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Autism and Child Psychopathology Series
Series Editor: Johnny L. Matson

Russell Lang
Peter Sturmey
Editors

Adaptive Behavior
Strategies
for Individuals
with Intellectual
and Developmental
Disabilities
Evidence-Based Practices
Across the Life Span
Autism and Child Psychopathology Series

Series Editor
Johnny L. Matson, Department of Psychology
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
Brief Overview
The purpose of this series is to advance knowledge in the broad multidisciplinary
fields of autism and various forms of psychopathology (e.g., anxiety and depression).
Volumes synthesize research on a range of rapidly expanding topics on assessment,
treatment, and etiology.
Description
The Autism and Child Psychopathology Series explores a wide range of research
and professional methods, procedures, and theories used to enhance positive
development and outcomes across the lifespan. Developments in education,
medicine, psychology, and applied behavior analysis as well as child and adolescent
development across home, school, hospital, and community settings are the focus of
this series. Series volumes are both authored and edited, and they provide critical
reviews of evidence-based methods. As such, these books serve as a critical reference
source for researchers and professionals who deal with developmental disorders and
disabilities, most notably autism, intellectual disabilities, challenging behaviors,
anxiety, depression, ADHD, developmental coordination disorder, communication
disorders, and other common childhood problems. The series addresses important
mental health and development difficulties that children and youth, their caregivers,
and the professionals who treat them must face. Each volume in the series provides
an analysis of methods and procedures that may assist in effectively treating these
developmental problems.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8665

Russell Lang • Peter Sturmey
Editors

Adaptive Behavior Strategies

for Individuals with
Intellectual and
Developmental Disabilities
Evidence-Based Practices
Across the Life Span
Editors
Russell Lang Peter Sturmey
College of Education City University of New York
Texas State University Queens College
San Marcos, TX, USA Flushing, NY, USA

ISSN 2192-922X     ISSN 2192-9238 (electronic)

Autism and Child Psychopathology Series
ISBN 978-3-030-66440-4    ISBN 978-3-030-66441-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66441-1

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of
the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,
broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information
storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the
editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any
errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional
claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface

People living with intellectual and developmental disabilities often experience

­difficulty learning skills necessary for daily living. Often referred to as adaptive
behavior, these functional life skills range from basic hygiene (e.g., bathing, brush-
ing teeth, and dressing) to more complex skills such as driving. Skills related to
recreation, play and leisure and those necessary to remain safe in community set-
tings (e.g., abduction prevention skills for children) are also considered paramount
for independence and autonomy. Despite the widely recognized importance of
adaptive daily-living skills and the tremendous corpus of peer-reviewed research in
this area, there is a surprising lack of books devoted to the topic. Although many
textbooks used in graduate courses devoted to the education and treatment of people
with intellectual and developmental disabilities have chapters on adaptive behavior,
we are aware of no recent books providing the depth and breadth of coverage pro-
posed here. This book will present nine chapters focused exclusively on adaptive
behavior and daily-living skills. Furthermore, as opposed to limiting the coverage to
a specific phase of development (e.g., childhood), this volume includes adaptive
behavior interventions across the life span.
This book begins with a chapter from Tasse that presents a conceptual analysis
of adaptive behavior, a review of measurement and assessment issues, and some
comprehensive assessments of adaptive behavior. The second chapter by Penrod,
Silbaugh, Page, and Moseman presents a systematic review of recent work on teach-
ing a very basic adaptive behavior – feeding skills – which also includes work on
food refusal and selectivity. Chapter 3 by McLay, van Deurs, Gibbs, and Whitcombe-­
Dobbs reviews research on teaching hygiene skills such as dressing, oral hygiene,
menstrual care, handwashing, bathing, grooming, and toileting. Communication is
another important adaptive behavior. Over the years teaching communication skills
has undergone a revolutionary change with the adoption of a functional approach
based on Skinner’s Verbal Behavior. Sigafoos’s chapter provides an in-depth review
of this continuously developing technology. Chapter 5 by Kim, Lory, Kim, Gregori,
and Rispoli reviews approaches to teach academic skills. Long excluded from edu-
cation, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities now receive an
education, but school services are challenged as how to teach them effectively. This

v
vi Preface

chapter illustrates the evidence available to guide practice in this area. Access to the
community often does not occur, merely by being located in a community setting.
Chapter 6 by Ayres, Tyson, White, and Herrod reviews one important aspect of
enhancing the community presence of individuals with intellectual and develop-
mental disabilities using an ecological framework. Chapter 7 by Didden, Jonker,
Delforterie, and Nijman systematically reviews research on teaching community
safety skills, such as responding to lures, being lost in the community, road safety,
bullying, first aid, and putting out a fire, which are essential as people live in com-
munity settings. Teaching adaptive behavior on the scale needed to impact the lives
of many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities cannot and perhaps
should not be done by a few experts and professionals in clinics and centers. Thus,
the chapter by Hansen, DeMarco, and Etchison reviews a relatively and surprisingly
sparse literature on training family members and community staff to do so in com-
munity settings, such as families. We are living in a new age of web-based technolo-
gies that have transformed everyone’s lives, including the lives of individuals with
intellectual and developmental disabilities. Thus, in the final chapter Wehmeyer,
Tanis, Davies, and Stock provide a comprehensive review of teaching this technol-
ogy thoughtfully framed within a disability rights perspective.
We hope that this book will be suited for graduate students and professionals in
the fields of clinical child, school, and developmental psychology, family studies,
behavior analysis, special education, developmental disability, and public health
interested in both practical and applied aspects as well as theoretical implications
and scientific processes inherent to teaching life skills and supporting adaptive
behavior in people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We thank the
chapter authors for their work on this volume. We chose them because of their high
level of expertise and international reputations in this field: We were not
disappointed.

San Marcos, TX, USA  Russell Lang

Flushing, NY, USA  Peter Sturmey
Contents

1 Adaptive Behavior and Functional Life Skills Across

the Lifespan: Conceptual and Measurement Issues ����������������������������    1
Marc J. Tassé
2 Interventions to Support Feeding in People with Intellectual
and Developmental Disabilities��������������������������������������������������������������   21
Becky Penrod, Bryant C. Silbaugh, Scott V. Page,
and Melissa Moseman
3 Empirically Supported Strategies for Teaching Personal
Hygiene Skills to People with Intellectual Disabilities��������������������������   47
Laurie McLay, Jenna van Deurs, Rosina Gibbs,
and Sarah Whitcombe-Dobbs
4 Teaching Communication Skills to People with Intellectual
and Developmental Disabilities��������������������������������������������������������������   73
Jeff Sigafoos
5 Teaching Academic Skills to People with Intellectual
and Developmental Disability ���������������������������������������������������������������� 103
So Yeon Kim, Catharine Lory, Soo Jung Kim, Emily Gregori,
and Mandy Rispoli
6 Improving Skills to Empower Community Access
and Increase Independence �������������������������������������������������������������������� 137
Kevin M. Ayres, Kelsie M. Tyson, Emily N. White,
and Jessica L. Herrod
7 Community Safety Skills of People with Intellectual
and Developmental Disabilities�������������������������������������������������������������� 163
Robert Didden, Femke Jonker, Monique Delforterie,
and Henk Nijman

vii
viii Contents

8 Training Parents and Staff to Implement Interventions

to Improve the Adaptive Behavior of Their Children
with Intellectual and Developmental Disability������������������������������������ 179
Sarah G. Hansen, Jessica DeMarco, and Hannah Etchison
9 The Role of Applied Cognitive Technology and Assistive
Technology in Supporting the Adaptive Behavior of People
with Intellectual Disability���������������������������������������������������������������������� 201
Michael L. Wehmeyer, Shea Tanis, Daniel K. Davies,
and Steven E. Stock

Index������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 219
Contributors

Kevin M. Ayres is a professor of Special Education at The University of Georgia

and co-director of the Center for Autism and Behavioral Education research. He
specializes in school-based applications of behavior analysis for improving learning
outcomes.

Daniel K. Davies is the founder and president of AbleLink Smart Living

Technologies. He has been closely associated with issues important to individuals
with disabilities and their families all his life, as his oldest brother John lived with
severe intellectual disability, and several significant physical disabilities. He has
been actively involved in research and development of assistive technology for indi-
viduals with cognitive and other disabilities and has authored over 75 journal arti-
cles, book chapters, and reports specifically on the use of assistive technology for
individuals with cognitive disabilities and is an invited presenter at conferences
nationally and internationally.

Monique Delforterie is a senior researcher at Trajectum, a treatment facility for

adults with mild intellectual disabilities and severe behavioral and mental health
problems.

Jessica DeMarco is a doctoral student at Georgia State University. Her research

interests include early intervention, applied behavior analysis, reducing challenging
behaviors in school settings, and language development.

Jenna van Deurs is a Registered Child and Family Psychologist in Christchurch,

New Zealand. Her research interests include the assessment and treatment of sleep
problems in adolescents on the autism spectrum, adolescent-led interventions, and
child and adolescent mental health.

Robert Didden is Professor of Intellectual Disability, Learning and Behavior at

the Behavioural Science Institute of the Radboud University at Nijmegen, the

ix
x Contributors

Netherlands. As a researcher, he is also affiliated with Trajectum, a treatment facil-

ity for adults with mild intellectual disabilities at Zwolle.

Hannah Etchison is a doctoral student at Georgia State University. Her research

interests include early intervention in low-resource settings, applied behavior analy-
sis, and theory and pedagogy in special education.

Rosina Gibbs is an experienced Early Childhood Educator and a Postgraduate

student in Child and Family Psychology at the College of Education, Health and
Human Development, University of Canterbury. She provides support for research-
ers in investigating the effectiveness of behavioral sleep interventions for children
with autism and rare genetic disorders.

Emily Gregori is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education at

the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her works examine the assessment and treat-
ment of challenging behavior for adults with developmental disabilities, and meth-
ods for training direct care staff and other natural change agents to implement
behavioral programming.

Sarah G. Hansen is an assistant professor of early childhood special education,

Georgia State University. Her research focuses on assessment, intervention, and
training of natural change agents on early and pivotal social communication skills
for children with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental disabilities and
preparing natural change agents to support children with special needs to succeed in
the preschool classroom and other natural environments.

Jessica L. Herrod is a doctoral student studying special education at the University

of Georgia. Her areas of interest include applied behavior analysis and classroom
interventions for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Femke Jonker is a clinical psychologist at Pro Persona, a psychiatric hospital in

The Netherlands. She also works as a diagnostician for The Netherlands Institute
for Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry. She is currently conducting a PhD study on
adaptive skills in individuals with mild intellectual disabilities.

Soo Jung Kim is a doctoral student of Special Education at the College of

Education, Purdue University. Her work focuses on mathematics education and the
use of technology for children with disabilities.

So Yeon Kim recently received a PhD from the College of Education, Purdue
University. Her research focuses on teaching reading skills to students with devel-
opmental disabilities and using technology as an instructional tool.

Russell Lang is an associate professor of Special Education and a Board Certified

Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D). He has published over 100 peer-reviewed research
Contributors xi

papers and multiple book chapters concerning the education and treatment of peo-
ple with intellectual and developmental disabilities. His primary research interest is
in the treatment of challenging behaviors and the acquisition of play and leisure
skills in children with autism spectrum disorders.

Catharine Lory is a doctoral student of Special Education at the College of

Education, Purdue University. Her work focuses on applied behavior analysis,
teacher and staff training, and challenging behavior in children with autism and
developmental disabilities.

Laurie McLay is an associate professor in the School of Health Sciences at the

University of Canterbury. She specializes in the assessment and treatment of sleep
problems in children and adolescents with developmental disabilities, and she leads
the Good Nights Programme at the University of Canterbury. Her research interests
also include interventions for toilet training and other adaptive living skills.

Melissa Moseman is a graduate student, under the advisement of Dr. Becky

Penrod, at California State University, Sacramento. Her research and applied inter-
ests include pediatric feeding behavior, parent and teacher training, and verbal
behavior.

Henk Nijman is Professor of Forensic Psychology at the Behavioural Science

Institute of the Radboud University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. He is also senior
researcher at the forensic psychiatric institute, Fivoor, The Netherlands.

Scott V. Page is a doctoral student in applied behavior analysis at Utah State

University. His research interests include the use of computer and internet-based
technologies to change health behaviors, the assessment and treatment of feeding
problems, multitiered systems of support, and evidence-based procedures in schools.

