ADOS-2 Training

Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – 2 (ADOS-2) Training

Some of our team have substantial experience in doing autism assessments, and training up clinicians working in other services to be more skilled and confident with assessing autism.

One of the most important parts of an autism assessment is a clinical interview (sometimes called a psychiatric interview). This is a conversation with one or more clinicians about a range of topics, including current difficulties, childhood development and what life was like growing up, education and employment, social relationships, physical health and emotional wellbeing, hobbies, any difficulties or needs, and strengths and preferences. This conversation helps clinicians start to think about how best a person’s strengths, difficulties and needs can be understood, what diagnosis is the best fit and what recommendations will be helpful.

An autism assessment can also include standardised assessments.

The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule – 2 (ADOS-2) is a standardised assessment that can be used with toddlers, children, teenagers and adults. It is designed to assess traits commonly associated with autism. It takes 30 – 60 minutes to complete and involves some activities, including games and puzzles. People can have low and high scores on the ADOS-2 for different reasons. This is why this is only one part of an autism assessment. On its own, the ADOS-2 is not considered sufficient to make an autism diagnosis. 

We offer four day ADOS-2 training, online.

The training is for:

• Health professionals. This includes professionals with a clinical qualification, and unqualified professionals who work under supervision (such as assistant psychologists or neurodevelopmental practitioners)

• Researchers using the ADOS-2

We provide ADOS-2 booklets and handouts before the training. We recommend that attendees have access to an ADOS-2 manual and kit.

There is some post-course work to complete within three months after the training.  This includes watching one ADOS-2 tape and submitting scores. After this, we issue a certificate of clinical reliability.

If you would like to attain research reliability, you will need to record an ADOS-2 (with consent from the person) and submit this together with the scores, obtaining 70% consensus reliability with the trainers.

We provide more detail about different types of ADOS-2 reliability at the training.

The fee is £850 per person.

After completing ADOS-2 training, there is a period of consolidation of skills. This usually involves shadowing ADOS-2 assessments, and then doing these under observation and jointly scoring these.

We can provide individual and group ADOS-2 supervision and ongoing reliability meetings to support learning. The fee for this is bespoke as it depends on how many people attend.

We can also run bespoke courses for NHS Trusts or Private Providers that incorporate ADOS-2 training with other sessions. Examples of topics are an introduction to autism (useful for clinicians who are new to working with autistic people), and assessment and evidence-based treatment approaches for co-occurring mental health conditions (useful for psychiatrists, psychologists and psychological therapists).

The training is run by ADOS-2 trainers: Dr Debbie Spain, a dual qualified nurse, cognitive behaviour therapist and systemic practitioner, and Dr Eleni Paliokosta, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, based at the Effra Clinic - this needs to be hyperlinked to the Effra Clinic website.

Debbie and Eleni have both been qualified for 20+ years, used the ADOS-2 for 15+ years across clinical and research settings, and have worked in clinical, managerial and supervisory positions at local and national autism services.