The Nisonger Child Behavior Rating Form (NCBRF) is an instrument designed to assess the behavior of children with intellectual or developmental disabilities and those with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The assessment contains 76 items and is made up of three sections. There is a teacher and a parent version of the form, and the form takes about 15 minutes to complete. The NCBRF is designed to be used with children and adolescents ages 3 to 16. Several research studies have found the NCBRF to be a reliable and valid measure in the assessment of behavior in children and adolescents.
Contents
Section I
Section I contains one short answer question that asks the parent/teacher to describe any specific circumstances or factors that may have influenced the child’s recent behavior. This section allows such circumstances to be taken into consideration when interpreting the scoring of the rest of the assessment.
Section II
Section II has ten items that inquire about the occurrence of various behaviors. Each item presents a behavior, and the respondent is asked to rate on a 3-point scale, if that behavior applies to the child with the following response options:
The positive social scale in Section II contains two subscales: a compliant/calm subscale and an adaptive social subscale. The score sheet indicates which items fall under each subscale. Responses for each subscale are summed together to yield two subscale scores. Subscale scores are then summed to produce a total score for Section II. Higher scores indicate more adaptive behavior.
Section III
Section III is a scale of problem behavior, consisting of 66 questions. Each question addresses a specific behavior and asks the respondent to identify on a 3-point scale how the behavior has occurred over the past month using the following response options:
The problem behavior scale in Section III contains six subscales: a conduct problem subscale, an insecure/anxious subscale, a hyperactive subscale, a self-injury/stereotypic subscale, a self-isolated/ritualistic subscale and an overly sensitive subscale. The score sheet indicates which items fall under each subscale. Responses for each subscale are summed together to yield six subscale scores. Subscale scores are then summed to produce a total score for Section III. Higher scores for each subscale suggest increased prevalence of problem behaviors in that subscale category. Higher total scores indicate more general problem behavior.
Nisonger Child Behavior Form- Typical IQ Version (NCBRF-TIQ)
The NCBRF-TIQ is a 66 item behavior rating form designed to assess the behavior of children and adolescents with typical development. This instrument has identical sections and response options as the NCBRF, however Section III only has 56 items and the subscales slightly differ.
Score interpretation
Scoring for the NCBRF-TIQ is similar to the NCBRF, however differences in subscales produce different construct measures. Section II is not broken up into subscales but only produces one total score that falls under “social competence”. A higher score in Section II would designate greater social competence. Section III of the NCBRF-TIQ has six subscales: an overly sensitive subscale, an oppositional subscale, a conduct problem subscale, a hyper-active subscale, an inattentive subscale and a withdrawn/dysphoric subscale. Higher subscale scores imply greater expression of these behavioral traits. Section III on the NCBRF-TIQ provides a measure of Disruptive Behavior Disorder and a measure of ADHD. Scores from the oppositional subscale and the conduct problem subscale are summed to produce a total score for Disruptive Behavior Disorder (D-Total). Scores from the hyper-active subscale and the inattentive subscale are summed to produce a total score for ADHD (ADHD-Total). Higher scores within these subscales could suggest a potential for diagnosing these disorders.