Adaptive performance is often a trade-off with other traits such as patience. These score patterns also suggest that if a criterion of 1.0 to 1.5 SD was adopted as a cutoff point for each of several limitations in different domains, a much smaller percentage of people would be excluded from eligibility. Full details on standardization and reliabilities are provided in the manuals associated with the major adaptive behavior scales (Adams, 2000; Bruininks et al., 1996; Harrison & Oakland, 2000b; Lambert et al., 1993b; Sparrow et al., 1984b; see also Harrington, 1985). A number of well-known, often unintentional, response sets are especially applicable to the more structured third-party respondent measures and, to a lesser extent, the less structured approaches (Anastasi & Urbina, 1997; Cronbach, 1990; Sattler, 1988, 1990). Under ideal circumstances, adaptive behavior measures should be administered in an examinee's or informant's primary language. Both legislative action and judicial decisions at the federal level have focused on concerns that parents may misinform clinicians regarding their children's skills in order to obtain SSI benefits. Is adaptive behavior the consistency with which an individual performs various skills in coping with environmental demands? Informed judgments are required about using an adaptive behavior instrument in the evaluation of SSA eligibility based on a diagnosis of mental retardation. Children with mild mental retardation were most likely to have adaptive behavior skills consistent with marked limitation (e.g., 2 SDs) in the domains of functional academics, communication, and community use. 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). Unlike the area of social perception, there is no single instrument for assessing strategy generation in individuals with mental retardation. Aggressive could mean that she hits, bites, yells, or displays other forms of aggression. By the close of the 19th century, medical practitioners diagnosing mental retardation relied on subjective or unsystematic summaries of such factors as age, general coordination, number of years behind in school, and physiognomy (Scheerenberger, 1983). Social cognition encompasses such constructs as social problem solving (Spivack & Shure, 1974), decision making (Hickson & Khemka, 1999), and social and emotional learning (Elias et al., 1997). Manuals for the major adaptive behavior scales encourage the use of multiple informants, for example, teachers and parents. . 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 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. One must consider not only general competencies across relevant domains but also the level, quality, and fluency of those behaviors. The term concurrently suggests an interdependent relationship in which both constructs are equally important. The skills needed to make a call today are very different from the skills that were required 20 years ago. Several other tests have been widely used and have many positive features but do not have the same reputation. As a result, they may become less available for use in disability determinations. For example, the ABAS is organized into 9 or, depending on age, 10 adaptive skills areas, clearly reflecting the 1992 AAMR manual on classification (American Association on Mental Retardation, 1992), which also identified 10 adaptive skills areas. . 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. 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). It also allows for reconciliation of ratings among these informants. A second limitation of this scale is that the standardization sample was limited to the state of Florida. The proportion of children from homes with low socioeconomic status was lower than that in the census data. Principal Comprehensive Adaptive Behavior Measures and Their Characteristics. The subscales are similar to general adaptive behavior scales, but there is a greater emphasis on skills required to function in community settings than on basic adaptive skills. At the same time, it has been noted that use of adaptive behavior measures in the process of identifying children with mild mental retardation, especially, may be forgone in many schools because the academic failures or behavioral problems that prompt teacher referral of students, in and of themselves, may be considered valid indicators of limitations, deficits, or delays in adaptive behavior (McCullough & Rutenberg, 1988). This is usually a parent or teacher. 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. 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. 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). 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. The BDI has well-documented reliability and validity, with norms based on a nationally representative sample of children (Harrington, 1985; Oehler-Stinnett, 1989). Greenspan (1999) argues that the victimization of people with mental retardation, observed in social and economic exploitation, is a more central (and generally more subtle) problem that goes to the heart of why people with mental retardation are considered to need the protections (ranging from in-home services to conservators) associated with the label (p. 69). In addition to the usual considerations attendant on any measure of individuals, special considerations always exist with typical performance measures (Cronbach, 1990). The Adaptive Behavior Assessment System (ABASHarrison & Oakland, 2000a) is the newest of the adaptive behavior measures that has sound psychometric properties. Adaptive behavior is behavior that is positive and functional to the individual. <p>Adaptive Behavior Assessment System Third Edition (ABAS-3) gives a complete picture of adaptive skills across the lifespan. The committee has identified several measures that would be useful in disability determination for mental retardation. These three processes occupy a prominent place in most theoretical models of social cognition (e.g., Crick & Dodge, 1994; Gumpel, 1994; Leffert & Siperstein, in press; McFall, 1982). These include clinical assessment by interview methods (unstructured, structured, semistructured, direct observation), usually with the aid of clinical instruments that are completed by the evaluator during the interview, and the use of checklists that are completed either by an observer or by the individual being assessed. 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). Adaptive behavior also includes the ability to work, practice social skills, and take personal responsibility. Areas assessed, and information that may be revealed, include areas of communication, daily living skills, community functioning, socialization, self-reliance skills, and motor skills. It is crucial that people conducting or interpreting adaptive assessments take these problems into account. Purpose of Behavioral Assessment. Children with special needs might be delayed in these areas. Correspondence Between SSI Classification Domains and Domains or Subdomains in Prominent Adaptive Behavior Measures. Typically these measures are structured in terms of factors, domains, and subdomains or scales. In general, the cutoff scores for adaptive behavior should be one standard deviation below the mean in two adaptive behavior areas or one and one-half standard deviations below the mean in one adaptive behavior area. Consequently, several features must be balanced. For example, the SIB-R has four factors (Motor Skills, Social Interaction and Communication Skills, Personal Living Skills, and Community Living Skills) that are combined to yield a Broad Independence score. This chapter contains material drawn from an unpublished paper commissioned by the committee from Sharon Borthwick-Duffy, Ph.D., University of California, Riverside. 