Becky Penrod is a professor of Psychology and Director of the Pediatric Behavior

Research Laboratory at California State University, Sacramento. She specializes in
applied behavior analysis with an emphasis on the assessment and treatment of
pediatric feeding disorders.

Mandy Rispoli is a professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Purdue

University. Her work examines functional behavior assessment and intervention
implemented by natural change agents with young children with autism and other
developmental disabilities.

Jeff Sigafoos is a professor in the School of Education at Victoria University of

Wellington and an adjunct Professor at James Madison University in Virginia,
USA. He has authored numerous journal articles, book chapters, books describing
the results of his research on educational and behavioral interventions for individu-
als with developmental and physical disabilities. He is co-editor-in-chief of
xii Contributors

Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention. His current research

includes using iPad technology to promote communication and social skills in chil-
dren with autism spectrum disorders, enhancing the communication skills of chil-
dren with autism and intellectual disability, and augmentative and alternative
communication intervention for children with developmental and physical
disabilities.

Bryant C. Silbaugh is Director of Research and Development at Empower

Behavioral Health in San Antonio, Texas. He specializes in applied behavior analy-
sis, with an emphasis on the assessment and treatment of children with autism and
pediatric feeding disorders.

Steven E. Stock is at AbleLink Smart Living Technologies. He has published

widely on assistive technology, self-determination, and inclusion.

Peter Sturmey, PhD is Professor of Psychology at the Graduate Center and

Queens College, City University of New York. He has published over 220 articles,
80 chapters, 25 books, and over 300 presentations mostly in the areas of develop-
mental disabilities and applied behavior analysis.

Shea Tanis is the director for Policy and Advocacy at the Coleman Institute for
Cognitive Disabilities at the University of Colorado and is also on the faculty of the
Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado. Her research interests
include the definition of intellectual disability, measurement of adaptive behavior
and support need, the construct of self-determination, federally funded supports and
services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their fami-
lies, and self-directed employment strategies, applied cognitive technology sup-
ports, cognitive accessibility, and advancing the rights of people with cognitive
disabilities to technology and information access.

Marc J. Tassé, PhD is Professor in the Department of Psychology and in the

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, and Director of the Ohio State
Nisonger Center, The Ohio State University. He has published over 155 articles in
peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and books in the area of intellectual disabili-
ties, autism spectrum disorders and other neurodevelopmental disorders and given
over 275 scientific and professional presentations. He has been involved in the
development of a number of standardized assessment tests for people with ID/ASD,
including Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scale, Supports Intensity Scale for
Children, Supports Intensity Scale for Adults, Nisonger Child Behavior Rating
Form, and the Quebec Adaptive Behavior Scale.

Kelsie M. Tyson is a doctoral student in the special education program at the

University of Georgia. Her areas of interest include applied behavior analysis and
early intervention for young children with autism spectrum disorder.
Contributors xiii

Michael L. Wehmeyer is the Ross and Marianna Beach Distinguished Professor

in Special Education at the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, University
of Kansas. He has directed externally funded projects totaling in excess of $33 mil-
lion pertaining to the education and support of youth and adults with intellectual and
developmental disabilities. He is the author or co-author of 385 peer-reviewed jour-
nal articles or book chapters and has authored, co-authored, edited, or co-edited 36
books on disability and education related issues, including issues pertaining to self-­
determination, positive psychology and disability, transition to adulthood, the edu-
cation and inclusion of students with severe disabilities, and technology use by
people with cognitive disabilities.

Sarah Whitcombe-Dobbs is a Registered Psychologist and lecturer in Child and

Family Psychology at the School of Health Sciences, University of Canterbury. Her
research focuses on assessment and intervention with families who have involve-
ment with Child Protection Services. She also specializes in developmental and
mental health assessment and intervention with children and adolescents who have
histories of trauma and complex needs.

Emily N. White is a doctoral student in the special education program at The

University of Georgia. Her areas of interest include applied behavior analysis and
communication interventions for preschool-aged children with intellectual and
developmental disabilities.
Chapter 1
Adaptive Behavior and Functional Life
Skills Across the Lifespan: Conceptual
and Measurement Issues

Marc J. Tassé

1.1 Definition and History

Adaptive behavior involves skills that people learn throughout their life and put
forth to meet the demands and expectations of their environment and society at
large. Adaptive behavior is a broad construct that encompasses practical skills (e.g.,
self-care, toileting, cooking, cleaning, caring for one’s home, money concepts, and
work skills), social skills (e.g., interpersonal skills, managing one’s emotions), and
conceptual skills (e.g., functional academics, communication skills, concept of
time, money management, and self-direction; American Psychiatric Association,
2013; Schalock, Luckasson, & Tassé, 2021; Tassé et al., 2012). The complexity of
the adaptive behavior increases with chronological age and the onset of diverse
social roles and responsibilities (e.g., going to school, participating in sports and
leisure activities, maintaining friendship, dating, independence/interdependence,
financial responsibilities, following rules, social responsibilities, employment, and
raising children).
Impairment in adaptive behavior is a crucial diagnostic criterion for a number of
neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (American
Psychiatric Association, 2013) and intellectual disability (APA, 2013; Schalock
et al., 2021; World Health Organization, 1992). The presence of deficits in adaptive
behavior is also present in a number of other conditions, including attention deficit/
hyperactivity disorder, emotional and behavioral disorders, hearing and motor
impairments, communication disorders, and learning disabilities (Harrison &
Oakland, 2003). Research has shown that the strength of adaptive skills is a strong
predictor of success of post-high school outcomes for students with disabilities
(Dell’Armo & Tassé, 2019). Conversely, the loss of adaptive skills in aging adults is

M. J. Tassé ()
Nisonger Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 1

R. Lang, P. Sturmey (eds.), Adaptive Behavior Strategies for Individuals with
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Autism and Child Psychopathology
Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66441-1_1
2 M. J. Tassé

an early indicator of age-related decline (Takata et al., 2013) and the onset of
dementia in persons with Down syndrome (Zigman, Schupf, Urv, & Silverman,
2009; Zigman, Schupf, Urv, Zigman, & Silverman, 2002).
Deficits in adaptive behavior are attributable to a number of independent and
overlapping variables. Some of these factors include: (a) opportunities to develop/
learn a skill/behavior, (b) opportunities to perform or practice a learned skill, (c)
intrinsic or extrinsic motivation to perform a learned skill when called upon, (d) the
awareness that a particular skill or behavior is needed in a particular situation, (e)
physical or mental health problems, and/or (f) brain disease or impairment. One’s
context also influences significantly a person’s adaptive behavior, situationally (e.g.,
in a demand setting where the person is rewarded for emitting a specific adaptive
behavior) or permanently (e.g., growing up in a severely impoverished environment
where there was a paucity of opportunities to learn adaptive skills).
Although the concept of adaptive behavior has evolved over time, it remains
remarkably similar to the definition initially proposed by the American Association
on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) more than 50 years ago
(see Heber, 1959). Heber (1959) first proposed introducing this concept into the
diagnostic criteria of intellectual disability in a draft version of the American
Association on Mental Deficiency’s (now AAIDD) terminology and classification
manual. Heber defined this second diagnostic criterion as deficits in at least one of
the following: “maturation, learning, and social adjustment” (see Heber, 1959; p. 3).
After receiving feedback and comments from the field, Heber (1961) revised slightly
the AAIDD diagnostic criteria for intellectual disability proposed in 1959 and for-
mally introduced in the definition of intellectual disability the concept of “adaptive
behavior.” Heber described the concurrent impairments in adaptive behavior as con-
sisting of deficits in one of the three previously mentioned domains: maturation,
learning, and/or social adjustments (see Heber, 1961; p. 3). The Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) incorporated AAIDD’s (Heber,
1961) proposed construct of adaptive behavior in its revision of the DSM, published
in 1968 (DSM-II; American Psychiatric Association, 1968).
Fast forward 50 years, and our current diagnostic definitions of intellectual dis-
ability look surprisingly similar to these two earlier definitions of AAIDD (Heber,
1961) and DSM-II (American Psychiatric Association, 1968); (see Tassé, Luckasson,
& Schalock, 2016). The current AAIDD definition (see Schalock et al., 2021) and
DSM-5 (APA, 2013) both require the presence of significant impairments in adap-
tive behavior when diagnosing intellectual disability and operationalize it as the
presence of deficits in one or more of the following: conceptual (aka learning),
social (aka social adjustment), and/or practical adaptive skills (aka maturation).

1.2 Disorders Associated with Deficits in Adaptive Behavior

There are a number of conditions and situations in which the assessment and teach-
ing of adaptive behavior is a critical and essential component of the clinician’s or
educator’s responsibility. Before we discuss some of these specific conditions, it is
1 Adaptive Behavior and Functional Life Skills Across the Lifespan: Conceptual… 3

important to point out that the presence of problem behavior may at times coexist in
a person who has deficits in adaptive behavior. First, we much mention that problem
behavior (e.g., aggression, stereotypy, and elopement) are not necessarily “mal-
adaptive” or purposeless, nor are problem behavior and adaptive behavior on oppo-
site ends of the same construct. Problem behavior can, in fact, be very “adaptive”
and serve as an effective response to the person’s environment and the contingencies
in the environment (e.g., scream to get someone’s attention and hit a teacher to get
out of a task). Problem behaviors most often serve a function (e.g., get something,
avoid something, communicate a desire, and sensory regulation), and a function-­
based intervention will use teaching and reinforcing of alternative behaviors to
replace the problem behavior. Often, these alternative behaviors are adaptive skills.
For example, if the function of a student’s problem behavior of slapping a classmate
is motivated by a desire to escape the demands of the classroom by being removed
from the classroom contingently on the aggressive behavior, perhaps an alternative
behavior to this aggression might be to teach the student to ask for help, or com-
municate (e.g., words, picture/symbol, and sign language) more effectively when
he/she is feeling overwhelmed by a task or demand that is too difficult.
Incorporating the teaching of alternative adaptive skills should be considered an
essential component of all behavior change interventions. Research has shown that
conducting parent training that focuses on enhancing adaptive behavior and behav-
ior management strategies results in improved adaptive behavior and a reduction in
challenging behaviors (Scahill et al., 2012, 2016). There is a growing body of
research that has shown that poor adaptive behavior in childhood is a barrier to
achievements in social relationships, inclusion, independence, and employment
(Bruininks, Hill, & Morreau, 1985; Papazoglou, Jacobson, & Zabel, 2013).

1.2.1 Developmental Disabilities

Developmental disabilities is an administrative definition at the federal level that

defines a level of human functioning that determines individuals eligible for federal
and state disability benefits (e.g., early intervention, waiver services for community-­
based services, social security supplemental income). The definition for develop-
mental disabilities is found in US legislation entitled Developmental Disabilities
Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (DD Act, 2000) that is operationalized based on
the person’s level of functioning rather than on the presence of specific conditions
or disorders (meaning it is largely based on the person presenting certain prescribed
functional deficits). Developmental disability is not a condition defined in either the
DSM (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) or the International
Classification of Diseases (ICD-10; World Health Organization, 1992). The DD Act
(2000) defines developmental disabilities as follows:
(A) “… a severe, chronic disability of an individual that:
(i) Is attributable to a mental or physical impairment or combination of men-
tal and physical impairments;
4 M. J. Tassé

(ii) Is manifested before the individual attains age 22;

(iii) Is likely to continue indefinitely;
(iv) Results in substantial functional limitations in 3 or more of the following
areas of major life activity:
1. Self-care.
2. Receptive and expressive language.
3. Learning.
4. Mobility.
5. Self-direction.
6. Capacity for independent living.
7. Economic self-sufficiency; and
(v) Reflects the individual’s need for a combination and sequence of special,
interdisciplinary, or generic services, individualized supports, or other
forms of assistance that are of lifelong or extended duration and are indi-
vidually planned and coordinated.
(B) Infants and young children. An individual from birth to age 9, inclusive, who
has a substantial developmental delay or specific congenital or acquired condi-
tion, may be considered to have a developmental disability without meeting 3
or more of the criteria described in clauses (i) through (v) of subparagraph (A)
if the individual, without services and supports, has a high probability of meet-
ing those criteria later in life.” (DD Act, 2000; pp. 1683–1684)
It is important to note that a person’s cognitive ability is not a criterion in diag-
nosing a developmental disability. Rather, its determination rests largely on the
presence of deficits in adaptive behavior, or what is called “areas of major life activ-
ity” in the DD Act.

