There are many different ways to assess . Clearly, examiners need to be concerned about whether available instruments and practices for assessing adaptive behavior adequately document critical difficulties in social functioning that prevent individuals with mild mental retardation from fulfilling key roles and expectations in society. Among these four definitions, there is little variation in the intelligence construct for individuals with mental retardation. Data from reliability and validity studies of the survey form are very impressive, especially in light of the flexible conversational procedures used for obtaining information. Rather than weighing the likely outcomes of enacting a particular strategy in a given situation, these individuals tend to render global judgments (e.g., whether a strategy is generally a good thing or bad thing to do) when evaluating behavioral options. 5.0. One important protection against inappropriate adaptive behavior decisions, which is due to respondents intentionally reporting invalidly low adaptive behavior performance, is consideration by the examiner of further information about everyday performance of social roles and related activities that are consistent with presence of adaptive limitations. It is unclear whether individuals with low-normal intelligence or mild mental retardation would be able to respond reliably to hypothetical situations. This framework, reiterated in 1983, described adaptive behavior limitations consisting of significant limitations in an individual's effectiveness in meeting the standards of maturation, learning, personal independence, or social maturity that are expected for his or her age level and cultural group, as determined by clinical assessment and, usually, standardized scales (Grossman, 1983, p. 11). In other instances, scales may be constructed such that they are relevant to only certain age groups (e.g., the motor scale in the Vineland ABS), or different versions of the same scale may be used in different settings (e.g., school versus residential and community settings). A second limitation of this scale is that the standardization sample was limited to the state of Florida. It did not cover adults and had a limited range of items tapping community living skills (Scheerenberger, 1983). No one instrument produced a factor structure that included all of the domains that were identified by the American Association on Mental Retardation (1992). For the purposes of assessment focused on ascertainment of mental and physical conditions, the most salient measurement dimensions of ICIDH-2 are body functions (e.g., mental processes), and activity limitations and participation restrictions. The SIB-R manual addresses many of the issues that make the scoring interpretation of adaptive behavior scores challenging, including physical disability, the use of adaptive equipment, alternative communication methods, tasks no longer age appropriate, partial performance of multipart tasks, lack of opportunity due to environment or safety, and cognitive ability to understand social expectations for performing behaviors. The DABS measures adaptive behavior in these three areas: Conceptual skills: literacy; self-direction; and concepts of number, money, and time. The Comprehensive Test of Adaptive Behavior (CTABAdams & Hartleben, 1984) has been described as fairly efficient and inexpensive, with excellent reliability, solid validity, and adequate norms (Reschly, 1990). Reliability is good. There is evidence that the ABI has adequate construct, content, and criterion-related validity, as well as internal reliability, but no data were provided on interrater reliability. Bias refers to a consistent distortion of scores that is attributed to demographic factors, principally nonmodifiable personal characteristics such as age, gender, race, and ethnic or cultural membership. Inventories or checklists that attempt to assess vocational interests, emotional status, and personality traits nearly always are typical performance measures. In so doing, AAMR ignores the substantial theoretical and empirical foundation that validates the difference between individuals with mild mental retardation and other individuals with mental retardation (MacMillan et al., in press). This refinement was based on large samples of research participants and data from service registries (McGrew & Bruininks, 1990; Siperstein & Leffert, 1997; Widaman et al., 1987, 1993). For most people, the use of currently available adaptive behavior instruments along with other information on adaptive functioning will improve decisions about mental retardation classification. Furthermore, behavioral, emotional, and social difficulties of the mildly mentally retarded . An adaptive behavior measure is a specific comprehensive assessment of independent living skills. self-care, home living, social skills, self-direction, health and safety, etc.). Another, more open-ended assessment technique is to present a social problem and then to ask the interviewee to relate everything that is going through the protagonist's mind as he or she tries to decide what to do about resolving the problem (e.g., Hickson et al., 1998; Jenkinson & Nelms, 1994). For example, one needs to distinguish between an individual's deficit in a specific adaptive behavior skill, as opposed to a deficit in a larger domain. Principal Comprehensive Adaptive Behavior Measures and Their Characteristics, Correspondence Between SSI Classification Domains and Domains or Subdomains in Prominent Adaptive Behavior Measures, Percentage of People Ages 5-18 Lower Than Two Standard Deviations Below the Mean on the Domains of the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Question Guide for the Assessment of Social-Cognitive Processes, Completion by a professional; or completion by a paraprofessional, with professional supervision (perhaps Class C, not specified), Comprehensive Test of Adaptive Behavior-Revised, -Normative Adaptive Behavior Checklist-Revised (NABC-R) is composed of a subset of CTAB-R items, Completion of NABC-R by a parent or guardian, Completion by a professional; or completion by a paraprofessional, with professional supervision (possibly Class C for & interpretation of scores), Class C; or completion by social worker or educator, Social perception: encoding of social cues. Here are some of the behavior assessments that are commonly used. Therefore, these instruments generally do not have firm cut off points at each age at which adaptive behavior is considered to be substantially or markedly