Assessment of Problem Behavior in Visually Handicapped Adolescents

Psychological and social adjustment of visually handicapped youths has not been well studied across different raters and settings. Child, parent, and teacher forms of the Child Behavior Checklist were administered to evaluate problem behavior in the following groups: (a) visually handicapped adolescents in a residential school, (b) mainstreamed visually handicapped adolescents in public schools, and (c) sighted adolescents in public schools. Visually handicapped subjects in the residential placement evinced greater dysfunction than other subjects, as reflected in parent, teacher, and child evaluations. Although little correspondence was found between teachers' and children's scores, a number of significant correlations were obtained between teachers' and parents' ratings of children's behavior. Results are discussed in terms of the need to evaluate the adjustment and functioning of visually handicapped children and adolescents, the potential utility of psychological intervention with a subset of this population, and the importance of additional controlled research with visually handicapped persons.