Assessing the Adaptive Behavior of Youths: Multicultural Responsivity

Allen-Meares and Lane (1983) authored an article in NASW s Social Work journal rifled "Assessing the Adaptive Behavior of Children and Youths," which appraised the status and use of adaptive behavior as a concept and measurement tool that would work in the school system. Adaptive behavior--or the ability of a person to function in society, in a group, or in a classroom according to specific standards of behavior and ability--is one factor practitioners consider when completing holistic assessments of the level of care and services necessary. At the time of the Allen-Meares and Lane article, adaptive behavior instruments and theories were gaining recognition and use among school social workers as they strove to accurately assess students to determine who among them was eligible for special education programming. The use of formal measurement was not an entirely novel concept within the school setting. School psychologists and special resource personnel frequently presented data from various instruments that measured or quantified performance, IQ, speech, motor skills, and other indicators. Many of these instruments were limited to the in-school behaviors or cognitive abilities of the child. However, at the time, the ability to assess a child's whole experience was trending toward a more comprehensive set of measurements as a complement to those more typically administered. Because school social workers are knowledgeable about the importance of a holistic approach and understand how environment affects behavior, they were ideally suited to assess the adaptive behavior of pupils identified as candidates for special education services. As often is the case with trends, whether societal, educational, or professional, it is prudent to examine the tools that have been developed concomitantly and the way they have been used. Although several of the assessment instruments discussed by Allen-Meares and Lane (1983) are still in use, many others have been developed. In addition, although Allen-Meares and Lane discussed one culturally sensitive instrument called the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment (SOMPA), the consideration of cultural and ethnic factors in assessment has gained more importance given the increasing ethnic and racial diversity within certain school systems. Furthermore, cultural and ethnic factors are of particular relevance as the overrepresentation of ethnic minority students in special education classes has been documented by researchers whose work spans the past 40 years (Harry, Sturges, & Klingner, 2005; Hosp & Reschly, 2004). In 1998, approximately 1.5 million ethnic minority children were identified as mentally retarded, as having emotional problems, or as having a specific learning disability (Civil Rights Project, 2002), with nearly 60 percent of those children being African American or Native American. The Children's Defense Fund (2005) cited Osher, Sims, and Woodruff's (2002) report, which stated that in 39 states, African American children are twice as likely to be labeled mentally retarded. Atkins-Burnett (2006) suggested that although troubling, these statistics, taken as a whole and contextualized in light of economic status, environment, and so forth, might not be as troubling if those so identified were then provided with "adequate supports" to bolster their academic success. However, once labeled, ethnic minority children are less likely to receive instruction in a mainstream classroom, are more likely to face harsher discipline than that received by their peers, and are less likely to graduate. Outside of school, African American students, in particular, face a greater rate of unemployment and arrest (Children's Defense Fund, 2004). When ethnic minority population growth and the information regarding overrepresentation is considered in conjunction with the recent reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) (U. …