impaired. Adaptive behavior is the collection of conceptual, social, and practical skills that all people learn in order to function in their daily lives. Several other tests have been widely used and have many positive features but do not have the same reputation. The definition speaks to the presence of significant limitations in intellectual functioning and significant limitations in adaptive behavior, which exist concurrently. The latter measure requires a more skilled interviewer, as well as a relatively verbal respondent who spontaneously offers sufficient information to permit the interviewer to determine scores on items, or evocation of relevant information through prompts for further details. Reviews of the ILS have been generally negative, and it may not be suitable for disability determination purposes. In general, individuals are to be rated according to what they actually do (or would do if age appropriate), rather than giving credit for these considerations or denying credit if tasks are performed well with the assistance of adaptive equipment, medication, or special technology (Hill, 1999). Regarding the ability to adjust one's social strategies to fit the needs of a particular social situation, children with mild mental retardation often fail to use information from the specific social cues present in the social situation to guide their search for appropriate strategies (Leffert et al., 2000). For example, a percentile rank of 41 indicates that the examinee scored higher than (or the same as) 41% of the age-matched norm sample. A record of maladaptive behavior may permit an individual to be qualified for SSI by virtue of concurrent IQ in the range of 2 to 2.66 SD and presence of another mental (or behavioral) disorder (Jacobson, 1990; Jacobson & Janicki, 1983). The two versions of the AAMR ABS differ with respect to the age groups emphasized and the settings about which items are structured and weighted in item selection. Possibly the most thoroughly researched and well understood instrument to assess both prosocial and problem behavior among children generally is the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCsee Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1978). Adaptive Behavior Assessment Examples. The committee discussed the use of specific numeric cutoff points at which a marked deficit is present. The second social-cognitive process is the generation of strategies for resolving social problems. In addition, mitigating current circumstances (not speaking English) or past history (absence of schooling) were often ignored in the beginning years of intelligence testing (Kerlin, 1887; Wilbur, 1882). Adaptive performance is often a trade-off with other traits such as patience. Although schools may be the service settings in which adaptive behavior measures are most likely to be used, the information derived from these assessments may not be considered meaningful for the purposes of classification by decision makers. The number of activities that are restricted does not represent a marked limitation in activities of daily living, but rather the overall degree of restriction or combination of restrictions must be judged. Children with special needs might be delayed in these areas. One of the key themes throughout the DSM-IV definition is the cultural aspect of adaptive behavior. The Vineland-3 is a standardized measure of adaptive behavior-the things that people do to function in their everyday lives. Currently, instruments and interviewing procedures for assessing social-cognitive processes can provide examiners with valuable supplemental information about the social functioning of individuals with mental retardation. Whereas situational and functional assessment are appropriate in intervention design for maladaptive behavior or behavior disorders or problems, norm-referenced or criterion-referenced instruments are appropriate for initial assessment (Reschly, 1992). Because Florida is a large and populous state with a culturally diverse population, it is likely that results can be generalized to the national population. Gullibility/Credulity Component of Social Competence. Checklists completed by teachers, parents, or other caregivers are often used to rate individuals' behavior for a broad variety of suspected conditions (e.g., mental retardation, autism, other pervasive developmental disorders, attention deficit disorder). Therefore, the most common method of assessing adaptive behavior is through a third-party respondent, although many difficult measurement issues arise in such assessments. by. As a result, they often rely on generic, one-size-fits-all strategies, such as appealing to an authority, rather than adjusting their strategies in accordance with situational demands. Edger Doll produced form board speeded performance tests, which were analogues to everyday vocational tasks. Several studies have shown significant and meaningful correlations between the BDI and other measures of cognitive, adaptive, language, and social functioning, with samples of children with and without disabilities (Bailey et al., 1998). If it is assumed that maladaptive behavior ratings should not contribute to diagnostic decisions about adaptive functioning, then problems in their measurement need not affect this process. A marked limitation is not represented by the number of areas in which social functioning is impaired, but rather by the overall degree of interference in a particular area or combination of areas of functioning. In fact, only one adaptive behavior test manual provides data that would be useful for answering this question. In this fashion, the assessment of social-cognitive processes can become part of a more comprehensive approach to individual assessment that includes information from informants about day-to-day behavior, as well as direct assessment of skills of a social-cognitive nature. Typically these measures are structured in terms of factors, domains, and subdomains or scales. Some (e.g.,Valdivia, 1999) have suggested that age norms are arbitrary and reflect white, middle-class childrearing standards, and that developmental attainments are affected by culturally different skills and expectations. The social-cognitive processes and the approaches that are used to measure them can also inform and enrich the interviews that examiners conduct with individuals with mild mental retardation and other informants. The focus is on the ability of the individual to function independently, with minimal external supports, by adjusting his or her behavior in