ADOS Clinical Training for School-based Providers and School Teams

The ADOS-2 is the standard instrument for assessing autism spectrum disorders (ASD) across age, developmental level, and language skills. Sponsored by the Tennessee Technical Assistance Network (TN-TAN), TRIAD conducts regional workshops on the clinical use of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2) to help assess and diagnose ASD.

The goals of this 2-day workshop are to provide a detailed overview of the ADOS-2, its development, its psychometric properties, and appropriate use and interpretation. Demonstrations of the measure are provided both days, involving live administration of the ADOS-2 by the trainer to individuals with ASD. Participants will practice scoring while observing the instructor administering the ADOS-2. Detailed discussions on scoring the ADOS-2 follow each demonstration.

Audience: School psychologists, Speech and Language Pathologists, and other school-based evaluation team members working specifically with autism evaluation will be accepted for this training.

Attendees will receive a certificate of attendance for 12 professional development hours. ADOS-2 workshops do not provide certification to administer the ADOS-2. However, the following information is provided regarding steps to be taken for those wanting to individually administer the ADOS-2 in their district after the workshop. For more information, please see the WPS website.

What is required for someone to become competent in using the ADOS-2?

If you are an ADOS-2 user who has not previously been trained in the ADOS, you should do the following to obtain essential competence in the ADOS-2:

1. Make sure you have prior education, training, and experience that includes extensive exposure to autism spectrum disorders.
2. Study the ADOS-2 Manual. You can purchase and complete an associated CE Questionnaire and Evaluation Form (W-605MCE) to receive 6 contact hours of professional continuing education credit for learning the ADOS-2 Manual.
3. Take a WPS in-person clinical training workshop or use the WPS DVD Training Package (W-605DVD). Both options offer training in all five ADOS-2 modules.
   1. Upon completion of the in-person workshop, you will receive a certificate of completion that is equivalent to 12 contact hours of professional continuing education credit. You will also receive materials needed to learn the Toddler Module, and you can purchase and complete a CE Questionnaire and Evaluation Form (W-606CE) to obtain an additional 12 contact hours of professional continuing education credit for learning the toddler-specific materials.
   2. If you opt to complete your training using the WPS DVD Training Package (W-605DVD), you can purchase and complete the associated CE Questionnaire and Evaluation Form (W-605CE) to receive 30 contact hours of professional continuing education credit for learning the materials.
4. Practice using the ADOS-2 on cases that are not part of formal evaluations, and become completely confident that you are familiar with the assessment activities and can apply the coding categories accurately. If you have considerable experience in formal behavioral observation and individual test administration, you may reach this level in as few as 10 practice sessions (2 per module). Otherwise, you may need considerably more practice to obtain competence in administering and coding the ADOS-2.
5. If you are involved in formal research that may be published in peer-reviewed journals, you must also take a research training workshop, which is followed by exercises to establish item coding accuracy to a specific criterion. WPS is not involved in the research training workshops. For information on these courses, please visit: https://psychiatry.weill.cornell.edu/education-training/autism/autism-diagnostic-observation-schedule-second-edition-ados-2

For questions specifically related to the ADOS-2 workshops provided through TN-TAN for school-based providers, please reach out to Verity Rodrigues.

⇦ Return to School Psychology and Related Service Provider Supports

Sponsored by the Tennessee Department of Education, through the Tennessee Technical Assistance Network (TN-TAN) and available at no cost to LEAs in Tennessee.