APPLICATION OF VINELAND SOCIAL MATURITY SCALE

Name: X Imaan                                                          Age: 5 years and 5 months

Gender: Female                                                         No of siblings: 2

Birth order: Youngest                                               Class:  Kindergarten

HISTORY

Child belongs to a family with low socio-economic status. X was born as a result of cesarean section instead of normal delivery. Mother’s age was 40 years at the time of her birth. Father of child is an entrepreneur with intermediate education and mother’s education was till middle school.

She has another elder sister who is 21 years of age currently; there is huge age difference between child and his elder sister.

Mother of child died when she was 4 _½ years old as a result of heart attack. According to family members there was a slight difference in behavior of child after death of mother yet there is no detection of any psychological harm.

No history of any psychological disorder is present in family.  Child has good relations with her sister and father. Earlier father had good relations with mother also provided child with healthy environment to grow.

X has number of friends in school and neighborhood. Because she is living in joint family system, she enjoys company of her cousins also. She is a very active child and takes part in sports and other indoor and outdoor activities

Academic performance of child is above average as she is a position holder in class and has good IQ. According to his sister she is very intelligent and grasp new concepts easily and asks questions which indicates her healthy growth of mind.

METHADOLOGY

Vineland social maturity scale is used to access child. As this scale is best adapted for scientific study of social maturity of children.

Scale Description:

 It was developed by the US psychologist Edgar (Arnold) Doll (1889–1968), originally published in 1936, and discussed in Doll's booklet Your Child Grows Up in 1950. The Vineland Social Maturity Scales (VSMS), measures social maturity or social competence in individuals from birth to adulthood. It consist of 117 items which can be interviewed with primary care giver or parent.

Doll himself stated in favor of scale:

In formulating the modus operandi of social competence thus conceived, we have employed six major expressions of social independence and responsibility. Namely, self help, locomotion communication, occupation, self direction, and socialization. Each of these major categories of social behavior has for our purposes, been reduced to succession of specific performances has its own maturation period, or growth curve, which reflects individual differences in rate of development. The central tendency of each growth curve can be calculated and its dispersion determined in statistical terms. The sum of the item performances can be expressed as total score which reflects the degrees of maturation in social competence. The scores can be expressed as central tendencies for successive life age groups and thereby expressed as "social ages."(Doll, May,1937).

SUBSCALES

The test consists of 8 sub-scales measuring:

·         Communication skills

·         General self-help ability

·         Locomotion skills

·         Occupation skills

·         Self-direction

·         Self-help eating

·         Self-help dressing

·         Socialization skills

SELF HELP CATEGORY:

Self help is further divided into three divisions: General activities, Eating, Dressing.

Major considerations of these items are the manner and degree to which the individual attends to his immediate personal wants

Self help General:

This is related to general activities which cannot come under different categories e.g. grasping objects, standing, avoiding hazards etc.

Series of preliminary to walking is apparent in item 2, 5, 8, 9, 15.

Item 3, 6, 13, 23 reveal manipulation

Item 35, 51 indicate toilet reliance and item 26 might be considered as locomotion where as item 41 as self diction and 66 as communication

Self Help Eating:

Feeding is a way of getting social independence.

This category involves 12 items; item 11, 25 and 39 are serial for drinking.

Item 28, 38, 62 and 67 for table utensils

 item 16, 20, 30 and 33 for control and discrimination, while item 75 reveals an overall synthesis.

Self Help Dressing:

This category deals with two separate aspects of dressing. Namely, personal cleanliness and use of garments.

Dressing and undressing items are 21, 37, 42, 47, 54, and 65

 Items related to cleansing are 40, 50, 52, 64, 70. Item 65 and 74 include both. Item 86 synthesize category and add superior details

LOCOMOTION:

Locomotion involves social locomotion i.e. associated with social responsibilities. Also known as social movements. Locomotive activities such as running and jumping reach at its peak till age of five but social accompaniment of locomotion increases with range of expression as individual maturity elaborates use and need.

Item are 12, 18, 29, 32, 45, 53, 61, and 77

OCCUPATION:

This may include concentration of playful activity in infancy, helping minor tasks, involve in self exploratory tasks and working for others.

Serial grouping are evident i.e.  Self occupation include item 7, 19, 22, 36, 43, 55, 57, 107

Helpful task items are 24, 48, 72, and 89

Self initiated work items include 71, 80, 82, 108, and 116

Progressive level of adult productivity include item 98, 106, 111, 113, 114

COMMUNICATION

This is related to social use of language, literacy and other means of communication and how these help individual to adapt better.