a self-guided fashion to meet varied situational demands and expectations. However, depending on the age range of adult participants without disabilities sampled during norming studies, the ceiling (i.e., the highest level of behavioral performance assessed) may differ across scales and may affect the characterization of the degree of delay manifested. Other scales permit someone to help the person answer questions that cannot be answered without assistance. Current measures evidence acceptable interrater and test-retest reliability, with consistency scores at levels of .90 and above (seldom at a level below .80) for clinical and normative subgroups, partitioned by age and clinical variables. Each request for ABT must include an assessment involving the use of a standardized assessment (for example, Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program [VB-MAPP], the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale [Vineland], the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule [ADOS], etc.). In the definitions that imply a multifactor construct, deficits in adaptive behavior must be specified in a certain number of areas/domains. Division 33 makes it clear that the presence of clinically significant maladaptive behavior does not meet the criterion of significant limitations in adaptive functioning (Jacobson & Mulick, 1996). The CBC differentiates between internalizing (e.g., withdrawal, diminished interests, depressive affect) and externalizing (e.g., aggression against peers or adults, property destruction) behavior problems that may be consistent with a mental disorder (see also Borthwick-Duffy et al., 1997; Fidler et al., 2000; Hodapp et al., 1997). Scales developed subsequently improved on the simple rating format found in the ABS, which contained a finite list of problem behaviors rated according to the frequency of occurrence. Personal competence model. (1979) concluded from their review of factor analytic studies that adaptive behavior was definitely multidimensional and that the use of a total score would be inappropriate to indicate a general level of adaptation. Also, English language norms may be lower than the typical performance of a same-age child in another culture. Thus, some of the concerns about cultures that are less accepting of mental illness labels than the majority culture are much less relevant to adaptive behavior assessment. If not, diagnosticians would have to consider a profile of adaptive behavior deficits that takes all domain scores into account. In contrast, there is no mention of a standardized score or cutoff point for operationalizing any significant limitations in adaptive behavior, even though it is suggested that one or more instruments be used to assess different domains from one or more reliable independent sources (p. 40). Areas assessed, and information that may be revealed, include areas of communication, daily living skills, community functioning, socialization, self-reliance skills, and motor skills. Smith (1989) cited many problems with the norm tables but concluded the ABI could contribute some information to the determination of mental retardation. For example, difficulties can develop in mastering basic functional skills (such as talking, walking, or toileting), in learning academic skills and concepts, or in making social and vocational adjustments. At present, a variety of assessment instruments have been employed in research and clinical settings that attempt to capture these individuals' social limitations. Formal Adaptive Behavior Assessments Assessments are used for many different purposes in the K12 educational setting. Adaptive behaviors include real-life skills such as grooming, getting dressed, avoiding danger, safe food handling, following school rules, managing money, cleaning, and making friends. The Adaptive Behavior: Street Survival Skills Questionnaire (SSSQLinkenhoker & McCarron, 1983) was designed to assess adaptive behavior in youth from age 9 years and adults with mild to moderate mental retardation. Since other norms should be used for determining a diagnosis of mental retardation, according to the manual, this should not be a problem in the current SSA context. Newer adaptive behavior scales evidence more robust psychometric properties than older scales. Assessments. The ABS-S:2 has excellent interrater reliability. Example: as part of a course, expecting each senior to complete a research paper that is graded for content and style, but is also assessed for advanced ability to locate and evaluate Web-based information (as part of a college-wide outcome to demonstrate information literacy). Cognitive Profile. Useful score scales and appropriate norms are vital features of adaptive behavior instruments used in diagnostic decisions. Doll emerged as a leader in the development of a psychometric measure of adaptive behavior, called social maturity at that time. Professionals call this life skills social competence, or adaptive behavioral functioning. The greater the severity of the mental disabilities, generally the higher the incidence of behavioral problems. Mental Retardation: Determining Eligibility for Social Security Benefits. Auty and colleagues (1987) have found positive correlations between subtest scores on the TICE and supervisor-rated work skills, self-reported job satisfaction, and worker productivity among adults with mild mental retardation. Manuals for the major adaptive behavior scales encourage the use of multiple informants, for example, teachers and parents. He suggested that the SSSQ could provide useful data when combined with the results of other comprehensive tests. For this reason, some manuals recommend that clinicians fully explore the nature of tasks that the focal person performs that may be age typical (e.g., Sparrow et al., 1984a). The VABS is available in interview, parent/caregiver rating scale, and teacher rating scale forms, with the former two being applicable for adults up to 90 years of age. To the extent that low income or very low income is more common among certain ethnic minority groups, however, differences in developmental trajectories for children may reflect differences in childrearing practices and stimulation that are associated with economic and social class and related levels of parental education (Hart, 2000; Hart & Risley, 1992; Walker et al., 1994). As Switzky et al. These data are presented in Chapter 5. Checklists may add valuable information and insights, but they are seldom solely sufficient for diagnostic purposes. For example, a percentile