Assessment of Social Skills and Problem Behaviors in Young Children with Spina Bifida

The present study assessed social and emotional adjustment in young children with spina bifida. Role-play tests, and parents' and teachers' ratings of social competence and problem behaviors were utilized in this evaluation. Results indicated that children with spina bifida did not differ significantly from controls on verbal and nonverbal components of conversational skill and negative assertion. Also, spina bifida and control children were not differentiated on the basis of mothers' and teachers' reports. Further,while mothers and fathers were in agreement about their child's level of behavioral functioning, little correspondence was evident between ratings of parents and teachers. The present findings are consistent with more recent empirical investigations demonstrating that spina bifida children do not evince major deficits in adjustment as suggested in initial studies that relied on clinical interviews and self-report.