1.2.2 Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder is a life-long neurodevelopmental disorder that has an

onset during early childhood. It is characterized by significant deficits in social
communication skills and the presence of restrictive and repetitive behavior and/or
interests (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Deficits in social communica-
tion include skills such as social and emotional reciprocity, interpersonal skills,
emotion recognition and sharing, nonverbal communication skills, eye contact, and
friendship and relationship skills. Deficits in social skills and communication defi-
cits are core features of autism spectrum disorder (see DSM-5).
People with autism spectrum disorder present with varying levels of severity in
symptoms and functioning across the social and communication skills continuum as
well as the severity of their stereotypic behavior, behavioral rigidity, restrictive
interests and activities, and sensory behaviors. The DSM-5 proposed three levels of
severity of autism spectrum disorder, based on the intensity of supports needed
1 Adaptive Behavior and Functional Life Skills Across the Lifespan: Conceptual… 5

around the person’s social communication deficits and their restricted and repetitive
behaviors. Hence, interventions almost always focus on teaching and enhancing
these adaptive skills to impact the core features of autism spectrum disorder and
directly reduce the severity of the condition and ameliorate the prognosis.

1.2.3 Intellectual Disability

Adaptive behavior is perhaps best associated as a core feature of intellectual dis-

ability. The condition of intellectual disability has long been conceptualized as con-
sisting of problems in adapting to societal demands and expectations, along with
deficits in intellectual abilities. Adaptive behavior has been an essential diagnostic
criterion of intellectual disability for more than 50 years (see American Psychiatric
Association, 1968; Heber, 1961). Even before adaptive behavior was included as a
diagnostic criterion, Tredgold (1937; p. 4) described it as follows: “[Intellectual
disability] is a state of incomplete mental development of such a kind and degree
that the individual is incapable of adapting himself to the normal environment of
his fellows in such a way to maintain existence independently of supervision, con-
trol or external support.” [emphasis mine]. Edouard Seguin as early as the mid-­1800s
differentiated the severity levels of intellectual disability on the basis of a combina-
tion of deficits in intellectual ability and adaptive functioning (see
Scherenberger, 1983).
An important assumption that is defined as essential to the application of the
definition of intellectual disability put forth by AAIDD stipulates the following:
“With appropriate personalized supports, the life functioning of the person with
intellectual disability will improve” (Luckasson et al., 2002; Schalock et al., 2010;
Schalock, Luckasson, & Tassé, 2021). We argue that the most important form of
ongoing support is lifelong instruction. People with intellectual disability, as well as
any other disability, are capable of learning new adaptive skills throughout their life.

1.2.4 Relation Between Adaptive Behavior

and Intellectual Functioning

It is not surprising that the exact relationship between intelligence and adaptive
behavior is misunderstood and erroneously confounded as causal. In fact, earlier
definitions of intelligence incorporated elements in its definition that included terms
such as “adaptation” or “one’s ability to respond to their environment’s expectations
and demands” (see Binet & Simon, 1905; Sternberg et al., 2000; Thorndike, 1920).
Nonetheless, in a study of the relationship between adaptive behavior and intelli-
gence, Keith and his colleagues (Keith, Fehrman, Harrison, & Pottebaum, 1987)
tested three hypotheses of the relationship between these two constructs: (a)
6 M. J. Tassé

separate but related constructs, (b) completely independent constructs, or (c) differ-
ent facets of a unitary construct. Based on their findings, they concluded that adap-
tive behavior and intelligence are related but separate constructs. This finding has
been supported over the years by a number of research studies examining the cor-
relational relationship between adaptive behavior and intelligence that has consis-
tently reported that the correlation between FSIQ and composite adaptive behavior
score is moderate (De Bildt, Kraijer, Sytema, & Minderaa, 2005; Harrison, 1987;
Harrison & Oakland, 2003; McGrew, 2012; Papazoglou, Jacobson, McCabe,
Kaufmann, & Zabel, 2014; Sabat, Tassé, & Tenorio, 2019). The correlation between
IQ and adaptive behavior is strongest between the full-scale IQ score and concep-
tual adaptive skills and to a lesser extent with social and practical adaptive skills
(Carpentieri & Morgan, 1996; Sabat et al., 2019).
There may be concern that the correlation coefficients may be attenuated
between these two constructs on account of range restrictions of scores on the
intelligence and adaptive behavior tests. Alexander and Reynolds (2020) in a
large meta-analytic study of 148 samples containing a total of 16,464 partici-
pants, after correcting for range restriction and attenuation, reported an estimated
population correlation coefficient = 0.51. These results confirmed an overall
moderate relationship between intelligence and adaptive behavior. Alexander
also reported that moderator analyses confirmed that the correlation coefficients
between IQ and adaptive behavior were strongest as the IQ score decreased;
hence, it is ever more crucial to consider adaptive behavior measures as intellec-
tual abilities increase.
Meyers, Nihira, and Zetlin (1979) eloquently summarized the differences
between these two related but separate psychological constructs as follows: “(a)
adaptive behavior emphasizes everyday behavior, whereas intelligence emphasizes
thought processes; (b) adaptive behavior focuses on common or typical behavior
whereas intelligence focuses on maximum performance; and (c) adaptive behavior
stresses non-abstract, non-academic aspects of life, whereas intelligence stresses
those aspects that are abstract and academic.” (pp. 433–434).

1.2.5 Importance of Adaptive Behavior

The importance of adaptive behavior has only grown over the last century of
research and intervention in the field of intellectual disability. A person’s function-
ing in terms of adaptive behavior and intellectual skills must be weighed equally
and considered jointly when diagnosing intellectual disability (Tassé et al., 2016).
In fact, both AAIDD and DSM have moved to place equal, if not more, importance
on adaptive behavior than intellectual functioning in their conceptualization of
intellectual disability. For example, the DSM-5 has abandoned the use of IQ scores
in defining the severity of a person’s intellectual disability and has replaced IQ with
the person’s level of adaptive behavior (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
Hence, the determination of severity of intellectual disability (mild, moderate,
1 Adaptive Behavior and Functional Life Skills Across the Lifespan: Conceptual… 7

severe, profound) is best determined on the basis of the severity of deficits in adap-
tive behavior rather than intellectual functioning, the reason being that deficits in
adaptive behavior are a better correlate with intensity of support needs than deficits
in intellectual functioning (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Simões,
Santos, Biscaia, & Thompson, 2016), and, equally important, research has shown
that higher levels of adaptive behavior are strongly correlated with improved quality
of life (Claes et al. 2012; Nota et al. 2007; Simões et al., 2016).
There is a growing consensus on the importance of focusing our interventions
and treatments on increasing the learning and performance of adaptive behavior.
This book has, to that end, several chapters that present different interventions and
approaches to teaching adaptive behavior and functional skills across the lifespan.
In this chapter, we will present the important elements related to the concepts and
assessment of adaptive behavior, which are a critical first step to the identification
of strengths and areas of needed intervention. We will present some of the tools that
exist that can aide in assessing the outcomes and effectiveness of an intervention.

1.3 Assessment of Adaptive Behavior

Coulter and Morrow (1978) observed that the field’s interest in the assessment of
adaptive behavior falls into two primary purposes. Adaptive behavior assessment
continues to be driven essentially by these two goals: (1) establish a diagnosis/deter-
mine eligibility (i.e., does the person present with significant deficits in adaptive
behavior) and (2) identify areas of deficits and relative strengths that can inform
intervention objectives and strategies (i.e., individual education plan, individual
support plan, identify strengths and weaknesses).
Edgar Doll (1936) was the first person to recognize the importance of adaptive
behavior and develop a standardized measure, called the Vineland Social Maturity
Scale. Since the first publication of the Vineland Social Maturity Scale, more than
200 measures of adaptive behavior and functional skills have been identified
(Reschly, Myers, & Hartel, 2002; Schalock, 1999). Some of these instruments might
consist of a brief inventory, checklist, or questionnaire dealing with a very specific
skill area (e.g., social skills, communication, motor skills, vocational skills) and
most of these 200 assessments are not comprehensive measures of adaptive behav-
ior. Some are direct measures, while others are created to assess the person’s adap-
tive behavior by getting input from a third-party respondent (e.g., parent, caregiver,
teacher, direct support professional, etc.). Almost all rating scales are designed to
allow the respondent to complete the scale on their own by entering their ratings
directly onto the form. A few more rigorous standardized scales, predominantly
developed for diagnostic purposes, rely more heavily on a semi-structured interview
procedure between a trained professional and the respondent (e.g., parent/caregiver,
teacher or direct support staff, etc.).
Although there was a time when the validity and psychometric properties of
adaptive behavior scales were viewed with skepticism (see Witt & Martens, 1984;
8 M. J. Tassé

Zigler, Balla, & Hodapp, 1984), this has changed over the last couple of decades.
There are currently several existing standardized adaptive behavior scales that have
been robustly developed and have strong psychometrically properties that rely on
comprehensive norm-based evaluations of adaptive behavior across the lifespan and
include well-written items that encompass all three critical domains: conceptual
(i.e., communication, functional academics, self-direction, budgeting/paying bills),
social (i.e., interpersonal skills, emotion regulation, social problem solving, wari-
ness, following rules and laws), and practical (i.e., self-care, domestic skills, money
and time concepts, vocational/work skills) adaptive skills. These are several of these
instruments that are considered examples of “gold standard” measures of adaptive
behavior and include: Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, third edition (Harrison
& Oakland, 2015); Adaptive Behavior Diagnostic Scale (Pearson, Patton, &
Mruzek, 2016); Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scale (Tassé et al., 2019); and
Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, third edition (Sparrow, Cicchetti, & Saulnier,
2016). We do not include in this list, the Scales of Independent Behavior, Revised
(SIB-R; Bruininks et al., 1996). Despite being a highly respected, well-constructed,
and psychometrically robust measure of adaptive behavior, the SIB-R has become
somewhat outdated since its last revision and re-norming in 1996 (i.e., almost
25 years ago). Unlike with tests of intelligence, aging norms on scales of adaptive
behavior do not cause a spurious rise in adaptive behavior scores (i.e., the Flynn
effect). It remains, nonetheless, important to periodically revise item content and
refresh normative data on these tests. Item content on measures of adaptive behavior
needs to be periodically refreshed to keep up with changing societal norms and
expectations. For example, more current adaptive behavior scales may include more
technology items such as using a cell phone or microwave and should have deleted
outdated items such as using a pay phone or using a telephone book to find a phone
number. We will briefly present these four aforementioned standardized adaptive
behavior instruments.

