A longitudinal analysis of parent and teacher ratings of problem behavior in boys with and without developmental delays

This study investigated parent and teacher ratings of behavior problems in children with and without intellectual disabilities at three time points over the course of 9 years. The group of children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) had higher behavior problem ratings than the group of children with no IDs (NIDs) across the three time points. Parents and teachers generally agreed on behavior, with the exception of attention problems and externalizing problems. The ratings of problem behavior remained stable over the three time points. Our findings imply that children with ID may be more likely to be perceived as having greater externalizing behaviors by teachers than by parents and that parents may perceive children as having greater attention problems than teachers. For the majority of the subscales, the lack of differences between parent and teacher ratings over time implies relative stability of ratings over a 9-year period from young childhood through adolescence for individuals with and without ID.