1. Patti L. Harrison, PhD Thomas Oakland, PhD
Presented by Amanda Wynn, WPS for HOUMET
November 2016

2. Versatile
Comprehensive
Cost-effective
Relevant
Clinically useful
Easy to Use
Time-efficient

3. Agenda ABAS 3 overview Applications of adaptive behavior assessment
ABAS 3 revisions
Standardization & technical properties
Administration & scoring
Interpretation & intervention
The WPS Online Evaluation System
Questions / discussion

4. Used with individuals from birth to 89 years

5. Used in many different settings:
Schools
Hospitals
Clinics
Community agencies
Residential facilities

6. ABAS-3 has three scoring options
Paper and Pencil
Desktop Software Scoring
Online Evaluation System
all the same price per administration

7. All scoring options make use of the ABAS-3 Intervention Planner™
A companion resource that links specific interventions to the deficits assessed in the ABAS-3 items. +

8. Development of the ABAS
Tom Oakland’s Research

9. What have you already done today to get here now?
You are likely to have…
Used your car or public transportation
Performed simple tasks at home or hotel
Maintained your composure and feelings
Took care of your health (e.g. vitamins, food)
Cared for your personal needs (toileting and bathing)
Talked with others
Used your reading skills and possible math skills
Engaged with others socially
Engaged in leisure time activities

10. What is Adaptive Behavior?
Adaptive behavior refers to ways an individual meets his or her personal needs as well as deals with natural and social demands and expectations in their environment consistent with their age, educational attainment, and culture.
Abilities and skills that enable a person to function effectively and independently daily at home, school, work, and the community.

11. Why do we use measures of adaptive behavior?
To accurately describe behavior
Estimate future behaviors
Identify eligibility and service needs
Establish intervention methods
Monitor intervention effectiveness
Evaluate progress
Screen for special needs
Diagnose disabling disorders
Help place persons in jobs or programs
Research

12. What Parents of Special Needs Children Want For Them
Be less dependent on them and more independent at
Home
School
Work
Community
In short, to function as effectively as possible in their natural and social environments

13. 10 Specific Behaviors Parents of Special Needs Children Want For Them
5 Practical skills: To personally
Care for their personal needs
Care for their home
Use community resources
Care for their health and safety
Find and sustain work

14. 10 Specific Behaviors Parents of Special Needs Children Want For Them
3 Cognitive skills: To personally
Communicate with others
Acquire and use functional academic skills
Be self-directed and to evaluate their behaviors
2 Social skills: To personally
Get along well with others
Use their free (leisure) time well

15. 10 specific skills in ABAS-3
Communication
Community Use
Functional Academics
Home/School Living
Health and Safety
Leisure
Self-Care
Self-Direction
Social
Work (for young adults and adults)
Motor (for young children)
The grouping of adaptive skill areas into adaptive domains is based on AAMR (2002) guidelines. Although Health and Safety is listed in both the Conceptual and Practical adaptive domains by the AAMR (2002b), based on the ABAS-3 item content, Health and Safety is included in the ABAS-3 Practical adaptive domain only. Although the latest editions of the AAMR manual (2002), AAIDD manual (2010), and DSM-5 (2013) do not require measurement of the specific adaptive skill areas outlined in the AAMR (1992) guidelines, the latest editions describe comparable types of adaptive skills in the description of the Conceptual, Social, and Practical adaptive domain areas.

16. Adaptive Domains Conceptual Social Practical - Communication
Functional
(Pre-) Academics
- Self-direction
- Leisure
- Social
- Community Use
- Home / school living
- Self-care
- Health and Safety
- Motor / Work

17. Table 1.2 Adaptive Skill Area Descriptions

18. What is the purpose of the ABAS-3?
To provide a reliable, valid, comprehensive, norm-based measure of adaptive behavior skills for children and adults from birth to age 89 years.
Diagnosis and classification of disabilities and disorders
Identify strengths and limitations
Monitor progress over time
Evaluate function over multiple environments providing a complete assessment of daily functional skills

19. A Multidimensional Screening Tool
Rating Form
Ages
Setting
Respondents
Parent/Primary Caregiver
0-5
Home and community
Parents or others responsible for the child’s primary care
Teacher/Daycare Provider
2-5
School or daycare
Teachers, teachers aides, preschool instructors, daycare or other childcare providers
Parent
5-21
Teacher
School
Teachers, teachers aides or other school professionals
Adult
16-89
Family members, professional caregivers, supervisors or the individual

20. ABAS-3 reflects current standards for describing adaptive behavior
I D E A
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

21. Applications of Adaptive Behavior Assessment: Intellectual Disability Diagnosis

22. Applications of Adaptive Behavior Assessment Intellectual Disability Diagnosis: AAIDD (2010)
Emphasizes deficits in adaptive behavior as a key component
Adaptive behavior should be assessed by standardized measures that have been normed on the general population, and that a diagnosis of ID must include a score that is approximately two standard deviations below the normative mean on either the overall score of adaptive functioning, or on one of the three adaptive behavior domains (Conceptual, Social, or Practical)

