Got my autism diagnosis yesterday for Alex (age 5). Not PPD-NOS as I had hoped and suspected. He had to have a score of at least 12 and he scored 19.
The team tried to initiate conversations that would interest him several times, for example "I got to ride on a fire truck" and would wait for him to answer, which he would start talking about something broken or the weather... Or "I have a dog at home" to which he would again respond inappropriately and so on and so on.
The whole ADOS testing pretty much went that way and along with the grimacing and sniffing everything I knew it was not going to be good. (He also heard my phone ringing while he was inside the sound-proof booth as well as other children talking) He, however, has developed excellent play skills and imaginary play (which he had zero a year ago, with just throwing toys).
It was interesting the psychiatrist said he may come back in 5 years age and test as not autistic but that he would always have some issues. They would not comment on his IQ or what age level he was at developmentally at all. They said they do not like to do that.
I have mostly been a lurker for the past year and a half as we did not have a diagnosis.