1.3.1 Adaptive Behavior Assessment System: Third Edition

The Adaptive Behavior Assessment System: Third Edition (ABAS-3; Harrison &
Oakland, 2015) is in its third edition, having been first published in 2000. The
ABAS-3 was the first comprehensive norm-referenced measure of adaptive behav-
ior to offer standard scores for the three adaptive behavior domains: conceptual,
social, and practical adaptive skills. The ABAS-3 can be used for multiple purposes,
including: (1) making the determination of intellectual disability, developmental
disabilities, learning disability, and behavioral and emotional disorders; (2) identi-
fying functional limitations of people with autism spectrum disorder, attention defi-
cit/hyperactivity disorder, and Alzheimer disease; (3) establishing an individual’s
eligibility for services and supports under Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA), social security administration benefits, and intensity of need for other
types of supports and services; (4) identifying and measuring intervention goals and
1 Adaptive Behavior and Functional Life Skills Across the Lifespan: Conceptual… 9

progress in adaptive behavior and functional limitations interventions, and (5) being
used as an outcome measure in program evaluations and interventions. It has robust
norms drawn from the general population and it can be used to assess adaptive
behavior across the lifespan, including the ages of 0–89 years.
The ABAS-3 consists of five distinct survey forms:
• Parent or Primary Caregiver Form (0–5 years old): appropriate for the assess-
ment of adaptive behavior in infants and preschoolers in the home. The respon-
dent providing adaptive behavior information on this form is the child’s parent or
other primary caregiver.
• Teacher or Daycare Provider Form (2–5 years old): used for the assessment of
adaptive behavior in toddlers and preschool-aged children in daycare, preschool,
and other similar setting. The respondent for the Teacher or Daycare Provider
Form is typically the child’s daycare or preschool teacher or teacher’s aide or
some other childcare or preschool personnel.
• Parent Form (5–21 years old): appropriate for the assessment of adaptive behav-
ior in children and adults and having been observed at home and other commu-
nity settings. The respondent completing the Parent Form is generally the child’s
parent or other caregiver who lives with the child or adult.
• Teacher Form (5–21 years old): used to assess adaptive behavior in children or
adults in the context of the classroom and school (Kindergarten to 12th grade).
The respondent for this form is generally the student’s teacher, teacher’s aide,
and other school personnel.
• Adult Form (16–89 years old): appropriate for the assessment of adaptive
behavior in adolescents and adults in the context of their home and across com-
munity settings. The respondent on the Adult Form is most often a parent/care-
giver or other family member but can also be completed, when the respondent
has sufficient knowledge of the person’s adaptive behavior, a spouse/significant
other, co-worker, work supervisor, friend, or other knowledgeable person who
has good familiarity with the individual’s everyday functioning. The ABAS-3
Adult Form is the only adaptive behavior form that has been developed and
normed for self-report by the individual him or herself. Self-reported adaptive
behavior information is most valuable for the identification and prioritization of
teaching and training goals targeting adaptive skills.
Although the ABAS-3 User’s Manual (Harrison & Oakland, 2015) indicated that
the administration time is approximately 15–20 minutes, a more realistic time of
administration is probably closer to 30–40 minutes to complete the adult form. The
ABAS-3 continues to be the only standardized adaptive behavior scale that provides
a self-report administration and norms for self-reported adaptive behavior using the
Adult Form.
The ABAS yields standard scores (Mean = 100; standard deviation = 15) pre-
senting an overall assessment of adaptive behavior (i.e., General Adaptive Composite
[GAC]) and the three adaptive behavior domains: conceptual, social, and practical
skills. The ABAS-3 forms also provide more discrete standard scores (mean = 10
and standard deviation = 3) across the following 10 subscales: (1) communication,
10 M. J. Tassé

(2) functional academics, (3) self-direction, (4) leisure, (5) social, (6) community
use, (7) home/school living, (8) health & safety, (9) self-care, and (10) work (com-
pleted only when assessed person has a part-time or full-time job). These subscale
scores are probably the most informative sources of measurement when looking to
assess adaptive behavior/functional limitations for the purpose of intervention plan-
ning and evaluation.
The ABAS-3 has been in use for more than two decades and has good psycho-
metric properties (Henington, 2017; Wu, 2017). Harrison and Oakland (2015)
reported internal consistency for the ABAS-3 GAC Cronbach alphas ranging from
0.96 to 0.99 and from 0.85 to 0.99 for conceptual, social, and practical domains.
Harrison and Oakland also reported very good score stability for the ABAS-3 aver-
age GAC correlation coefficient of r = 0.86, average correlation coefficients of
r = 0.76 for the domain standard scores, and an average r = 0.70 across the 10 adap-
tive skill areas.

1.3.2 Adaptive Behavior Diagnostic Scale

The Adaptive Behavior Diagnostic Scale (ABDS; Pearson et al., 2016) is one of the
newer standardized adaptive behavior scales. Although an entirely new adaptive
behavior scale, the ABDS was developed by Pro-Ed and is a replacement for the
Adaptive Behavior Scale: School Edition (Lambert, Nihira, & Leland, 1993) and
Adaptive Behavior Scale: Residential and Community (Nihira, Leland, &
Lambert, 1993).
The ABDS is an interview-based scale that assesses adaptive behavior with
robust general population norms for individuals from 2 to 21 years. This instrument
was specifically developed using the conceptual model of adaptive behavior
domains, including conceptual, social, and practical skills. The ABDS consists of a
total of 150 items, with 50 discrete adaptive skill items across each of the three
domains. Administration of this instrument is approximately 15–20 minutes. The
results of the ABDS yield standard scores (mean = 100 and standard deviation = 15)
for each of the three domains: conceptual, social, and practical, as well as an overall
Adaptive Behavior Index.
Pearson et al. (2016) reported excellent psychometric properties, including inter-
nal consistency coefficients for all domain and overall index standard scores above
0.90. Pearson et al. reported sensitivity coefficient of 0.85 (accuracy of ABDS to
correctly identify people with intellectual disability) and specificity coefficient of
0.99 (accuracy of ABDS to correctly identify people who do not have intellectual
disability).
1 Adaptive Behavior and Functional Life Skills Across the Lifespan: Conceptual… 11

1.3.3 Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scale

The Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scale (DABS; Tassé et al., 2017) is the newest
of the comprehensive adaptive behavior scales available. Like the ABDS, the DABS
was developed and refined to accurately measure adaptive behavior according to the
conceptual model adopted by AAIDD (Schalock et al., 2010) and the DSM-5
(American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The DABS construction used item
response theory (IRT) to select and include the most precise and relevant items/
skills that inform about a person’s adaptive behavior across the ages of 4–21 years
(Tassé et al., 2016, 2017). The DABS’s item pool includes items that are often miss-
ing from more traditional adaptive behavior scales, items measuring concepts of
higher order social skills, such as gullibility, vulnerability, and social naiveté.
The DABS consists of the fewest number of total items among all the compre-
hensive standardized adaptive behavior scales described in this chapter. It consists
of a total of 75 items across all three adaptive behavior domains: conceptual, social,
and practical skills (25 items per domain). The DABS is administered via a semi-­
structured interview between a professional (i.e., DABS interviewer) and a respon-
dent (e.g., parent, grandparent, caregiver, teacher, etc.). The time needed to
administer the DABS is generally estimated to be approximately 20 minutes.
Because the DABS uses IRT to score the responses and yield individualized stan-
dard error or measurement, the scoring of the DABS can only be done via online
computerized scoring (see https://aaidd.org/dabs). This scoring provides standard
scores (mean = 100 and standard deviation = 15) for each of the three domains
(conceptual, social, and practical) as well as Overall or Total Adaptive Behavior score.
The DABS was standardized on a large national sample of the general US popu-
lation between the ages of 4 and 21 years (Tassé et al., 2017). The authors of the
DABS (Balboni et al., 2014; Tassé et al., 2017; Tassé et al., 2016) have published
several studies reporting strong psychometric properties, including robust validity
and reliability. Tassé, Schalock, et al. (2016) reported good to excellent concurrent
validity between the DABS and the Vineland-II ranging from r = 0.70 to 0.84. They
also reported strong DABS test score stability, as measured using test–retest reli-
ability coefficients, ranging from r = 0.78 to 0.95 and good interrater concordance
as measured by intraclass correlation coefficients that ranged from 0.61 to 0.87.
Balboni et al. (2014) reported on the DABS sensitivity and specificity. The DABS
sensitivity (correctly identifying someone who has intellectual disability) ranged
from 81% to 98% and specificity (correctly identifying someone who does not have
intellectual disability) ranged from 89% to 91%.
12 M. J. Tassé

1.3.4 Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, Third Edition

The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, 3rd Edition (Vineland-3; Sparrow et al.,
2016) is the oldest and probably best known comprehensive standardized adaptive
behavior scale. The Vineland-3 has its roots in the Vineland Social Maturity Scale
(VSMS; Doll, 1936) and has gone through several revisions since its first edition.
The Vineland-3 measures adaptive behavior in individuals from 0 through 90 years
old and consists of three forms: (1) Interview Form (0 through age 90), (2) Parent/
Caregiver Form (0 through age 90), and (3) Teacher Form (3–21 years old). All
three forms have two versions, depending on the purpose of the evaluation, includ-
ing the Domain-level Form and a longer version called the Comprehensive Form.
The Comprehensive Form is used for the purpose of providing more detailed skill
information needed for intervention planning and evaluation. It yields standard
scores (mean = 100 and standard deviation = 15) for: (a) Composite Score and (b)
three domain scores (daily living skills, communication, socialization). It also pro-
vides standard scores on a scale of mean = 10 and standard deviation =3 for nine
subdomain scores: personal, domestic, community, receptive communication,
expressive communication, written communication, interpersonal relationships,
play and leisure time, and coping skills. The Domain-level Form is shorter and pro-
vides standard scores (mean = 100 and standard deviation = 15) across the three
VABS-3 domains: daily living skills, communication, and socialization (as well as
the optional domain of motor skills) and is most useful for the purpose of making
diagnostic determinations.
The Vineland-3 can be administered via a semi-structured interview using the
Interview Form or be given directly to the parent or caregiver who completes the
instrument directly on their own (i.e., Parent/Caregiver Form). These different
forms consist of approximately comparable number of items but have slightly dif-
ferent item stem wordings. The Comprehensive Form consists of 502 items and
Domain-Level Form consists of 195 items on the interview form and 180 items on
the parent/caregiver form. The Teacher Form is not usually used in isolation but
instead is often used in conjunction with the Interview Form or the Parent/Caregiver
Form. The Teacher Form: Comprehensive Form consists of 333 items and Teacher
Form: Domain-level Form consists of 149 items. Below is a brief description of the
different Vineland-3 forms:
• Interview Form (0–90 years old): The Interview Form is administered via a semi-­
structured interview between a professional and the respondent (parent or
­caregiver). The Vineland-3 uses an interview procedure that encourages the
interviewer to engage in a conversation with the respondent about the assessed
person’s adaptive behavior and encourages the interviewer to avoid directly elic-
iting ratings from the respondent on the individual item stems but rather instructs
the interviewer complete the item ratings at the end of the interview with the
respondent. The Interview Form has two versions: Comprehensive Form (502
items) or Domain-level Form (195 items). According to the Vineland-3 User’s
1 Adaptive Behavior and Functional Life Skills Across the Lifespan: Conceptual… 13

Manual, the time of administration is 25 minutes for the Domain-level Form

(195 items) and 40 minutes for the Comprehensive Form (502 items).
• Parent/Caregiver Form (0–90 years old): This form is completed directly by the
parent or caregiver much like a rating scale. The respondent rates the assessed
person’s performance on each of the adaptive skill items. The Parent/Caregiver
Form has two versions: Comprehensive Form (502 items; identical items that are
included on the Interview Form) or Domain-level Form (180 items). The
Vineland-­3 User’s Manual lists the time of administration for the Domain-level
Form at 15 minutes and the Comprehensive Form at 40 minutes.
• Teacher Form (3–21 years old): Similar to the Parent/Caregiver Form, the
Teacher Form is completed directly by the teacher, teacher’s aide, or a daycare
staff member who assesses the student’s observed performance on each of the
adaptive skill items. The Teacher Form also consists of two forms: (1)
Comprehensive Form (333 items) and (2) Domain-Level Form (149 items). The
Vineland-­3 User’s Manual reports the administration time for the Teacher Form:
Domain-Level version (149 items) at approximately 10 minutes and the Teacher
Form: Comprehensive version (333 items) necessitating approximately 25 min-
utes to complete.
The Vineland-3 domains are slightly different from the other comprehensive
standardized scales (e.g., ABAS-3, ABDS, and DABS) and not consistent with the
recommended domains in the AAIDD (Schalock et al., 2021) and DSM-5 (American
Psychiatric Association, 2013).
The Vineland-3 provides its items and standard scores (mean = 100 and standard
deviation = 15) aggregated across the following four domains: daily living skills,
communication, socialization, and motor skills (optional domain for children under
6 years old). These Vineland-3 domain names are the same domain names used in
original Vineland scale, and the authors have chosen to maintain these domain
names despite their lack of alignment with the current tripartite model of adaptive
behavior (conceptual, social, and practical) used by the existing diagnostic systems
(e.g., AAIDD, DSM-5).
The Vineland-3 has robust and representative norms of the general population. It
has good to excellent psychometric properties, including internal consistency, score
stability as measured by test–retest reliability, and inter-respondent concordance
(Pepperdine & McCrimmon, 2017). Sparrow et al. (2016) reported excellent inter-
nal consistency coefficients across all domains, with Cronbach alphas ranging from
0.90 to 0.98. The test–retest reliability of the Vineland-3 scores ranged from r = 0.80
to 0.92 for the adaptive behavior composite standard score. Inter-respondent con-
cordance was reported at r = 0.79 for the adaptive behavior composite and ranging
from 0.70 to 0.81 for the different domains.
14 M. J. Tassé

1.3.5 Other Means and Measures

An important source of information about a person’s skills and functional abilities

can be obtained from direct observations of the person or via semi-structured clini-
cal interviews with people who have lived with, worked with, or had the opportunity
to observe the person on a regular basis and seen how they function at home, school,
work, and/or play. These semi-structured interviews do not need to be based on a
standardized measure and can consist of tailored questions that focus on the skill
areas of interest or at the center of an intervention (e.g., self-care, cooking, home
living skills, money concepts, work skills, social skills).
There exists also a number of school, medical, or other personal records that
might provide valuable information, either as a primary source or as a supplemental
use, to corroborate adaptive behavior or functional skills information obtained
through other means. These records include social and family history, medical
records, school performance, individual education plans, educational, psychologi-
cal, or neuropsychological evaluations, work records, social security administration
evaluations, etc.
There are a number of other comprehensive standardized measures that are more
focused on specific adaptive skills or functional skills that can provide useful infor-
mation about a person’s skill levels. These can also serve well to inform on specific
skill or domain areas. Following are a couple of good examples of such instruments.

