Emotional development and adaptive abilities in adults with intellectual disability. A correlation study between the Scheme of Appraisal of Emotional Development (SAED) and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS).
Emotional maturity and adaptive skills rise together in adults with ID—score both to see the whole client.
01Research in Context
What this study did
La Malfa et al. (2009) asked the adults with intellectual disability to complete two tests. One test was the Scheme of Appraisal of Emotional Development (SAED). The other was the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS).
The team wanted to see if emotional growth and everyday living skills move together. They used simple statistics to check the link.
What they found
Higher SAED scores matched higher VABS scores across all areas. The link was strong and positive. In plain words, adults who showed more mature emotions also showed stronger daily living, social, and communication skills.
How this fits with other research
Nijs et al. (2016) later showed you can score the SAED by watching the adult in a group instead of asking caregivers. This extends the 2009 work by giving BCBAs a faster way to collect the same emotional data.
Cappagli et al. (2016) studied Vineland items in preschoolers with autism. Both papers support the Vineland family as a solid ruler for adaptive skills, just used at different ages.
Lecavalier et al. (2006) found social skills predict school success in young children with ID. Together these studies trace one clear line: social-emotional growth and adaptive ability travel together from kindergarten through adulthood.
Why it matters
If you assess only daily living or only IQ, you miss half the picture. Run the SAED along with the VABS. The pair takes under an hour and gives you a full map of where the client stands emotionally and functionally. Use the joint scores to set targets that grow both feeling skills and life skills at the same time.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The importance of emotional aspects in developing cognitive and social abilities has already been underlined by many authors even if there is no unanimous agreement on the factors constituting adaptive abilities, nor is there any on the way to measure them or on the relation between adaptive ability and cognitive level. The purposes of this study was to test the psychometric characteristics of a specific tool for the assessment of the emotional development and correlating such test with the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, one of the most widely used tools to assess adaptive abilities in order to verify possible correlations between emotional development and adaptive abilities. Thirty-three adults living in residential centres for people with Intellectual Disability without psychiatric/behavioral disorders of clinical significance, were evaluated by administering the Scheme of Appraisal of Emotional Development (SAED) and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS) and a statistical analysis was been conducted to verify possible correlations. The SAED proved to be a reliable psychometric tool and a strong positive correlation has indeed emerged between VABS' and SAED's general scores, therefore as the emotional development age increases so does at the same time adaptive age. The need to complete the assessment of adaptive abilities with that of emotional development seems therefore confirmed. Such tools provide the opportunity to gather extremely important information on the emotional needs of particular person regardless of the presence or absence of Intellectual Disability.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2009 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2009.06.008