Devereux Scales as Behavioral Measures of Visually Impaired Residential Students
This study examines how well Devereux behavior rating scales perform as sensitive and reliable instruments for delineating inappropriate behavior among visually impaired children at a residential school. Three Devereux scales were administered: the Child Behavior Rating Scale; the Adolescent Behavior Rating Scale; and the Elementary School Behavior Rating Scale. Students were rated on the scales, from which obviously inappropriate items had been deleted by houseparents and teachers. One week later, a random sample of students was selected for re-evaluation, as a measure of test-retest reliability. The results suggest that the scales could be viable evaluation instruments, though the Child Behavior Rating Scale showed unacceptable test-retest reliability.