1.3.6 Social Skills Improvement System: Rating Scales

The Social Skills Improvement System: Rating Scales (SSIS; Gresham & Elliott,
2008) is a revision of the popular Social Skills Rating System (SSRS; Gresham &
Elliott, 1990). The SSIS is a suite of rating scales that are used to measure the social
skills as well as problem behaviors of children and adolescents between the ages of
3 and 18 years old. The SSIS is particularly focused on social skills and problem
behavior that the authors have identified as especially relevant for school success
(Doll & Jones, 2010).
The SSIS can be completed directly by student on a self-report form or com-
pleted by a third-party respondent (e.g., parent form or teacher form). Students,
parents, and teachers provide an individual rating of the frequency and perceived
importance of each social skill item. The student self-report form consists of 46
items, whereas the parent/teacher forms consist of 46 social skill items and an addi-
tional 33 items identifying problem behaviors for the parent to rate or 30 additional
items identifying problem behaviors for the teacher to rate. The administration time
of the SSIS ranges from 10 to 25 minutes.
The SSIS can be scored by hand or using a computerized scoring system. The
scoring of the SSIS yields standard scores (mean = 100, standard deviation = 15)
and a criterion-based evaluation (well-above average, above average, average,
1 Adaptive Behavior and Functional Life Skills Across the Lifespan: Conceptual… 15

below average, well below average) across: social skills, problem behaviors, and
academic competence (teacher ratings only). Perhaps the most practical information
comes in the form of a series of suggested actions and interventions objectives
derived from the results from the SSIS ratings.
In terms of psychometric properties for the SSIS, they are good (Crosy, 2011).
The social skills assessment across all three forms provides practical and psycho-
metrically sound information (Doll & Jones, 2010) and a useful screening tool to
aide teachers in planning interventions targeting social skills (e.g., the accompany-
ing intervention guide; Crosy, 2011; Lee-Farmer & Meikamp, 2010).

1.3.7 Texas Functional Living Scale

The Texas Functional Living Scale (TFLS; Cullum, Weiner, & Saine, 2009) is a
brief performance-based individually administered screening measure that assesses
independent living skills in the areas of time, money concepts and calculations,
communication, and memory. The focus of the TFLS items is on the abilities that
might be most impacted by age-related cognitive decline. Although initially devel-
oped to assess functional living skills in older adults with dementia, the FTLS was
normed on a larger sample of the general population aged from 16 to 90 years old
in the hopes of expanding its utility to include individuals across the lifespan with
other disabilities (e.g., intellectual disability, traumatic brain injury, and schizophre-
nia; Lindsay-Glenn, 2010).
The TFLS consists of 24 items that are administered directly to the assessed
person and requires either a verbal or written response. The total administration
time requires less than 15 minutes. The TFLS yields t-scores (mean = 50, standard
deviation = 10) which are typically more complicated for most practitioners to use
and understand than the more traditional normative scores with a mean = 100 and a
standard deviation = 15. The TFLS has shown some utility in identifying interven-
tion goals as well as measuring treatment outcomes and effectiveness in the defined
independent living skill areas that it assesses.
The psychometric properties of the TFLS are adequate for a screening instru-
ment (Lindsay-Glenn, 2010; Strang, 2010). The internal consistency reliability
ranges from 0.65 to 0.81 and reportedly good test score stability. Its validity evi-
dence was measured using a comparison between the TFLS and the ABAS, second
Edition. These correlation coefficients assessing its concurrent validity were in the
range of 0.41–0.80. Overall, the range of skills assessed is limited but the TFLS has
shown to be a useful screening tool that can inform on performance across the lim-
ited number of functional skills its measures: time, money and calculations, com-
munication and memory (Lindsay-Glenn, 2010).
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TISSUE of Crimson Silk and Gold Thread; pattern, the Blessed Virgin
Mary in glory, amid cherubic heads, and having two angels, one on
each side, standing on clouds. Venetian, 16th century. 1 foot 4
inches by 1 foot.
The subject, a favourite one of the time, is the
Assumption of the B. V. Mary, and the tissue was woven
entirely for the adornment of liturgical furniture.

9047.
CUSHION, elaborately wrought by the needle on fine canvas, and
figured with animals, armorial bearings, flowers, and love-knots, as
well as with the letters I and R royally crowned. Scotch, 17th
century. 11 inches by 8 inches.
We have on the first large pane a rose tree, bearing one
red rose seeded or, barbed vert, and at its foot, but
separating them, two unicorns argent, outlined and
horned in silver thread; above them, and separated by the
red rose, two lions passant, face to face, langued and
outlined in gold thread; above the flower a royal crown or,
and two small knots or, and at each side a white rose
slipped; over each unicorn a gold knot, and a strawberry
proper. Beneath this larger shield are three small ones:
the first, fretty or, and vert (but so managed that the field
takes the shape of strawberry leaves), charged with four
true-love-knots or, and in chief vert, a strawberry branch
or wire or, bearing one fruit proper, and one flower
argent; the second shield gives us, on a field azure, and
within an orle of circles linked together on four sides by
golden bands, and charged with strawberry fruit, and leaf,
and flower proper, and alternating, a plume of Prince of
Wales’s feathers argent, with the quill of the middle
feather marked red or gules, at each of the four corners
there is a true-love-knot in gold; the third small shield is a
 series of circles outlined in gold, and filled in with
quatrefoils outlined green; below, on a large green pane,
a white rose slipped, with grapes and acorns; by its side,
the capital letters, in gold, I and R, with a strawberry and
leaf close by each letter, and above all, and between two
love-knots, a regal crown. By the sides of this device are
several small panes, exhibiting fanciful patterns of flowers,
&c.: but in most of them the true-love-knot as well as the
strawberry plant, in one combination or another, are the
principal elements; and in one of the squares or panes the
ornamentation evidently affects the shape of the capital
letter S; upon the other side, with an orle of knots of
different kinds, is figured a mermaid on the sea, with a
comb in one hand, and on one side of this pane is shown
a high-born dame, whose fan, seemingly of feathers, is
very conspicuous. Underneath the mermaid are shown,
upon a field vert, a man with a staff, amid four rabbits,
each with a strawberry-leaf in its mouth, and at each far
corner a stag. As on the other side, so here the larger
squares are surrounded by smaller ones displaying in their
design true-love-knots, strawberries, acorns, roses, white
and red, and in one pane the combination, in a sort of
net-work, of the true-love-knot with the letter S, is very
striking. In Scotland several noble families, whether they
spell their name Fraser or Frazer, use, as a canting charge
in their blazon, the frasier or strawberry, leafed, flowered,
and fructed proper; the buck, too, comes in upon or about
their armorial shields. And this may have been worked by
a member of that family.

9047A.
SILK Damask; ground, white; pattern, wreaths of flowers and fruits,
in net-work, each mesh filled in with two peacocks beneath a large
bunch of red centaurea, or corn-flowers. Sicilian, late 15th century. 2
feet 3½ inches by 1 foot 8 inches.
The garlands of the meshes, made out of boughs of oak
bearing red and blue acorns, have, at foot, two eagles red
and blue; at top, two green parrots beneath a bunch of
pomegranates, the fruit of which is red and cracked,
showing its blue seed ready to fall out. The corn-flower is
spread forth like a fan. This stuff shows the mark of
Spanish rule over the two Sicilies.

9182.
THE Syon Monastery Cope; ground, green, with crimson interlacing
barbed quatrefoils enclosing figures of our Lord, the Blessed Virgin
Mary, the Apostles, with winged cherubim standing on wheels in the
intervening spaces, and the orphrey, morse, and hem wrought with
armorial bearings, the whole done in gold, silver, and various-
coloured silks. English needlework, 13th century. 9 feet 7 inches by 4
feet 8 inches.
 9182.
PART OF THE ORPHREY OF THE SYON COPE.
English, 13th century.
Vincent Brooks Day & Son, Lith.

