Preliminary standardization of the Vineland Social Maturity Scale.

Abstract

A a genetic scale for the measurement of social maturation. We now submit a first revision of the Vineland Social Maturity Scale based on a standardization of the scale for normal subjects and a validation of the scale with mentally deficient subjects.During the past year, standardization data have been obtained for ten normal subjects of eath sex a t each year from birth to thirty years of age, or a total of 620 subjects. While this is not a sufficient number of cases for final standardization, it may be noted that the calibration of such a scale is not determined by the number of subjects a t any one age alone, but rather by the succession of ages over a range of years. The stability of such a standardization is therefore determined in large measure by the internal consistency of the scale as a whole. The stability of our standardization is increased by selecting these normal subjects by social status as indicated by paternal occupation, thus providing a representative sampling of known values and controlled distribution.In formulating this scale, we were undecided whether to use the principle of point-scale construction or that of year-scale construction. Consideration of this problem reveals that point scales and year scales are based on fundamentally the same considerations, the year scale being merely a more convenient method of formulation for purposes of scoring. In both point scales and year scales it is desirable that the items which compose such scales be calibrated in such a manner that the successive items are arranged in a progressive order of difficulty of known values. Comparatively few scales have satisfactorily met this requirement. The principal difficulty in calibrating such scales is that of providing complete standardization curves for each scale item. Such item-standardization curves should ideally be smooth, steep, and parallel. That these criteria have not been successfully met in the past is readily evident from simple statistical analysis of any of the scales which are now available and for which sufficient data have been published to permit such analysis.We had previously employed a number of devices to obviate these difficulties. In our present work we have employed Thomson's device,? based on the Hardy summation method, which overcomes these difficulties with statistical satisfaction. This method not only provides an average standardization value for each Presented at the 1936 Meeting.* I am indebted to Mrs. Katherine Preston Bradway for all examinations of normal subjects and for collaboration in the treatment of data. The entire staff of the Vineland Laboratory has assisted in this study as a whole.

Developmental and Degenerative Patterns Associated With Cognitive, Behavioural and Motor Difficulties in the Sanfilippo Syndrome: An Epidemiological Study

“…These values were, nonetheless, included to prevent selective scoring errors on our part. (Bailey, 1969), the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Form L-M (Terman & Merrill, 1973), and the Vineland Social Maturity Scale (Doll, 1936;1953;1965) as well as available literature listing developmental milestones (Capute & Accardo, 1978). With regard to normal development, mean chronological ages for the achievement of each milestone are plotted together with an age range of two standard deviations (which would theoretically include the middle 95 % of children along a bell curve in a normative sample).…”

Gaze Aversion in Autistic and Normal Children

“…Q. 's over 70 (Doll (1936)). The only two children to speak any words at all, spoke them infrequently.…”

Autistic distortions in parents of retarded children.

“…Specifically, SA and SQ were found to be consistently higher than MA and IQ in all but a very small number of cases. This appeared to contradict Doll's (1936) reporting (p. 291) that, with the retarded, "the S.A.'s equal the M.A. 's (on the average) up to M.A.…”