MIGDAS-2 Training in Australia: What Every Psychologist Working With Autistic Children Needs to Know

By Emily Hanlon

If you've been doing autism assessments (especially with children) for a while, you've probably noticed the same thing I have. The standard toolkit is good... but it doesn't always let the child in front of you actually show up as themselves.

The ADOS-2 is structured, rigorous, and widely recognised. But for some kids, the highly verbal ones, the girls, the high-masking, anxious ones who hold it together brilliantly in a clinical room and fall apart the moment they get to the car park, it can miss the mark.

Not because the tool is 'wrong,' but because the conditions aren't right for that particular neurotype to be seen.

That's where the MIGDAS-2 comes in. And if you haven't added it to your practice yet, this post is for you.

What is the MIGDAS-2?

The Monteiro Interview Guidelines for Diagnosing the Autism Spectrum, Second Edition, or MIGDAS-2, is a sensory-based, qualitative diagnostic interview process developed by Dr Marilyn Monteiro. Rather than asking a child to perform structured tasks in an unfamiliar room, the MIGDAS-2 invites them into assessment through what they already love: their interests, their sensory world, their own way of making meaning.

The result isn't a score. It's a brain style profile; a rich, descriptive picture of how this individual communicates, relates, and experiences the world around them. It covers language and communication, social relationships and emotional responses, and sensory use and interests.

It is used alongside other assessment tools, not instead of them. But what it adds is something that standardised measures often can't: the authentic version of the person you're trying to understand.

Why it matters for Australian psychologists right now

A few things have shifted in the Australian landscape that make the MIGDAS-2 increasingly relevant to have in your toolkit. First, the National Guideline for the Assessment and Diagnosis of Autism in Australia now recommends a multi-method, multidisciplinary approach to assessment. Qualitative, interview-based tools like the MIGDAS-2 sit squarely within this framework, giving you a way to gather the kind of contextual, narrative-rich information the guideline asks for.

Second, there is growing recognition, from the profession and from the autistic community, that traditional assessment methods can disadvantage late-identified presentations. Girls and women. Adults who have masked for years. Children who are highly verbal but whose internal experience looks nothing like the outer presentation. The MIGDAS-2 was designed with these presentations in mind, because it meets the person where they are rather than asking them to conform to a standardised situation.

Third, NDIS report writing. If you're writing reports to support NDIS access, the richly descriptive, strengths-informed language the MIGDAS-2 produces is genuinely useful. It helps families and planners understand not just what a child struggles with, but how their brain works, which is exactly the kind of information that supports meaningful goal setting.

What's the difference between the MIGDAS-2 and the ADOS-2?

This is the question I get asked most often, so let's name it directly. The ADOS-2 is a structured, examiner-driven observational measure. It's standardised, it produces scores, and it's widely accepted for diagnostic purposes. It is great at what it does.

The MIGDAS-2 is a qualitative, interview-based process. It doesn't produce scores; it produces a behavioural profile. It is less structured by design, because the whole point is to reduce the performance demand and let the individual's natural communication style emerge.

Used together, they complement each other beautifully. The ADOS-2 gives you the structured observational data. The MIGDAS-2 gives you the context, the nuance, and the language to write a report that actually reflects the person you assessed.

Many Australian psychologists are now using both. And if you're seeing complex presentations, particularly children with high cognitive ability, internalised profiles, or significant anxiety, the MIGDAS-2 will often show you things the ADOS-2 alone can't.

What does MIGDAS-2 training actually involve?

To use the MIGDAS-2 competently, you need more than a read-through of the manual. The tool is qualitative, which means your confidence in using it comes from understanding the framework deeply, watching it in action, and practising it with supervision.

Good MIGDAS-2 training will cover how to administer the five protocols across different age groups and levels of verbal fluency, how to gather and organise the qualitative information, how to write a strengths-based brain style profile, and how to use the MIGDAS-2 findings in the context of a full assessment battery.

It takes time to feel fluent with it. That's not a reason to avoid it; it's a reason to get good training from the start.

The MIGDAS Workshop Series from The Playful Psychologist

I've been using the MIGDAS-2 in my assessment practice for some time, and it has genuinely changed how I work with families. The reports I write are richer. The feedback conversations are warmer. And the clients I assess seem to leave feeling seen in a way that doesn't always happen with more traditional approaches.

That experience is exactly why I built the MIGDAS Workshop Series: three workshops designed specifically for early-career psychologists and clinicians who want to add the MIGDAS-2 to their practice with confidence.

The series covers three stages of the assessment process, each as a standalone workshop you can take in sequence or as your needs require.

KIT: MIGDAS Kit walks you through the foundations: the framework, the five protocols, how to set up and administer a MIGDAS-2 interview across different ages and presentations, and how to think about the data you're gathering.

CLINIC: MIGDAS Clinic goes deeper into the clinical application: how to integrate MIGDAS-2 findings with your wider battery, how to approach complex presentations, and how to use the tool with children who are anxious, highly masking, or have limited verbal fluency.

REPORT: MIGDAS Report focuses on the writing: how to translate the qualitative data into a brain style profile that is clinically rigorous, strengths-based, and genuinely useful for families, schools, and NDIS planners. PLUS: 5 report templates are included.

All three workshops are online and self-paced, with practical tools you can use in your next assessment. The best part? You have lifetime access to the multimodal learning content so that you can learn, regardless of how your brain best processes information.

Is the MIGDAS-2 right for your practice?

If you're working with autistic CLIENTS and you want assessments that are genuinely neuroaffirming, not just in language, but in process, then yes. The MIGDAS-2 is worth learning.

It takes investment. It takes practice. But the feedback I hear from psychologists who've added it to their toolkit is consistent: they feel more confident, their reports are stronger, and their clients feel more understood.

If you're ready to get started, the MIGDAS Workshop Series is designed to take you from curious to competent, at your own pace.

Learn more about the MIGDAS Workshop Series →