Marc J. Tassé

The Nisonger CBRF : a Child Behavior Rating Form for children with developmental disabilities

Although the rate of behavior and emotional problems of children with mental retardation is considerably higher than the rate among typically developing children, there is a shortage of tools for assessing persons with mental retardation. The Child Behavior Rating Form (CBRF) was modified by altering instructions and adding new items describing behavior problems known to occur in children with mental retardation. The adapted scale was named the Nisonger CBRF. Three hundred sixty-nine children being assessed at a University Affiliated Program for MR/DD were rated on the CBRF by their parents and teachers. Independent factor analyses of parent and teacher ratings produced two Social Competence subscales and six Problem Behavior subscales. These results were largely consistent across rater types and similar to prior findings with the CBRF. Internal consistency was generally high, parent-teacher agreement was satisfactory, and subscales from the Nisonger CBRF correlated highly with analogous subscales from the Aberrant Behavior Checklist. The Nisonger CBRF appears to be a promising new tool for assessing behavioral and emotional problems in children with mental retardation; however, further psychometric work is warranted.

Conceptualizing Supports and the Support Needs of People With Intellectual Disability

This is the third in a series of perspective articles (Schalock et al., 2007; Wehmeyer et al., 2008) from the Terminology and Classification Committee of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD). The purpose of these articles is to share our thoughts on critical issues associated with terminology, definition, and classification in the field of intellectual disability and to seek input from the field as we prepare the 11th edition of AAIDD’s Diagnosis, Classification, and System of Supports Manual (the working title). In the first article (Schalock et al., 2007), we explained the reasons for shifting from the term mental retardation to intellectual disability. Although the two terms cover the same population of individuals, we concluded that intellectual disability was the better term because it

The Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form" Age and Gender Effects and Norms

The Nisonger CBRF is a new informant behavior rating scale that was adapted for assessing children and adolescents with mental retardation. A total of 369 children referred to interdisciplinary diagnostic clinics for children with developmental disabilities were rated on the Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form by their parents and teachers. Normative data (means, T scores, and percentiles) are presented Subscale scores were analyzed as a function of age and gender. Age influenced 3 of 8 subscales on the parent ratings and 1 subscale on the teacher ratings. Gender did not influence subscale scores. Age and gender results are discussed in relation to previous studies of subject variables.

Integrating Supports in Assessment and Planning.

A systematic approach for addressing the support needs of persons with mental retardation and related developmental disabilities is presented and a new scale to measure individual differences in support needs described. The process employed in developing the scale is explained, including the establishment of a typology of support areas that was drawn from a review of the professional literature, a validation process using Q-sort methodology, and a pilot field test. Critical issues and practical challenges associated with efforts to measure and address the support needs of individuals are discussed.

The Construct of Adaptive Behavior: Its Conceptualization, Measurement, and Use in the Field of Intellectual Disability

This article updates the current conceptualization, measurement, and use of the adaptive behavior construct. Major sections of the article address an understanding of the construct, the current approaches to its measurement, four assessment issues and challenges related to the use of adaptive behavior information for the diagnosis of intellectual disability, and two future issues regarding the relations of adaptive behavior to multidimensional models of personal competence and the distribution of adaptive behavior scores. An understanding of the construct of adaptive behavior and its measurement is critical to clinicians and practitioners in the field because of its role in understanding the phenomenon of intellectual disability, diagnosing a person with intellectual disability, providing a framework for person-referenced education and habilitation goals, and focusing on an essential dimension of human functioning.

The Intellectual Disability Construct and Its Relation to Human Functioning

The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities’ (AAIDD) Terminology and Classification Committee has two primary purposes in publishing this Perspective: (a) to share our thinking about the construct underlying the term intellectual disability (henceforth the intellectual disability construct) and its relation to human functioning and (b) to ask for input from the field because the committee is preparing a proposal for the upcoming Definition, Classification and Systems of Supports manual, to be published in 2009 or 2010. The article has three sections. In the first section, we make a distinction between an operational definition, which operationalizes the intellectual disability construct and provides the basis for diagnosis and classification, and a constitutive definition, which explains the underlying construct and provides the basis for theory– model development and planning individualized supports. In the second section, we provide an historical overview of how the construct underlying the term mental retardation (henceforth, the mental retardation construct) differs from the construct underlying intellectual disability. In the third section, we describe the parameters to the proposed AAIDD theoretical framework of human functioning that reflects our current understanding of the multidimensionality of human functioning that underlies the intellectual disability construct and the significant role that individualized supports play in human functioning. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the benefits to the field that accrue from a clear understanding of both the differences between an operational and constitutive definition and the fundamental properties of the intellectual disability construct. Operational Versus Constitutive Definitions

Facial emotion recognition by persons with mental retardation: a review of the experimental literature.

This paper provides an exhaustive review of emotion research in mental retardation, namely the recognition of facial emotion expressions. 21 experimental studies were identified and reviewed for methodological characteristics. The literature was further explored for evidence concerning the relationships between emotion recognition skills and the severity of mental retardation, gender, chronological age, and concurrent mental illness.

Comparing parent and teacher ratings of social competence and problem behaviors

A comparison between parent and teacher ratings of 109 school children on the French version of the Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form, which measures social competence and problem behaviors of children with developmental disabilities, was conducted. Results indicated no significant differences between parent and teacher ratings on the two social competence subscales and two problem behavior subscales. Ratings differed significantly on three problem behavior subscales: (a) Conduct Problem, (b) Insecure/Anxious, and (c) Hyperactive. These results may be indicative of complementary information according to the context (home vs. school). Also, results support the premise that it is important to collect information from multiple sources in order to obtain a complete and global assessment of the childs problem behavior/psychopathology.

Interrater Reliability of the Supports Intensity Scale (SIS)

The interrater reliability of the Supports Intensity Scale (SIS) was investigated under the condition that interviewers had to have been trained and/or experienced in its administration and scoring. Both corrected and noncorrected Pearsons product-moment coefficients were generated to assess interinterviewer, interrespondent, and mixed interrater reliability. The correlation coefficients for the SIS Support Needs Index Score and SIS subscale scores were considerably higher than coefficients reported in the SIS Users Manual that were derived from a similar study conducted with untrained, inexperienced interviewers.

Psychometric Properties of the Family Support Scale with Head Start Families

Social support systems can have either a beneficial or adverse effect when a family faces stress. Hence, support perceived by family members is an important construct. We studied the psychometric properties of the Family Support Scale (FSS) with a sample of 244 low-income families of children in a Head Start program, and we conducted an exploratory factor analysis with the scale. We obtained a 5-factor solution for the FSS when assessing the family support of low-income families. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability were moderately high for the 5 proposed subscales. The factor structure obtained may prove more valid for Head Start families than structures from previous studies, although there is still a need for further psychometric study of the FSS.