ados scoring module 3

[ilikebonjovi]

Hi,
my ds is 9years old. When he was at nursery we felt there were issues as he wasn't joining in to "normal" school life as the other children. Our cry for help fellon deaf ears and was labelled a naughty boy. He went on the reception class where he was on the verge of exclusion due to his behaviour. luckly the parent partnership got involoved and ed phys and my son eventually got a referral to CAHMS where at 6 years old he got diagnosed with ADHD. I felt personally that it was more than this as i live with him i could see the abnomalities that i felt weren't right but when you get to speak to a consultant for 30mins every blue moon they feel they have a better picture of your child.My son was seeing so many proffessionals pedeotricians, occupational theropy, ed phys.My son is now at a pru school after 2 mainstream schools failed him, and he is now in the process of being reinstated to his 3rd mainstream school. This time i feel happier about this as it has been done correctly a SNA has been advertised and appointed just for my son as he has a full time statement. His previous mainstream school cut costs and found memebers of staff already in the school not specialised to meet my sons needs (so no wonder it failed).
CAHMS have let me down in a big way to as i was trying to tell the consultant my fears about my Ds lack of social skills and she put it down to a develpmental problem and he would catch up. Eventually she must of got sick of hearing my voice and she put my Ds up for some one to one adult/play sessions over 3 weeks 1 hour a week. This came back that there were severe delays in the way he socialises and plays and he then qualified for a ADOS test. My consultant advised that this would be a waste of time as she felt he wouldn't score hight enough and that the best i would be looking at would be a diagnosis of PDD-NOS which in her opinion is another label my Ds really didnt need as it would help him in his education. i ignored her and said i still wanted him to have it done. She told me there was a long waiting list and it would be April this year by the time his name would come up. Itold her this is fine and we were prepared to wait. I am lucky to have family connections in the social services line of work and she has good working relations with the head Ed physc of our area when he heard of my battle he said he couldnt get directly involved but could offer advise when ever he could. This did get back to my consultant who was dis pleased that i knew the head ed physc. I spoke to him just after christmas as i am a SNA in a nursery and he was he came in to see the little boy i was supporting he couldnt believe the waiting list for my Ds for his ADOS.
Suddenly 2 weeks later i get a phone call from CAHMs saying there had been a cancelation and do i want it i jumped at it.l I dodn't know if this was arranged for me or if it was a general cancelation but i felt "there is a god after all" .
My ds had his ADOS on Tuesday. He had the Module 3, he scored highest points in 2 sections and a couple of points in the 1st section. It was a different consultant to who we have which i was grateful for as i felt it was a independent view.
it was the consultant and a tester and my Ds in the room and me and my mum were in the next room watching him on a tv screen it wasnt taped. They did all the activities mentioned for module 3 and then we went back in the room where he explained hius findings. He mentioned he doesnt take his desisions lightly and can only go off what he had seen in the room that day and the scorings, plus the notes from my DS records and the ADOS tick charts that i had to do and his PRU school and mainstream school had to fill out.He mentioned that he had read how our consultant had mentioned that she felt it was a PDD-NOS and that he valued her opinion but strongly disagreed with it as he felt it was more severe and it was ASD. I am now waiting for the report and the dreaded meeting i have to face with ds consultant. I am presuming he has a diagnosis of ASD as i have so much on websites that my mind is now boggled as on some sights PDD-NOS is ASD ???

What hard work for you, - goodness me.

PDD-NOS and an ASD are supposed to be different, but to be honest, there's a lot of talk amongst experts that all these labels are fairly meaningless and it needs to all be 'autism spectrum' and then put as low, mid or high functioning depending on IQ and other things. In 2010 we may see that sort of change. Meantime, we're left in the current mess situation where we have people equally profoundly affected but given entirely different labels because (e.g.) one spoke at age 1 and the other spoke at age 4.

Anyway, your ds...

