What happens during an ADOS assessment?

[daisy5678]

My 6 yr old son is due to have this soon. The psych did an ADI (?) interview thing and is positive it's autism, and said the ADOS will confirm but has high cut off so might not score high enough as he's been taught so many things about HOW to be sociable (e.g. to answer people with "fine" when asked how he is and to try to look at people when they call his name).

I think she said he'd have module 3 cos he has fluent speech - please can you give me as much detail as possible about what happens in this ADOS thing - have googled but got very vague things. My ex (son's dad is stressing and wants to know exactly what will happen as we will not be allowed to be in the room with son)

Thanks in advance!

x TM

Has anybody any experience of this? Have searched the SEN boards, but can't find anything specific.

Sorry I can't help tm but I would be interested too as this was mentioned for my 3 1/2 son on thursday from his paed along with joint clinic. I coudn't remember what he said until I read this and he is vague at the best of times. Hope it goes well.

Thanks spacegirl. Will let you know if I can get more detail off the psych.

Anyone? Please?

I think they video themselves interacting/playing with your child and look at things such as eye contact, how they respond, body language etc etc
They then watch the tape back and score for asd. HTH

Thank you Blossomhill. What happens if he just refuses to do anything (highly likely, as that's what he did initially at the occupational therapist assessment)

Would be interested in this too

The ADOS is a play-based assessment where the therapist provides a series of tasks and games and monitors how your child responds. The aim is to give them lots of opportunities to show an understanding of another's viewpoint and insight into the nature of relationships, use and understand nonverbal communication and take part in conversation etc. (at Module 3 level). Different modules are for different levels of language ability and age. Most children will participate with some aspects of it to some level even if they're not usually cooperative with formal tests.
Hope that helps.

bumping to see if NE1 knows NEthing!

please?

Thanks, Eclipse. I think they'll have a challenge having a conversation with my son...he doesn't really do conversation...they'll be lucky if they keep him in the room and manage to stop him from flicking the lights on and off and on and off and on...

Thanks for your response.

stresshead1, I'm not sure if you missed my post below or I didn't give enough info, but let me know if you need more.

teachermum01, cross-posting seems to be the order of the day. The test is designed for use with children who don't necessarily do either testing or conversation so it can be used very flexibly. If it's too hard, they can switch to module 2 which is more about play than chat.

Thanks, eclipse.

It'll either be a case of he likes the person (or is it two people?) in which case he might have a conversation, or he won;t, in which case he'll move furniture around the room, take his clothes off, open the window and door and turn the lights on and off!

He will find it interesting though, as will we!

It can be one or two people, it just depends how they do things. Sometimes it's videoed, but only for scoring purposes and you would be asked for permission beforehand.

It can be useful for parents to observe, usually through a mirror-thingy so that you can see on what basis decisions are being made.

One real use of the ADOS is that it goes a bit deeper than surface sociability (i.e. the taught things like eye contact that you mentioned) and looks at more basic understanding and response style. Hopefully you'll find it useful but your ds certainly shouldn't find it stressful.

My son had this at gosh a few mths back.One doc saw him before he saw another proff few weeks later.In the ados he was videoed whilst i was in the room but i wasnt allowed to say anything.First he asked what ds liked which was cars,then he also played with a choice of toys the doc gave him.He then had to draw and then was read part of a story which ds was expected to finish via the pics.Ds was then asked to tell a story.
My ds couldnt describe what his fav items were or tell a story.The convo was very one way.With the toys he chose a actionman(cause it had a gun in its hand) which he never shows interest in and a car.
His ados result was he was asd and further tests since have shown he also to have ADHD (like his older bro).All i can say is dont worry,it be ok.

Hi, my son had this done in August.I gave permission for them to film and stayed in the room-quietly-it was interesting to watch how it was done.
My son was given a selection of toys-mainly action figures-he was only bothered about the toy hammer which he used to hit the toys with and hear the different sounds.
The person doing the test (clinical psych.} tried to play with figures with him and say stuff like "oh i think it's tired" but my son wouldn't respond to any hints.
She asked him about school and I wish he could have told her all the stuff that worries him about it.
I find out diagnosis on Thursday (feeling very anxious-trying not to).
We did the Atwood questionaire and everything else long ago so fingers crossed as i hope it will help towards accessing more help at school for him -sharing someone's T.A. at moment as only on school action+.