Adaptive Behavior and Skills: Professional Standards, Assessment, and Uses

1
Adaptive Behavior and Skills Professional
Standards, Assessment, and Uses

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Conceptual Foundations of Adaptive Skills
Assessment
3
Adaptive skills assessment has been important in
a data-based, decision-making model of
psychological, educational, social, and
rehabilitative services. A data-based,
decision-making model is applicable for

• assessing daily functional adaptive skills
• identifying deficits or problems in adaptive
  skills
• designing and implementing interventions for
  increasing adaptive skills
• monitoring the effectiveness of adaptive skill
  interventions

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An emphasis on adaptive skills, not merely the
more general concept of adaptive behavior, is
needed to better promote functional development.
5
Adaptive skills comprise everyday competence.

• Adaptive skills are defined as practical,
  everyday skills needed to function and meet the
  demands of one's environment, including the
  skills necessary to effectively and independently
  take care of oneself and to interact with other
  people.

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Professional Standards Governing Adaptive
Assessment
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Adaptive skills have been closely tied to mental
retardation.

• Deficits in adaptive skills, in addition to
  subaverage intelligence, have been included as
  part of definitions of mental retardation by the
  AAMR, DSMIV, and IDEA.

8
The 1992 definition of mental retardation from
the AAMR placed greater emphasis on adaptive
skills than previous AAMR definitions

• Mental retardation refers to substantial
  limitations in present functioning. It is
  characterized by significantly subaverage
  intellectual functioning, existing concurrently
  with related limitations in two or more of the
  following applicable adaptive skill areas
  communication, self-care, home living, social
  skills, community use, self-direction, health and
  safety, functional academics, leisure, and work.
  Mental retardation manifests before age 18
  (AAMR, 1992, p. 5).

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Mental retardation is a disability characterized
by significant limitations both in intellectual
functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed
in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive
skills. This disability originates before age 18.
Mental Retardation is a disability characterized
by significant limitations both in intellectual
functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed
in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive
skills. This disability originates before age 18.
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Implications of AAMRs 2002 definition of mental
retardation
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Limitations in present functioning must be
considered within the context of community
environments, including schools and homes,
typical of the individuals age peers and
culture.
12
Within an individual, limitations often coexist
with strengths (i.e., studies that examine a
persons pattern of scores is likely to reveal a
persons relative strengths).
13
A persons personal life functioning generally
will improve with appropriate personalized
education and support provided over a sustained
time period.
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Adaptive Behavior is important to Current
Neuropsychological Approaches

• lesion guessing game is over due to neuroimaging
  methods
• new focus the impact of cerebral dysfunction on
  executive and adaptive skills

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Although adaptive skills traditionally have been
associated with mental retardation, adaptive
skills are important for all individuals,
including individuals with disabilities or with
other mental, physical, and social difficulties.
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Adaptive skills should be assessed routinely for
individuals who have difficulties that could
interfere with daily functioning.
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For example, individuals with the following
difficulties may haveproblems with daily
functioning. Adaptive skills assessment may
provide important information for diagnosis and
in planning treatment or other interventions

• developmental delays
• social-emotional disorders
• attention disorders
• behavior disorders
• brain disorders and injuries
• sensory or motor impairment
• learning disorders and disabilities

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Adaptive Behavior Assessment
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Adaptive skill measures should assess a
comprehensive range of skills. AAMR identifies 10
adaptive skill areas. The ABAS-II assesses these
10 plus motor development.
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Communication

• Speech, language, and listening skills needed for
  communication with other people, including
  vocabulary, responding to questions, conversation
  skills, etc.

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Community Use

• Skills needed for functioning in the community,
  including use of community resources, shopping
  skills, getting around in the community, etc.

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Functional Academics

• Basic reading, writing, mathematics, and other
  academic skills needed for daily, independent
  functioning, including telling time, measurement,
  writing notes and letters, etc.

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Home Living

• Skills needed for basic care of a home or living
  setting, including cleaning, straightening,
  property maintenance and repairs, food
  preparation, performing chores, etc.

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Health and Safety

• Skills needed for protection of health and to
  respond to illness and injury, including
  following safety rules, using medicines, showing
  caution, etc.

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Leisure

• Skills needed for engaging in and planning
  leisure and recreational activities, including
  playing with others, engaging in recreation at
  home, following rules in games, etc.

