ADOS-2 Training, UK

This event is organised by the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health in the UK.

The highly respected ACAMH ADOS-2 has been specially designed to provide a gold standard approach to training professionals in this interactive observation test, that is used as part of making an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis in both clinical and research settings.

It encapsulates ACAMH’s commitment to delivering quality best practice relating to children’s mental health. Quality in terms of the trainers, the sessions, and the experience for the delegate.

Dr Mark Lovell, ACAMH’s ADOS-2 Lead Trainer, explains about the course; “ACAMH’s ADOS-2 course is different to others in that it’s a gold standard which we are unwilling to compromise upon. The five-day course, similar to other providers, includes compulsory post-course submissions for research validity. However, the difference for ACAMH is that to be able to use it within clinical practice, we also require homework for that as well. Delegates are allowed multiple attempts, with feedback for future improvements. Delegates undertaking the course have an option for continued access to the trainers over their career to allow for long-term advice around ADOS and its administrations scoring.”

Dr Nigel Camilleri, ACAMH ADOS-2 Trainer elaborates; “It’s a structured, observational assessment, and is the gold standard recommended internationally within the NICE guidelines. It’s recently updated, so it maps directly to DSM-5 and to ICD-10. The skills that you would learn on an ACAMH ADOS- 2 course will help with all structured observations for Autism Spectrum Disorder based symptomatology.”

Learning Outcomes

• The course includes five different modules to cover the breadth of age ranges and ability, from children of 12 months old up to adolescents and adults and also from nonverbal to fully fluent language.
• Completion of the course and sign-off of the post course work, will give you research reliability and will qualify you to practice clinically.
• Once trained in the ADOS-2, candidates attending our course can also participate in the administration or scoring of the original ADOS with colleagues.

Who should attend?

Those with an interest in Autism including; Psychologists, Paediatricians, Psychiatrists, Speech-Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Researchers and Specialist Nurses, Teachers, Specialist Teachers and CAMHS professionals.

About the trainers

Dr Mark Lovell
A dual trained Consultant Child and Adolescent Intellectual Disability Psychiatrist with a special interest in ASD and works for one of the UK’s largest mental health providers. He is an ADOS-2 trainer and also supervises the training of new ADOS-2 trainers. He is on the board of trustees for ACAMH and has current involvement with the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (MindEd
and Disability Matters).

He has been involved with the design of a NICE guidance compliant pathway for ASD diagnosis and has been part of 10 different multiagency/multidisciplinary child and adolescent ASD diagnostic teams since 2003. He has had involvement in the design of the curriculum for CYP IAPT for LD and ASD.

Nigel Camilleri
Nigel was born in Malta and studied medicine and surgery at the University of Malta where he was awarded an MD in 2003. He practised medicine at St. Luke’s Hospital and started psychiatry training at Mount Carmel Hospital in 2006.

In 2008 he moved to the UK training at the Northern Deanery. He is a Tier 4 Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust. He currently works at the Newbury adolescent in-patient unit and Westwood Low Secure Forensic Unit. He is also an Associate Clinical Researcher at Newcastle University, currently working with Pediatric Bipolar Disorder Team on research projects in this field.

Previous attendees

Vaya is Child Psychiatrist, Lyndall a Psychiatrist, and Claire a Manager of Specialist Integrated Children’s Services.

Why did you attend the course?
Vaya: Working with autistic children, it’s important to renew my knowledge. I did the ADOS course ten years ago, but need to do it again to ensure I’m reliable, and learn new things.
Lyndall: It helps me to keep in touch with what’s being done in child and adolescent mental health, in a much bigger setting of research and clinical practice.
Claire: We see increasing numbers of children coming through with possible autism and we’re concentrating a lot of resources around early intervention.

What was the key take away?
Vaya: Confidence. It gave me the breadth and knowledge to be able to undertake this part of my work.
Lyndall: It’s important to learn to do it well and properly, to know exactly what’s required for the scoring, and for the accurate administration so that the scores at the end are meaningful. Claire: I think it gives me a better understanding of the clients that we work with, and having that understanding of the language.

Could the course be run in a shorter time?
Vaya: I am very experienced but I still needed the 5 days. To do it in a shorter time runs the risk of cutting corners and missing out on elements.
Lyndall: I don’t think that would be ideal. To do it quickly,
you’d be skimming and that the likelihood of the candidate remembering would be fairly small.
Claire: I suppose, but it depends if you want a quality course or not. I want to be the best that I can, and I think just ticking a box and saying ‘I’ve done all this theory’ doesn’t necessarily make it good or safe.

What was your overall experience of the ACAMH delivery of the course?
Vaya: They are excellent and experienced. It was a positive experience and I would recommend it.
Lyndall: A welcoming atmosphere, conducive to learning. It was fun and presented in a very open manner.
Claire: The trainers have been great, really approachable and hands-on. I come from a paediatrics background not mental health, and was quite intimidated about attending beforehand, but was really reassured to see a broad mix of people here and I had no need to be concerned.

Prices

€800 for students and Public employees

€1000 normal rate

All enquiries for this course should be made to malta@acamh.org

Payment by cheque only to: ACAMH Malta Treasurer 31, Triq ir–Ruzell, Attard. ATD 1502

Non-refundable 50% by 16 March 2018 to secure place, the other non-refundable 50% by 20 April 2018.
Price includes lunch and coffee breaks.