Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS)

An Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) is a test instrument that is used for diagnosing and assessing the severity of autism. It consists of a series of structured and/or semi-structured tasks that are aimed at measuring the level of social interaction between the subject and the examiner. During this test the examiner measures the levels of interaction in predetermined observational categories. These results are then calculated on a quantitative scale to identify the potential diagnosis of autism and where the score falls on the autism spectrum.