Adaptive Behavior

"the effectiveness or degree with which the individual meets the standard of personal independence and social responsibility"

Part of the definition of mental retardation.

Critical to determination of level of mental handicap (mild/moderate/severe/profound) (levels of support).

Edgar Doll (1935)-Vineland Social Maturity Scale

Competencies denotated by this term have been subject of considerable interest and research throughout 20th century.

Adaptive behavior should be central issue in all evaluations with students who have developmental disabilities.

Adaptive Behavior should be a central theme in programming for students with developmental disabilities.

Progress in social competencies should be closely monitored and programs should be changed to ensure acquisition of social competence.

Adaptive behavior measure are useful for:

1. determining level of disability
2. identifying skills mastered and not mastered.
3. develop objectives
4. monitor impact of interventions
5. assess progress
6. evaluate outcomes
7. program evaluation

Similarities in conception of Adaptive Behavior

• every conception is developmental-different criteria for different ages, all criteria for earlier ages included in later ages, hierarchical structure
• emphasis on environmental conditions or cultural condition-opportunities to develop skills/behavior dependent on sociocultural factors (e.g. traffic lights, crossing street)
• general agreement on domains of behavior

Differences in conceptions of Adaptive Behavior

1. importance of underlying cognitive competencies-some relatively ignore this, some ask directly (how the question is asked, Does Egbert go tot he store and purchase things using money? vs. Given a set of coins can Egbert make change for a purchase of a particular amount?)
2. Purpose--program planning/intervention, eligibility (usually good for one but not both)
3. Setting-in school, outside of school, both
4. Preferred respondent-parent vs. teacher
5. Method of measurement-use of third party respondents vs direct observation or direct interview
6. Domains of behavior to be included-some common domains appear in all-others (i.e., motor skills, maladaptive behavior) only found in some scales

Minnesota Domains

1. Independent Functioning

• most widely accepted component
• every scale has one or more sets of items dealing with it
• toileting, feeding, dressing, avoiding danger, health/safety, mobility, travel, consumer skills, emergencies,leisure time, degree of need for supervision

2. Social Functioning

• almost all scales include these items (interpersonal, getting along with others)
• behaviors vary with age, cultural group, setting, role
• appropriate attention to others, acceptable orienting and posturing responses, acceptable effort to communicate, expressing feelings, recognition of needs, feeling for others, avoidance of obnoxious behavior, situational appropriateness
• scales vary greatly in degree of emphasis
• some scales include maladaptive behavior

3. Functional Academic competencies

• difference in degree and way of assessing academic abilities
• fundamental literacy skills, knowledge of concepts of time and numbers
• different than performance on academic achievement test-"Is skill adequate for personal independence and social responsibility?

4. Vocational/Occupational competencies

• knowledge about careers and work
• appropriate attitudes and values
• specific skills associated with job or career
• Vineland-subcale of job skills is very limited

Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales

• Interview Edition, Survey Form-norm-referenced (297 items)
• Interview Edition, Expanded Form-norm referenced and criterion-referenced (577 items)
• Classroom Edition

Domains

• communication
• daily living skills
• socialization
• motor skills
• maladaptive behavior (optional)

Scales of Independent Behavior (SIB)

• comprehensive measure of adaptive and maladaptive behavior
• birth-adult
• part of Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-educational Battery
• norm-referenced assessment-age equivalent, percentile rank, standard scores
• administered as a structured interview using easel format
• similar to other formats of Woodcock-Johnson
• respondent can simultaneously read the item and rating scale
• maladaptive component
• SIB and VABS use identical domains with similar # of subdomains
• placement of various skills (e.g., functional academics varies considerably between the instruments
• ceiling effects
• reliability-good
• feasibility-well structured, convenient assessment, trained interviewers are required, complicated score transformations, good for classification/placement

Checklist of Adaptive Living Skills (CALS)

 

• Criterion-referenced, individually administered measure (infants to mature adults)
  • Tool for program planning
    • Determine instructional needs
    • Develop individualized training objectives
    • Monitor progress of learners
    • Can be used:
      • each time the learner's long-term goals are evaluated
      • each time learner experiences major change in environment
      • each time there is need to select new or different skill areas for evaluation
•  
  • 800 specific adaptive behaviors
  • Four domains
    • Personal living skills
    • Home living skills
    • Community living skills
    • Employment skills
  • Broad domains subdivided into 24 specific skills modules
  • Items arranged in order of progressive difficulty