Question about further autism testing - the ADOS specifically

[countryduck]

Well we finally got into see a developmental pediatrician with my 3 year old son.  She believes that he has mild (high functioning) form of autism.  She recommended us to get an ADOS through the school system preschool services.

The only issue I have with this is that we are homeschooling (I know we still qualify for these services) and I would rather get the ADOS done through a private evaluator instead of getting involved with the school system.  Does anyone have any information (over this holiday weekend) on who else besides the school system can administer the ADOS?

Thanks in advance!

[Stephenie]

Our developmental ped did the ADOS for us.... maybe call around to a few in your area? Or is there an autism center in your community? 

[Lollybrat]

The child psychologist at the local Children's Hospital did the ADOS when DS was diagnosed.

It's interesting that you were told to go through the school system. In our area, school personnel are not qualified to administer the ADOS.

[RiverTam]

One of the universities in my area does the ADI-R and the ADOS for free, through their autism clinic.  It was free, because they use it for training. They had 4 students observing as the screening was given, and scoring along as it went. They then compared the scores with the professor's score. 

[RiverTam]

I just checked. It looks like UNC does it and has outreach clinics around your state. 

http://teacch.com/

[countryduck]

Thank you for your responses.  Can either of you tell me more about what type of information the ADOS evaluation would give us?  Will it give more specifics about which areas he struggles with the most, etc?

[RiverTam]

Originally Posted by countryduck 

Thank you for your responses.  Can either of you tell me more about what type of information the ADOS evaluation would give us?  Will it give more specifics about which areas he struggles with the most, etc?

The ADOS is really interesting and it does give some very specific measurements about which areas a child has deficits in. It has different tasks to look for different areas which autism effects.  Autism affects a triad of areas: social development (understanding and reciprocity), communication, and repetitive behavior/restricted interests.  The ADOS-G has a series of tasks which look at each of these areas. You'll get a pretty detailed breakdown of where specific deficits are. 

[RiverTam]

Here's a scoring sheet for ADOS-G Module 1. There are four modules for the ADOS. They're designed for different ages and verbal ability levels. They look at similar tasks, but used different tests based on age and ability to verbalize. This is a scoring sheet for Module 1. It will give you an idea of everything they look at. 

http://www.pscdr.org.sa/en/academic-affairs/8061/Documents/ADOS-G.pdf