...it's a mixed blessing. If it is indeed an ASD as well, then no wonder he's struggled in school. It's like being in hell itself for us if we don't get the right environment (speaking as someone who's been through school with an ASD myself). I've had to drop out of three courses because I couldn't cope with the taught environment, so I know first-hand what it's like to really want to do well but be completely unable to manage it.

Keep talking with everyone here. They're lovely people and much good advice to be had.

PDD -NOS is part of the autistic spectrum and is very confusing. A diagnosis of it can depend on the diagnostician's interpretation of a person in relation to the DSM or ICD-10 for example. So you could have two children with identical behaviour pattern etc and one could be given a diagnosis of autistic disorder and another a diagnosis of pdd -nos.
From what I can understand pdd -nos (or atypical autism) is when the criteria doesn't quite fit either Aspergers or autism, or doesn't quite fit the standard two parts in section A, and one in section B and Section C of the DSM IV, or in a couple of areas the signs are considered not clinically significant. So you could have significant difficulties in communicating and interacting, but only minor repetitive behaviours. Or you could be very verbal with good understanding, but with significant social difficulties and a lot of repetitive behaviours and need for routine etc. It's not mild, or a case of the person just having a few odd quirks, so the consultant, in my opinion, was wrong to suggest that there is anything "only" about this diagnosis.

hiya likebonjovi

my DD has a dx of PDD-NOS,we had to go private as she was dx,d by the NHS as ASD and they then changed their mind (after speaking to the Ed Psych) and took the dx off her.

with DD she "appears" socialble in that she knows what is expected of her and is able to imitate and "pretend" she is socialising but if you look very carefully you will see she is just barely imitating and watching other children, she has repetitive behavious,routines and sensory difficulties.

and is currently going through CAMHS for another bloody asessment, the consulant told us she doesnt think she is ASD but hasnt ruled out PDD-NOS,but we think shes thinking along the lines of ADHD,the private consultant vehemently says NO to ADHD,its all mind boggling and confusing and yes i agree as someone who was dx,d with AS myself 4 years ago that it should be ASD with low mid or high functioning,it might make it easier for all to understand.

Thanks for your advise.
bullet123- when we came back into the room for the feedback on my ds ADOS he mentioned that my sons language was ok he could put a 4 word level into a sentence though he did sound monologue as if he was reading a shopping list so he had marked him on this, in this section he also mentioned the imuisms and ho my DS didnt get the tester when he said one it went over his head. social interaction he scored the highest points and imagination catagory he scored the highest points. Either way if it is PDD-NOS or ASD it will help my ds with his education and it later life to be more socially accepted in society i just want the best for him.

The ADOS is part of the picture, not the whole, but I would expect an ASD dx if the thresholds were met in the 2 main areas (social interaction and communicaion - they tend to ignore the imagination one) and the threshold was met for the combined total.

J's psych was positive he was ASD but reckoned the ADOS might not pick up on some of it because he's been taught to be social so intensively. However, he scored almost full marks on the ADOS and got an autism dx. She said the ADOS was used as the main gold standard determiner in this area - nationally and internationally this is so. What I'm trying to say is that J's psych also wasn't sure that the ADOS would show ASD, but now that yours has, there would have to be a very good reason why a dx wouldn't be appropriate. I would google the AS/ autism criteria from DSM-IV and take it with you to your appointment with some bullet points about how he meets the criteria. Good luck.

I got my report back on Saturday from my son's ADOS, there were no scores on it but a in depth account of his findings in each catogory
Language and communication he mentions that my sons algorithm score on this section was within the range for autistic spectrum disorder.
Reciprocal social interaction he said his algorithm score on this section was well within the range for autistic spectrum disorder and his total algorithm score is well within the range for autistic spectrum disorder.
I now have to wait to see his consultant for "appropriate follow up"

hmm in uk my ds has gd, moderatelearnng diffcuties, non verbal with few Autistic traits

but in the states hes classed asPDD-NOS got him asssesed while ws out there , which i feel is probably more correct

I am going push for ados test here thouth the paed made her descion in a 20 min rush assement , without talking to nursery salt etc , even though nursery flagged up lot of issues