Ados-2 patronising and childish?

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Hi all,

First post here. For context, I’m 27, work as an analyst, own my own home etc. I did a developmental history interview and AQ test and found them useful and the person delivering them were great... however, I did the Ados-2 (module 4) and found it patronising and childish. Firstly, the assessors treated me like a child and put on a voice like they were speaking to children when doing the tasks. They also treated me like I had no idea what was going on. This was obviously not great, but I also just found a lot of the tests incredibly patronising and childish (there clearly aren’t enough pieces there- are we really doing this?). I was just wondering what other peoples’ experiences were as an adult taking the ADOS-2? It just left me feeling really frustrated more than anything because I didn’t feel like the test was designed for high functioning adults...

A lot of people find the ADOS frustrating and childish. But (from what I've read) really the tasks are mostly just something to base a social situation around-they're designed to see how you interact with another person, rather than seeing whether you can do a puzzle or tell a kid's story (though how you do the tasks might also give some useful info to the assessor, e.g. how you ask for the missing pieces-do you use gestures, do you not ask at all and just grab at them etc). I would guess the tasks are meant to be simple for that reason, giving you something complicated to do would kind of deflect from the actual purpose.

When I had mine they weren't patronising, and personally I kind of found it hard because I had no idea what I was meant to be doing. I did kind of know it was more about the chit-chat, but I was purposefully trying to just go with the flow instead of having my brain racing trying to identify the pauses that mean I'm meant to ask a question or grasping at a way to bluff my way through something I wasn't really understanding etc, so I was just really confused for most of it (made me realise how much I don't understand people).

I thought it was fine except for the storybook part she made me look through a children's story with pictures only and describe it to her.


Im an adult ive read tons of books etc
I tried not to leave a single detail out that would be described and important in a story

I also have eyes
She herself after i finished said this test was not a good one for adults.
I later googled it and realized they expect you not to describe the facial expressions and guess

I was guessing at the very least along with describing everything as I know those are relevant in books.


The only thing is I was adding the expressions and guessing as an afterthought after going in depth on other details.

like 'ok hmm what else.. Oh I guess they must be scared since their mouths are open. Or surprised I guess.'

So that is what she realized. The issue was there but it was 'tough to tease out' which makes sense

Although I was diagnosed with "mild to moderate" ASD, I didn't meet the ADOS-2 clinical threshold (false negative). I've read that it misses 20-30% of adult ASD women. I know less men got false negatives, but it was above 0% - probably the more socially astute or outgoing men.

For example, the test specifically scores if a person gets upset about something, it doesn't score around unusual passivity (I asked). This means the externalizing ASD types get points and the internalizing types don't. Most adults have internalized...

If you think of it and are willing, share your score.

I had never heard the test name "ADOS" when I did mine as part of the assessment. It wasn't until afterward that I saw people refer to it on Wrong Planet. I remember doing some childish activities. The doctor gave me some little plastic toys and I had to make a story with them. I also had the picture book without words, and I had to explain what was happening or invent the plot. I didn't even recognise characters from page to page. I had no idea what the story was about. I don't remember anything else from that part of the test but I'm sure that was the ADOS part.

In my report all it says is that I was well above the cutoff. I didn't even get a score for it, which is odd because all the other tests had detailed analyses and scores or percentiles in my report.

I suppose it was childish but the doctor did apologise for making me do a few children's things. I just don't remember what they were.

You are clearly describing one of the tests I went through and even though the clinician warned me it was geared toward children, to say it was ridiculous was a complete understatement. I resisted everything I had to say "you know I am 37, right?" I honestly don't see what it has to do with Autism. It was like one of those ridiculous job interviews where they fail people who don't put the glass of water in the dishwasher or some nonsense like that.

I was given the ADOS 2-module 4 last year at the age of 62 . I didn't think as to whether the process was childish or not . I had expected some degree of cognitive testing , and hence got completely the wrong idea when handed the puzzle. My immediate thought was 'How's a test as simple as this supposed to tell anyone anything?"

The assessor was polite and talked to me in a reasonable manner . She certainly didn't talk down to me .

I've only heard of the name of the Ados-2 test. I had no idea what it was until I read the posts in this thread.

(I know you said u have facial blindness but the other aspects are not exactly helping)

My story was about a boy,a dog and a dragon .