The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule—Toddler Module: A New Module of a Standardized Diagnostic Measure for Autism Spectrum Disorders

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 39; no. 9; pp. 1305 - 1320
• Main Authors: Luyster, Rhiannon, Gotham, Katherine, Guthrie, Whitney, Coffing, Mia, Petrak, Rachel, Pierce, Karen, Bishop, Somer, Esler, Amy, Hus, Vanessa, Oti, Rosalind, Richler, Jennifer, Risi, Susan, Lord, Catherine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.09.2009; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Affect; Algorithms; Attention; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Autistic children; Autistic Disorder - diagnosis; Autistic Disorder - psychology; Autistic spectrum disorders; Awareness; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Child and School Psychology; Child Development; Child, Preschool; Children; Communication Disorders; Developmental Delays; Developmental Disabilities - diagnosis; Developmental Disabilities - psychology; Developmentally delayed young children; Diagnosis, Differential; Diagnostic Tests; Female; Gold standard; Humans; Infant; Interpersonal Relationship; Language Development Disorders - diagnosis; Language Development Disorders - psychology; Language Impairments; Male; Mathematics; Medical Evaluation; Medical sciences; Neurosciences; Observation; Oral Language; Original Paper; Pediatrics; Personality Assessment - statistics & numerical data; Pilot Projects; Play and Playthings; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics; Psychometrics - statistics & numerical data; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Public Health; Reference Standards; Reproducibility of Results; Social Behavior; Techniques and methods; Toddlers; Verbal Behavior; Young Children; Autism spectrum disorders; ADOS; Infants; Diagnosis; Toddlers; Human; Internal consistency; Psychometrics; Infant; Developmental disorder; Revised drafting; Test reliability; Semidirective interview; Intertrial interval; Item analysis; Test validation; Autism; Interrater agreement; Pervasive developmental disorder; Cutoff note; Test construction; Predictive validity
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-009-0746-z

The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS; Lord et al., J Autism Dev Disord, 30(3):205–223, 2000 ) is widely accepted as a “gold standard” diagnostic instrument, but it is of restricted utility with very young children. The purpose of the current project was to modify the ADOS for use in children under 30 months of age. A modified ADOS, the ADOS Toddler Module (or Module T), was used in 360 evaluations. Participants included 182 children with best estimate diagnoses of ASD, non-spectrum developmental delay or typical development. A final set of protocol and algorithm items was selected based on their ability to discriminate the diagnostic groups. The traditional algorithm “cutoffs” approach yielded high sensitivity and specificity, and a new range of concern approach was proposed.