Mentor
Pamela Ries
Participation year
2017
Project title

Assessing Social Validity in Academic Interventions for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism

Abstract

Social validity is an important component of academic and behavioral interventions. The definition of social validity has been defined in various ways. However, using the definition for social validity according to Wolf (1978) was used to create the Assessment for Academic Intervention for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism with the purpose of creating an effective instrument to evaluate academic interventions aimed at these adults. According to Wolf (1978) there are three levels that must be taken into consideration to assess social validity: a) the social significance of the goals; b) the social appropriateness of the procedures; and c) the social importance of the effects. For the creation of this new assessment, questions were carefully selected and edited from the Kids Intervention Profile, the Writing Attitude Survey, the Student-Assisted Functional Assessment Interview, and the Children’s Intervention Rating Profile, which comply with the theoretical framework of social validity proposed by Wolf (1978). The Assessment for Academic Intervention for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism contained 21 questions and required individuals to select from five different responses. The survey was sent out to 58 adults with intellectual disabilities and autism who have received the Expressive Writing program previously. After analyzing the data received, the data will be synthesized and shared.  Furthermore, considerations regarding the limitations of the study will be discuss.

Braim Luciano Vasquez
Education
University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras