Wender Utah Rating Scale - 25 item
The WURS-25 asks adults to recall childhood behaviour. It is a retrospective history measure, not a current-symptom screen and not an ADHD diagnosis.
Overview
What is the WURS-25?
The Wender Utah Rating Scale is an adult self-report measure of childhood symptoms associated with the Utah criteria for ADHD. The 25-item form is widely used as a retrospective companion to current-symptom measures. Recollection is not the same evidence as contemporaneous childhood records.
Development and clinical use
Wender and colleagues developed the Utah approach to adult ADHD and the associated rating scale so that adult patients could describe childhood behaviour when informant history was limited. Later research has examined shortened item sets, including the 25-item version used in many clinics.
- Source instrument
- 25-item adult form
- Timeframe
- Childhood recollection
- Respondent
- Adult self-report
- Companion role
- History, not current screen
- Clinical role
- Retrospective context
- Not a diagnosis
- Clinician review required
Administration
A focused client experience
Adults rate remembered childhood behaviours. The measure is typically completed by the adult patient, then reviewed beside current-symptom information, school or informant evidence where available, and a clinician-led developmental history.
- One question at a time with visible progress
- Large keyboard-operable response choices
- Previous, next, and answer-review steps
- Clear confirmation that results go to the clinic
Childhood-recollection items appear under the printed stems with the five published response anchors.
Report showcase
Designed to make evidence easy to review
The downloadable synthetic example illustrates report layout using invented response patterns, without patient data or instrument questions.
- Named instrument, version, and provenance
- Item-level response pattern without source wording
- Methodology, references, and clinical boundary
- Responsible clinician review rather than automated conclusions
Clinician review required
Methodology
Understand the measure and its scoring conventions
Each of the 25 items is rated from 0 (Not at all or very slightly) to 4 (Very much), and the total is their sum, from 0 to 100. Ward, Wender and Reimherr (1993) reported that a total of 46 or higher identified 86% of adults with ADHD and 99% of comparison adults, and Lirena reports the total against that published cutoff. No subscales are scored.
References
- Original WURS developmentWard MF, Wender PH, Reimherr FW. The Wender Utah Rating Scale: an aid in the retrospective diagnosis of childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1993;150(6):885-890.
- Discriminant validity in adultsMcCann BS, Scheele L, Ward N, Roy-Byrne P. Discriminant validity of the Wender Utah Rating Scale for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences. 2000;12(2):240-245.
Questions
What clinics ask before they evaluate the WURS-25
These answers stay inside educational catalogue scope. They do not replace official manuals or clinician judgement.
How is WURS-25 different from the ASRS?
The ASRS asks about current adult symptom frequency. WURS-25 asks an adult to recall childhood behaviour. They answer different clinical questions and should not be treated as interchangeable scores.
Does WURS-25 prove childhood ADHD?
No. It is one structured recollection. Clinicians still need to weigh informant reports, records, impairment, and alternative explanations.
Can I complete WURS-25 here?
No. This page explains the measure and how Lirena would present it. It is not a public test and does not return a score.
Should every adult ADHD pathway include WURS-25?
Not automatically. The responsible clinician chooses whether retrospective self-report adds useful history for that person.