Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales – 2nd Ed. Bahar Mansur Seton Hall University

Vineland-II: At a Glance Purpose: To measure personal and social skills needed for everyday living from birth to adulthood. Publisher: Pearson Age Range: Birth to 90 years Time to Administer: 20 – 60 minutes Qualification Level: Graduate/post-graduate qualification Price: $388.55 for the Complete Starter Kit Because adaptive behavior refers to an individual's typical performance of the day-to-day activities required for personal and social sufficiency, these scales assess what a person actually does, rather than what he or she is able to do.  Psychologists and other professionals continue to depend on it to identify individuals who have Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, developmental delays, autism spectrum disorders, and other impairments. Not only does Vineland aid in diagnosis, but it gives you valuable information for developing educational and treatment plans.

Vineland-II: Forms 4 Forms: Survey Interview Form Semi-structured interview format Parent/Caregiver Rating Form Expanded Interview Form Teacher Rating Form It is also most closely related to the original VABS which is another version of the Vineland Social Maturity Scale

Vineland-II: Domains Adaptive Behavior Composite An overall assessment of an individual’s level of adaptive behavior Communication Domain How an individual speaks, understands others, and uses written language Motor Skills Domain How the individual uses arms, legs, hands, and fingers for movement, coordination, and to manipulate objects Daily Living Skills Domain The practical skills and behaviors that are needed to take care of oneself and for use in free-time activities needed to get along with others The skills and behaviors that are Socialization Domain that may interfere with adaptive behaviors Measure of undesirable behaviors Maladaptive Behavior Domain

Vineland-II: Subdomains Communication Receptive Expressive Written Daily Living Skills Personal Domestic Community Socialization Interpersonal Relationships Play and Leisure Time Coping Skills Motor Skills Fine Gross Maladaptive Behavior (Optional) Internalizing Externalizing Other Within each subdomain there are other target areas that allow the interviewer to guide the interview so that it flows more easily

Vineland-II: Validity & Reliability Test Content: Theoretically and empirically linked to target behaviors defining skills needed for adaptive behavior Measurement Bias: Mean scores very similar across age, gender, ethnic groups, etc Concurrent Validity: Highly correlated with VABS Moderately to Highly correlated with the BASC-II Internal Consistency Coefficients range from .80 to .90 Test-Retest Coefficients range between .86 to .92

Vineland-II: Norms & Standardization A nationally representative sample of 3,687 individuals that were assessed across 44 states 20 age groups: Evenly split between males and females Ages ranged from birth to 90 years Population based on the 2001 U.S census Gender, SES, Community Size, Ethnicity, Geographic Region Clinical Populations proportionally represented based on 2004 Congressional Report ADHD, Speech and Language impaired, LD, etc.

Vineland-II: Format Survey Interview Form: Lists items by sub-domains Total of 433 items General Administration: Start Point determined by chronological age Do not read items verbatim to respondent, ask broad to specific interview questions Maladaptive Section does not require general questions Just describe the behavior and ask whether the individual always, sometimes, or never engages in the behavior Start point  may be lowered if there is a suspected developmental delay Items  record booklet is 30 pages, Total of 433 items for the 4 domains and optional maladaptive domain Administration: Purpose: Learning about ________’s adaptive behavior will help us to gain a total picture of him. You are an important person to give us information about _________. Adaptive behaviors are the day-to-day activities that are necessary for individuals to get along with others and take care of themselves. These activities change as a person grows older and becomes less dependent on the help or others. But at every age, certain skills are required at home, at school, and in the community. Describe each domain: Adaptive behaviors fall into four general areas . The first deals with communication, or how ________ speaks and understands others. The second area deals with daily living skills that ________ uses for eating, dressing, and taking care of personal needs. The third area involves the skills that ______ uses to get along with others, called socialization skills, as well as his or her play activities and use of leisure time. The last area deals with important physical skills, called motor skills.