This handsome cope, so very remarkable on account of its

comparative perfect preservation, is one of the most
beautiful among the several liturgic vestments of the
olden period anywhere to be now found in christendom. If
by all lovers of mediæval antiquity it will be looked upon
as so valuable a specimen in art of its kind and time, for
every Englishman it ought to have a double interest,
showing, as it does, such a splendid and instructive
example of the “Opus Anglicum,” or English work, which
won for itself so wide a fame, and was so eagerly sought
after throughout the whole of Europe during the middle
ages.
Beginning with the middle of this cope, we have, at the
lowermost part, St. Michael overcoming Satan; suggested
by those verses of St. John, “And there was a great battle
in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon,
and the dragon fought and his angels; ... and that great
dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the
Devil and Satan,” &c.—Rev. xii. 7, 9, to which may be
added the words of the English Golden Legend: “The
fourth victorye is that that tharchaungell Mychaell shal
have of Antecryst whan he shall flee hym. Than Michaell
the grete prynce shall aryse, as it is sayd Danielis xii, He
shall aryse for them that ben chosen as an helper and a
protectour and shall strongely stande ayenst Antecryst ...
and at the last he (Antichrist) shall mount upon the mount
of Olyvete, and whan he shall be ... entred in to that place
where our Lorde ascended Mychaell shall come and shall
flee hym, of whiche victorye is understonden after saynt
Gregorye that whyche is sayd in thapocalipsis, the batayll
is made in heven,” (fol. cclxx. b.). As he tramples upon the
writhing demon, the archangel, barefoot, and clad in
golden garments, and wearing wings of gold and silver
feathers, thrusts down his throat and out through his neck
a lance, the shaft of which is tipped with a golden cross
crosslet, while from his left arm he lets down an azure
shield blazoned with a silver cross. The next quatrefoil
above this one is filled in with the Crucifixion. Here the
Blessed Virgin Mary is arrayed in a green tunic, and a
golden mantle lined with vair or costly white fur, and her
head is kerchiefed, and her uplifted hands are sorrowfully
clasped; St. John—whose dress is all of gold—with a
mournful look, is on the left, at the foot of the cross upon
which the Saviour, wrought all in silver—a most unusual
thing,—with a cloth of gold wrapped about His loins, is
fastened by three, not four, nails. The way in which the
ribs are shown and the chest thrown up in the person of
our Lord is quite after old English feelings on the subject.
In the book of sermons called the “Festival” it is said, with
strong emphasis, how “Cristes body was drawen on the
crosse as a skyn of parchement on a harow, so that all
hys bonys myght be tolde,” fol. xxxiii. In the highest
quatrefoil of all is figured the Redeemer uprisen, crowned
as a king and seated on a cushioned throne. Resting upon
His knee, and steadied by His left hand, is the mund or
ball representing the earth—the world. Curiously enough,
this mund is distinguished into three parts, of which the
larger one—an upper horizontal hemicycle—is coloured
crimson (now faded to a brownish tint), but the lower
hemicycle is divided vertically in two, of which one portion
is coloured green, the other white or silvered. The
likelihood is, that such markings were meant to show the
then only known three parts of our globe; for if the
elements were hereon intended, there would have been
four quarters—fire, water, earth, and heaven; instead, too,
of the upper half being crimsoned, it would have been
tinted, like the heavens, blue. Furthermore, the symbolism
of those days would put, as we here see, this mund under
the sovereign hand of the Saviour, as setting forth the
Psalmist’s words, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness
thereof, the world and all that dwell therein;” while its
round shape—itself the emblem of endlessness—must
naturally bring to mind that everlasting Being—the Alpha
and the Omega spoken of in the Apocalypse—the
beginning and the end, Who is and Who was, and Who is
to come—the Almighty. Stretching forth His right arm,
with His thumb and first two fingers upraised—emblem of
one God in three persons—He is giving His blessing to His
mother. Clothed in a green tunic, over which falls a golden
mantle lined with vair or white fur, she is seated on the
throne beside Him, with hands upraised in prayer. It ought
not to be overlooked, that while the Blessed Virgin Mary
wears ornamented shoes, our Lord, like His messengers,
the angels and apostles, is barefoot. To show that as He
had said to those whom He sent before His face, that they
were to carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes, so
therefore, is He Himself here and elsewhere figured
shoeless. Though already in heaven, still, out of reverence
towards Him, the head of His mother is kerchiefed, as it
would have been were she yet on earth and present at
the sacred liturgy. John Beleth, an Englishman, who, in
a.d. 1162, a short century before this cope was worked,
wrote a book upon the Church Ritual, lays it down as an
unbending rule that, while men are to hear the Gospel
bare-headed, all women, whatever be their age, rank, or
condition, must never be uncovered, and if a young
maiden be so her mother or any other female ought to
cast a cloth of some sort over her head;—“Viri, itaque ...
aperto capite Evangelium audire debent.... Mulieres vero
debent audire Evangelium tecto et velato capite etiamsi sit
virgo, propter pomum vetitum. Et si eveniat ut virgo capite
sit aperto, ut velamen non habeat, necesse est, ut mater,
aut quævis alia mulier capiti ejus pannum vel simile
quippiam imponat.” Divin. Offic. Explic. c. xxxix. p. 507.
The next two subjects now to be described are—one, that
on the right hand, the death of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
the other, to the left, her burial. To fully understand the
traditionary treatment of both, it would be well to give the
words of Caxton’s English translation of the “Golden
Legend,” from the edition “emprynted at London, in
Fletestrete at ye sygne of ye Sonne, by Wynkyn de Worde,
in ye yere of our Lorde m.ccccxvii,” a scarce and costly work
not within easy reach. “We fynde in a booke sente to
saynt Johan the evangelys, or elles the boke whiche is
sayd to be apocryphum ... in what maner the Assumpcyon
of the blessyd vyrgyn saynt Marye was made ... upon a
daye whan all the apostles were spradde through the
worlde in prechynge, the gloryous vyrgyne was gretely
esprysed and enbraced wyth desyre to be wyth her sone
Ihesu Cryste ... and an aungell came tofore her with grete
lyghte and salewed her honourably as the mother of his
Lorde, sayenge, All hayle blessyd Marie.... Loo here is a
bowe of palme of paradyse, lady, ... whiche thou shalte
commaunde to be borne tofore thy bere, for thy soule
shall be taken from thy body the thyrde daye nexte
folowynge; and thy Sone abydeth thee His honourable
moder.... All the apostles shall assemble this daye to thee
and shall make to thee noble exequyes at thy passynge,
and in the presence of theym all thou shalte gyve up thy
spyryte. For he that broughte the prophete (Habacuc) by
an heer from Judee to Babylon (Daniel xiv. 35, according
to the Vulgate) may without doubte sodeynly in an houre
brynge the apostles to thee.... And it happened as Saynt
Johan the euangelyst preched in Ephesym the heven
sodeynly thondred and a whyte cloude toke hym up and
brought hym tofore the gate of the blessyd vyrgyne Marye
at Jerusalem (who) sayd to hym, ... Loo I am called of thy
mayster and my God, ... I have herde saye that the Jewes
have made a counseyll and sayd, let us abyde brethren
unto the tyme that she that bare Jhesu Crist be deed, and
thenne incontynente we shall take her body and shall
caste it in to the fyre and brenne it. Thou therefore take
this palme and bere it tofore the bere whan ye shall bere
my body to the sepulcre. Than sayd Johan, O wolde God
that all my brethren the apostles were here that we myght
make thyn exequyes covenable as it hoveth and is dygne
and worthy. And as he sayd that, all the apostles were
ravysshed with cloudes from the places where they
preched and were brought tofore the dore of the blessyd
vyrgyn Mary.... And aboute the thyrde houre of the nyght
Jhesu Crist came with swete melodye and songe with the
ordre of aungelles.... Fyrst Jhesu Crist began to saye,
Come my chosen and I shall set thee in my sete ... come
fro Lybane my spouse. Come from Lybane. Come thou
shalte be crowned. And she sayd I come, for in the
begynnynge of the booke it is wryten of me that I sholde
doo thy wyll, for my spyryte hath joyed in thee the God of
helth; and thus in the mornynge the soule yssued out of
the body and fledde up in the armes of her sone.... And
than the apostles toke the body honourably and layde it
on the bere.—And than Peter and Paule lyfte up the bere,
and Peter began to synge and saye Israhell is yssued out
of Egypt, and the other apostles folowed hym in the same
songe, and our Lorde covered the bere and the apostles
with a clowde, so that they were not seen but the voyce
of them was onely herde, and the aungelles were with the
apostles syngynge, and than all the people was moved
with that swete melodye, and yssued out of the cyte and
enquyred what it was.—And than there were some that
sayd that Marye suche a woman was deed, and the
dyscyples of her sone Jhesu Crist bare her, and made
suche melodye. And thenne ranne they to armes and they
warned eche other sayenge, Come and let us slee all the
dysciples and let us brenne the body of her that bare this
traytoure. And whan the prynce of prestes sawe that he
was all abashed and, full of angre and wrath sayd, Loo,
here the tabernacle of hym that hath troubled us, and our
lygnage, beholde what glorye he now receyveth, and in
the saynge so he layde his hondes on the bere wyllynge
to turne it and overthrowe it to the grounde. Than
sodeynly bothe his hondes wexed drye and cleved to the
bere so that he henge by the hondes on the bere and was
sore tormented and wepte and brayed. And the aungelles
... blynded all the other people that they sawe no thynge.
And the prynce of prestes sayd, saynt Peter despyse not
me in this trybulacyon, and I praye thee to praye for me
to our Lorde.—And saynt Peter sayd to hym—Kysse the
bere and saye I byleve in God Jhesu Crist. And whan he
had so sayd he was anone all hole perfyghtly.—And
thenne the apostles bare Mary unto the monument (in the
Vale of Josaphat outside Jerusalem) and satte by it lyke as
oure Lord had commaunded. And at the thyrde daye ...
the soule came agayne to the body of Marye and yssued
gloryously out of the tombe, and thus was receyved in the
hevenly chaumbre, and a grete company of aungelles with
her; and saynt Thomas was not there; and whan he came
he wolde not byleve this; and anone the gyrdell with
whiche her body was gyrde came to hym fro the ayre,
whiche he receyved, and therby he understode that she
was assumpte into heven; and all this it here to fore is
sayd and called apocryphum,” &c. ff. ccxvi, &c.
With this key we may easily unlock what, otherwise,
would lie hidden, not only about the coronation, but, in an
especial manner, the death and burial, as here figured, of
the Blessed Virgin Mary; the former of these two is thus
represented on the right hand side. In her own small
house by the foot of Mount Sion, at Jerusalem, is Christ’s
mother on her dying bed. Four only of the apostles—there
would not have been room enough for showing more in
the quatrefoil—are standing by the couch upon which she
lies, dressed in a silver tunic almost wholly overspread
with a coverlet of gold; she is bolstered up by a deep
purple golden fretted pillow. St. Peter is holding up her
head, while by her side stands St. Paul, clad, like St. Peter,
in a green tunic and a golden mantle; then St. Matthew, in
a blue tunic and a mantle of gold, holding in the left hand
his Gospel, which begins with the generation of our Lord
as man, and the pedigree of Mary His mother; while, in
front of them, stands John, arrayed in a shaded light-
purple tunic, youthful in look, and whose auburn hair is in
so strong a contrast to the hoary locks of his brethren. On
the left-hand side we have her burial. Stretched full-length
upon a bier, over which is thrown a pall of green shot with
yellow, lies the Virgin Mary, her hair hanging loose from
her head. St. Peter, known by his keys, St. Paul, by his
uplifted sword, are carrying on their shoulders one end of
the bier, in front; behind, in the same office, are St.
Andrew bringing his cross with him, and some other
apostle as his fellow. After them walks St. Thomas, who,
with both his uplifted hands, is catching the girdle as it
drops to him from above, where, in the skies, her soul, in
the shape of a little child, is seen standing upright with
clasped hands, within a large flowing sheet held by two
angels who have come from heaven to fetch it thither.
Right before the funeral procession is a small Jew, who
holds in one hand a scabbard, and with the other is
unsheathing his weapon. By the side of the bier stand two
other Jews also small in size—one, the high priest. One of
them has both his arms, the priest but one, all twisted and
shrunken, stretched forward on the bier, as if they wanted
to upset it; while the latter holds in one of his wasted
hands the green bough of the palm-tree, put into it by St.
John.
With regard to St. Thomas and the girdle, this cope, if not
the earliest, is among the earlier works upon which that
part of the legend is figured, though after a somewhat
different manner to the one followed in Italy, where, as is
evident from several specimens, in this collection, it found
such favour.
Below the burial, we have our Lord in the garden, signified
by the two trees (John xx. 17). Still wearing a green
crown of thorns, and arrayed in a golden mantle, our Lord
in His left hand holds the banner of the resurrection, and
with His right bestows His benediction on the kneeling
Magdalene, who is wimpled, and wears a mantle of green
shot yellow, over a light purple tunic. Below, but outside
the quatrefoil, is a layman clad in gold upon his knees,
and holding a long narrow scroll, bearing words which
cannot now be satisfactorily read. Lowermost of all we see
the apostle St. Philip with a book in the left hand, but
upon the right, muffled in a large towel wrought in silver,
three loaves of bread, done partially in gold, piled up one
on the other, in reference to our Lord’s words (John vi. 5),
before the miracle of feeding the five thousand. At the left
is St. Bartholomew holding a book in one hand, in the
other the flaying knife. A little above him, St. Peter with
his two keys, one gold, the other silver; and somewhat
under him, to the right, is St. Andrew with his cross. On
the other side of St. Michael and the dragon is St. James
the Greater—sometimes called of Compostella, because
he lies buried in that Spanish city—with a book in one
hand, and in the other a staff, and slung from his wrist a
wallet, both emblems of pilgrimage to his shrine in Galicia.
In the next quatrefoil above stands St. Paul with his usual
sword, emblem alike of his martyrdom, and of the Spirit,
which is the word of God (Ephes. vi. 17), and a book;
lower, to the right, St. Thomas with his lance of
martyrdom and a book; and still further to the right, St.
James the Less with a book and the club from which he
received his death-stroke (Eusebius, book ii. c. 23). Just
above is our Saviour clad in a golden tunic, and carrying a
staff overcoming the unbelief of St. Thomas. Upon his
knees that apostle feels, with his right hand held by the
Redeemer, the spear-wound in His side (John xx. 27).
As at the left hand, so here, quite outside the sacred
history on the cope, we have the figure of an individual
probably living at the time the vestment was wrought. The
dress of the other shows him to be a layman; by the
shaven crown upon his head, this person must have been
a cleric of some sort: but whether monk, friar, or secular
we cannot tell, as his gown has become quite bare, so
that we see nothing now but the lower canvas with the
lines drawn in black for the shading of the folds. Like his
fellow over against him, this churchman holds up a scroll
