Developing a Health-Related Quality-of-Life Measure for People With Intellectual Disability.

Berkovits et al. (2017) worked with adults who have intellectual disability.

The team asked them what health and happiness mean in daily life.

Together they built a 42-item picture scale that uses cups filled with liquid to show answers.

The new HRQOL-IDD tool lets adults with ID speak for themselves.

Cup icons make self-report easy even for people who cannot read.

Lecavalier et al. (2006) did something similar. They checked if the DASH-II sleep subscale really matches what caregivers see at night. Both studies show that tools made for ID must be tested with the actual users.

Ford et al. (2022) also looked for easy ways to assess. They found single-stimulus preference tests work better than rank-order lists for adults with neurocognitive disorder. Like Lauren’s cups, simple formats give cleaner data.

Busch et al. (2010) built the HSQ-PDD for kids with PDD. They used parent report, while Lauren chose self-report. Same goal—better disability scales—different voices.

You now have a quality-of-life scale your clients can fill out themselves. Try the cup icons during intake. One page shows if pain, mood, or sleep is hurting their day.