Creyos in an ADHD Evaluation: What It Adds and What It Can’t Decide

Creyos can add something useful to an ADHD evaluation: a standardized look at attention, inhibition, planning and working memory, compared with people your age. It cannot decide whether you have ADHD. The diagnosis still rests on your history, symptoms that began in childhood, problems in more than one setting, and ruling out other explanations. This page explains what the Creyos ADHD protocol measures, how a clinician reads it, where it helps, and where it stops. For the diagnostic process itself, see our adult ADHD evaluation guide.

Where task data fits in an ADHD workup

Creyos is a clinician-ordered set of short online cognitive tasks with built-in questionnaires; the complete guide to the Creyos assessment covers all 12 tasks, the norms and the device requirements. On this page we stay with one question: what does it add when ADHD is the concern?

Most of an ADHD evaluation is history. Screening questionnaires capture how you see your own attention; a parent, partner or old report card shows how others saw it. Both are subjective. Task performance is a different kind of data: what you actually did on a timed attention task on a given day. That can be informative, and it can also mislead if it is read on its own. The adult ADHD evaluation is where those pieces are put together.

What the Creyos ADHD protocol includes

Creyos sells a pre-built ADHD protocol rather than the full 12-task battery. It uses four of the core tasks, followed by a 13th task that exists only in this protocol, then one optional questionnaire matched to age. The order is fixed: executive tasks first, then attention tasks, then the sustained-attention task, then the questionnaire.

Creyos’s guides describe 14 markers in the report: ten from the four core tasks and four from the sustained-attention task. Each marker is flagged when performance falls one standard deviation or more from the age-group average in the direction associated with ADHD. Creyos gives the protocol length as roughly 20–25 minutes. Since June 2025 the report is titled “Creyos Clinical Report” rather than carrying an ADHD label.

For adults the questionnaire is the six-item ASRS Part A, explained on our ASRS screener page. Children and teens get parent-report scales instead; see the parent’s guide for ages 10 and up.

What Creyos says it cannot do

The clearest limits come from Creyos itself. Its ADHD Report Science Guide states that the protocol “is not a standalone diagnostic tool, and does not provide cutoffs for the presence or absence of ADHD. Therefore, sensitivity and specificity cannot be calculated.” Its interpretation guide adds that ADHD “cannot be automated,” that the cognitive markers are associated with ADHD “but they are not only associated with ADHD,” and that someone with ADHD may score in the typical range on most markers.

Federal classification says the same thing in regulatory language. Creyos is registered and listed with the FDA as a Class II, 510(k)-exempt computerized cognitive assessment aid; it is not FDA-cleared or approved and does not diagnose any condition. Devices in this category are, by regulation, not intended to identify the presence or absence of a clinical diagnosis.

The independent research is modest. In a 2024 study of children and teens, four of the online tasks correctly classified about 53–60% of children with ADHD, autism or typical development, and the authors noted the tests were originally developed for adults. That is better than chance and far from a diagnostic test. For a fuller look at the evidence, see how accurate Creyos is.

Reading the results: typical, low, and mixed

If your scores are typical

Normal-range scores do not rule ADHD out. Some adults with ADHD perform well in a quiet, novel, 25-minute task with a clear goal, and then struggle with a dull report due in three weeks. A good result tells your clinician something about your capacity under those conditions; it does not erase a lifelong history.

If several markers are flagged

Low attention or inhibition scores are consistent with ADHD, and also with a bad night’s sleep, a depressive episode, anxiety during the test, a medication that slows thinking, or simply a distracting room. NIMH notes that ADHD often co-occurs with sleep problems, anxiety and depression, which is exactly why flagged markers start a conversation instead of ending one. Our page on conditions that can look like ADHD lists the usual suspects.

If the picture is mixed

A mixed profile, such as strong planning with weak sustained attention, is common and is often the most useful result, because it points to specific situations where you may need support. Creyos does not claim the data can separate inattentive from combined presentations. The general guide to reading a Creyos report explains standard scores and the validity flag.

Where it can genuinely help

• When self-report is hard to interpret. Some people rate every symptom as severe; others minimize. An observed measure adds a different angle.
• When anxiety, depression or sleep are in the picture. Seeing which domains are affected, and which are not, can help a clinician weigh how much each factor contributes, alongside your history.
• For high-achieving adults. People who have compensated for years may have typical overall scores with one weak area. Our guide to ADHD in high-performing adults describes that pattern.
• As a baseline. Your clinician may repeat the assessment later to compare with it, keeping in mind that practice effects, sleep and mood all move scores. See retesting and practice effects.

What it should not be used for is to decide on its own whether you start, continue or change an ADHD medication. There is no peer-reviewed evidence that Creyos scores track medication response in people with ADHD, so it should not be used that way. Our page on ADHD medication and cognitive testing covers what research does and doesn’t show.

Creyos compared with other computerized ADHD tasks

Several computerized tasks are used in ADHD care, including continuous performance tests such as QbTest and TOVA. They differ in what they measure, whether they track movement, how long they take and how they are normed. None of them diagnoses ADHD alone. If you have been searching for a “QbTest near me” and wonder how Creyos compares, the neutral side-by-side is in Creyos vs. other ADHD tests.

Formal psychological or neuropsychological testing is different again: several hours with a psychologist, often required for school or workplace accommodations. Willow & Stone does not provide that testing. Creyos is not neuropsychological testing; the differences are laid out in Creyos vs. neuropsychological testing.

Medication, test day, and the practical questions

If you already take ADHD medication, whether to take your usual dose on the morning of the assessment changes what the scores mean. Ask our team before your test day; your clinician will tell you what to do, and please don’t stop or change a medication on your own to prepare.

Several practical details are still being set for Creyos at Willow & Stone:

• The fee, and whether Creyos is part of your evaluation or billed separately, is confirmed when you book. The 90-minute first evaluation is $300; see pricing and Creyos cost and insurance.
• Whether you take it at home through a link or in the Arlington office: ask our team.
• When results are reviewed with you, and whether a repeat is planned, is confirmed when you book.

The step-by-step preparation guide covers the device, browser and room.

If ADHD is confirmed: next steps and Texas prescribing

A diagnosis opens a conversation about options, which include non-stimulant medication, therapy, coaching, sleep and nutrition work, and stimulants where appropriate. Our overview of adult ADHD medication compares them. When medication choices are uncertain, pharmacogenomic testing adds information for some medications more than others.

In Texas, state law limits nurse practitioners’ Schedule II prescribing, so ADHD stimulants for Texas patients are prescribed by the collaborating physician who works with Dr. Forbes. Federal telehealth rules for controlled medications are changing, and the telehealth ADHD medication rules page tracks where they stand. If you are comparing practices in North Texas, our Dallas adult ADHD provider guide explains what to ask.

The next step is the same whether or not Creyos is part of your visit: book an adult ADHD evaluation through the consultation page.

Common Questions

Sources & Further Reading

• Creyos — ADHD Report Science Guide (PDF)
• Creyos — ADHD Report Interpretation Guide (PDF)
• Creyos — ADHD condition-focused protocol
• FDA — Product classification PTY, computerized cognitive assessment aid, exempt
• Hennessy et al. 2024, Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry (PubMed 38282296)
• NIMH — Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
• Texas Occupations Code §157.0511 — delegation of prescribing

This article is general education, not a diagnosis or advice for your situation. Creyos results support, and never replace, a clinical evaluation; only a clinician who has evaluated you can diagnose a condition or recommend treatment. Do not start, stop, or change a medication without talking to the clinician who prescribes it.