23. Applications of Adaptive Behavior Assessment Intellectual Disability Diagnosis:DSM-5, APA, 2013
“The diagnosis of intellectual disability is based on both clinical assessment and standardized testing of intellectual and adaptive functions”
“At least one domain of adaptive functioning—conceptual, social, or practical—is sufficiently impaired to warrant ongoing support in one or more settings”

24. DSM IV TR versus DSM 5 DSM IV TR DSM 5 IQ 70 or below
Deficits in general mental abilities
Concurrent deficits or impairments in present adaptive functioning
Impairment in adaptive functioning for the individual’s age and Sociocultural background
The onset is before age 18 years
All symptoms must have an onset during the developmental period
Severity: Mild, Moderate, Severe, Profound, Based on IQ level
Severity: Mild, Moderate, Severe, based on Adaptive Behavior

25. DSM-5 and ID: Named Intellectual Developmental Disorder
Specifies four levels: mild, moderate, severe, profound
Does not specify an IQ cut off
Greater reliance on adaptive functioning and less reliance on intelligence
Is more functionally focused (e.g. base diagnosis and intervention on needed levels of supports)

26. ABAS 3
Revision Goals

27. ABAS-3 revision goals
Improve upon the ABAS-II by considering developments in the field of adaptive behavior assessment, professional reviews, and user feedback.
Update a well-established instrument in wide use throughout the United States and around the world
Update the normative sample
Add additional clinical studies
Update the item sets and include new items as needed

28. What’s new in ABAS-3
Revisions guided by focus group meetings held at NASP
New normative data
Higher difficulty items for 5-21 years and adult forms
Lower difficulty items for the younger age group
Same number of items as ABAS-II
New items that address ID; ADHD and ASD more effectively
Revised items addressing technology etc.

29. What’s new in ABAS-3 (continued)
Items for one skill area appear on one page
Simplifies the transfer of data from one page to another
Form to form comparison available – enables comparison in 2 different environments
Online administration, scoring and reporting
Improved Intervention Planner (Intervention tips for all ages)
Spanish forms for all ages
The manual and forms with have a new WPS look
This is the first ABAS revision made by WPS

30. Item Set Revisions

31. Three goals Item content updates
The essential characteristics of the ABAS-II remain unchanged BUT:
Three goals
More accurately measure persons of lower and higher ability
Better assess adaptive skill deficits associated with three disorders: intellectual disability (ID), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
To keep pace with technology, references in items to newer technologies, such as the Internet, supplemented or replaced references to older technologies, such as printed encyclopedias.

32. Item pool across all forms consists of:
65% ABAS-II items
18% revised ABAS-II items
17% new items

33. Some example revision items
“Selects television programs or videotapes . . .” was changed to “Selects television programs or uses the Internet “ – to make it more relevant
“Has pleasant breath.” - deleted because difficult to rate
“Attends work regularly” was revised to “Goes to work at scheduled times” - to reflect greater specificity.

34. Some example new items
“Engages in a variety of fun activities instead of only one or two” - added to supplement ABAS-II items such as “Initiates games or selects television programs liked by friends or family members.” (ASD)
“Stands still when needed, without fidgeting or moving around” added to current items such as “Reads and follows instructions for completing classroom projects or activities.” (ADHD)
“Checks the accuracy of charges before paying a bill” and “Refuses gifts and rides from strangers” (ID – gullibility)

35. Examples of lower and higher items
“Stays with parents or other family members in a store and does not wander off”
“Smiles or shows interest when he or she sees a favorite toy”
“Is responsible for his or her personal finances, such as bank account, credit card, or utility bill”
“Sends thank-you notes or s after receiving a gift or help with an important task”

36. Standardization and Technical Properties

37. Standardization and Technical Properties
4,500 individuals ages 0 to 89 years
proportionate to the U.S. population on the variables of gender, race/ethnicity, and education level (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2010)
Reliability was examined through the internal consistency, temporal stability, interrater reliability, and cross-form consistency methods
Validity studies included test content validation, factor analysis, clinical group comparisons, equivalency with the ABAS-II, and concurrent administrations of other measures of adaptive behavior.

