Spicy Dragons & Dinosaurs

Yesterday, I took part in some Waisman Research and took the ADI-R. The Autism Diagnostic Interview, Revised (ADI-R) is a structured interview used for diagnosing autism, planning treatment, and distingusing autism from other developmental disorders. Three hours worth of interview. I almost wish I could have the transcript or the interview notes because they asked about so much behavior. This test is the gold standard for autism diagnosis but it takes so long that it is only used for research most of the time.

From a parent perspective, I wish that I had been asked some or all of these question before Julia was diagnosed. I might have caused me to think harder about some behavior. Of course, back then, there was so much behavior that it would have been difficult to tease out some of the threads of autism.

From the student perspective, I had heard about this test but had no idea what it was like. Now I know! It was interesting that even after three hours of answering questions, the researchers said that they would have needed to meet and spend time with Julia to feel comfortable diagnosing her.