Press release

This week, within the framework of a joint project of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), a 3-day training of 15 Kazakhstani specialists responsible for diagnosing children with autism spectrum disorders, the" gold standard " of diagnostics with ADOS-2 and ADI-R.

The training was organized by the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Mental Health of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan as part of the implementation of the Project Group's activities to develop a system of support and assistance to children with autism, as well as with mental and behavioral disorders.

Specialists of the Republican and regional centers of Mental Health, the National Scientific and Practical Center for Special and Inclusive Education, Psychological, Medical and Pedagogical consultation are trained by the author of the Russian version of ADOS-2, Candidate of Biological Sciences, leading researcher of the Federal Resource Center for the Organization of Comprehensive Support for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Russia), Alexander Sorokin.

ADOS-2 (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule 2) is an international standard for diagnosing the presence of autism spectrum disorder and its severity at the present time in children from 12 months and adults. This test allows you to evaluate the features of communication, social interaction and play of the child. The essence of the ADOS test is to observe the child's behavior in consistently proposed games, tasks, and conversations. The authors of the diagnosis are an international group of specialists, including Dr. Catherine Lord, an American autism researcher, distinguished professor-resident of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of California at Los Angeles; Professor Sir Michael Rutter, the first professor of child psychiatry in the UK, called the "father of child psychology" for professional merits.

ADI-R (Autism Diagnostic Interview – Revised), in turn, represents a special type of interview on the diagnosis of autism and is a tool for a wide range of applications, providing a full range of information for the differential diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The interview is intended for parents and teachers who work with children with autism or with other mental disabilities in development for more than 2 years.

Experts recommend the integrated use of both tools. During the examination, they allow you to verify the ASD and determine the further plan of work with the child/teenager.

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Children with autism spectrum disorders demonstrate different degrees of development and language proficiency, so ADOS-2 is divided into 5 variants (modules), each of which corresponds to a certain age. The modules differ in the complexity/simplicity of the games offered, the presence/absence of verbal (speech) tasks. Each module is a sequence of game situations that are created by a specialist using a special set of toys.

In these play situations, a certain social interaction is expected from the child. The child's social behavior (facial expressions, vocalization, words, requests, etc.) is recorded in detail, its features are quantified.

The child is in a relaxed atmosphere of play and free interaction, he does not "have to do anything", he just behaves as he can. However, despite the freedom for the child, all possible behaviors are taken into account in the test and have appropriate evaluation values. The specialist follows strictly prescribed rules of behavior, when not a single word, not a single gesture is accidental.