Developing the Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form 2: Self report form using a Delphi process.
Experts rewrote the NCBRF-2 so youth with ID/DD can rate their own behavior.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team wanted kids with intellectual or developmental disability to speak for themselves.
They took the parent NCBRF-2 and ran a four-round Delphi survey.
Experts, parents, and youth with ID/DD voted on each item until 90 % agreed the wording was clear.
What they found
All five parent domains stayed.
Seventeen item stems were re-written so kids could say “I” instead of parents saying “my child.”
The new self-report form kept the same factor structure as the parent version.
How this fits with other research
Northrup et al. (2022) used the same Delphi method to align the parent form with DSM-5.
Adriaanse et al. (2026) simply copied that item pool and turned “my child hits” into “I hit.”
Sipes et al. (2011) already showed the parent form is valid, so keeping its bones makes sense.
LeSage et al. (1996) built the original scale; this paper is the latest layer, not a replacement.
Why it matters
You can now hand the NCBRF-2 Self-Report to verbal teens with mild ID during intake.
Their own voice joins the data set, which may catch internalizing problems parents miss.
Watch for the upcoming psychometric study before you use scores for big decisions.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Although there are many rating forms to assess mental health symptoms, only a few are developed for people with intellectual disability or developmental disabilities (ID/DD). In addition, most measures that are available rely exclusively on reports from an informant (e.g., caregiver, teacher), not on the direct input from the individual with ID/DD. The current study aimed to develop a self-report version of the Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form - 2 (NCBRF-2). The development of the NCBRF-2 self-report scale involved two phases: 1) the expert panel survey using the Delphi process, and 2) the cognitive testing with the youth with intellectual disability. The current paper describes the first phase of the development. METHODS: Using the Delphi process, a total of 21 experts completed four rounds of surveys and provided feedback to adapt the NCBRF-2: Parent Scale into the NCBRF-2: Self-Report Scale. As a result of the Delphi process, all five domains from the NCBRF-2: Parent Scale were retained in the NCBRF-2: Self-Report Scale. FINDINGS: A total of 17 item stems were revised based on the expert panel members' feedback. The implications and limitations of the current Delphi process are discussed.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2026 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2025.105192