rank of 41 indicates that the examinee scored higher than (or the same as) 41% of the age-matched norm . Getting dressed 4. The issues of cross-cultural, racial, ethnic, and subcultural biases are of concern to some who view many aspects of adaptive functioning as culturally determined (Boyle et al., 1996; Valdivia, 1999for a general discussion see the section Sociocultural Biases). In the committee's view, adaptive behavior is an essential component of the mental retardation diagnostic construct, and all agencies contemplating mental retardation diagnoses should give consideration to adaptive behavior. This consensus rests on the accumulated wisdom in the field of mental retardation, including the fact that adaptability in meeting the demands of everyday living was fundamental to conceptions of mental retardation long before effective tests of intellectual functioning were developed. Here are some examples of activities early childhood teachers can implement to develop motor skills. Adaptive behavior is generally not a mental health issue, since the focus is on developing positive behaviors, rather than deficits. Review of the extensive literature on adaptive behavior and its assessment suggests that adaptive behavior is best viewed as a multidimensional construct. For example, individuals with very high adaptive performance may be impatient with red tape, resistance to change and organizations that prioritize group harmony over performance. It also differs from other adaptive behavior scales because it is administered as a test directly to the individual and, as such, does not measure typical performance in real life. Haring (1992) found this to be an advantage in terms of its excellent reliability but noted that there were concerns about validity. How it works: Someone who knows the child well fills out a questionnaire or answers questions about him. Adaptive behavior is behavior that is positive and functional to the individual. Thus, characteristics of the factor structure of a measure of adaptive behavior have important implications for diagnosis. Toileting 3. However, depending on the functional domain and the measure, many people with a diagnosis of mild mental retardation do not have adaptive delays or limitations to this degree. This allows the rater to obtain a complete picture of the adaptive functioning of the person being assessed. Developers have addressed this issue through several strategies: (1) assessing the interrater and test-retest reliabilities of measures, (2) providing instructions to raters for coding items (e.g., Sparrow et al., 1984a), and (3) specifying training for clinicians and preparation of raters (e.g., Bruininks et al., 1996). This leads to some unique problems with these measures. (1991) and Widaman and McGrew (1996) concluded that evidence supported a hierarchical model with four distinct domains: (1) motor or physical competence; (2) independent living skills, daily living skills, or practical intelligence; (3) cognitive competence, communication, or conceptual intelligence; and (4) social competence or social intelligence. Some data suggest that ceiling and developmental range effects hinder the full description of skill assets for some individuals with mild mental retardation. The DSM-IV definition identifies four levels of mental retardation based on IQ: mild, moderate, severe, and profound. SOURCE: Data from Harrison & Oakland (2000b, p. 89). Greenspan (1999) also has argued for many years that the presence of maladaptive behavior, or mental illness, is irrelevant for the purpose of diagnosing of mental retardation. Thus, social-cognitive assessment increases the likelihood of making accurate diagnostic and disability determination decisions by increasing the pool of information available to an examiner regarding an individual's functional limitations, while simultaneously reducing the risk of false positive decisions. Mastery assessments typically involve direct testing of a person with a set of tasks administered under standardized conditions that permit comparisons to norms or to absolute standards for performance. For example, some instruments permit more than one respondent to answer different items, depending on which respondent is most knowledgeable about the behavior (Adams, 2000). A widely used technique, which was first employed by Spivack and Shure (1974), is to present the individual with a story describing a social problem, as well as a particular strategy that the protagonist might use to resolve the problem. This chapter has discussed problems with item and score scale floors and ceilings, item sampling in relation to the behaviors that are most problematic at different developmental periods, item density, reliability of informants, and validity of informants. SSA guidelines further clarify the intent and nature of activities of daily living and social functioning for adults, and personal functioning for younger and older children, closely paraphrased below: The overall correspondence of several adaptive behavior measures to the content within the functional areas that are considered in ascertaining marked limitations is shown in Table 4-2. The World Health Organization (1996) also includes a definition of mental retardation in its International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). Another concern was whether one may obtain a comprehensive picture of overall adaptation to the natural environment, because some skills could not be tested using the SSSQ's multiple-choice picture format. Adaptive behavior has been fundamental to conceptions of mental retardation at least since the early 19th century (Doll, 1936a, 1967). Multidimensional or Unidimensional? Generally, adaptive. Adaptive behavior scales were seldom used as components of assessment batteries. (1995) found that only 13 percent of respondents in the sample of clinical psychologists engaged in ability testing as part of their clinical practice, but 66 percent engaged in intellectual assessment. The TICE, which is commercially available, consists of two subtests that assess the individual's ability to evaluate strategies in relation to the situational demands of two distinct social interaction contexts common in work settings: interaction with coworkers and interaction with supervisors. The distinction between maximum performance and typical performance assessments might be illustrated with some common adaptive behavior items. Some organizations are too rigid for adaptive performers such that they are likely to leave. 