What is the concordance between parent- and education professional-reported adaptive functioning in autistic children using the VABS-II?

This study looked at how parents and teachers rate the daily living skills of autistic children. They found that parents and teachers often disagreed about children's abilities. Teachers were better at spotting skills that were just starting to develop, while parents saw skills as either there or not there. Both viewpoints are important for understanding your child's needs and planning support.

This study examined how well parents and education professionals agree when rating adaptive functioning in 233 lower-ability autistic children using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-II (VABS-II). Results showed low agreement between informants at both domain and item levels, with better concordance on objectively measurable behaviors. Higher child nonverbal ability was associated with improved agreement between raters. When disagreements occurred, education professionals were more likely to identify emerging skills, while parents tended to rate behaviors as either fully present or absent.

The findings suggest that adaptive functioning assessments should incorporate perspectives from multiple settings to develop more comprehensive and personalized interventions.

Multi-informant assessment approaches should be standard practice for adaptive functioning evaluation. Different rater perspectives provide complementary information for intervention planning. Assessment protocols may need adjustment based on child's nonverbal ability level.

Limited to lower-ability autistic children from single research sample. Abstract does not specify study methodology or potential confounding variables. Generalizability to broader autism population unclear.

Adaptive functioning of autistic children is traditionally measured through informant-report, often from parents. Behaviour varies across settings though, and context-specific reports should be considered. Limited and inconsistent results show low parent-education professional concordance, but no research has yet explored item level response variation. We investigated Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales-II concordance using 233 lower ability autistic children from the PACT-G sample.

Domain and item level agreement was low, but better on objectively measured behaviours. Higher child nonverbal ability improved concordance. Where disagreements occurred, education professionals identified emergent skills more and parents were more likely to rate present/absent. Parents and education professionals view the adaptive abilities of autistic children differently and both should be considered when developing personalised interventions and support.