bearing words which can no longer be read.
When new this cope could show, written in tall gold letters
more than an inch high, an inscription now cut up and
lost, as the unbroken word “Ne” on one of its shreds, and
a solitary “V” on another, are all that remains of it, the
first on the lower right side; the second, in the like place,
to the left. Though so short, the Latin word leads us to
think that it was the beginning of the anthem to the seven
penitential psalms, “Ne reminiscaris, Domine, delicta
nostra, vel parentum nostrorum; neque vindictam sumas
de peccatis nostris,” a suitable prayer for a liturgical
garment, upon which the mercies of the Great Atonement
are so well set forth in the Crucifixion, the overthrow of
Antichrist, and the crowning of the saints in heaven.
In its original state it could give us, not, as now, only eight
apostles, but their whole number. Even as yet the patches
on the right-hand side afford us three of the missing
heads, while another patch to the left shows us the hand
with a book, belonging to the fourth. The lower part of
this vestment has been sadly cut away, and reshaped with
shreds from itself; and perhaps at such a time were added
its present heraldic orphrey, morse, and border, perhaps
some fifty years after the embroidering of the other
portions of this invaluable and matchless specimen of the
far-famed “Opus Anglicum,” or English needlework.
The early writers throughout Christendom, Greek as well
as Latin, distinguished “nine choirs” of angels, or three
great hierarchies, in the upper of which were the
“cherubim, or seraphim, and thrones;” in the middle one,
the “dominations, virtues, and powers;” in the lower
hierarchy, the “principalities, angels, and archangels.”
Now, while looking at the rather large number of angels
figured here, we shall find that this division into three
parts, each part again containing other three, has been
accurately observed. Led a good way by Ezekiel (i.), but
not following that prophet step by step, our mediæval
draughtsmen found out for themselves a certain angel
form. To this they gave a human shape having but one
head, and that of a comely youth, clothing him with six
wings, as Isaias told (vi. 2) of the seraphim, and in place
of the calf’s cloven hoofs, they made it with the feet of
man; instead of its body being full of eyes, this feature is
not unoften to be perceived upon the wings, but oftenest
those wings themselves are composed of the bright-eyed
feathers borrowed from the peacock’s tail.
Those eight angels standing upon wheels, and so placed
that they are everywhere by those quatrefoils wherein our
Lord’s person comes, may be taken to represent the upper
hierarchy of the angelic host; those other angels—and two
of them only are entire—not upon wheels, and far away
from our Lord, one of the perfect ones under St. Peter, the
other under St. Paul, no doubt belong to the second
hierarchy; while those two having but one, not three, pair
of wings, the first under the death, the other under the
burial of the Virgin, both of them holding up golden
crowns, one in each hand, represent, we may presume,
the lowest of the three hierarchies. All of them, like our
Lord and His apostles, are barefoot. All of them have their
hands uplifted in prayer.
For every lover of English heraldic studies this cope, so
plentifully blazoned with armorial bearings, will have an
especial value, equal to that belonging to many an ancient
roll of arms. To begin with its orphrey: that broad band
may, in regard to its shields, be distinguished into three
parts, one that falls immediately about the neck of the
cleric wearing this vestment, and the other two portions
right and left. In this first or middle piece the shields, four
in number, are of a round shape, but, unlike the square
ones, through both the other two side portions, are not
set upon squares alternately green and crimson (faded to
brown) as are the quatrefoils on the body of the cope.
Taking this centre-piece first, to the left we have—
6. Checky azure and or, a chevron ermine. Warwick.
7. Quarterly 1 and 4 gules, a three-towered castle or; 2
and 3 argent, a lion rampant azure. Castile and Leon.
8. Vair or and gules, within a bordure azure, charged with
sixteen horse-shoes argent. Ferrers.
9. Azure, three barnacles or, on a chief ermine a demi-lion
rampant gules. Geneville.
These four shields are round, as was said before, and
upon a green ground, having nothing besides upon it. All
the rest composing this orphrey are squares of the
diamond form, and put upon a grounding alternately
crimson and green; on the crimson are two peacocks and
two swans in gold; on the green, four stars of eight rays
in gold voided crimson. Now, beginning at the furthermost
left side, we see these blazons:—
1. Ermine, a cross gules charged with five lioncels statant
gardant or. Everard.
2. Same as 8. Ferrers.
3. Gules, the Holy Lamb argent with flag or, between two
stars and a crescent or. Badge of the Knights Templars.
4. Same as 2. Ferrers.
5. Same as 1. Everard.
10. Checky azure and or, a bend gules charged with three
lioncels passant argent. Clifford.
11. Quarterly argent and gules; 2 and 3 fretty or, over all
a bend sable. Spencer.
12. The same as 3, but the Lamb is or, the flag argent.
Badge of the Knights Templars.
13. Same as 11. Spencer.
14. Same as 10. Clifford.
Just below the two middle shields are four nicely-formed
loops, through which might be buttoned on to the cope
the moveable hood—or different hoods, according to the
festival, and figured with the subject of the feast—now
lost. On the other edge of the orphrey, to the left, are
seen other three loops, like the former, made of thick gold
cord, by which was made fast the morse that is also
blazoned with ten coats, as follows:—
1. Gules, a large six-pointed star argent voided with
another star azure voided argent voided gules, between
four cross-crosslets or.
2. Gules, an eagle displayed or. Limesi or Lindsey.
3. Castile and Leon.
4. Gules, a fess argent between three covered cups or. Le
Botiler.
5. Castile and Leon.
6. Ferrers.
7. Azure, a cross argent between four eagles (?) displayed
argent (?).
8. Spencer.
9. Same as 2. Lindsey.
10. Geneville.
The ground is checky azure and or upon which these
small shields in the morse are placed.
On the narrow band, at the hem, the same alternation of
green and crimson squares, as a ground for the small
diamond-shaped shields, is observed, as in the orphrey;
and the blazons are, beginning at the left-hand side:—
1. Barry of ten azure and or imbattled, a fess gules
sprinkled with four-petaled flowers seeded azure.
2. Or, charged with martlets gules, and a pair of bars
gemelles azure.
3. Ferrers.
4. Castile and Leon.
5. Azure, a cross or. Sheldon.
6. Azure, a lion rampant or, within a bordure gules
charged with eight water-bougets argent.
7. Warwick.
8. Spencer.
9. Azure, a bend between six birds or. Monteney of Essex.
10. Gules, sprinkled with cross-crosslets or, and a saltire
verry potent argent and azure. Champernoun.
11. Geneville.
12. England.
13. Checky argent and azure, on a bend gules, three
garbs (?) or escallop-shells (?) or.
14. Or, on a fess gules between six fleurs-de-lis three and
three gules, three fleurs-de-lis or.
15. Gules, a lion rampant argent, within a bordure azure,
charged with eight water-bougets or.
16. Checky or and gules, on a bend azure, five horse-
shoes argent.
17. Same as 1.
18. Same as 2.
19. Same as 3. Ferrers.
20. Same as 10. Champernoun.
21. Same as 10 in the orphrey. Clifford.
22. Same as 8. Spencer.
23. Azure, between six escallop-shells (?) three and three,
a bend or. Tyddeswall.
24. Same as 6.
25. Paly of ten argent and azure, on a bend gules, three
escallop-shells (?) or. A coat of Grandison.
26. Gules, a lion rampant or. Fitz Alan.
27. Barry argent and azure, a chief checky or and gules.
28. Geneville.
29. Party per fess azure and or, a cross fusil
counterchanged.
30. Argent, four birds gules, between a saltire gules,
charged with nine bezants. Hampden (?).
31. Azure, five fusils in fesse or. Percy.
32. Same as 1, on the orphrey. Everard.
33. Same as 6, on the orphrey. Warwick.
34. Gules, three lucies hauriant in fess between six cross-
crosslets or. Lucy.
35. Paly of ten or and azure, on a fess gules, three mullets
of six points argent, voided with a cross azure. Chambowe
(?).
36. Party per fess gules, fretted or, and ermine. Ribbesford
(?).
37. Same as 9.
38. Or, on a cross gules, five escallop-shells argent. Bygod.
39. Barry, a chief paly and the corners gyronny, or and
azure, an inescutcheon ermine. Roger de Mortimer.
40. Same as 6.
41. Party per fess, argent three eight-petaled flowers
formed as it were out of a knot made cross-wise, with two
flowers at the end of each limb, and azure with a string of
lozenges like a fess argent, and three fleurs-de-lis (?) two
and one or.
42. Gules, a fess checky argent and azure, between
twelve cross crosslets or. Possibly one of the many coats
taken by Le Botiler.
43. Azure, three lucies hauriant in fess between six cross-
crosslets or. Lucy.
44. Ermine, on a chevron gules, three escallop-shells or.
Golbore or Grove.
45. Gyronny of twelve or and azure. De Bassingburn.
Besides their heraldry, squares upon which are shown
swans and peacocks wrought at each corner, afford, in
those birds, objects of much curious interest for every
lover of mediæval symbolism under its various phases.
In the symbolism of those times, the star and the
crescent, the peacock and the swan, had, each of them,
its own several figurative meanings. By the first of these
emblems was to be understood, according to the words,
in Numbers xxiv. 17, of Balaam’s prophecy,—“a star shall
arise out of Jacob,”—our Saviour, who says of His divine
self, Apocalypse xxii. 16, “I am the bright and morning
star.” By inference, the star not only symbolized our Lord
Himself, but His Gospel—Christianity—in contradistinction
to Mahometanism, against which the crusades had been
but lately carried on. The star of Bethlehem, too, was thus
also brought before the mind with all its associated ideas
of the Holy Land.
The crescent moon, on the shields with the Holy Lamb,
represents the Church, for the reason that small at first,
but getting her light from the true Sun of justice, our Lord,
she every day grows larger, and at the end of time, when
all shall believe in her, will at last be in her full brightness.
This symbolism is set forth, at some length, by Petrus
Capuanus as quoted by Dom (now Cardinal) Pitra in his
valuable “Spicilegium Solesmense,” t. ii. 66. But for an
English mediæval authority on the point, we may cite our
own Alexander Neckam, born a.d. 1157 at St. Albans, and
who had as a foster-brother King Richard of the Lion-
Heart. In his curious work, “De Naturis Rerum,” not long
since printed for the first time, and published by the
authority of Her Majesty’s treasury, under the direction of
the Master of the Rolls, Neckam thus writes:—“Per solem
item Christus, verus sol justiciæ plerumque intelligitur; per
lunam autem ecclesia, vel quæcunque fidelis anima. Sicut
autem luna beneficium lucis a sole mendicat, ita et fidelis
anima a Christo qui est lux vera.” P. 53.
Not always was the peacock taken to be the unmitigated
emblem of pride and foolish vanity. Osmont the cleric, in
his “Volucraire, or Book of Birds,” after noticing its scream
instead of song, its serpent-like shape of head that it
carries so haughtily, but lowers quite abashed as it
catches a glimpse at its ugly feet, and its garish plumage
with the many bright-eyed freckles on its fan-like tail
which it loves to unfold for admiration, draws these
comparisons. As the peacock affrights us by its cry, so
does the preacher, when he thunders against sin startle us
into a hatred of it; if the step of the bird be so full of
majesty, with what steadiness ought a true Christian
fearlessly tread his narrow path. A man may perhaps find
a happiness, nay, show a pride in the conviction of having
done a good deed, perhaps may sometimes therefore
carry his head a trifle high, and, strutting like the peacock,
parade his pious works to catch the world’s applause; as
soon as he looks into Holy Writ and there learns the
weakness, lowliness, of his own origin, he too droops his
head in all humility. Those eye-speckled feathers in its
plumage warn him that never too often can he have his
eyes wide open, and gaze inwardly upon his own heart
and know its secret workings. Thus spoke an Anglo-
Norman writer.
About the swan an Englishman, our Alexander Neckam,
says:—“Quid quod cygnus in ætate tenella fusco colore
vestitus esse videtur, qui postmodum in intentissimum
candorem mutatur? Sic nonnulli caligine peccatorum prius
obfuscati, postea candoris innocentiæ veste spirituali
decorantur.”—De Naturis Rerum, p. 101. Here our
countryman hands us the key to the symbolic appearance
of the swan upon this liturgical garment; for, as while a
cygnet, its feathers are always of a dusky hue, but when
the bird has grown up its plumage changes into the most
intensely white, just so, some people who are at first
darkened with the blackness of sin, in after days become
adorned with the garb of white innocence.
Besides their ecclesiastical meanings these same symbols
had belonging to them a secular significance. Found upon
a piece of stuff quite apart from that of the cope itself,
and worked for the adornment of that fine vestment after
a lapse of many years, made up too of an ornamentation
the whole of which is heraldic and thus bringing to mind
worldly knights and their blazons and its age’s chivalry, it
is easy to find out for it an adaptation to the chivalric
notions and customs of those times. The Bethlehem star
overtopping the Islam badge of the crescent moon
showed forth the wishes of every one who had been or
meant to be a crusader, or rather more, not merely of our
men at arms but of every true believer throughout
Christendom whose untiring prayers were that the Holy
Land might be wrested from the iron hand of the
Mahometan. At great national festivities and solemn
gatherings of the aristocracy, not the young knight alone
then newly girt, but the grey-haired warrior would often,
in that noble presence, bind himself by vow to do some
deed of daring, and swore it to heaven, and the swan, the
pheasant, or the peacock as the bird of his choice, was
brought with a flourish of trumpets, and amid a crowd of
stately knights waiting on a bevy of fair young ladies, and
set before him. This sounds odd at this time of day; not so
did it in mediæval times, when those birds were looked
upon with favour on account of the majestic gracefulness
of their shape, or the sparkling beauty of their plumage. It
must not be forgotten that this orphrey was blazoned by
English hands in England, and while all the stirring doings
of our first Edward were yet fresh in our people’s
remembrance. That king had been and fought in the Holy
Land against the Saracens. At his bidding, towards the
end of life, a scene remarkable even in that period of royal
festive magnificence, took place, when he himself, in the
year 1306, girded his son, afterwards Edward II, with the
military belt in the palace of Westminster, and then sent
him to bestow the same knightly honour, in the church of
that abbey, upon the three hundred young sons of the
nobility, who had been gathered from all parts of the
kingdom to be his companions in the splendours of the
day. But that grand function was brought to an end by a
most curious yet interesting act; to the joyous sounds of
minstrelsy came forwards a procession, bearing along a
pair of swans confined in a net, the meshes of which were
made of cords fashioned like reeds and wrought of gold.
These birds were set in solemn pomp before the king; and
there and then Edward swore by the God in heaven and
the swans that he would go forth and wage war against
the Scots: Matthew Westminster, p. 454. No wonder, then,
that along with the star and crescent we find the knightly
swan and peacock mingled in the heraldry of the highest
families in England, wrought upon a work from English
hands, during the fourteenth century. A long hundred
years after this elaborate orphrey was worked we find that
Dan John Lydgate, monk of Bury St. Edmund’s, in his
poem called “All stant in chaunge like a mydsomer Rose,”
upon the fickleness of all earthly things, while singing of
this life’s fading vanities, counts among them—