8 Special Education Assessments Find out about what tests are used to diagnose or help students with special needs. . Adaptive behavior measures differ regarding the use of typical or maximum performance methods. During the 1920s, Doll, Kuhlmann, and Porteus sought to develop assessment practices consistent with a definition of mental retardation that emphasized adaptive behavior and social competence. Greenspan and Driscoll (1997) proposed a dual nature of competence. They suggest that intelligence, as measured by IQ, is typically viewed as an independent variable that predicts outcomes, whereas personal competence is the combination of what individuals bring to various goals and challenges as well as their relative degree of success in meeting those goals and challenges (p. 130). It does not require specific or graduate training to complete. Instead, it may be possible to establish only that their skills are superior to those achieved by other young adults with mild mental retardation, and they may sometimes fall in the normal range of performance of similar age peers. Perceptions of others are typically measured by sociometric ratings and behavior rating scales. What is adaptive Behaviour assessment? Factor analyses of existing measures finds consistent domains of functioning. Formal Adaptive Behavior Assessments Assessments are used for many different purposes in the K-12 educational setting. The assessment of adaptive behavior became a formal part of the diagnostic nomenclature for mental retardation with the publication of the 1959 manual of the American Association of Mental Deficiency (Heber, 1959, distributed in 1961). The instrument must be appropriate to the age of the client and the client's approximate functioning level. The Social Skills Rating System, described below, is a behavior rating scale that was developed to provide this information for students. One concern that emerged over time was that it was developed and normed for use with children and youth. There are two versions of the Adaptive Behavior Scales (ABS)a school version (ABS-S:2Lambert et al., 1993a) and a residential and community version (ABS-Residential and Community, ABS-RC:2 Nihira et al., 1993). That is, current science suggests that there are various domains of behavior that form the construct of adaptive behavior. For the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (Harrison & Oakland, 2000a), the norming groups for 5- to 21-year-olds included 1,670 (parent form) to 1,690 (teacher form) children; for 16- to 89-year-olds, the norming groups included 920 (rated by others) to 990 (self-report) adults without disabilities throughout the United States. These concerns are heightened when informants have a stake in the outcome of the assessment (e.g., when responses may affect eligibility for services). (1996) put it, relatively immature, as opposed to deviant, social behavior has always been the central distinguishing feature of this disability (pp. form to factor analysis results. This means that within any one subscale of an adaptive behavior scale, for example, there may be only one or two items typical of performance for a 10-year-old. These areas include social-cognitive and social skill assessmentwith a specific focus on social cognitive processes of social perception, strategy generation, and consequential thinkingand vocational and work-related skills assessment with prognostic value. Is adaptive behavior a set of abilities and skills useful in coping with environmental demands that are mastered by the individual? They also found that it was not the selection of the instrument that determined the number of factors. The DSM-IV definition places a greater emphasis than the Division 33 one on intelligence than on adaptive behavior, defining mental retardation as significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning accompanied by significant limitations in adaptive functioning (p. 39). Gifted Testing. Consequently, they have difficulty evaluating which potential strategy is best to enact in a particular situation (Hickson et al., 1998; Jenkinson & Nelms, 1994). In recent years, existing operational definitions of adaptive behavior and techniques for measuring adaptive behavior have been criticized as being inadequate for determining the presence of significant limitations in individuals with mild mental retardation. Comparative research examining the relationship between minority status and pronounced delays that are not accounted for by socioeconomic factors is also limited. This scale is the Psychiatric Assessment Schedule for Adults with Developmental Disability or PASS-ADD (Moss et al., 1996, 1998, 2000; Prosser et al., 1998). To be able to know that, one must observe the behavior and explain how their behavior could change when given a negative or a positive outcome. The former, mastery, suggests assessing what people can do, whereas the latter suggests assessing what people typically do. Measures of behavioral functioning or responsiveness of children younger than 36 months have not been strengths of many adaptive behavior measures. Limitations in present functioning must be considered within the context of community environments typical of the individual's age, peers, and culture. For the Comprehensive Test of Adaptive Behavior-R (Adams, 2000), the norming sample represented four of five U.S. regions (excluding the West) and included a nonschool sample of 4,456 people with mental retardation ages 10 to 60+ years and a school sample of 2,094 children and adolescents with mental retardation ages 5 to 22, and a sample of 4,525 children and adolescents without mental retardation ages 5 to 22. What are examples of adaptive behaviors? In their review of child assessment practices of psychologists, Kamphaus et al. In a national survey of school psychologists, only three scales were found to be in wide use for diagnosis: the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, the Scales of Independent Behavior, and the AAMR Adaptive Behavior Scale-School Edition (Stinnett et al., 1994). However, a maladaptive behavior is quite different from adaptive behavior. The frequency of performance can be classified along a dimension from never to usually or always. The number of choice points varies by specific instrument or by the variation in the clinical interpretation of the assessor when a formal assessment instrument is not used. (Chapter 3 provides details on the development of intelligence assessment.). The Independent Living Scales (ILSLoeb, 1996) were designed to assess the degree to which older