Authors:
Sara S. Sparrow, David A. Balla, and Dominick V. Cicchetti

Publisher:
American Guidance Service
www.agsnet.com/index.asp
1-800-328-2560

Initial Material Cost:
Complete Vineland Starter Set (Includes Survey Form Starter Set, Expanded Form Starter Set, and Classroom Edition Starter Set): $170

Representativeness of Norming Sample:
The standardization sample for the Survey Form and Expanded Forms each consists of a nationally representative sample of 3,000 children from birth to 18 years old, stratified by age, race/ethnicity, gender, geographical region, and parental education attainment to reflect the distribution in the 1980 U.S. Census. National non-representative samples of different handicapped persons older than age 5 were used to derive supplementary norms for handicapped individuals.

Languages:
English and Spanish 1

Age Range and Administration Interval:
Survey and Expanded Forms: Birth through 18 years, 11 months, including low-functioning adults

Personnel, Training, Administration, and Scoring Requirements:
Administration time: Survey Form: 20 to 60 minutes; Expanded Form: 60 to 90 minutes; Individual administering the VABS should be a psychologist or equivalent, or social worker

Summary
Initial Material Cost: 2 ($100 to $200)
Reliability: 1 (.65 or higher)
Validity: 3 (.5 or higher for concurrent)
Norming Sample Characteristics: 2 (older than 15 years, nationally representative)
Ease of Administration and Scoring: 3 (administered and scored by a highly trained individual).

Description: The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) are designed to assess handicapped and non-handicapped persons in their personal and social functioning. There are two versions of the revised Vineland that can be used with infants and toddlers2 Each version differs in the number of items and materials and the method of administration. (1) The Interview Edition, Survey Form, which is more similar in content to the original VABS, has 297 items and provides a general assessment of adaptive behavior. It is administered to a parent or caregiver in a semi-structured interview format. (2) The Interview Edition, Expanded Form, has 577 items, including 297 from the Survey Form. This form yields a more comprehensive assessment of adaptive behavior and gives a systematic basis for preparing individual educational, habilitative, or treatment programs. The Expanded Form can be used by itself, or as a follow-up to obtain more information about deficits suggested by the Survey Form.

Both versions are organized around four Behavior Domains: Communication, Daily Living Skills, Socialization, and Motor Skills.3 For the Survey Form, items are organized in domains in developmental order. For the Expanded Form, items are in clusters, which are organized in developmental order under subdomains that make up the domains.

Uses of Information: The VABS are useful in assessing an individual’s daily functioning. They can be used as an evaluation and diagnostic tool for mentally retarded individuals or individuals with other handicaps. They can also be used to develop individual educational, habilitative, 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.

Reliability: (1) Split half-reliability4: internal reliability tests of both the Survey and Expanded Forms were performed on caregivers of children under the 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 Adaptive Behavior Composite; the Expanded Form split half coefficients ranged from .90 to .97 for the Domains and .98 to 99 for the Composite.5 (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.6 There were no test-retest reliability tests for the Expanded Form. (3) Interrater reliability: the Survey Form inter-rater 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.

Validity: (1) Content validity: 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, aged 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 (K-ABC) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), 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.

Method of Scoring: Each item is rated 2 (behavior is usually or habitually performed), 1 (sometimes or partly performed), or 0 (never performed). In addition, there is a code “N” for instances when the child has never had the opportunity to perform the activity and a code “DK” when the caregiver does not know if the child performed the activity. The manuals provide users with instructions for scoring caregivers’ responses. Domain and, in the Expanded Form, subdomain raw scores are obtained by summing the numerical values of the responses. Using tables in the manuals, the raw scores can be converted into standard scores (with a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15), percentile ranks, stanines, and age equivalents. The sum of the domain standard scores is used to obtain the composite standard score. A table is then used to obtain the stanines and percentile rankings for the composite from the standard scores. The age equivalents for the composite score can be either the mean or median of the domain age equivalents. The manuals provide instructions for calculating the mean and median age equivalents. The domain standard scores are reported by age increments of 1 month up to 1 year, 11 months, and 2-month increments between 2 and 3 years. Children under 6 years old share the same standard composite scores. Computer scoring software can be purchased.

Interpretability: Each of the manuals has a chapter that provides guidelines in interpreting the assessment results and case examples. In addition, the manuals provide instructions and tables are provided for determining the statistical significance and unusualness of: (1) differences between domain standard scores and their mean; (2) differences between pairs of domain standard scores; and (3) highest and lowest domain standard scores. The manuals also provide a five-level qualitative categorical classification system to describe children’s adaptive abilities based on their domain and composite standard scores.

Training Support: The Website, www.VinelandForum.com, contains research, information, frequently asked questions, and discussion about the VABS. A training video is available to help train psychologists and others who administer the VABS Survey and Expanded Survey Form. In addition, there is a training tool available on CD-ROM designed to help professionals learn how to properly administer and score the Interview Editions of the VABS. An audiocassette, which accompanies the Survey Form or the Expanded Form, is also available for training purposes and contains sample interviews with parents and other caregivers.

Adaptations/Special Instructions for Individuals with Disabilities: The scales are applicable to both handicapped and non-handicapped individuals.

Report Preparation Support: Parent report forms are provided for the Survey and Expanded Forms, which summarize the individual’s derived scores7.

References:

Sparrow, Sara S., David A. Balla, and Domenic V. Cicchetti. Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales Interview Edition Expanded Form Manual. Circle Pines, Minnesota, 1984.