Anyone know anything about ADOS for assessing asd???

[Blossomhill]

Dd is thankfully now seeing a brilliant psychologist at camhs who wants to fully assess her. She cannot believe dd (vague dx of language disorder and adhd) hasn't been officially diagnosed with anything.
Anyway she said that she wants to see dd and fully assess for asd using a diagnostic tool called ADOS.
Anyone heard of this?
Thanks BH xx

[mixedemotions123]

My six yr old ds has recently had an ADI to see if he came out as being Autistic. He had an ADOS included in the testing. Apparently it is done as a way of watching your childs use of facial expressions, emotions etc in various ways. He had to make up a story about various objects, look at books and answer questions, i.e does the cat look happy or sad, and they purely looked at the way he pointed at things, got excited etc.

[mixedemotions123]

My six yr old ds has recently had an ADI to see if he came out as being Autistic. He had an ADOS included in the testing. Apparently it is done as a way of watching your childs use of facial expressions, emotions etc in various ways. He had to make up a story about various objects, look at books and answer questions, i.e does the cat look happy or sad, and they purely looked at the way he pointed at things, got excited etc.

[monica2]

Hi BH :) Our RDI consultant uses the ADOS to dx in the U.S., (think it is commonly used there) It gives the dx result as autistic, asd, or none autistic. Glad you are getting somewhere x

[Blossomhill]

Thanks mixed emotions.

Monica - thanks :) She has said that if dd is dx with an asd it will be Aspergers. No surprises really but feeling mixed up about the whole thing.
Was going to ask Monica wouldn't autism and asd be the same thing?
The psych I am seeing was the one who was on the programme "living with adhd". She is a breath of fresh air. For once someone is listening to what I am saying.

[monica2]

She sounds fab BH keeping fingers crossed for you to get some answers. Think it is really common in U.S. for dx to be autism/asd. I know the two children I did ABA with, one has a dx of ASD and the other with autism, so I assuming it is the same in this country.

[maddiemostmerry]

BH, hope it goes well, I know you have suspected AS for some time.
My ds4 is down on the list for this one and I think it will be an eye opener for all involved as we really don't know what to make of him. I know your dd is similar in some ways so will be waiting to hear all about it.

[maddiemostmerry]

BH, hope it goes well, I know you have suspected AS for some time.
My ds4 is down on the list for this one and I think it will be an eye opener for all involved as we really don't know what to make of him. I know your dd is similar in some ways so will be waiting to hear all about it.

[Blossomhill]

As always dd has been described as complex and apparently the dx won't be easy. I have been warned that she may not get a dx but just have bits of everything. The one thing the psych did say was that she wanted to get to the root of the problem.
The other biggy that she said to me today was that although dd does have adhd she really didn't want to medicate. She said she very rarely feels this way but her gut feeling is that dd is still so young and tiny. She wants me to implement very strict behaviour strategies instead and see how we go with that. If dd was 8 or 9 she wouldn't hesitate but doesn't feel right about it now. So that was a bit of a blow in a way as been psyching myself up as medication has always been the last resort for us!
Maddiemo - I will of course let you know how it all goes. Really like to know how it goes for ds4 as well.

[maddiemostmerry]

Hope the behaviour strategies go to plan. It is a shame that you had got to the point that you were ready to medicate and then are put on hold.

The adhd area is the big difference between our two so it will be interesting to see what the ADOS makes of dd. We also had to fill in a tick box questionnaire for ds4 about asd type behaviours.
I wonder if you live in an area that does not like to diagnose Aspergers before age of seven?

[jenk1]

BH you have just answered some questions for me!!!
Yesterday DS saw the clinical psych and she had he has complex needs, they wont give him a dx of ASD, even though they admit he has traits of it, and he has OCD, Severe Anxiety difficulties with theory of mind etc etc, she is implementing strict behaviour management for him starting next week, so perhaps thats what they do first, i feel a bit better now.

[lars]

Blossomhill, My ds had a ADOS assessment in December. I too thought aspergers, he has been diagnoised with ASD. I was finally listen to by a lady phsy, she was great!

Ds has a mild speech delay and that's why they didn't diagnoise aspergers. DS is on medication and this has helped keep him to be more focussed on school work,etc.
You will now get to the bottom of things and it's a huge relief I must say. Good luck larsxx

[Blossomhill]

Jenk - it's just that some children aren't as easy to diagnose as others and some just don't fit into any box at all. It's hard for us as parents though. The one thing the psych did say was that dd does have a neurological disorder of some description. I think that's a good way to think of it as I know that her difficulties are coming from the left hand side of her brain where all of these similar disorders come from asd/AS/adhd/dyspraxia etc. Some children present more with one thing than another.
We are very lucky I know as dd has so much help and support being in the language base.
Lars - thanks :) I know you have been through the mill with the dx process like we have. Psych couldn't believe that even the language disorder hadn't been officially dx, even though she 100% does have one.
God knows how she got a statement at all really.
I am hoping this will bring some kind of close really and am now adapting to the thought that she is not having medication.