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Understanding my 17 year olds diagnosis and ADOS score

kate88

My son finally had his assessment and got his diagnosis this week. His diagnosis is Autism

it was his 3rd and final appointment/assessment

but they didnt say what 'type' of autism he has.

he scored 20 in his ados assessment-they told us that anything above 10 is a diagnosis of autism

I asked what type of autism does he has? and asked if it is asd/aspergers, but he just said that is is all types are classed as "autism"

if was confused but as my knowledge is only basic, but i wanted to know his level but i never got a straight answer

we are awaiting a report in the post but until then i was hoping somebody may be able to help regarding his ados score

  • in reply to Boating_taxonomist

    I agree that the aspergers (and I think lrvels) is being phased out. America seems to be ahead of us on this one. Aspergers seems to be causing a stir but i only know loosely why from internet posts from people so not 100 percent accurate and take with a pinch of salt but I've seen Asperger had involvement with Nazi's, I've also seen it's now offensive to be labelled as having aspergers as it's like a superiority to the 'label's autism.

    Anyway that's all loosely based on comments sections and forums so not fact. I'll look it up one day

    I'd focus more on your sons struggles. Identify what these may be and how to overcome them now that you have the knowledge that hes somewhere on the spectrum as it's not really useful. Dont worry about what stage hes labelled as, it's not really of any use. I wonder if you perhaps are struggling with the diagnosis and just need to know hes 'higher up the spectrum' to feel better? Personally I was told I'm higher functioning, however I have huge struggles in certain aspects of life that someone classed 'lower functioning' may be coping with. So I think the higher functioning status can be dangerous as I was thought to be coping yet I had huge struggles leading to vulnerability. I'm glad your son has you to look out for him. Stay strong, know it's just a different way of thinking. Ive also read that it could be evolution of humankind. If you think about it in detail this makes sense in a way. 

  • Thanks so much for your replies

    Hopefully his report will give me some idea 

    thanks for your help and advice 

  • I think you get a diagnosis of ASC level 1,2 or 3 depending on the support you need.

    I'm level 1, requiring minimum support - effectively Aspergers or High Functioning Autism

  • They are right, it is all under the same umbrella diagnosis of autism/ASD (some areas do still use Aspergers diagnosis but probably not for much longer because of changes in the diagnostic manuals they use). The reason was because separating it into 'types' of autism was kind of arbitrary, there weren't a lot of good reasons for it and it wasn't consistent (so two people could have similar 'profiles' and different diagnoses).

    The ADOS does not indicate 'severity' of autism as far as I know (as much as that makes sense). You might want to read up on the whole concept of the autistic spectrum; this is a good article that also explains why describing people by functioning labels, or 'mild' or 'severe' or whatever way of trying to describe 'how autistic' someone is doesn't really make sense and is generally a bad idea. A much repeated addage is 'if you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person'. We have a collection of things in common, but how those things affect us is so individual that it does not make sense to try and pigeonhole people into 'levels' or to quantify 'how autistic' someone is.

    Your son's diagnostic report will hopefully make clear the specific difficulties that have been recognised in his assessments, and I think that's what you should focus on-the difficulties (and strengths) he has as an individual.