Abstract
We examined discrepancies in parent and teacher ratings of adaptive skills of 90 low-functioning children (mean age, 6 years) in a rehabilitation day treatment facility. Comparison of full Vineland Survey and Classroom Edition protocols suggested that teachers systematically rated the children as having more adaptive skills (p < .0001) than did caretakers. However, examination of a subset of identical items that overlaps the Classroom and Survey Editions indicated at least fair interrater agreement (φ > .40, p < .01) on 92% of the items. Item analysis also indicated that when disagreement between pairs of raters occurred, caretakers were more likely to rate skills as more advanced. Caretakers tended to rate skills using extreme categories (i.e., present versus absent), whereas teachers rated skills as emergent. Discrepant standard scores for low-functioning children reflect a Classroom Edition floor effect. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Achenbach, T. M. (1995). Developmental issues in assessment, taxonomy, and diagnosis of child and adolescent psychopathology. In Cicchetti, D., and Cohen, D. J. (eds.), Developmental Psychopathology, Vol. 1. Theory and Methods, New York, Wiley, pp. 57-80.
Achenbach, T. M., McConaughy, S. H., and Howell, C. T. (1987). Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: Implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychol. Bull.101: 213-232.
Bagnato, S. J., and Neisworth, J. T. (1991). Assessment for Early Intervention: Best Practices for Professionals, Guilford, New York.
Cicchetti, D., and Sparrow, S. (1981). Developing criteria for establishing interrater reliability of specific items: Applications to assessment of adaptive behavior. Am. J. Ment. Defic.86: 127-137.
Cicchetti, D., and Sparrow, S. (1989). Adaptive functioning at home and in the classroom [Letter to the Editor]. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry28: 620-621.
Cicchetti, D., and Sparrow, S. (1990). Assessment of adaptive behavior in young children. In Johnson, J., and Goldman, J. (eds.), Developmental Assessment in Clinical Child Psychology: A Handbook, Pergamon, New York, pp. 173-196.
Dinnebeil, L. A., and Rule, S. (1994). Congruence between parents' and professionals' judgments about the development of young children with disabilities:A review of the literature. Topics Early Child. Spec. Educ.14: 1-25.
Harrison, P. (1987). Research with adaptive behavior scales. J. Spec. Educ.21: 37-68.
Hauser-Cram, P., Krauss, M. W., Warfield, M. E., and Steele, A. (1997). Congruence and predictive power of mothers' and teachers' ratings of mastery motivation in children with mental retardation. Ment. Retard.35: 355-363.
Horn, E., and Fuchs, D. (1987). Using adaptive behavior in assessment and intervention: An overview. J. Spec. Educ.21: 11-26.
Howell, D. C. (1992). Statistical Methods for Psychology, 3rd ed., Wadsworth, Belmont, CA.
Hundert, J., Morrison, L., Mahoney, W., Mundy, F., and Vernon, M. L. (1997). Parent and teacher assessments of the developmental status of children with severe, mild/moderate, or no developmental disabilities. Topics Early Child. Spec. Educ.17: 419-434.
Lambert, N., Windmiller, M., Tharinger, D., and Cole, L. (1981). AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale-School Edition, McGraw-Hill, Los Angeles.
Nidds, J. A., and McGerald, J. (1997). How functional is portfolio assessment anyway? Educ. Digest62: 47-50.
Shaw, J., Hammer, D., and Leland, H. (1991). Adaptive behavior of preschool children with developmental delays: Parent versus teacher ratings. Ment. Retard.29: 49-53.
Siegel-Causey, E., and Allinder, R. M. (1998). Using alternative assessment for students with severe disabilities: Alignment with best practices. Educ. Train. Ment. Retard. Dev.Disabil.33: 168-178.
Sparrow, S., Balla, D., and Cicchetti, D. (1984). Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales(Survey form), American Guidance Service, Circle Pines, MD.
Suen, H. K., Logan, C. R., Neisworth, J. T., and Bagnato, S. (1995). Parent-professional congruence: Is it necessary? J. Early Intervent.19: 243-252.
Szatmari, P., Archer, L., Fisman, S., and Streiner, D. (1994). Parent and teacher agreement in the assessment of pervasive developmental disorders. J. Autism Dev. Disord.24: 703-717.
Treuting, M. V., and Elliott, S. N. (1997). Social behavior ratings of at-risk preschool children: Comparisons with typical preschool children by parents and teachers. Can. J. School Psychol.13: 68-84.
Vig, S., and Jedrysek, E. (1995). Adaptive behavior of young urban children with developmental disabilities. Ment. Retard.33: 90-98.
Voelker, S., Shore, D., Hakim-Larson, J., and Bruner, D. (1997). Discrepancies in parent and teacher ratings of adaptive behavior of children with multiple disabilities. Ment. Retard.35: 10-17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Voelker, S.L., Shore, D.L., Lee, C.H. et al. Congruence in Parent and Teacher Ratings of Adaptive Behavior of Low-Functioning Children. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities 12, 367–376 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009436230984
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009436230984