title: The diagnostic adaptive behavior scale: evaluating its diagnostic sensitivity and specificity.
abstract: The Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scale (DABS) was constructed with items across three domains--conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills--and normed on a representative sample of American individuals from 4 to 21 years of age. The DABS was developed to focus its assessment around the decision point for determining the presence or absence of significant limitations of adaptive behavior for the diagnosis of Intellectual Disability (ID). The purpose of this study, which was composed of 125 individuals with and 933 without an ID-related diagnosis, was to determine the ability of the DABS to correctly identify the individuals with and without ID (i.e., sensitivity and specificity). The results indicate that the DABS sensitivity coefficients ranged from 81% to 98%, specificity coefficients ranged from 89% to 91%, and that the Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve were excellent or good. These results indicate that the DABS has very good levels of diagnostic efficiency.
authors.affiliation: University of Pisa, Via Roma, 67, 56126, Pisa, Italy. Electronic address: giulia.balboni@med.unipi.it.
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Balboni
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, 1581 Dodd Dr., Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
authors.forename: Marc J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Tassé
authors.affiliation: Hastings College, P.O. Box 285, Chewalah, WA 99190-0285, USA.
authors.forename: Robert L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Schalock
authors.affiliation: University of California - Riverside, 20500 Yate Circle, Riverside, CA 92508-3126, USA.
authors.forename: Sharon A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Borthwick-Duffy
authors.affiliation: Woodland Center for Challenging Behaviors, 9 Imlaystown-Hightstown Road, Allentown, NJ 08501-2011, USA.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Spreat
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, CB #3270, Chapel Hill, NC 23599-3270, USA.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Thissen
authors.affiliation: University of California - Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616-8686, USA.
authors.forename: Keith F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Widaman
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University, 4225 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4225, USA.
authors.forename: Dalun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, 1581 Dodd Dr., Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Navas
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012919:Social Behavior; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adaptive behavior; Intellectual disability; Sensitivity; Specificity