The Individual Deals with a Variety of Real Life Situations

            The Vineland Adaptive Behavior scales is published by American Guidance Service. It is designed to determine how functional an individual with developmental disabilities. The version published in 1984 rated children from ages 2 to 18. The recently revised version goes up to the age to 90 (AGS, 2005). The Vineland is frequently used not only with individuals with mental retardation but also disorders on the autistic spectrum, such as autism and Asperger's syndrome (AGS, 2005). .

             The Vineland is based on how the individual deals with a variety of real life situations. Those responses may be either adaptive or maladaptive, and some responses that are age appropriate at a young age will not be typical of older individuals without any developmental difficulties (Scahill, 2001). The formats include a classroom questionnaire as well as semistructured interviews and provides multiple forms so it can be used to rate the observations of teachers, clinicians and parents, providing a broad-based view of the individual being evaluated.

             The items on the questionnaire and interview are grouped into four subdivided domains. The First domain is communication, which is divided into Receptive, Expressive and Written. The second domain is Daily Living Skills, which is divided into Personal, Domestic, and Community. The third domain is Socialization, Interpersonal Relationships, Play and Leisure Time, and Coping Skills. Finally, the Motor Skills Domain is divided into gross motor skills and fine motor skills (AGS, 2005). .

             The Vineland is in the process of being revised, and some of the revised components are available now while others will be published in 2006. The new Vineland survey form has nearly 300 items. It is completed by parent, guardian or care provider and done as a semi-structured interview which allows for open-ended answers (AGS, 2005). An expanded form includes over 575 items (AGS, 2005). Thus the new Vineland provides the opportunity for those who know the individual who has a developmental disability to provide detailed information about how that person functions on a day-to-day basis.

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