Giving Compass' Take:

• Megan Schumann reports on research showing that a common test for autism is less reliable than previously assumed.

• How can donors financially support more research that will help individuals with autism and their diagnosis? 

• Learn about how soft skills training can help young adults with autism prepare for work. 

The standardized test, known as the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), assesses communication skills, social interaction, and play for children who may have autism or other developmental disorders.

To digitize the test, researchers attached wearable technology, like an Apple Watch, to two clinicians and 52 children who came in four times and took two different versions of the test.

When researchers looked at the scores of the entire cohort, they found they did not distribute normally—which could mean a chance of false positives inflating the prevalence of autism, among other implications.

The results showed that switching ADOS-certified clinicians may change a child’s scores and consequently influences the diagnosis. The researchers found similar results when they analyzed open-access data of 1,324 people ages 5 to 65, says Elizabeth Torres, associate professor of psychology at Rutgers University and director of the New Jersey Autism Center of Excellence.

“The ADOS test informs and steers much of the science of autism, and it has done great work thus far,” says Torres. “However, social interactions are much too complex and fast to be captured by the naked eye, particularly when the grader is biased to look for specific signs and to expect specific behaviors.”

Read the full article about the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule by Megan Schumann at Futurity.