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Self-Care

• Skills needed for personal care including eating,
  dressing, bathing, toileting, grooming, hygiene,
  etc.

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Self-Direction

• Skills needed for independence, responsibility,
  and self-control, including starting and
  completing tasks, keeping a schedule, following
  time limits, following directions, making
  choices, etc.

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Social

• Skills needed to interact socially and get along
  with other people, including having friends,
  showing and recognizing emotions, assisting
  others, and using manners.

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Work

• Skills needed for successful functioning and
  holding a part-time or full-time job in a work
  setting, including completing work tasks, working
  with supervisors, and following a work schedule.

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Motor Skills Fine and Gross Motor Development is
included in the ABASII for children ages 05
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The Conceptual skill domain includes Communicat
ion Functional Academics Self-Direction The
Social skill domain includes Social Skills
Leisure The Practical skill domain includes
Self-care Home/School Living
Community Use Health and Safety Work
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Motor skill scores contribute to the General
Adaptive Composite but not to the adaptive
domains.
33
Thus, one can utilize data from each of the 10
adaptive skill areas, three adaptive skill
domains (i.e., Conceptual, Social, and Practical
skills ) and the General Adaptive Composite (GAC).
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Assessment within a data-based, decision-making
model
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Assessment within a data-based, decision-making
model attempts to link assessment with
interventions and other needed services.The use
of assessment to diagnose is not sufficient.
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Traditional and currenttrends in assessment

• Assumptions about behavior
• Traditional Behavior is stable.
• Current Behavior is dynamic.
• Assumptions about focus of assessment
• Traditional Past and present
• Current Present and future

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Assumptions about theassessment process

• TRADITIONAL
• Use paper/pencil
• Test simulated outcomes
• Judge attainment in light of behavioral
  objectives
• Emphasize summative evaluation

• CURRENT
• Use multi-sources, methods, and traits displayed
  in multiple settings
• Test authentic outcomes
• Judge attainment in light of developmental
  outcomes
• Emphasize formative evaluation

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Comprehensive assessment within a data-based,
decision-making model includes

•   Multiple domains
•   Multiple environments
•   Across time
•   Multiple methods
•   Multiple sources of information

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The use of rating scales is just one method of
assessment within a data-based, decision-making
model.
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Rating Scale Advantages

• allow for a comprehensive assessment of a large
  number of adaptive skills
• involve important informants in the assessment
  process.
• obtain information from multiple perspectives and
  multiple sources of information.
• focus on adaptive skills occurring in
  naturalistic settings.
• provide information about what a client actually
  does and how often he or she does it when needed
  at home, school, community, and work settings
• considered to be one of the most valid,
  practical, and efficient techniques for assessing
  adaptive skills.

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Rating Scale Limitations

• Ratings for individual items reflect a summary of
  the relative frequency, rather than exact
  frequency, of the clients skills.
• Ratings reflect respondents standards for skills
  that may differ from respondent to respondent and
  setting to setting.
• Thus, use of multiple respondents assists in
  providing information from different
  perspectives.
• Respondents ratings may be influenced by
  characteristics of the client (e.g., appearance,
  ability, background) other than the trait being
  assessed.
• Ratings reflect the respondents perceptions and
  honesty in communicating these perceptions.

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Selection ofAdaptive Behavior Scales

• There are a number of adaptive behavior scales
  with good psychometric and clinical properties.
• For each individual client, professionals should
  select the instrument(s) in light of a clients
  characteristics and purposes of assessment.

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Overview of the Adaptive Behavior Assessment
SystemII (ABASII)  
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ABASII is based on three sources of information

• A conception of adaptive skills promoted for many
  years by the American Association on Mental
  Retardation (1992, 2002)
• Legal and professional standards applicable to a
  number of special education and disability
  classification systems, such as state special
  education regulations, IDEA (Department of
  Education,1997), and DSMIVTR (2000)
• Research investigating diagnosis and intervention
  for people with various disabilities.

The three sources of information are uniform in
their conclusion that every person requires a
repertoire of skills in order to meet the daily
demands and expectations of his or her
environment.
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General Description

• Assesses the 10 areas of adaptive skills
  specified by AAMR (1992, 2002).
• Measures adaptive skills in the multiple
  environments in which individuals of various ages
  may participate, including home, school,
  community, and work settings.
• Multi-informantProvides separate forms for
  parents, teachers, and adults. Users of the
  instrument may elect to use one or some
  combination of the three rating forms, depending
  on their needs of assessment.