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). Adaptive behavior is generally not a mental health issue, since the focus is on developing positive behaviors, rather than deficits. The three most common dimensions found were in these broad categories: (1) personal independence, (2) responsibility, i.e., meeting expectations of others or getting along with others in social contexts, and (3) cognitive/academic. 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. This use may result from concerns among clinicians about the robustness of adaptive behavior measures. 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). 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). Notably, adaptive behaviors include grooming . Among these four definitions, there is little variation in the intelligence construct for individuals with mental retardation. PDF. However, because several adaptive behavior scales contain maladaptive components, it is worth noting important challenges to reliable measurement. The Batelle Developmental Inventory (BDINewborg et al., 1984) is a developmental scale, rather than an adaptive behavior scale, and is appropriate for children from birth to age 8 (Spector, 1999). 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). Individuals or third-party respondents are asked to indicate their usual feelings or behaviors, not their best or most positive feelings or behaviors. The former, mastery, suggests assessing what people can do, whereas the latter suggests assessing what people typically do. Because standard scores and percentile ranks do not indicate standing relative to people without developmental disabilities, and because the norming sample is probably not representative of the population of adults with developmental disabilities, the ABS-RC:2 may not fit the psychometric criteria used in determining a diagnosis of mental retardation according to AAMR requirements (American Association on Mental Retardation, 1992). The ABS-S:2 has excellent interrater reliability. The instrument's structure must guide interpretation. Also, English language norms may be lower than the typical performance of a same-age child in another culture. Based on the ratio of marked deficits in the two groups (column 4), children with mild mental retardation were much more likely to have deficits in functional academics (especially), self-care, and community use and more likely to have deficits in social, self-direction, school living, and communication than children without mental retardation. Taken together, these findings suggest that the primary cadre of psychologists with experience and expertise in the use of adaptive behavior measures, those who are most likely to use them in assessment and classification of mental retardation, consists of school-based practitioners. As previously noted, primary concerns in the use of adaptive behavior scales in eligibility determination decisions center on informant bias. There are vast differences in how the third-party respondent reports on the adaptive behaviors of a client, particularly in the structure for the interview. This table is a useful means to summarize and illustrate the detailed description of adaptive functioning that meets listing criteria, which are required to establish eligibility for SSI and DI. Refusal to perform a task that a person is capable of doing is also a reflection of problem behavior and should not be considered in relation to adaptive behavior. As social cognition has matured as a research discipline, researchers have developed methodologies for assessing social-cognitive processes and have demonstrated the usefulness of these methodologies for detecting the limitations that individuals with mild mental retardation exhibit in their ability to adapt to changing social situations. Standard score scales are preferred for these comparisons. Administration of adaptive behavior scales generally follows one of two possible formats. Novel frameworks for conceptualization of adaptive behavior have been proposed (American Association on Mental Retardation, 1992), and conventional frameworks have been endorsed for application in differential diagnosis and classification practices (Jacobson & Mulick, 1996). It is, however, performance or typical performance that most adaptive measures address. Percentage of People Ages 5-18 Lower Than Two Standard Deviations Below the Mean on the Domains of the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System. No mention is made of the degree of severity of adaptive deficits for each of these levels, nor of the number or types of impaired adaptive behavior domains at each level. The initial, and probably primary, application of adaptive behavior scales in clinical practice has been to assess the behavioral development of children thought to have mental retardation. There is considerable overlap in adaptive behavior attainment among children with mild mental retardation and matched peers. Following are examples of adaptive behaviors. At the workplace, for example, overdependence on the strategy of appealing to a supervisor, regardless of the nature of the problem, can be a problem in creating tension with peers or in creating a perception that the person cannot function autonomously in a work setting. These findings are also evident in analyses of other adaptive behavior scale data (Jacobson, 1997) and client registry or population data sets (Jacobson, 1992; Larson et al., 2000; Lubin et al., 1982). 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). Other scales permit someone to help the person answer questions that cannot be answered without assistance. In the recent Manual of Diagnosis and Professional Practice in Mental Retardation (Jacobson & Mulick, 1996), Division 33 of the American Psychological Association put forth a definition of mental retardation that emphasizes significant limitations in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior. 7-8). form to factor analysis results. Our review of the practice literature reveals that adaptive behavior scales are in wide use by some groups of clinicians. 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 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. These measures have excellent psychometric properties, with reliabilities of about .90. 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. 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, individuals with very high adaptive performance may be impatient with red tape, resistance to change and organizations that prioritize group harmony over performance. Some organizations are too rigid for adaptive performers such that they are likely to leave. 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). A landscape filled with wildebeest will give easy pickings for large animals. Additional discussion is provided in Chapter 3. Another method is to ask a third-party respondent (e.g., a parent or teacher) either very general questions about communication skills, a more specific question about telephone use, or a direct question like Does Edouard find a number by looking it up in a telephone book? As a general rule, skills can be measured directly with greater accuracy, reliability, and validity than performance. 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