My Daughter had an ADOS eval today X-Posted

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X-Posted on the general board. I'm new here so I'm not sure where to post exactly

First off, yes I am totally OCD on over analyzing things. I am bipolar and have ADHD so maybe that plays into it?

Anyways my six year old daughter had her ADOS today. She's had some VERY subtle signs since she was very little and I felt it best just to get an eval. Her biggest issues are social issues and I have HORRIBLE social issues on top of a lot of social anxiety. If I can help her while she is young it's the best for her.

So anyways I wasn't allowed to watch the test today. So I'm going by what she told me. A lot of things I've had to go down a path of questions to finally get an idea of what happened (so I do get it might be off. I also get I will know soon enough of what happened but I am crazy trying to analyze. I am also new, so I apologize if I'm being annoying!)

So she did a puzzle of some sort. Placing pieces to form a shape that matched the shape on the paper. She said she noticed a piece was missing. She told me the lady gave it to her. I asked her if she told the lady it was missing or asked for it. She told me no she just gave it to her (so I'm guessing the lady noticed her searching and gave it to her)

She said she had a family of little dolls and just had them sit down and watch TV. Nothing else with them.

She said she was asked what different emotions felt like to her (sad, mad, etc) and she just answered tingly to all of them.

She said the lady placed 3 cards down and she had to describe what was happening in each picture. She said the lady helped her do this (I don't know if she struggled and that's why or if it's normal for them to help) She did this a few times

She had to "read" a book with no words. Again the lady had to help her with that as well.

She had to take random objects out of a bag and make up a story. She was unable to name the block so the lady named it Mr. Block for her. She did tell a story (the block thought it was going to rain but wanted to go to the beach. He used his stool (the Popsicle stick) to grab the little umbrella and then put the umbrella in the beach chair (a sponge) to block the sun. She told me that was it.

The lady told me daughter she went on vacation to Florida. My daughter responded that she went to FL on vacation years ago when she was a baby.

She also mentioned white blocks with a red pattern on each one and having to match them to pictures of that pattern but I'm not sure how that went.

Anyways can anything be decoded from this? Ideas of how it could have gone? My daughter mentioned she sucked her thumb for a while of it (she normally sucks her hair but it was up) She also tends to process slower so I'm wondering if that was seen as well.

Thanks for any input. We have one more appt. in two weeks (physical and something else) and then I will get the final results. I'm going to go crazy waiting!

I posted my (admittedly amateurish) impression after your other post.

Have you tried Googling the ADOS for her age? You can probably find an explanation of each part somewhere online.

My son took the ADOS last fall, at age 7. He reported similar things as your daughter.

I think the test is as much about the kid's interaction with the tester, as it is about the tasks. Like, I think the missing block is to see how the kid will react to a block missing. Will they ask for the block? Will they get upset? Etc.

I think the object/ story thing is to see how they go about imaginative play. My kid said he picked a needle (plastic doctor needle) and a fire man's hat and his story was: " a needle went to the doctor, but he went to the fire house by mistake."

They ask other questions (just remembering from my feedback session) like "What do you think marriage is?" Or "Why do people get married." And, questions about what a friend is, etc.

I think my son did answer the emotions questions.

I did not get too much info from my son but, from what he said, I thought it sounded like he did well on it. I was pretty sure my kid was on the spectrum before he took it. I figured they were testing for imaginative play, two way conversation, etc. From what he told me, though, I wondered if he would NOT be diagnosed with ASD. But, the test is way more complex than what your kid will report. My kid was diagnosed with ASD.

I know it's really hard to wait, but I don't think you will be able to tell either way before you get the official results.