A comparative study of vineland adaptive behavior scale ii and vineland social maturity scale on children and adolescents with intellectual disability

Abstract

Background: Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale-Second Edition (VABS-II) is the revised version of Vineland Social Maturity Scale (VSMS) and is currently most widely used scale for the assessment of adaptive behavior of children. The present study compares adaptive functioning of intellectually disabled children and adolescents assessed by VABS-II and VSMS. Method:VABS-II (Survey Interview Form) as well as VSMS were administered on 40 children and adolescents with Intellectual Disability in a tertiary care hospital of north India. Results:Results obtained showed VABS-II to have high positive correlation (r=0.745) with VSMS scores. However, compared to VSMS, when reassessed using VABS-II, thirty percent ofthe subjects showed higher rating and better level of adaptive functioning in terms of the category of intellectual disability they fall into. Conclusion:There is a stark difference between the cultural and child rearing practices prevalent in the US and India. Moreover, there is availability of outdated norms for VSMS and absence of Indian norms for VABS II. Hence great caution is indicated for the assessment of adaptive behavior of Indian children and need for the development of Indian norms for VABS II is strongly recommended.