adults are capable of caring for themselves (i.e., functional competence). The primary use of adaptive behavior scales in the classification of mental retardation has frequently been confirmatory (i.e., to confirm that a low IQ is associated with delayed acquisition or manifestation of everyday personal and social competencies). Among the very large number of adaptive behavior scales on the market, very few have adequate norms and reliability to diagnose mental retardation in people with IQs in the questionable range (e.g., 60-80). There is a much larger number of scales that do not have extensive norms but may nonetheless be suitable as a means of gathering and summarizing information that can be assessed on a clinical basis. The ABAS-3 combines all-new norms with updated item content to create the leading adaptive skills assessment. In 1936, he introduced the Vineland Social Maturity Scale (VSMSDoll, 1936b), a 117-item instrument. Does the person recognize that a social problem has occurred? These assessment instruments, which have been useful in instructional contexts, can also be valuable for the evaluation of an individual's eligibility for SSA services. . In their most recent classification system (American Association on Mental Retardation, 1992), AAMR defines mental retardation as subaverage intellectual functioning existing concurrently with limitations in adaptive skills. The implicit rationale for not providing any statistical criteria for adaptive behavior testing is based on the existing limitations in instruments that measure adaptive behavior, specifically in terms of the comprehensiveness of measuring all domains and the reliability of measuring individual domains. The other consists of a person who also knows the individual being assessed well but who independently completes a checklist of specific items without assistance. A number of factors and descriptive categories of behavioral development must be represented adequately in order to ensure comprehensiveness and documentation of both strengths and limitations for clinical and diagnostic purposes. In addition, social-cognitive assessment can also be helpful in establishing that an individual's social problems are indeed a manifestation of an underlying cognitive impairment (in accordance with standard definitions of mental retardation), rather than primarily reflecting other factors, such as environmental constraints or motivational characteristics. These include such considerations as interviewing informants in their primary language and dialect, and the comparability of translations of items in adaptive behavior scales to particular languages and dialects, including dialects in English (e.g., American and British). National Research Council (US) Committee on Disability Determination for Mental Retardation; Reschly DJ, Myers TG, Hartel CR, editors. In addition to summarizing adaptive behavior status for the purposes of diagnosis and establishing SSI and DI eligibility, some adaptive behavior scales, such as the AAMR Adaptive Behavior Scales (both school and residential or community versions) and the Scales of Independent Behavior permit the recording of maladaptive behavior. The surgeon general's report emphasizes that more research is needed to better understand how, when, and if culture affects interview-based assessments. By contrast, maladaptive behaviors. In addition, there is a strong need to fund studies examining the nature and distribution of adaptive behavior deficits among individuals with mental retardation in general and those with mild mental retardation more specifically. Overall, the construct of social cognition represents the cognitive aspects of social functioning. Does the person accurately interpret others' emotions and intentions on the basis of the available cues? Reliabilities are initially assessed at the item level and then at the scale and factor levels. Although it had extensive field testing before publication, formal reviews are not yet available. Connect with AAIDD on Social Media Floor and ceiling effects are also evident as developmental range effects. The 1961 manual (Heber, 1961) discussed adaptive behavior with respect to maturation, learning, and social adjustment. Indeed, this latter approach is consistent with guidance already noted from the Social Security Administration. The classroom form of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Sparrow & Cicchetti, 1985) does not include a section on maladaptive behavior, which also suggests that these authors viewed measures of problem behavior as irrelevant to diagnosis or eligibility. Adult norming samples are often included as well, but they tend to consist of people with already identified disabilities. Interpretation should focus on the composite score or, perhaps, implement the AAMR classification criterion of deficits in two or more adaptive skills areas. This facilitates the early identification of preschool children at risk of mental retardation and permits confirmation of persisting developmental delays. Because adaptive behavior scales are designed with applicability for a wide age range but with primary emphasis on childhood and adolescence, some items may not be suitably worded or may not reflect a performance that is age-relevant. A landscape filled with wildebeest will give easy pickings for large animals. It may, however, be useful for identifying some of the issues likely to arise in setting a specific numeric cutoff point. In fact, semistructured interviews require the highest level of professional expertise, as the questioning and interpretation of answers requires a high level of training. Social-emotional assessments are needed when a child or teenager has problems with anxiety, anger, sadness, or has difficulty interacting with peers, teachers, or parents. Specifically, a comprehensive adaptive behavior assessment should include information obtained from: 1. Stinnett (1997) matched ABS items to the 10 adaptive skill areas in the AAMR definition and found that some skill areas are addressed in depth by the ABS (social skills and self-care domains), while others have too few items to give reliable estimates (home living, health and safety, leisure). It is possible that the use of these measures is diminishing in local educational agencies, with increasing emphasis on specific educational classification in many states. 