What is the ADOS-2?

The ADOS-2 stands for Autism Diagnostic Observation System-Second Edition. It is a standardized, activity-based assessment used for diagnosing autism spectrum disorders. It has five different modules broken down by age and language ability. A young toddler that is 18 months, would take the toddler module. This consists of play based activities designed to better assess the child's behavior in a play based setting. For young children, the parents participate and they are present during testing. The adolescent/adult module is for individuals with fluent speech, and the focus is on assessing nonverbal gestures, quality of back and forth conversations, and observing any repetitive behaviors.

Testing usually lasts one hour. It is only one part of a full assessment for autism, but it is considered the gold standard in the field, so we always include it as part of our testing. Please call us if you have any specific questions we can answer about an autism spectrum disorder assessment, we're happy to help.