Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale

Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales are a valid and reliable test to measure a person's adaptive level of functioning. Vineland-II forms aid in diagnosing and classifying mental retardation and other disorders, such as autism, Asperger Syndrome, and developmental delays. As with the current Vineland, the content and scales of Vineland-II were organized within a three domain structure: Communication, Daily Living, and Socialization. This structure corresponds to the three broad Domains of adaptive functioning recognized by the American Association of Mental Retardation (AAMR, 2002): Conceptual, Practical, and Social. In addition, Vineland-II offers a Motor Skills Domain and an optional Maladaptive Behavior Index to provide more in-depth information

The VABS are useful in assessing an individual’s daily functioning. They can be used as an evaluation and diagnostic tool for individuals who are mentally retarded or individuals with other handicaps. They can also be used to develop individual educational, rehabilitative, and treatment programs and can monitor progress during such a program. Finally, the VABS can be used in research in which the development and functioning of handicapped and non-handicapped individuals are investigated

Adaptive behaviors are everyday living skills such as walking, talking, getting dressed, going to school, going to work, preparing a meal, cleaning the house, etc. They are skills that a person learns in the process of adapting to his/her surroundings. Since adaptive behaviors are for the most part developmental, it is possible to describe a person's adaptive behavior as an age-equivalent score. An average five-year-old, for example, would be expected to have adaptive behavior similar to that of other five-year-olds.

Behavior problems, often called maladaptive behaviors, are behaviors that interfere with everyday activities. Good adaptive behavior and a lack of behavior problems promote independence at home, at school, and in the community. Behavior problems are much more difficult to quantify than adaptive behaviors are, because they are not very developmental and because their expression varies more from day-to-day and from setting-to-setting. Behavior problems do not increase or decrease steadily with age. Nevertheless they can be measured reliably.

The purpose of measuring adaptive and maladaptive behavior is usually either for diagnosis or for program planning. The diagnosis of mental retardation, for example, requires deficits in both cognitive ability and adaptive behavior, occurring before age 18. Adaptive behavior assessment is also used to determine the type and amount of special assistance that people with disabilities may need. This assistance might be in the form of home-based support services for infants and children and their families, special education and vocational training for young people, and supported work or special living arrangements such as personal care attendants, group homes, or nursing homes for adults. Adaptive behavior assessments are often used in preschool and special education programs for determining eligibility, for program planning, and for assessing outcomes.

Psychometrics

Ages: Survey Interview Form, Parent/Caregiver Rating Form, Expanded Interview Form—0 through 90; Teacher Rating Form—3 through 21-11 Administration Time: Survey Interview and Parent/Caregiver Rating Forms 20-60 minutes Scores/Interpretation: Domain and Adaptive Behavior Composite—Standard scores (M = 100, SD = 15), percentile ranks, adaptive levels, age equivalents; Subdomain—V-scale score (M = 15, SD = 3), Adaptive levels, age equivalents; Survey Interview, Parent/Caregiver Rating Form, Expanded Interview Form—V-scale score, maladaptive levels for the optional Maladaptive Behavior Index

Reliability

Reliability: 1) Split half-reliability: Internal reliability tests of both the Survey and Expanded Forms were performed on caregivers of children under age 19. The Survey Form split half coefficients for the age groups under 3 ranged from .82 to .95 for the Domains and .96 to .98 for the Adaptive Behavior Composite; the Expanded Form split half coefficients ranged from .90 to .97 for the Domains and .98 to .99 for the Composite. (2) Test-retest reliability (mean of 17 days between tests): The Survey Form reliability coefficients for caregivers of children between the ages of 6 months and 2 years, 11 months ranged from .78 to .92 for the Domains and .90 for the Adaptive Behavior Composite. There were no test-retest reliability tests for the Expanded Form. (3) Interrater reliability: The Survey Form interrater reliability coefficients, with a mean of 8 days between the interviews of caregivers of children ages 6 months to 18 years, 11 months, ranged from .62 to .78 for the Domains and was .74 for the Adaptive Behavior Composite. There were no interrater reliability tests for the Expanded Form.

Internal consistency: Survey Form: Split half means for Domains .83 to .90; for Adaptive Behavior Composite .94 Expanded Form: Split half means for Domains .91 to .95; for Adaptive Behavior Composite .97 Classroom Edition: Coefficient Alpha means for Domains .80 to .95; for Adaptive Behavior Composite .98

Test - Retest:Survey Form: Means for Domains .81 to .86; for Adaptive Behavior Composite .88 (N=484)

Interrater: urvey Form: Correlations between two different interviewers, for Domains .62 to .78; for Adaptive Behavior Composite .74 (N=160)

The manual provides extensive data regarding reliability

Validity

Validity: (1) Content validity included a literature review and field tests with caregivers. (2) Criterion-related validity: The correlations between the Adaptive Behavior Composite and the original VABS unadjusted Social Quotient and Silverstein’s Deviation Social Quotient (which corrects for inconsistencies in the Social Quotient) among caregivers of children between ages 6 months and 18 years, were both .55. Comparisons between the total of the raw scores for the four domains of the revised VABS and the original VABS yielded a correlation of .97 in a sample of mentally retarded adults and an age-adjusted partial correlation of .88 in a sample of hearing-impaired children. The correlation between the VABS and the Adaptive Behavior Inventory for Children, ages 5 to 11, was .58, and correlations between the revised VAB four domains and the AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale, Part I, domains fell between .40 and .70. Correlations between VABS and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, two intelligence tests, ranged from .07 to .52 and .12 to .37, respectively. The differential magnitudes of these correlations is said to support the assumption that adaptive behavior scales and intelligence and achievement scales measure different areas of functioning.

Construct: (1) Developmental progressions of raw scores with age. (2) Principal components analyses of Domain standard scores; Principal factor analyses of Subdomain raw scores.

Concurrent: Correlations between the Vineland and other adaptive behavior scales (Vineland Social Maturity Scale, Adaptive Behavior Inventory for Children, AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale); Correlations between the Vineland and intelligence tests of intelligence (K-ABC) and vocabulary (PPVT-R).

Clinical samples: upplementary norms are provided for the following special groups:

ambulatory and nonambulatory mentally retarded adults in residential facilities; ambulatory mentally retarded adults in residential facilities; nonambulatory mentally retarded adults in residential facilities; mentally retarded adults in nonresidential facilities; emotionally disturbed children in residential facilities; visually handicapped children in residential facilities; hearing impaired children in residential facilities.

The manuel provides extensive data on validity.