Autism ADOS assessment - aibu to think DD can mask her way through this?

[MrsMusk]

DS is a great masker at school. She gets into the car and bursts into tears.

School think she might have ASD and CAMHs consultant thinks she might have ASD, based on my feedback.

She is being assessed with an ADOS assessment next week. I’m fully expecting her to mask her way through this.

AIBU to think this is possible?

I am fully expecting them to say that the results were inconclusive. There is a family history and perhaps it will be taken into account thpugh.

Family history is taken into account.

If they are well trained, they know their stuff. My Dc masked and they picked up on the most subtle tells that I didn't think a stranger would read at all

She may do and many feel other tools such as DISCO are better at assessing maskers. But my DD got a diagnosis through ADOS despite many having been sceptical about the likelihood of autism beforehand - one of her assessors was a speech therapist who could see clear difficulties. All the best with it, I hope you get some helpful answers.

My DC masks amazingly well according to various professionals but got his diagnosis still and the EP said she thought he wasn’t masking well at school when she observed him. I guess that’s because she’s so experienced because school staff all think he’s “fine” 🙄

No, DD is very bright, well behaved and a pro masker, her Secondary school didn't even pick up on any of the behaviours although Primary picked up on a few bits they noticed. but the clinic picked up on the most subtle behaviour and she masks less at school now

But they also take a very thorough family and developmental history alongside the ADOS and DD had cognitive tests which showed the stereotypical 'spiky' profile common for people with ASD.

I have has this thought for my DD who I am sure has ASD but nobody else seems to share the concern. It’s good to head that others are confident in the assessment.

My daughter is very skilled at masking, her paediatrician said after meeting her that we'd get a diagnosis at her young age and we may need to be re-referred and reassessed when she was older.

Went to the BOSA (the COVID version of ADOS where I engaged in play instead of the therapist because of distancing) expecting her to mask through it, which she did but SALT and the paediatrician on the day were able to see the subtleties of her behaviour and the assessment itself actually allowed her to let the mask slip a little with the style of assessment. My daughter's scores weren't even borderline they were pretty high, and the feedback was actually really useful as the professionals honed in on things I thought only my husband and I noticed.

I hope the assessment goes well for you both.

I highly recommend not doing everything you normally would during the run up to the appointment. Use up all her bandwidth before you start the appointment.

@BaseDrops I am not sure I understand.

My daughter didn’t want a diagnosis and went through the diagnosis process to prove she didn’t have ASC. She still got a diagnosis. I barely said anything in my ADOS, I still got a diagnosis. They know what they’re doing.

Do you mean not doing the things you would to prep your child, usual morning routines etc? We thought of doing this but I just couldn't do it in the end, I couldn't make her feel uncomfortable when I could do things to alleviate it. Fortunately it made no difference as mine received a diagnosis despite this.

@BaseDrops Sorry I've reread, more like burning her out socially so she can't mask as well? I feel like I know what you mean but can't phrase it eloquently.

We did a bosa, it was a combination of play and questions, so some of the questions did highlight elements she struggled with outside of the play side. I was worried after that she hadn't shown many signs, but they picked up on more things than I expected. I didn't massively prep her, they'd rung for a cancellation 2 days before anyway, and didn't do a particularly early night or anything before.

Mine's a champion masker (her primary never suspected a thing, she hit burnout at the transition to secondary) but the staff doing the ADOS recognised that without difficulty.

I'd be surprised. Won't you be there too? We were asked so many questions about babyhood - feeding, sleeping and developmental delays. Then he was asked loads of questions and when he answered them in a way that didn't reflect reality I would add to what he said to help put the picture straight. She also asked lots of questions that couldn't be masked over.

We had this worry. Son masks quite well in school. We did a BOSA assessment. I had all the fears u had. Got a diagnosis which i feel was the correct diagnosis

@TotalOverhaul You don't necessarily go in with them. I did the developmental history interview online because they'd prefer the child not be present as you are discussing potentially sensitive things and then waited in the waiting room whilst DD had the ADOS and cognitive tests at the clinic, she had breaks with me and was told she could come out to me whenever she needed it.

When I had mine I thought I was doing really well at maintaining eye contact but in my report the clinical psychologist noted that it was 50:50 and that I closed my eyes as soon as she said the assessment was over. They will spot this stuff.

Hi OP . As others have said the ADOS is one part of a broader assessment process including developmental history etc. I can understand your anxiety about the outcome but please be reassured that the ADOS is a "gold standard" assessment tool and the clinicians will be skilled at looking our for subtle signs/symptoms and more nuanced behaviours. All the best.

That is exactly what I mean. The first one of mine who was assessed with ADOS was only diagnosed due to the last 20 minutes when she was hungry, tired, fed up and no longer capable of putting all the extra steps in that mean she presents as neurotypical.

Mine was 11. It’s probably less of an issue the younger they are.