38. Standardization Study
Included three independently collected samples:
Infant and Preschool (ages 0–5; Parent/Primary Caregiver and Teacher/Daycare Provider forms),
School (ages 5–21; Parent and Teacher forms)
Adult (ages 16–89; Adult Form, self-report and rated by others).
7,737 research forms completed by respondents who reported on the adaptive behavior of 4,500 individuals.
Standardization data collected over an 18-month period, from March 2013 to September 2014

39. Reliability Internal Consistency (standardization sample)
GAC – 0.99
Adaptive domains – 0.99
Adaptive skills areas – 0.99
Internal Consistency (mixed clinical diagnoses sample)
GAC:
Adaptive domains: – 0.99
Adaptive skill areas: – 0.98

40. Test-Retest Reliability
Ranges across all forms:
GAC: – 0.89
Adaptive domains: 0.76 – 0.85
Adaptive skill areas: 0.70 – 0.80
Mean test-retest interval was 3 weeks (range 5 days to 7 weeks)
Sample included 265 children and adults from the standardization sample and 60 from the clinical sample (ASD)

41. Interrater Reliability
GAC: – 0.92
Adaptive Domains: – 0.83
Adaptive skill areas: – 0.74
Tables 5 in the manual for specifics

42. Validity
The AAMR (2002), AAIDD (2010), and DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5 (APA, 2013) provided the internal theoretical structure of the ABAS-3
Vineland –II: strong correlations
BASC-2: expected correlations with adaptive behavior scales.
BASC-2: also provided evidence of divergent validity via the negative correlations with scores representing conceptual opposites of adaptive behavior (e.g. aggression, depression, withdrawal)
ABAS-3 includes new clinical studies on individuals with ASD, ID and ADHD

43. Administration and Scoring
Table 2.1 Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

44. Respondents
completed by respondents who know the daily adaptive behaviors of the individual being assessed.
careful selection of respondents is critical to obtaining complete and valid information
should have had frequent, recent, prolonged contact with the individual (e.g., most days, over the last few months, for several hours each day)
opportunity to observe the various adaptive skill areas measured by the ABAS-3.

45. Five Rating Forms

46. Updates based on user feedback
New ABAS-3 forms are easier to administer and score
Instructions are clarified on all forms by using the visual design so that respondents are better able to understand the distinction between ratings of 0 (ability) and ratings of 1, 2, and 3 (frequency)

47. Administration is Easy
4 point scale: Ability versus Frequency
0 - not able
__________________________
1 - never or almost never when needed
2 - sometimes when needed
3 - always or almost always when needed
Approx. 20 minute
administration time

48. Scoring platform.wpspublish.com
By hand (local administration and scoring)
Desktop software (local administration and scoring)
WPS Online Evaluation System (remote administration and automatic scoring)
platform.wpspublish.com

49. Table 2.2 Quick Look Scoring Chart
Hand Scoring
Table 2.2 Quick Look Scoring Chart

50. ABAS-3 Scores At three different levels:
General Adaptive Composite (GAC),
Three adaptive domains – conceptual; social; practical
Individual adaptive skill areas

51. Scores Four domain composite scores Conceptual Social Practical
General Adaptive Composite
Age related normative scores (mean 100, std dev 15)
Also skill area scores (mean 10, std dev 3)
Age based percentile ranks and age equivalents up to 22 years
Descriptive Classifications:
high, above average, average, below average, low, and extremely low

52. The Normal Curve and its Relationship to Various Derived Scores

53. Test-Age Equivalents for Adaptive Skill Areas
Provided for the Parent/Primary Caregiver, Parent, Teacher/Daycare Provider, and Teacher forms to satisfy the reporting requirements of certain schools and other institutions.
However, test-age equivalents have important limitations when used as part of any assessment instrument and should be used with caution

54. Optional ABAS-3 Analyses: Quick Look: Table 2.3
Adaptive Domain Comparisons
Scatter in Adaptive Skill Area Scaled Scores
Strengths and Weaknesses in Adaptive Skill Areas
Comparisons Between Two Raters Using Different Rating Forms
P12-16 of manual; p6 – 8 of chapter 3

55. Interpretation and intervention

56. Interpretation of ABAS-3 scores
Top down approach:
GAC
Conceptual, Social, and Practical Adaptive Domains
Skill areas
Standards from AAIDD and DSM-5 emphasize the importance of assessing conceptual, social, and practical adaptive behavior skills and the use of adaptive domain information for diagnostic and intervention purposes

57. Sample intervention items

58. Interpretation of Scores
A score on a test gives an estimate of performance in a particular area of behavior, compared to a reference.
Must be interpreted in the wider context of results from a range of diagnostic information sources.
ABAS-3 offers multiple input forms: Parent/Primary Caregiver, Teacher/Daycare Provider & Adult forms.

59. Communication of Results
Exercise caution
say the score “is consistent with”
Rule out possible alternative explanations relate results to previous levels of function & coordinate results with other IEP team members (i.e., intellectual assessment results)
Understand the basis for the score reference group
Spanish translation on the ABAS-3
Take appropriate steps regarding confidentiality.
Adapt your style of reporting to the needs of the recipient
With ABAS-3 you have multiple report options

60. Questions / discussion

61. Software scoring versus the WPS Online Evaluation System

68. Sample reports

69. For further information, please contact me directly:
Amanda Wynn