ADOS-2 Workshops FAQs
 

If you have had appropriate education, training and experience administering standardized psychometric tools and assessment batteries (such as a course or as part of your graduate level clinical training), then the ADOS-2 training would be appropriate for you to attend. The ADOS-2 is one of the tools used for diagnosing autism, so this training would apply to professionals who will be doing the diagnosis and have the above experience and background. Please use your best judgement based on this information.

We recommend practicing (like you would with any standardized test) with children with ASD, non-ASD developmental disabilities, and typical development. You will receive at the training two live demonstrations and in-depth discussions about how to code reliably.

The ADOS-2 alone does not allow people to provide a diagnosis of Autism/ASD. It provides a classification but not a diagnosis. The ADOS is a tool used in helping determine diagnosis and is typically used as one part of the comprehensive diagnostic evaluation/assessment necessary for a formal diagnosis that will need to be made by a professional qualified to give a diagnosis.

Contact us for more information about the requirements of providing a diagnosis.

The WPS video guidebook training package does NOT fulfill the initial training requirement for those who are interested in achieving research reliability.  If you plan to attend an ADOS-2 Advanced Research Training and use the ADOS-2 in research, you must first attend an ADOS Introductory Clinical Training in person.  ADOS-2 Intro/Clinical trainings are offered through UWAC and also available through WPS in many locations.

To obtain reliability on the ADOS-2, you must first complete both the Introductory/Clinical training and the Advanced/Research training. Once you have completed the ADOS-2 Advanced/Research Training, you must establish reliability on the instrument before you begin any data collection for a research project.

There are two factors in establishing your reliability: 1) showing that you have learned the standardized administration procedures, and 2) showing that you understand coding rules and have achieved at least 80% agreement on the protocol and the algorithm with an ADOS-2 certified trainer.  This is accomplished through the following:

1) Demonstrate standardized administration procedures
You must demonstrate your understanding of standardized administration procedures on 3 separate administrations each for Modules T/1/2 and Modules 3/4. Demonstrations of administration procedures include:

• Two video recordings of yourself administering two different ADOS-2 modules (1 of a Module T/1/2 and 1 of a Module 3/4) that you bring to the training workshop or submitted prior to the training for review and feedback

• Administrations of the ADOS-2 you do during the Advanced/Research Training workshop

• Your post-course taped ADOS-2 administrations submitted to us for reliability scoring (1 of a Module T/1/2 and 1 of a Module 3/4).

2) Establish reliability in coding the ADOS-2
You must reach 80% agreement on coding with your independent trainer on 3 administrations of the ADOS-2 Modules T/1/2 and 3 administrations of ADOS-2 Modules 3/4. Agreement is calculated separately for the diagnostic algorithm and for the protocol in total. You must achieve 80% agreement on both. To establish reliability, administrations can include:

• Administrations of the ADOS-2 during the Advanced/Research Training

• Your scoring of the administrations on the post-course tape sent home with you after the Advanced/Research Training

• Your post-course taped ADOS-2 administrations submitted to us for reliability scoring

Yes, the videos need to be administrations with those who meet criteria for ASD rather than with typically developing individuals.

Yes.

Yes, in-home versus clinic/lab does not make a difference. However, keep in mind that being in someone’s home can have potential space and distraction challenges. As long as you are able to manage these effectively, there shouldn’t be an issue.

You will only need to submit the percentage matched. You do not need to submit actual scores.

No. The Introductory/Clinical Training is designed to provide training to individual users only. Completion does not provide the additional materials and experiences required for the skills needed to train others. Further training through the Advanced/Research Training and subsequent reliability process is required before others may be trained (see below).

After you are reliable with UWAC or another independent trainer, you can then train other research group members to reliability who are in the same physical location as you are. Collaborators must be physically at the same site. We recommend that, with colleagues at your site, you double-score administrations (that is, code an administration independently, then check your reliability with one another) until you have established 80% agreement amongst yourselves on three independently scored administrations of the ADOS-2. This can include the tapes we have given you. We request that you only train people who are in your immediate research group (who are at the same site as you are and whom you see on a daily basis).  If you choose to establish reliability with someone in your lab as opposed to establishing reliability with UWAC or an independent trainer, you are not permitted to then train other people in your lab. Thus, if you need to be able to train other people in your lab, you must complete the research reliability process with UWAC or an independent trainer.

If you need to be able to train others outside your lab, you must complete the requirements for becoming a certified independent trainer. Becoming a trainer involves first getting reliable with UWAC or another independent trainer, then attending another training session as a Trainer in Training and completing additional reliability tapes. The UWAC currently does NOT offer this additional training. Please contact the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain (CADB – https://www.nyp.org/psychiatry/center-for-autism-the-developing-brain) for this training.