Abstract
Standardized Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) scores provide a measure of autism severity that is less influenced by child characteristics than raw totals (Gotham et al. in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(5), 693–705 2009). However, these scores combine symptoms from the Social Affect (SA) and Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors (RRB) domains. Separate calibrations of each domain would provide a clearer picture of ASD dimensions. The current study separately calibrated raw totals from the ADOS SA and RRB domains. Standardized domain scores were less influenced by child characteristics than raw domain totals, thereby increasing their utility as indicators of Social-Communication and Repetitive Behavior severity. Calibrated domain scores should facilitate efforts to examine trajectories of ASD symptoms and links between neurobiological and behavioral dimensions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Fourth Edition, Text Revision: DSM-IV-TR. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
American Psychiatric Association. (2011). DSM-5 Development: A 09 Autism Spectrum Disorder. http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/Pages/proposedrevision.aspx?rid=94. Accessed 04 March 2012.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Psychology Press.
Constantino, J. N., & Gruber, C. (2005). The Social Responsiveness Scale. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.
Constantino, J. N., Hudziak, J. J., & Todd, R. D. (2003). Deficits in reciprocal social behavior in male twins: evidence for a genetically independent domain of psychopathology. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 42(4), 458–467. doi:10.1097/01.CHI.0000046811.95464.21.
Di Martino, A., Kelly, C., Grzadzinski, R., Zuo, X.-N., Mennes, M., Mairena, M. A., et al. (2011). Aberrant striatal functional connectivity in children with autism. Biological Psychiatry, 69(9), 847–856. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.10.029.
Dichter, G. S., Richey, J. A., Rittenberg, A. M., Sabatino, A., & Bodfish, J. W. (2011). Reward circuitry function in autism during face anticipation and outcomes. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. doi:10.1007/s10803-011-1221-1.
DiLavore, P., Lord, C., & Rutter, M. (1995). The Pre-Linguistic Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 25(4), 355–379. doi:10.1007/BF02179373.
Elliott, C. D. (1990). Differential Ability Scales. San Antonio: Psychological Corporation.
Frazier, T. W., Youngstrom, E. A., Speer, L., Embacher, R., Law, P., Constantino, J., et al. (2012). Validation of proposed DSM-5 criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 51(1), 28–40. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2011.09.021.
Gotham, K., Risi, S., Pickles, A., & Lord, C. (2007). The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule: Revised algorithms for improved diagnostic validity. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37(4), 613–627. doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0280-1.
Gotham, K., Pickles, A., & Lord, C. (2009). Standardizing ADOS scores for a measure of severity in autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(5), 693–705. doi:10.1007/s10803-008-0674-3.
Huerta, M., Bishop, S. L., Duncan, A., Hus, V., & Lord, C. (in press). How many will we miss? Application of DSM 5 criteria to 3 samples of children with DSM-IV diagnoses of ASD. American Journal of Psychiatry.
Hus, V., & Lord, C. (in press). Effects of child characteristics on the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised: Implications for use of scores as a measure of ASD severity. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1576-y.
Hus, V., Bishop, S., Gotham, K., Huerta, M., Pickles, A., & Lord, C. (in press). Factors influencing scores on the Social Responsiveness Scale. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
Lord, C., Petkova, E., Hus, V., Gan, W., Lu, F., Martin, D. M., et al. (2011). A multisite study of the clinical diagnosis of different autism spectrum disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.148.
Lord, C., Risi, S., DiLavore, P. S., Shulman, C., Thurm, A., & Pickles, A. (2006). Autism from 2 to 9 years of age. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63, 694–701. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.63.6.694.
Lord, C., Rutter, M., DiLavore, P. C., Risi, S., Gotham, K., & Bishop, S. (2012). Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd Edition (ADOS-2). Torrance: Western Psychological Services.
Luyster, R., Gotham, K., Guthrie, W., Coffing, M., Petrak, R., Pierce, K., et al. (2009). The autism diagnostic observation schedule—toddler module: a new module of a standardized diagnostic measure for autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(9), 1305–1320. doi:10.1007/s10803-009-0746-z.
Mandy, W. P. L., Charman, T., & Skuse, D. H. (2012). Testing the construct validity of proposed criteria for DSM-5 Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 51(1), 41–50. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2011.10.013.
Mattila, M.-L., Kielinen, M., Linna, S.-L., Jussila, K., Ebeling, H., Bloigu, R., Joseph, R. M., et al. (2011). Autism Spectrum Disorders according to “DSM-IV-TR” and comparison with “DSM-5” draft criteria: An epidemiological study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 50(6), 583–592.e11.
McCarthy, P. L., Cicchetti, D. V., Sznajderman, S. D., Forsyth, B. C., Baron, M. A., Fink, H. D., et al. (1991). Demographic, clinical, and psychosocial predictors of the reliability of mothers’ clinical judgments. Pediatrics, 88(5), 1041–1046.
McPartland, J. C., Reichow, B., & Volkmar, F. R. (2012). Sensitivity and specificity of proposed DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 51(4), 368–383. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2012.01.007.
Mullen, E. (1995). The Mullen Scales of Early Learning. Circle Pines: American Guidance Service, Inc.
Rutter, M., Le Couteur, A., & Lord, C. (2003). Autism diagnostic interview-revised. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.
State, M. W., & Levitt, P. (2011). The conundrums of understanding genetic risks for autism spectrum disorders. Nature Neuroscience, 14(12), 1499–1506. doi:10.1038/nn.2924.
World Health Organization. (1992). The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioral disorder: Clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. Geneva: World Health Organization.
World Health Organization. (2012). International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision: Beta draft. http://apps.who.int/classifications/icd11/browse/f/en. Accessed 22 September 2012.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by a Dennis Weatherstone Predoctoral Fellowship to VH and National Institute of Mental Health grants T32-MH18921 to KG and R01MH081873 and RC1MH089721 to CL. We gratefully acknowledge Drs. Andrew Pickles, Christopher Gruber and Sheri Stegall for their consultation in preparation of this manuscript, as well as all of the families who participated in this research.
Conflict of interest
C. Lord receives royalties for the ADOS; profits from this study were donated to charity.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
At the start of this study, Vanessa Hus, Katherine Gotham, and Catherine Lord were at the University of Michigan, Department of Psychology and University of Michigan Autism & Communication Disorders Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Vanessa Hus has remained at the University of Michigan, Department of Psychology. Katherine Gotham is now at the the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Nashville, Tennessee. Catherine Lord is now at the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, Weill Cornell Medical College, White Plains, New York.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hus, V., Gotham, K. & Lord, C. Standardizing ADOS Domain Scores: Separating Severity of Social Affect and Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors. J Autism Dev Disord 44, 2400–2412 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1719-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1719-1