Assessment of Behavioral Characteristics of People Who are Mentally Retarded

摘要

Issues related to the measurement of adaptive behavior of retarded people are discussed. Evaluation instruments have been designed to describe an individual's behavioral characteristics and to evaluate these characteristics as a basis for program planning. A conflict exists between the need to assess the individual's behavioral characteristics in order to plan specific training programs and the need to describe general behavior skills in the interest of understanding population characteristics and general program results. Many adaptive behavior scales aim at the achievement of both ends, and usually fail to attain either. Adaptive behavior scales are useful in describing the ability to perform specific tasks and in program planning. They do not assess the ability to apply such skills in an adaptive manner and thus, can not predict community adjustment. Other factors contributing to community adjustment, independent of an individual's abilities, are the quality of available community support services and the characteristics of staff members in community facilities. Personality and motivation, not easily measurable in behavioral terms, contribute significantly in determining the likelihood of an individual to use his abilities adaptively. Further research on adaptive behavior, to examine means of integrating the measurement of skills with the measurement of the likelihood of their application, is recommended. Tables and a bibliography are included.