Sequence include 8 items on vocal communication i.e. 1, 10, 17, 31, 34, 44, 79, 91

Five items on writing i.e.  58, 63, 78, 81, 90

2 items on reading i.e. 73, 84

SELF DIRECTION:

Period of adolescent is specifically characterized by desire of social freedom in personal conduct. This expresses itself in a gradual breaking away from authority, which is followed in early childhood by assumption of responsibility and authority for others. This is clearly expressed in handling of money, in looking after of all ones needs etc.

Two series are apparent i.e.

One related to money and purchasing i.e. item 60, 76, 87, 94, 95, 100, 102, 105 and 112

Other dealing with self controlled behavior i.e.  Item 83, 93, 97, 99 and 101.

SOCIALIZATION:

Social competence naturally involves social relationships since the expression of individual adequacy matures in a social setting

Marked series of socialized play and recreation items i.e. 27, 46, 56, 59, 69, 85, 88

Series of social responsibility include 103, 104, 109, 110, 115, and 117

Minor series of interpersonal relations include item 4, 14, 49

SCORING:

Many doubts regarding item interpretation may be resolved by considering items with the reference to their relative positions in scale.  Items should be scored strictly upon performances of tasks. For scoring, child is asked to perform specific task..

Each item of the schedule is to be scored on a three point scale.

·         A score of '+1' is to be given to the choice 'always' in the case of positive behavior.

·         The choice 'sometimes' and other wordings indicating the middle path is to be given a score of '0.5'.

·         The last choice which denotes the least expression of positive behavior is to be given a score of '0'.

FRECUENCY TABLE

Key to categorical arrangement of item:

SHG--- Self-help general                  C---Communication         L---Locomotion

SHD--- Self-help dressing                SD--- Self-direction           O--- Occupation

SGE--- Self-help eating                     S--- Socialization

Categories Age Period	SHG	SHD	SHE	C	SD	S	O	L	TOTAL
4-5	1/1	1.5/2	_	_	_	1/1	1/1	1/1	5.5/6
5-6	_	_	_	1/1	0.5/1	1/1	1/1	1/1	4.5/5
6-7	_	1/2	1/1	1/1	_	_	_	_	3/4
7-8	0/1	0.5/1	1/1	_	_	1.5/2	_	_	3/5
8-9	_	1/1	_	0.5/1	_	_	1.5/2	_	3/4
9-10	_	_	1/1	_	1/1	_	_	1/1	3/3
10-11				0.5/3			0/1		0.5/4
TOTAL	1/2	4/6	3/3	3/6	1.5/2	3.5/4	3.5/5	3/3

INTERPRETATIONS

Scoring indicates that child is healthy both in growth and development. Administration of scale provides evidence that child is capable of taking care of himself responsibly. He maintains a healthy life style and performs not only according to his age but also a little above

Self Help General: Child scored 1 out two in self help general category. This shows he is capable of performing general activities like head holding, telling time to quarter etc.

Self help eating: This caters with child ability to handle his eating patterns and take care of his nutritional needs. Child gets more independent in terms of feeding.

Child scored three out of three in this category which shows that he is fully able to take care of his needs related to feeding and can take care of himself

Self Help Dressing: This category indicates child ability to cleanse himself as well as dressing himself. Child scored four out of 6 in this category which indicates that child is average in independence of in terms of dressing.  Child can dress and undress him but cannot tie. She can button himself shows her less dependence for assistance

Occupation: Child scored 3.5 out of five which indicates his average skills in carrying out his general house hold activities. Child takes part in playful activities efficiently but lacks a bit in carrying out household work

Locomotion: Locomotion involves social movements including going in neighborhood and other social places. Child scored three out three which shows that child is independent in locomotion and can be trusted with her locomotion.

Communication: Communication deals with social use and application of language and other communicative skills including writing and spoken. Child scored three out six which indicates that although child can use communicative tools  in daily life yet he does not have much command on it. She can copy alphabets and can read  but unable to do creative writing include letter writing etc.

Self Direction: Child scored 1.5 out of two which shows that child takes responsibility and feels to get free from authority. She cannot be trusted with money but can make minor purchases.

Socialization: Child scored 3.5 out of four. This indicates that child has developed good socialization skills. And is continuously developing this skill through paying games with her peer group.

Bibliography

Doll. (May,1937). The inheritance of Social Competence. The Journal of Heredity .

https://archive.org/stream/measurementofsoc1953doll#page/74/mode/2up