Cutoff scores for the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills for Individuals With Severe Retardation (MESSIER) for adults with intellectual disability.
MESSIER cutoffs give you three clear buckets for social-skill level in adults with severe or profound ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team wanted clear cut-points for the MESSIER social-skills test. They gave the test to the adults with severe or profound ID. Then they used stats to find scores that mark mild, moderate, and severe social-skill problems.
What they found
They set three cutoff scores. A score below 75 shows severe social-skill deficits. A score above 95 shows only mild problems. Now you can sort adults into levels without guessing.
How this fits with other research
Drijver et al. (2025) did the same kind of work last year. They made a new tool for daily-living skills in adults with moderate–profound ID. Both studies give floor-friendly scores for people who often hit test bottoms.
Johnson et al. (2009) also checked cutoffs, but for the Supports Intensity Scale. Their work and the MESSIER paper show a trend: we keep making sharper tools for adults with severe ID.
Van Den Heuvel et al. (2018) looked at social skills too, yet in kids. They found social problems can worsen even when IQ stays flat. The MESSIER cutoffs let you watch for that slide in adults.
Why it matters
You now have a fast way to flag social-skill severity in adults who can’t self-report. Use the cutoffs to pick group placements, write goals, and track change after social-skills training. No more ‘seems low’—you have numbers.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Social skills are defining aspects of intellectual disability (ID). Additionally, their presence or absence can be a major impediment to independent living, and they correlate with other problems in the ID population, such as comorbid psychopathology. To date, little has been done to develop scales to measure these problems, particularly for adults. One exception has been the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills for the Severely Retarded (MESSIER). The scale has well established reliability, however many of its psychometric properties have yet to be explored. This study was designed to establish cutoff scores for the total score and factors and to explore the relationship of individual items to severity of social deficits. Participants are adults with severe or profound ID, assessed on the MESSIER. Specific psychometrics for the test including cutoff scores are established. The implications of these data for theory, research, and practice are discussed.
Behavior modification, 2008 · doi:10.1177/0145445507307466