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

2. 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: $ 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.

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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 Congressional Report
ADHD, Speech and Language impaired, LD, etc.

8. 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.

9. 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:

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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.