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• Norms for ages 089 were established using large
  standardization samples stratified according to
  1999 and 2000 census data.
• Each form is designed in a checklist format that
  can be completed by a teacher/daycare worker,
  parent, or adult.
• The ABASII can be completed in about 1520
  minutes and scored in about 5 minutes.
• Separate scores are provided for each of the 10
  areas of adaptive skills and three domains,
  facilitating analysis of strength and weakness
  across these areas.
• A General Adaptive Composite also is provided.

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Applications

• To provide a comprehensive, norm-referenced
  assessment of adaptive skills for diagnosis,
  classification, and planning programs.
• To assist in the assessment of individuals with
  known or suspected difficulties in daily adaptive
  skills needed to function effectively in their
  environment, especially individuals with mental
  retardation.
• To assist in the assessment of individuals with
  known or suspected disabilities in other areas,
  including learning, behavior, medical,
  psychological, and neuropsychological disorders.
• To assist in program planning.
• To assist in research, program monitoring, and
  evaluation.

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Parent/Primary Caregiver Form (Ages 05)

• The infant-preschool version of the parent form
  may be completed by parents or other primary-care
  providers of children ages birth to 5 years.
• This form is available in Spanish.

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Parent Form (Ages 521)The school-age version
of the parent form may be completed by parents or
other primary-care providers of children in
grades kindergarten (K)12 or ages 521 years.
This form is available in Spanish.
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Teacher/Day Care Provider Form (Ages 25)The
infant-preschool version of the teacher form may
be completed by teachers, teachers aides,
daycare instructors, and other daycare or
child-care providers of children ages 25 years.
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Teacher Form (Ages 521)The school-age version
of the teacher form may be completed by teachers
or teachers aides of students in grades K12 or
ages 521 years. 
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Adult Form (Ages 1689)There is one rating form
for adults ages 1689 years. It can be completed
by self or others
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The Parent, Teacher, and Adult forms are
completed independently by respondents. Items may
be read to the respondent if he or she does not
have the reading skills to complete the rating
scale independently.
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A respondent typically completes the ABAS-II by
reading the instructions and responding to each
item.
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Some adaptive skills are more important or
observable in some settings and by some
respondents more than others. Thus, the five
forms are designed to assess the adaptive
skills most relevant for the specific setting
and type of respondent.
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The ABAS-II allows you to use one or more
informants, depending on the needs for an
adaptive skills assessment.

• For a school-age child, both the Parent and
  Teacher Forms may be completed to obtain ratings
  from two types of important informants, parents
  and teachers, about the childs daily adaptive
  skills.
• For a 30-year-old client, the Adult Form may be
  completed by three different informants the
  client himself or herself, a family member, and a
  work supervisor or caregiver.

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Select respondents using the following
guidelines. 

• The Parent Form should be completed by parents
  and other primary care-providers. Care-providers
  should be living with the child and familiar with
  the daily activities.
• The Teacher/Day Care Form should be completed by
  teachers and other school personnel. The
  respondent should be familiar with the childs
  adaptive skills in a structured classroom and
  school setting.
• The Adult Form should be completed by informants
  for adults. Informants may include family
  members, supervisors, care-providers, and others
  familiar with the daily activities of the client.
  For higher functioning clients, the respondent
  may be the client himself or herself.

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Respondents generally should have the following
qualifications

• frequent contact with the client, for example,
  almost everyday
• contacts of long duration, for example, several
  hours for each contact
• recent contact, for example, over the past 12
  months
• opportunities to observe the variety of skills
  measured by the ABASII.

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ABAS-II Reliability 
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Internal Consistency

• Reliability coefficients for the GAC are in the
  high.90s for all age groups, ranging from .98 to
  .99.
• Average reliability coefficients of the adaptive
  skill areas across age groups are typically in
  the .90s, ranging from .86 to .97.

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Test-Retest Reliability

• Test-retest reliability coefficients of the GAC
  are all in .90s. The mean GAC scores of the two
  testing (in a 1- to 2-week period) are also very
  consistent, with the mean retest scores slightly
  higher. As expected, the test-retest reliability
  coefficients of 10 adaptive skill areas are
  slightly lower, mainly in .80s to .90s.

