Examining Measurement Invariance and Differences in Age Cohorts on the Supports Intensity Scale-Children's Version-Catalan Translation.
The Catalan SIS-C works like the U.S. version, so you can assess support needs straight away in Catalan-speaking youth with ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team translated the Supports Intensity Scale-Children’s Version into Catalan. They gave the scale to 495 Catalan kids with intellectual disability . Then they checked if the scores matched the original U.S. version and if age changed the support scores the same way in both places.
What they found
The Catalan form measured support needs the same way the U.S. form does. Age mattered less in Catalonia: younger and older kids looked more alike in their support scores than in the U.S. sample.
How this fits with other research
Laugeson et al. (2014) showed that even tiny gains in general IQ boost daily-living skills in kids with low IQ. Climent’s work says the SIS-C can spot those daily-living support needs just as well in Catalan.
Busch et al. (2010) found that adults with ID plus both autism and epilepsy score far lower on social skills than ID-only adults. The Catalan SIS-C now lets you measure if extra supports are needed for the same triple-diagnosis kids in Spanish schools.
Luckasson et al. (2015) lists 10 rules for reliable clinical judgment when you write support plans. Using the validated Catalan SIS-C satisfies one of those rules: base decisions on a sound tool.
Why it matters
If you serve Catalan-speaking families, you can grab the SIS-C today and trust the scores. Use it to pick goals, justify hours, and show progress. No need to re-norm or translate items—just score, plan, and teach.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Data from 949 children and adolescents with intellectual disability ages 5 to 16 for whom the Supports Intensity Scale-Children's Version-Catalan Translation was completed was used, in combination with data from the U.S. standardization sample, to examine measurement invariance and latent differences in the Catalonian sample. Results suggest that the same set of items can be used to measure support needs across U.S. and Catalonia samples and that there are age-related differences in support needs in the Catalonia sample, particularly between children ages 5 to 10 and 11 to 16 years of age. This differs from findings with the U.S. sample, where differences were found in a greater number of age cohorts. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1352/1944-7558-122.6.511