2. The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales are undergoing revision, and a new edition should be available within one to two years. Research with children and adolescents with mental retardation has found that they also have difficulty integrating information from multiple cues in order to interpret a social situation (Brosgole et al., 1986; Doman, 1967; Gomez & Hazeldine, 1996; Leffert & Siperstein, 1996; Leffert et al., 2000; Maheady et al., 1984). The VSMS, which measured performance of everyday activities, was the primary measure used to assess adaptive behavior, social competence, or social maturity for several decades. In balancing these factors, item density, that is, the inclusion of multiple items reflecting age-typical performance at a range of ages, must be maintained at a fairly uniform level. This test is not administered directly to the child. concluded: No single adaptive-maladaptive behavior assessment instrument completely measures the entire range of adaptive and maladaptive behavior dimensions. Adaptive behavior also includes the ability to work, practice social skills, and take personal responsibility. It is particularly useful for evaluating those with developmental delays, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, learning disabilities, neuropsychological disorders, and sensory or physical impairments.</p> For example, assessments are used during classroom instruction to measure students' learning related to the academic content, and different assessments are used to measure students' overall cognitive, physical, or social . In this section, we discuss a variety of psychometric features of adaptive behavior scales that have implications for decision making about mental retardation. Various measures differ on the degree to which they attempt to assess the can-do and does-do characteristics of adaptive functioning (Adams, 2000; Sparrow et al., 1984a). Of the various social perception assessment instruments that have been developed, the TSI is the instrument that has been used most widely to assess social perception skills in this population (de Jung et al., 1973; Matthias & Nettelbeck, 1992). Individuals with mental retardation often demonstrate difficulties at the most basic level of recognizing specific types of social cues (e.g., recognizing a person's emotional state on the basis of his or her facial expression) (Adams & Markham, 1991; Gumpel & Wilson, 1996; Harris, 1977; Hobson et al., 1989). As the importance of adaptive behavior measures in classification of mental retardation has increased, this concern has been heightened as disproportionate numbers of minority children have been identified as having mental retardation, primarily because of low-income status and the overrepresentation of individuals with mental retardation among low-income people (Boyle et al., 1996). Currently, his research focuses on the association between circadian activity pattern disruptions and depression in older adults, including those who are caregivers for individuals with dementia. SOURCE: Gresham & Elliott (1987). Even in those domains in which the greatest differences in attainment are evident, between 24 and 48 percent of children with mild mental retardation do not have adaptive limitations meeting a standard of marked limitation in those domains (although many may have such limitations in other domains). When subscale scores are aggregated into summary scores, this results in a meaningful number of age-relevant items, although the items sampled in each subscale are limited. These other bits of data could include a review of developmental and social history, direct observation of the individual's behavior, verbal reports from interviews, and the use of the other structured and semistructured interviews. One may think of adaptive behavior as a constellation of skills that allow a person to function effectively every day at home, school, work, and in the community. Nonetheless, it should always be recognized that items in adaptive behavior measures represent a sampling of items that have passed reliability and validity screens, rather than a complete characterization of adaptive behavior. Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales are a valid and reliable test to measure a person's adaptive level of functioning. Factor analysis results do not support the existence of more than one overall ABAS general factor. Notably, adaptive behaviors include grooming . The Adaptive Behavior Evaluation Scale (ABESMcCarney, 1983) and the Parent Rating of Student Behavior (PRSBMcCarney, 1988) are used to identify mental retardation, learning disabilities, behavior disorders, vision or hearing impairments, and physical disabilities in students ages 5 to 21. Behavior . However, available data are sufficient to raise concerns that such issues should be studied further (Bryant et al., 1999; Craig & Tasse, 1999). With regard to the direct assessment of processes, the overarching construct of social cognition has been put forth by developmentalists over the past four decades (e.g., Crick & Dodge, 1994; Dodge, 1986; McFall, 1982; Trower, 1982). The most widely used measures use a typical performance approach involving third-party respondents (Bruininks et al., 1996; Harrison & Oakland, 2000b; Lambert et al., 1993b; Sparrow et al., 1984b), although several differences exist among the response formats for items in these measures. Jacobson & C.S. It also appears that community practitioners, aside from those associated with developmental disabilities clinics or centers or with community developmental disabilities services, may not be well versed in the use and interpretation of adaptive behavior measures or prepared to apply different measures in different situations for different purposes. ADHD Testing. It includes two adult forms, including a self-report and a report by others, and norms that extend well into adulthood. Unlike intelligence tests, which measure maximum performance, adaptive behavior assessment focuses on what the individual typically does. The committee does not recommend any specific list of instruments, but choices should be guided by the reviews of the available instruments in this chapter and the research literature on existing and new instruments. However, children who do meet intellectual and functional criteria for mental retardation also are classified as having disabilities other than mental retardation in some schools and in some cases, and not necessarily consistently so (McCullough & Rutenberg, 1988). McGrew and Bruininks (1989) and Thompson et al. Social-cognitive assessments have already demonstrated their usefulness as a supplement to standard adaptive behavior rating scales. Careful analysis of the