ADAPTIVE FUNCTIONING AND BEHAVIOR OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS - COMPARISON BETWEEN ETHNIC-GROUPS

This study investigated the relationship between behaviour and adaptiv e functioning in 70 children of 5-16 years of age with special needs f rom three ethnic groups who lived in an urban health district. Parents were interviewed and completed the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scale (VABS) and the Aberrant Behaviour Checklist (ABC). The most pronounced developmental deficits were found in communication and daily living s kills. Two-thirds of the subjects were rated as having a moderately se vere behaviour problem on at least one item of the ABC. Asian children presented slightly more difficulties in communication, and Afro-Carib bean children did better than the other children on all domains (thoug h this was not statistically significant). In addition, European child ren were rated significantly higher than the other two groups in the b ehavioural scales of hyperactivity and inappropriate speech. Within th e whole sample, domains of adaptive functioning, particularly socialis ation, were negatively correlated with behavioural problems. Inappropr iate speech, as rated by the ABC, was associated with developmental de lay on all three VABS domains.