Measurement of adaptive behavior: A descriptive system for mental retardates.

Abstract

Diagnosis of mental retardation must emphasize the individual's ability to cope with environmental demands encompassing social values and expectations. Coping behaviors must be conceptualized as multidimensional as well as developmental phenomena. The basic parameters of coping behaviors vary considerably in nature and content at different levels of retardation.

Is there a hidden population of adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder?

“…This is a shortened version of the American Association on Mental Retardation's Adaptive Behavior Scale [19]. It consists of 32 items, and it yields raw scores that range from 0 to 129, with lower scores indicating increasingly diminished levels of adaptive behavior.…”

Severe Learning Disabilities and Challenging Behaviours

“…Perhaps the most comprehensively tested measure of this kind is the Adaptive Behaviour Scale (Nihira et al, 1974) developed for the American Association on Mental Retardation. Part Two of this scale concentrates on what is called Maladaptive behaviour, and carries checklist measurement to its logical extreme in listing several hundred items of problematic behaviour for staff to rate as occurring not at all, occasionally or frequently.…”

“…American research has focused mainly on gains in adaptive behaviour, measured by asking staff to complete a rating scale (Nihira et al, 1974;Conroy and Bradley 1985) before and after resettlement. Significant gains have been found in a number of studies (see reviews of the deinstitutionalization literature by Haney (1988) and ) and these, together with improvements in user and family satisfaction and other aspects of service delivery, have led some authors to conclude that the debate over residential care options is now settled conclusively in favour of housing-based community services (Conroy and Feinstein 1990).…”

Chapter 4 Alzheimer's Disease in Adults with Down Syndrome

“…Informant-based assessments included: (a) the Dementia Questionnaire for Mentally Retarded Persons [DMR] (Evenhuis, 1992(Evenhuis, , 1996, a questionnaire measuring changes in social and cognitive functioning suggestive of dementia, (b) Part I of the American Association on Mental Deficiency Adaptive Behavior Scale [ABS] (Nihira, Foster, Shellhaas, & Leland, 1974), an instrument measuring functional abilities, (c) the Reiss Screen for Maladaptive Behavior (Reiss & Valenti-Hein, 1994) to screen for possible depression, psychosis and behavior management problems, the symptoms of which might mimic dementia or be associated with its progression, and (d) a Life Events Questionnaire [LEQ] [G. Seltzer, personal communication], a measure of stressful life events that might increase risk for dementia or result in a temporary pseudodementia syndrome.…”