“Vowis of pecok, with all ther proude chere.”

Minor Poems, ed. Halliwell for Percy Society, p.
25.

To the wild but poetic legend of the swan and his

descendants, we have already alluded in our Introduction.
A word or two now upon the needlework, how it was
done, and a certain at present unused mechanical
appliance to it after it was wrought, so observable upon
this vestment, lending its figures more effect, and giving
it, as a teaching example of embroidery, much more value
than any foreign piece in this numerous collection.
Looking well into this fine specimen of the English needle,
we find that, for the human face, all over it, the first
stitches were begun in the centre of the cheek, and
worked in circular, not straight lines, into which, however,
after the middle had been made, they fell, and were so
carried on through the rest of the fleshes. After the whole
figure had thus been wrought; then with a little thin iron
rod ending in a small bulb or smooth knob slightly heated,
were pressed down those spots upon the faces worked in
circular lines, as well as that deep wide dimple in the
throat especially of an aged person. By the hollows thus
lastingly sunk, a play of light and shadow is brought out
that, at a short distance, lends to the portion so treated a
look of being done in low relief. Upon the slightly-clothed
person of our Lord this same process is followed in a way
that tells remarkably well; and the chest with the upper
part of the pelvis in the figure of our Saviour overcoming
Thomas’s unbelief, shows a noteworthy example of the
mediæval knowledge of external anatomy.
We must not, however, hide from ourselves the fact that
the edges, though so broad and blunt, given by such a
use of the hot iron to parts of an embroidery, expose it
somewhat to the danger of being worn out more in those
than other portions which soon betray the damage by
their thread-bare dingy look, as is the case in the example
just cited.
The method for filling in the quatrefoils, as well as
working much of the drapery on the figures, is remarkable
for being done in a long zigzag diaper-pattern, and after
the manner called in ancient inventories, “opus
plumarium,” from the way the stitches overlie each other
like the feathers on a bird.
The stitchery on the armorial bearings is the same as that
now followed in so many trifling things worked in wool.
The canvas for every part of this cope is of the very finest
sort; but oddly enough, its crimson canvas lining is thick
and coarse. What constituted, then, the characteristics of
the “opus Anglicum,” or English work, in mediæval
embroidery were, first, the beginning of the stitchery in
certain parts of the human figure—the face especially—in
circular lines winding close together round and round;
and, in the second place, the sinking of those same
portions into permanent hollows by the use of a hot iron.
A word or two now about the history of this fine cope.
In olden days not a town, hardly a single parish,
throughout England, but had in it one or more pious
associations called “gilds,” some of which could show the
noblest amongst the layfolks, men and women, and the
most distinguished of the clergy in the kingdom, set down
upon the roll of its brotherhood, which often grew up into
great wealth. Each of these gilds had, usually in its parish
church, a chapel, or at least an altar of its own, where, for
its peculiar service, it kept one if not several priests and
clerics, provided, too, with every needful liturgical
appliance, articles of which were frequently the
spontaneous offering of individual brothers, who
sometimes clubbed together for the purpose of thus
making their joint gift more splendid. Now it is most
remarkable that upon this cope, and quite apart from the
sacred story on it, we have two figures, that to the left,
pranked out in the gay attire of some rich layman; on the
right, the other, who must be an ecclesiastic from the
tonsure on his head; each bears an inscribed scroll in his
hand, and both are in the posture of suppliants making
offerings. This cleric and this layman may have been akin
to one another, brothers, too, of the same gild for which
they at their joint cost got this cope worked and gave to
it. But where was this gild itself?
Among the foremost of our provincial cities once was
reckoned Coventry. Its Corpus Christi plays or mysteries,
illustrated by this embroidery, enjoyed such a wide-spread
fame that for the whole eight days of their performance,
every year, they drew crowds of the highest and the
gentlest of the land far and near, as the “Paston Letters”
testify, to see them; its gild was of such repute that our
nobility—lords and ladies—our kings and queens, did not
think it anywise beneath their high estate to be enrolled
among its brotherhood. Besides many other authorities,
we have one in that splendid piece of English tapestry—
figured with Henry VI, Cardinal Beaufort, Humphrey, Duke
of Gloucester, and other courtiers, on the left or men’s
side, and on the women’s, Queen Margaret, the Duchess
of Buckingham, and other ladies, most of them on their
knees, and all hearing mass—still hanging on the wall of
the dining hall of St. Mary’s gild, of which that king, with
his queen and all his court became members; and at
whose altar, as brethren, they heard their service, on
some Sunday, or high festival, which they spent at
Coventry. Taking this old city as a centre, with a radius of
no great length, we may draw a circle on the map which
will enclose Tamworth, tower and town, Chartly Castle,
Warwick, Charlcote, Althorp, &c. where the once great
houses of Ferrers, Beauchamp, Lucy, and Spencer held,
and some of them yet hold, large estates; and from being
the owners of broad lands in its neighbourhood, their
lords would, in accordance with the religious feeling of
those times, become brothers of the famous gild of
Coventry; and on account of their high rank, find their
arms emblazoned upon the vestments belonging to their
fraternity. That such a pious queen as the gentle Eleanor,
our First Edward’s first wife, who died a.d. 1290, should
have, in her lifetime, become a sister, and by her bounties
made herself to be gratefully remembered after death, is
very likely, so that we may with ease account for her
shield—Castile and Leon—as well as for the shields of the
other great families we see upon the orphrey, being
wrought there as a testimonial that, while, like many
others, they were members, they also had been
munificent benefactors to the association. A remembrance
of brotherhood for those others equally noble, but less
generous in their benefactions, may be read in those
smaller shields upon the narrow hem going along the
lower border of this vestment. The whole of it must have
taken a long, long time in the doing; and the probability is
that it was worked by the nuns of some convent which
stood in or near Coventry.
Upon the banks of the Thames, at Isleworth, near
London, in the year 1414, Henry V. built, and munificently
endowed, a monastery to be called “Syon,” for nuns of St.
Bridget’s order. Among the earliest friends of this new
house was a Master Thomas Graunt, an official in one of
the ecclesiastical courts of the kingdom. In the Syon nuns’
martyrologium—a valuable MS. lately bought by the British
Museum—this churchman is gratefully recorded as the
giver to their convent of several precious ornaments, of
which this very cope seemingly is one. It was the custom
for a gild, or religious body, to bestow some rich church
vestment upon an ecclesiastical advocate who had
befriended it by his pleadings before the tribunals, and
thus to convey their thanks to him along with his fee.
After such a fashion this cope could have easily found its
way, through Dr. Graunt, from Warwickshire to Middlesex.
At the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign it went along with the
nuns as they wandered in an unbroken body through
 Flanders, France, and Portugal, where they halted. About
sixty years ago it came back again from Lisbon to
England, and has found a lasting home in the South
Kensington Museum.

197.
WEB for Orphreys; ground, crimson silk; design, the Assumption, in
yellow silk and gold thread. Florentine, 15th century. 2 feet 2½
inches by 1 foot 2¾ inches.
The same sort of stuff frequently occurs in this collection,
and the present specimen, which consists of two breadths
sewed together, is the same as the one fully described in
No. 4059. In its present shape it may have served as a
back hanging to a little praying-desk in a bed-room.

198.
A Crimson Velvet Stole, with crosses and fringes of green silk.
Spanish, 16th century. 6 feet 8 inches by 2½ inches, and 5½ inches.
The pieces of crimson velvet out of which this stole was
made, not so many years ago, are of a deep warm tone of
colour, and soft rich pile; both so peculiar to the looms of
Spain. The velvet must have been in use for church
purposes before this stole was made out of it.

1207.
A Crimson Velvet Stole, with crosses of poor gold lace, and fringes of
crimson silk. Spanish, 16th century. 7 feet 7 inches by 3 inches, and
8 inches.
Like the foregoing stole in quality of velvet.
254-55.
TWO Crimson Velvet Maniples, with crosses and fringes of green.
Spanish, 16th century. 1 foot 6½ inches by 3 inches, and 5 inches.
These were to match the like kind of stole.

524.
A Crimson Velvet Maniple, with crosses of gold and fringes of
crimson silk. Spanish, 16th century. 1 foot 5½ inches by 3¼ inches,
and 6½ inches.

733.
A Piece of Raised Velvet; ground, yellow silk; design, in velvet pile,
pomegranates, and conventional floriations, enclosing an oval with a
quatrefoil in the middle. Spanish, late 16th century. 1 foot 6 inches
by 7 inches, and by 1 foot 2 inches.
This raised velvet must have been for household
decoration, and may have been wrought at Almeria.

902.
CUT-WORK for furniture purposes; ground, yellow silk; design, vases
of flowers formed in green velvet; the flowers in places embroidered
in white and light blue floss-silk. French, 17th century. 9 feet 9
inches by 1 foot 9 inches.
This specimen well shows the way in which such strips for
pilasters were wrought. At first the green velvet seems the
ground, which, however, is of amber yellow silk, but the
velvet is so cut out and sewed on as to give the vases and
their flowers the right form, and sometimes is made to
come in as foliage. The flowers, mostly fleurs-de-lis and
 tulips, are well finished in white silk, shaded either by light
blue in the first, or pink in the second instance, where,
however, there are only five instead of six petals; and the
whole is edged in its design with yellow silk cord.

910.
AN Altar Frontal, silk and thread; ground, yellow; design, vases and
conventional artichokes, amid floriations, all in crimson silk, and
trimmed at the lower side with cut-work, in a flower pattern, of
various-coloured silks, edged with yellow cord. Italian, early 17th
century. 6 feet by 2 feet 8½ inches.
The silk in this stuff is small in comparison with the
thread, which, however, is so well covered as to be kept
quite out of sight in the pattern. The fringe, six inches in
depth, is left quite open.

911.
A BED-QUILT; ground, green silk; design, in the middle the goddess
Flora, around her large flowers and branches, amid which are birds
(doves?), and hares climbing up the boughs, all in floss-silk of very
showy colours, with a deep border of flowers, worked upon dark net.
Italian, 18th century. 8 feet 3 inches by 6 feet.
Such coverlets were, as they still are, used for throwing
over beds in the day-time. The flowers, both on the silk
and the netting, are so embroidered as to show the same,
like East Indian needlework, on both sides. The love for
lively colour, not to say garishness, was such as to lead
the hand that wrought this piece to render the branches
of some of the parts parti-coloured in white and crimson.
Other specimens of embroidered net may be seen at Nos.
623, 624, 4462.
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