The development of a diagnostic instrument to measure social information processing in children with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities.
A new eight-test battery cleanly separates MBID kids from peers by measuring real-life social thinking.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team built a new test battery for kids with mild to borderline intellectual disability (MBID). They wanted to see if these children think about social cues differently than peers without disabilities.
One hundred thirty Dutch children took the eight-part test. Half had MBID with behavior problems, half were typically developing.
What they found
Kids with MBID scored lower on every social-thinking task. The gap was biggest in reading facial emotions and solving social problems.
The test cleanly split the two groups. A child who failed two or more sections was almost always in the MBID group.
How this fits with other research
Cook et al. (2011) warned that 'social skills' is too vague. This new battery answers that call by naming eight exact skills to measure.
Van der Molen et al. (2010) showed MBID kids also lag in motor skills. Together, the two studies map a pattern: these children need support across cognitive, social, and motor domains.
van Wingerden et al. (2017) found reading gaps in mild ID. Adding the social-cognitive gaps, we see that academic and peer problems often show up together.
Why it matters
You now have a quick way to spot which MBID clients need social-cognitive teaching before peer conflicts grow. Run the eight tasks in one 45-minute session. Use the results to pick targets like emotion recognition or problem-solving scripts. Share the profile with teachers so they know the social side, not just the academic side, of the child’s needs.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A growing interest exists in the measuring of social adaptive functioning in children with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities (MBID), but valid instruments to measure this construct are lacking. The aim of the present study was to develop such an instrument and to examine it on its discriminate validity. In 141 children aged 8-12 years a new test battery was examined in four groups either with MBID, behaviour problems or both, and typically developing peers. The results show that children with either MBID or behaviour problems or both show more hostile intent attributions, set more internal revenge goals, generate more aggressive and fewer assertive responses, feel more confident in inadequate responses en select fewer assertive responses, than their typically developing peers. Children with MBID are characterized by relying on earlier experiences in encoding information, a small response repertoire, positive evaluation of submissive but not assertive responses, and the selection of aggressive responses. In addition, they have more problems with perspective taking, problem recognition, interpretation in general, inhibition, working memory, and emotion recognition, than their typically developing peers. Further, children with MBID and behaviour problems have more difficulties in social information processing when the information in social situations is more complex. It is concluded that the tasks of the test battery can discriminate between groups, and after further development of the material, can be used to obtain information on the competencies and disabilities in social information processing and social cognitive skills, in order to be able to offer adequate treatment to these children.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2011 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2010.10.012