Vineland-II: Scoring Item Scores: Basal & Ceiling Rules: 2 = Usually or habitually occurs without help 1 = Performed sometimes without help or reminders 0 = Never performed without help Basal & Ceiling Rules: Basal = 4 consecutive scores of 2 Basal Item = Highest item # in the set of 4 scores of 2 Ceiling = 4 consecutive scores of 0 Ceiling Item = Lowest item # in the set of 4 scores of 0 Computing Subdomain Raw Scores:

Vineland-II: Interpretation Scoring Interpretation: Raw scores V-scale scores for sub-domains Standard scores for domains and ABC Confidence Intervals Percentile Ranks Age Equivalents Strengths & Weaknesses Interpretive Steps: Describe General Adaptive Functioning Describe performance in all domains and sub- domains Interpret the pattern of domain standard scores to identify strengths and weaknesses Generate hypotheses about profile fluctuations Vineland-II also provides 5 clinical profile comparisons to guide in interpretations: Profile Comparison 1: High Functioning Autism and Asperger Syndrome Profile Comparison 2: Autism and Mental Retardation Profile Comparison 3: Normal Development and ADHD Profile Comparison 4: Normal Development and Hearing Impaired Profile Comparison 5: Nonspecific Mental Retardation and Down Syndrome

Vineland-II: Critical Reviews Mental Measurement Yearbook Vineland-II reflect the greater cultural expectations for adaptive behavior The theoretical model is well described and well supported by previous and current research. Users should be cognizant of the inherent limitations of any instrument that relies solely on indirect measures of behavior such as ratings or interviews of third-party respondents

Vineland-II: Adaptive Level Descriptions and Profile Comparisons SD from the Mean Standard Score Range v-Scale score ranges Percentile Rank Range High 2.0 or above 130 and above 21 and above 98 and above Moderately High 1.0 – 2.0 115 – 129 18 – 20 84 – 97 Adequate -1.0 – 1.0 86 – 114 13 – 17 18 – 83 Moderately Low -2.0 – -1.0 71 – 85 10 – 12 3 – 17 Low -2.0 or below 70 and below 9 and below 2 and below Vineland-II: Profile Comparisons High Functioning Autism and Asperger Syndrome Autism and Mental Retardation Normal Development and ADHD Normal Development and Hearing Impaired Nonspecific Mental Retardation and Down Syndrome

Case Study: Anthony Respondent: Background Information: Age: 3-5 Lives in a home in northern New Jersey Lives with mother, father, older brother, and younger sister Described as very lively and energetic Respondent: Mother

Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development Pre-conventional Morality Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment The earliest stage of moral development is especially common in young children. At this stage, children see rules as fixed and absolute. Obeying the rules is important because it is a means to avoid punishment. Stage 2: Individualism and Exchange At this stage of moral development, children account for individual points of view and judge actions based on how they serve individual needs.

Domain Standard Scores Adaptive Behavior Composite = 90 Case Study: Results Domain Standard Scores Subdomain v-Scores Communication = 100 Strength Adequate Receptive = 16 Expressive = 15 Written = 14 Daily Living Skills= 93 Personal = 14 Domestic = 14 Community = 14 Socialization = 85 Moderately Low Interpersonal Relationships = 12 Play and Leisure Time = 15* Coping Skills = 10* Motor Skills = 91 Gross = 14 Fine = 13 Adaptive Behavior Composite = 90

Interpretations & Recommendations Communication Domain: Personal Strength Receptive, Expressive, and Written subdomains Socialization Domain Play and Leisure Time subdomain: Personal Strength Coping Skills subdomain: Personal Weakness Interpersonal Relationships: Moderately Low adaptive level Recommendations: Anthony may benefit from a daily schedule (using visual cues) to ease in transitions from different activities More structure in home environment to ease into the transition into preschool Since he has a very playful nature, and is able to communicate his needs well, Anthony may benefit from a reinforcement system that would promote his positive behaviors when interacting with peers his age For example: Frequent verbal praise, token economy system, etc. Deals with his ability to: Understand and successfully communicate with others Listen and attend to others It may have been beneficial to administer the Maladaptive Behavior Index, as it seemed that his impulsivity, aggressive nature, and temper tantrums may affect his ability to effectively cope and socialize with peers his age

References Sparrow, S.S., Cicchetti, D.V., Balla, D.A. 2005). Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition: Survey Forms Manual. Pearson Assessments: Minneapolis, MN. Stein, S. (N.D.A). Review of the vineland adaptive behavior scales, 2nd edition. Mental Measurements Yearbook. Widaman, K.F. (N.D.A.). Review of the vineland adaptive behavior scales, 2nd edition. Mental Measurements Yearbook.