News and Notes from The Johnson Center
“What tests should be included in an evaluation for autism?”
JCCHD | Mon, April 08, 2013 | [Autism Treatment][Assessment Corner][Q and A ]
When seeking an autism evaluation for your child, it’s important to ask what’s included in the evaluation. Current “best practice” in the assessment of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) includes the use of standardized tests. Standardized tests are designed to have consistent questions, administration, and scoring procedures. This helps keep the assessment consistent and reliable across different clinicians. Two standardized tests that are currently considered “gold standard” in the assessment of autism spectrum disorders are the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R).
The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) is a standardized observation assessment that allows the clinician to observe your child’s behaviors and possible symptoms that are associated with autism. It can be used for toddlers up to adults, and usually takes around forty-five minutes to an hour to complete. Specific activities are completed depending on your child’s age and language development. Many of these activities are play-based, such as having a pretend birthday party, or reading a story from a book. For older children, it typically involves more question-based activities. Once the assessment is completed, the clinician goes through a standard scoring protocol to assess whether your child meets certain cutoffs that suggest the presence of an ASD. The ADOS is a very valuable tool because it includes important observations of your child.
The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) is a comprehensive, standardized parent interview that is used to gather information about your child’s developmental history and symptoms in different areas that are associated with autism. It can be completed for toddler-aged children up to adults, and takes about one and a half to two hours to complete. After the interview, the clinician completes a standard scoring protocol to assess whether your child meets cutoffs that suggest the presence of an ASD. The ADI-R is a great addition to the ADOS because behaviors and symptoms that aren’t observed during the ADOS can be described during the interview.
The combination of the ADOS and ADI-R provides very thorough and detailed information to support a diagnosis. If you find a clinician who includes these assessments in their autism evaluations, you know you’re getting the “gold standard.”
Keep in mind there are many other tests that may be used to evaluate more specific domains, such as language, executive functioning, attention, and more. For more information on these types of tests and their use, watch this webinar to learn more.
Coming up soon in the Assessment Corner blog, we’ll discuss how to prepare yourself and your child for the assessment process.
