critics and the controversies. This article reviews problems in diagnoses, problems in treatment, methodology of rating scales, a description of new scales, a diagnostic utility of new scales.