Standardizing the assessment of emotional development in adults with intellectual and developmental disability.

OBJECTIVE: The Scale of Emotional Development-Short (SED-S) is an instrument to assess the level of emotional development (ED) in people with intellectual and developmental disability. Index cases are developed as a didactic tool to standardize the application of the scale. METHOD: In a stepwise process, a European working group from six countries developed five index cases, one for each level of ED. All cases were first scored by 20 raters using the SED-S and then rephrased to reduce inter-rater variations (SD > 0.5). RESULTS: All five index cases yielded overall ratings that matched the intended level of ED. Across the range of ED, Regulating Affect needed rephrasing most to ensure a distinct description within each level of ED. CONCLUSIONS: The tri-lingual, cross-cultural evolution of five index cases contributes to a standardized application of the SED-S and can serve as training material to improve the inter-rater reliability of the SED-S across different cultures and languages.

[Emotional developmental disorders in individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID): a case-control-study]. / Emotionale Entwicklungsstörungen bei Menschen mit Intelligenzminderung: Eine Fall-Kontroll-Studie.

OBJECTIVE: To specify frequently observed challenging behavior in adults with ID. METHODS: In a sample of individuals with ID and severe behavioral problems (n = 9), we assessed their emotional developmental level using Dosen's scheme for appraisal of emotional development. The clinical characteristics following the arrest of emotional development at various levels were evaluated by standardized behavioral assessments. The results were compared to a control group matched for sex, age, level of ID, and presence of autism spectrum disorder. RESULTS: We observed 3 categories of emotional developmental disorder: (1) Contact disorder (arrest in adaptation phase, 0-6 months, showing self injury, social withdrawal, stereotyped behaviors); (2) disintegrated disorder (arrest in socialization phase, 6-18 months, showing high irritability and aggression), and (3) disorganized disorder (arrest in individuation phase, 18-36 months, showing hyperactivity and attention seeking behavior). The individuals with emotional developmental disorders showed a significant increase in challenging behavior when compared to the control group, especially in terms of hyperactivity, irritability, and overall aggression, and were more often unemployed. CONCLUSIONS: Emotional developmental disorders may lead to severe behavioral problems.