appropriateness of the item content and density of specific measures is crucial. + Purpose of Adaptive Behavior Assessment: To confirm or establish a diagnosis To determine if the child is eligible for special education services To identify specific skills that need to be taught to the child for independent living To determine the child's level of functioning in daily tasks required to be successful in the home . But it does seem reasonable, based on clinical experience, that any cutoff scores used should classify a majority of people in this IQ range as having adaptive limitations consistent with mental retardation. A relatively wide age range must be represented. It allows the individual to relieve anxiety. Interview methods recommended for different measures vary from high to low structure. This information may otherwise be lacking because of inadequacies in existing adaptive behavior measures. Research studies in the past decade that employ adaptive behavior measures have used them as outcome measures or to study the structure or dimensions of adaptive behavior, rather than behavioral development. As environments change, people must learn new skills in order continue to meet the environmental demands. Adaptive behavior is the skill set required for a person to care for themselves. Using IQ as a parallel, it might seem that a reasonable cutoff score on an adaptive behavior scale could be a composite score or several scale scores of two standard deviations below the mean (i.e., 2 SD). Although developed for school-age children, this scale may hold promise for adapted use with adults in work settings. The following areas by age should be adopted by SSA: Current science also suggests that several measures of adaptive behavior tap into these domains. (1999), Jacobson and Mulick (1996), Spector (1999), Hill (1999), Test Critiques, test reviews in the Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, and the Mental Measurements Yearbooks for more detailed psychometric information about these and other measures. The Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (Harrison & Oakland, 2000a) is quite new and relatively untested, but its psychometric properties and norms extend to age 89. The committee therefore, makes two major recommendations to SSA: Recommendation: Standardized adaptive behavior instruments should be used to determine limitations in adaptive functioning. Student assessment results from formal, standardized assessment tools are often statistically based and can be very difficult for families to understand. Social skills: interpersonal skills . Scores on the revised version of this measure, the CTAB-R, are based on a standardization sample that includes four of five regions of the United States (Adams, 2000). The standardization sample was proportional in demographic characteristics to the 1980 census data. The domains assessed by adaptive behavior scales, and thus the individual items included on them, depend in part on the context, target age group, and purpose of the measure. Copyright 1987 by PRO-ED, Inc. Reprinted with permission. Often, these limitations take the form of poor judgment or social rule violations, rather than markedly maladaptive behavior (Greenspan & Granfield, 1992). In the United States there have been significant concerns about the relationship between ethnicity or racial origin and performance on intelligence tests (Neisser et al., 1996). In an unstructured interview, the clinician applies personal, experience-based clinical norms to the adaptive behavior assessment. Grooming 2. There are some techniques that extend the range of appropriate respondents. For example, assessments are used during classroom instruction to measure students learning related to the academic content, and different assessments are used to measure students overall cognitive, physical, or socialemotional abilities. Both structured and semistructured interviews, when performed by well-trained and experienced clinicians, appear to be the best available safeguard against threats to the reliability and the validity of adaptive behavior assessment. Test publishers use criteria to determine whether professionals and others may purchase testing materials (e.g., protocols, kits, scoring manuals). The ABS-S:2 provides norms only through age 21 and includes some content specifically appropriate for school settings rather than adult environments. Gresham and Elliott (1987) and Greenspan (1999) have argued that social competence has received too little attention in the conceptualization and measurement of adaptive behavior (Figure 4-1). Clinicians may consequently believe adaptive behavior to be less well understood than intelligence. Widaman et al. Hill (1999) also emphasized that behaviors that interfere with a person's daily activities, or with the activities of those around him or her, should be considered maladaptive behavior, not the lack of adaptive behavior. In such instances, if a same-language or same-culture interviewer is not available, the clinician needs to be very aware of such possible miscommunications in order to obtain a valid interview. Moran (2001) concluded that the information in the manual was not adequate to show how students with mental retardation differed from students with other disabilities. Most tests fall short of accomplishing both purposes. Thus, to the extent that a young adult with mild mental retardation has selected skills that are well developed relative to others, it may not be accurate to describe those skills in developmental terms. NOTE: AAMR-ABS = American Association on Mental Retardation Adaptive Behavior Scales-School version (Lambert et al., 1993a); Residential and Community version (Nihira et al., 1993); ABAS = Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (Harrison & Oakland, 2000a); SIB-R = Scales of Independent Behavior-Revised (Bruininks et al., 2000); VABS = Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (Sparrow et al., 1984c). Still another way to extend respondent usefulness has been to permit guessing on items involving behaviors that have not been observed (e.g., Harrison, 1984; Harrison & Oakland, 2000a). This important finding has direct implications for definitions that require limitations to be observed in a specific number of areas. In describing mild mental retardation, there is minimal reference to adaptive behavior problems, except for the inclusion of low academic skill attainment.. Examples include social skills, cleaning, and personal grooming. 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