Cross‐cultural adaptation and validation of the Chinese version of Skills and Needs Inventories in Functional Behavior Assessments and Interventions (SNI‐FBAI‐CN)
The Chinese SNI-FBAI is ready for you to measure and grow teacher FBA skills in Mandarin-speaking schools.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Zhao et al. (2024) translated a teacher rating scale into Chinese. The scale asks special-ed teachers how well they can do FBAs and plan behavior plans.
They gave the new form to teachers in China. Then they ran math checks to see if the Chinese scores line up with the original Singapore scores.
What they found
The Chinese form kept the same three groups of skills: FBA, plan writing, and teaming with families. Teachers answered in a steady, reliable way.
Scores matched the Singapore version close enough that you can compare teachers across the two countries.
How this fits with other research
Kang et al. (2015) did the same kind of check on a Chinese tool for children’s environment barriers. Both studies landed on a clean three-factor shape, showing the method works for very different teacher and child tools.
Matson et al. (2004) also validated an informant interview, but for adults with Down syndrome. The same math steps—factor check and inter-rater tally—work across ages and diagnoses.
Lei et al. (2019) looks opposite at first: they say Chinese college students are less aggressive now. That drop does not clash with Chen’s tool; it simply reminds us to use fresh local norms when we rate behavior, whether we track aggression or teacher skills.
Why it matters
If you work with Mandarin-speaking staff, you now have a free, vetted self-check. Give the SNI-FBAI-CN at the start of the year, pick the lowest-scoring skill group, and target your training there. You can also re-use it after PD to show administrators real growth numbers.
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Hand the 5-minute SNI-FBAI-CN to each teacher, note the lowest section, and plan your next PD on that skill.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
AbstractCross‐cultural adaptation and validation of measures are necessary to provide evidence‐based educational intervention services among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) across countries. Language plays an integral role in the cross‐cultural adaptation and validation process of measures. Currently, there are limited validated tools in Chinese available to assess special education teachers' skills in functional behavior assessments and interventions in Mainland China to effectively support students with ASD. This study aimed to validate a Chinese version of the Skills and Needs Inventories in Functional Behavior Assessments and Interventions (SNI‐FBAI‐CN) in mainland China. The SNI‐FBAI, originally developed and validated in Singapore, in the English language, was translated, culturally adapted, and then administered to 239 special education teachers in two schools for children with ASD in China. Results show that the SNI‐FBAI‐CN has a three‐factor structure (i.e., skills in behavioral assessment, skills in behavioral interventions, and needs for training) that fits the data well, with good reliability for the overall scale, as well as the three subscales. Partial measurement invariance was established between the Chinese and the original Singapore samples, providing additional construct validity evidence for this tool. Limitations of this study and directions for future research are discussed.
Behavioral Interventions, 2024 · doi:10.1002/bin.2038