McKenzie May and Faculty Mentor: Blake Hansen, Counseling Psychology and Special Education
Introduction
Bosnia was the center of conflict during the war in Yugoslavia from April 1992 to December 1995. In post-war Bosnia, where there are limited resources, families of children with special needs bare the burden of care on their own. Caring for a child with significant disabilities on a daily basis places immense pressure on Bosnian families (Hastie, 1997). Steiner points out, “For parents of children with autism, identifying positive characteristics of the child and the relationship may be particularly beneficial because the stressors associated with the disability are likely to be chronic, and cannot be easily mastered.” (Steiner, 2010)
Behavior assessments in special education largely focus on children’s problem behaviors (Cosden, Koegel, Koegel, Greenwell, & Klein, 2006). Functional behavioral assessment interviews frequently ask questions regarding the frequency of topography of a problem behavior (Floyd, Phaneuf, & Wilczynski, 2005). Some assessments seek to reduce this problem by including questions about pro-social behaviors and functional communication skills, but usually these are an afterthought (Cosden et al., 2006). Strength-based assessments focus primarily on the strengths that children have rather than on challenges.
Methodology
24 parents (70.8% female) of children (83.3% male) with specific learning needs including autism (66.7%) completed the questionnaires associated with this study. The average age of parents was 35.6 years (range = 28-40 years) and the average age of the children was 5.8 years (range = 4-7 years). Parents were paid five dollars (US) for participating in the study.
The purpose of the present study is to evaluate a SBA of child behavior among Bosnian families who have children with disabilities. The present study is an extension of a current project, that to date, interviews have been conducted at a distance. The proposed study will conduct the assessments with families in Bosnia. To date, SBAs have not been conducted with families of children with disabilities in Bosnia. The research is needed to provide positive behavior support to the Bosnian families with children with special needs.
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 2001) was a 25-item, rating scale with strong internal and external validity. The SDQ includes five subscales with 5-items each: emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer problems, and prosocial strengths.
Strengths Based Questionnaire (SBQ) was a 13-item, open-ended questionnaire developed for this study. We translated and back translated the assessment. The questionnaire includes items regarding strengths in communication, helpful behaviors, challenging behaviors, adult and peer relationships, and appropriate behaviors.
Results
The SDQ has a scoring guide that includes norms for total difficulties. Overall, 54.1% of children did not have significant difficulties. 37.5% had slightly raised levels of difficulties, and 8.3% had high levels of difficulties. On average, parents scored 4.58 for their children’s strengths (out of 10).
Results on the SBQ were scored by counting the strengths and difficulties on each item. Where an example was included that mentioned a strength and a difficulty, the statement was scored as such. In addition, if the item was not answered or the item was not applicable (e.g., the child did not have siblings on item 13) that it was noted as well.
The frequencies of strengths and difficulties were compared using a t-test. The number of strengths identified by the SDQ was 3.6 (SD = 1.3) and difficulties were 10.4 (SD = 2.2). The number of strengths identified on the SBQ was 16.8 (SD = 6.8) and difficulties were 4.3 (SD = 1.9). Both of these means differed significantly at the p < 0.001 level.
Discussion
Results indicated that the questionnaire we developed (SBQ) was more sensitive for identifying strengths than the SDQ. Therefore, it is hypothesized that clinicians and educators in Bosnia should combine the SDQ with our open-ended questionnaire to identify a range of strengths and difficulties to inform intervention.
Conclusion
The questionnaire we developed and pilot tested was useful for parents to focus on the positive behaviors of their children. As parents and educators continue to use the existing SDQ along with this questionnaire, students, parents and educators can continue to provide more precise intervention to help these children be successful.
Scholarly Sources
Carr, E. (1999). Positive Behavior Support for People with Developmental Disabilities: A Research Synthesis. Washington DC: AAMR.
Cosden, M., Koegel, L., Koegel, R., Greenwell, A., & Klein, E. (2006). Strength-Based Assessment for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Research & Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 31(2), 134-143.
Floyd, R.G., Phaneuf, R.L., & Wilczynski, S.M. (2005). Measurement properties of indirect assessment methods for functional behavioral assessment: A review of research. School Psychology Review, 34 (1), 58-73.
Hastie, R. (1997). Disabled children in a society at war: A Casebook from Bosnia. Oxford, England: Oxfam UK and Ireland.
Memisevic, H., & Hodzic, S. (2011). Teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion of students with intellectual disability in Bosnia and Herzegovina. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 15(7), 699-710.
Mossman Steiner, A. (2010). A strength-based approach to parent education for children with autism. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 13(3), 178-190..