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Inter-Rater Reliability Teacher Form-Ratings by
Two Teachers

• Inter-rater reliability coefficients on the GAC
  scores are .91 for students between ages 5 and 9,
  .87 for students between ages 10 and 21, and .89
  for students from all ages. The inter-rater
  reliability coefficients for the adaptive skill
  areas generally were in the .60 to.70s.

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Inter-Rater Reliability Parent Form-Ratings
byBoth Parents

• The inter-rater reliability coefficients on the
  GAC scores are .83 to .85 for both age groups
  (ages 511 and 1221) and the overall sample. The
  inter-rater reliability coefficients for the
  adaptive skill areas generally are in the .60s to
  .70s. 

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Inter-Rater Reliability Adult Form-Ratings
byTwo Adult Informants

• The inter-rater reliability coefficients on the
  GAC scores are .90 without the Work Scale and .93
  with the Work Scale. The inter-rater reliability
  coefficients for the adaptive skill areas
  generally are in the .80s. (Correlations
  corrected for variability in sample).

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Cross-Form ConsistencyParent and Teacher Forms

• The correlation between the teacher and parent
  rating is .70 for GAC. The average scores differ
  by about 1 point. The correlation coefficients
  for the adaptive skill areas generally are in the
  .60s to .70s. Mean scores differ by less than 1
  scaled score.

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Cross-Form ConsistencyAdult Form with
Self-Ratings and Ratings by Other Respondents 

• The correlation between self-ratings and ratings
  by others is .94 for the GAC (without Work Scale)
  and .88 for the GAC (with Work Scale). The
  average scores differ by about 1 point. The
  correlation coefficients for the adaptive skill
  areas generally are in the .80s. Mean scores
  differ by less than 1 scaled score.

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ABASII Validity
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Age Group Differences

• All ABASII items display age differences (i.e.,
  persons who are older tend to display the
  behavior more frequently than those who are
  younger).

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Intercorrelations amongthe adaptive skill areas

• Intercorrelations among the 10 adaptive skill
  areas for the total sample generally are in the
  .60s.

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Summary of Clinical Findings

• The ABAS-II can assist in validly assessing
  individuals with various disabilities and
  disorders.
• Further research is needed with larger samples.
• Assessment of adaptive skills can provide
  important information to a comprehensive
  assessment.
• Information on strengths and weaknesses in
  adaptive skills may provide useful information
  for program planning and monitoring.

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Summary of Clinical Findings

• The ABAS-II has good clinical sensitivity in
  distinguishing (1) some clinical from
  non-clinical groups and (2) individuals with mild
  and moderate levels of mental retardation.
• The mean GACs are significantly lower for
  clinical groups than matched control groups.
• Most clinical cases obtained GACs lt 71.
• Most clinical cases obtained adaptive skill
  scaled cores lt5.

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Summary

• The ABASII provides
• current norms
• norms reflect the racial/ethnic US population
• consistency with current AAMR recommendations re
  diagnosis and treatment
• consistency with DSMIVTR criteria for mental
  retardation
• comprehensive yet rapid assessment of adaptive
  skills
• does not require a parent or teacher interview

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Summary

• The ABASII provides
• a guessing score
• greater coverage of infants, children, and youth
• a computer scoring system that allows score
  profiles to be obtained quickly
• parent and teacher forms in Spanish
• evidence of relationships with the WISCIII,
  WISCIV and WPPSIIII

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ABASs Evaluation (Journal of Psychoeducational
Assessment, 21, 4, 390-396)

• The ABAS provides a truly comprehensive
  assessment of adaptive skills as defined by the
  AAMR and DSM/IV diagnostic criteria.
• The ABAS is psychometrically and theoretically
  sound and can be used with individuals with from
  ages 5-89.
• The standardization sample matches the most
  recent 1999 census data but is limited to
  English-speaking US citizens.

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Evaluation continued

• Although factor analysis and reliability data
  suggest the GAC score is the best representation
  of an individuals adaptive skills, information
  gleaned from the scores in the 10 adaptive skill
  areas can also be used to target specific areas
  in which the individual may need intervention.
• The content, divergent, and convergent validity
  of the ABAS strongly support its use.

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16th MM Yearbook

• Developed from a sound theory and empirical
  methodology
• Validity data are impressive
• Authors should be commended for exploring the
  usefulness of the data for intervention planning
  and progress monitoring
• ABAS-II data could strengthen most comprehensive
  assessments