The Brown ADD Scales are a clinical rating instrument that measures executive function impairments associated with ADHD, particularly the internal cognitive struggles that don’t show up as visible hyperactivity. Developed by Dr. Thomas Brown, the scales ask a person (or a parent, teacher, or partner who knows them well) to rate a series of statements about everyday cognitive functioning. A clinician then converts those ratings into a standardized score profile across several distinct clusters of executive function, giving a much more detailed picture than a yes-or-no ADHD checklist.
The tool is used in two forms today: the original Brown Attention-Deficit Disorder Scales and the updated Brown Executive Function/Attention Scales (Brown EF/A Scales), both published by Pearson Assessments.1Pearson Assessments US. Brown Attention-Deficit Disorder Scales
What the Scales Measure
Rather than treating ADHD as a single problem, the Brown Scales break executive function into separate clusters. Each captures a different aspect of how the brain manages daily demands. The original scales use five clusters; the updated Brown EF/A Scales add a sixth.
- Activation. Organizing tasks, estimating time, prioritizing, and getting started. High scorers procrastinate on non-preferred tasks and struggle to decide what needs attention first.
- Focus. Sustaining concentration and shifting attention when needed. Difficulty here looks like zoning out during a meeting, or getting stuck on one activity and not transitioning to the next.
- Effort. Regulating alertness, maintaining consistent performance, and adjusting processing speed. Someone with impairment here may manage short bursts but fade during sustained mental work.
- Emotion. Managing frustration and keeping emotional reactions from taking over. This often shows up as sudden irritability, intense discouragement, or difficulty letting go of a frustrating event.
- Memory. Holding information in working memory and retrieving learned material. Forgetting what you walked into a room for, losing your place mid-sentence, or blanking on instructions you just received all fall here.
- Action. Monitoring behavior and self-regulating physical and verbal impulses. This cluster, added in the updated Brown EF/A Scales, captures the hyperactive and impulsive symptoms the original five clusters deliberately set aside.2Pearson Assessments. Brown Executive Function/Attention Scales
The Action cluster appears on adolescent and adult forms of the updated scales.
Age Versions and Who Fills Them Out
Four versions cover different developmental stages, and the type of rater shifts as the person being evaluated gains the self-awareness to report on their own experience.
- Primary/Preschool (ages 3–7). Relies entirely on parent and teacher observations. Young children can’t reliably describe their own cognitive struggles.
- School-Age (ages 8–12). Adds a self-report alongside parent and teacher ratings. Questions reflect the academic demands of elementary school, where attention and organizational problems become harder to hide.
- Adolescent (ages 12–18). Weighs the teenager’s own perspective more heavily as social and academic complexity rises. Parent and teacher forms still provide a cross-check.
- Adult (ages 18+). Centers on self-report, with a collateral form completed by a spouse, partner, or close family member for a fuller picture.
How the Assessment Is Given
Each form takes roughly 10 to 15 minutes. The respondent reads a series of statements describing specific cognitive and behavioral difficulties and rates each one on a four-point scale. On the original Brown ADD Scales, the rating reflects frequency: 0 for never, 1 for once in a while, 2 for often, and 3 for almost daily.
A complete evaluation usually involves at least two raters. For a child, that means a parent form and a teacher form, plus a self-report if the child is old enough. For an adult, a self-report is standard with a collateral form from someone who observes the person’s daily functioning. Multiple raters catch problems that show up in one setting but not another. A child may fall apart academically but manage fine at home. An adult may cope at work but be unable to keep a household running.
Clinicians sometimes add a semi-structured interview to explore the respondent’s answers in more depth, allowing follow-up questions about specific situations that a rating scale alone can’t capture.
Scoring and What the Numbers Mean
The clinician adds the numerical values from each item to produce a raw score, then converts that raw score into a standardized T-score using norm-referenced tables in the manual. T-scores use a scale where 50 represents the population average, and each 10-point increment equals one standard deviation. On behavior rating scales, higher scores indicate greater impairment, so a T-score of 65 means the person reported significantly more difficulty than most people in the norming sample.
Scores in the 60–69 range are generally interpreted as at-risk. Scores at 70 or above reach clinical significance. But a clinician doesn’t stop at the total score. The pattern across clusters is what shapes the interpretation. Someone may score in the average range overall while showing a sharp spike in Emotion and Memory, pointing to a specific pattern that guides treatment. Comparing parent, teacher, and self-report scores also reveals whether difficulties are consistent across settings or situational.
The Updated Brown EF/A Scales
Pearson now publishes the Brown Executive Function/Attention Scales as an update to the original Brown ADD Scales. Several changes are worth knowing about if you encounter both versions in practice or in your own evaluation history.
The biggest structural change is the addition of the Action cluster on adolescent and adult forms, giving the tool the ability to capture hyperactive and impulsive symptoms it previously left out. The rating format also changed. Instead of asking how often a problem occurs, the updated scales ask how much of a problem each item is, rated from 0 (“no problem”) to 3 (“big problem”). That shift matters because some executive function difficulties are constant but mild, while others are infrequent but devastating when they hit. Severity captures real-world impact more directly than frequency alone.3Pearson Clinical Assessment. An Overview of The New Brown Executive Function/Attention Scales
The updated content also aligns with DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for ADHD while still measuring executive functions that go beyond the DSM-5 checklist. The four age-level versions and the parent, teacher, and self-report rater types carry over from the original edition.
How to Get Evaluated
The Brown Scales are not something you fill out on your own and score at home. Only qualified professionals can purchase and administer them, and only a clinician can interpret the results. In practice, that means seeing a psychologist, developmental pediatrician, psychiatrist, or another licensed provider who conducts ADHD evaluations. The Brown Scales are typically bundled into a broader diagnostic workup, and the total cost varies widely by provider and location.
Using the Results for Accommodations
A Brown Scales profile can serve as supporting evidence when requesting formal accommodations. The scales alone don’t guarantee eligibility for any program. They’re one piece of a broader evaluation. But they provide the kind of standardized, norm-referenced data that decision-makers look for.
Section 504 Plans in School
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act protects students with ADHD from disability-based discrimination in any school that receives federal funding. A student who has trouble concentrating, organizing projects, or prioritizing tasks because of ADHD may qualify for a Section 504 Plan, which lays out the aids and services the school must provide. The district must evaluate the student at no cost to the family if it believes the student may have a disability, and it cannot delay that evaluation to first try general intervention strategies.4U.S. Department of Education. Know Your Rights – Students with ADHD Elevated cluster scores help document which areas of functioning are impaired and guide what accommodations make sense, such as extended test time for Focus difficulties or written instructions for Memory impairments.
IEPs Under IDEA
For students who need more intensive support, ADHD can qualify a child for an Individualized Education Program under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. ADHD falls under the “Other Health Impairment” category, which covers conditions that result in limited alertness (including heightened alertness to environmental stimuli) that adversely affects educational performance.5Parent Center Hub. Other Health Impairment The IEP team reviews all evaluation data, including rating scale results, to determine eligibility and design services. Cluster scores can pinpoint whether the child’s primary struggles involve activation, focus, effort, emotion, memory, or some combination, and that information shapes the IEP goals.
Workplace Accommodations Under the ADA
Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified employees with disabilities, including ADHD.6ADA National Network. Reasonable Accommodations in the Workplace Each request is evaluated case by case, so having a detailed clinical profile rather than just a general ADHD diagnosis strengthens the case for specific adjustments like noise-reducing headphones, written task lists, or flexible deadlines.