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ISSN: 1751-8423 (print), 1751-8431 (electronic)
Dev Neurorehabil, Early Online: 18
! 2013 Informa UK Ltd. DOI: 10.3109/17518423.2013.834998

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Clinical assessment of PTSD in children with mild to borderline

intellectual disabilities: A pilot study
L. Mevissen1, E. Barnhoorn2, R. Didden2,3, H. Korzilius4, & A. De Jongh5,6

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Accare, Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Deventer, The Netherlands, 2Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen,
Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 3Trajectum, Zwolle, The Netherlands, 4Department of Methodology, Nijmegen School of Management, Institute for
Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 5Department of Behavioural Sciences, Academic Centre for
Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and 6School of Health Sciences, Salford
University, Manchester, UK
Abstract

Keywords

Objective: There are few studies regarding assessment and treatment of trauma-related
disorders in people with intellectual disabilities (ID). The aims of this study were to determine
(1) the feasibility of an adapted version of a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-clinical
interview and (2) to what extent manifestation of PTSD in a sample of children with mild to
borderline ID corresponds with four existing PTSD algorithms.
Method: Fifteen children who visited a special need school were interviewed.
Results: In all children, the full interview could be completed. Potentially traumatic events
(A1 criterion), and PTSD symptoms for children with mild to borderline ID were similar to those
observed in children without ID.
Conclusions: The manifestation of PTSD in children with mild to borderline ID corresponds
with the manifestation of PTSD in children without ID. The data provide no reason to broaden
PTSD criterion A1 for children with mild to borderline ID.

Children, clinical interview, intellectual

disabilities, post-traumatic stress disorder,
trauma

Introduction
Most people experience a devastating or life-threatening
stressor event such as a serious accident or the sudden loss of
a loved one, at some time during their lives [1, 2]. Typical
reactions to such an event are distress, anxiety, and fear [2].
It is generally assumed that the memories about the distressing event are geared towards providing the individual with
information to help to survive a next similar event [3, 4]. The
personal responses to an emotionally arousing experience
give rise to the storage of emotionally charged memories of
the event [5, 6], which in some instances can lead to the
development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) [2].
Following the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders-IV - text revision (DSM-IV-TR) [7], PTSD criteria
are met when a person witnessed, experienced or was
confronted with an event that involved actual or threatened
death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of
self or others (criterion A1). In addition, the individuals
response has to be one of intense fear, helplessness, or horror
(criterion A2). To meet the full criteria of a PTSD diagnosis,
exposure to the traumatic stressor should also involve
symptoms of re-experiencing, avoidance, and arousal.
Finally, these symptoms need to be present for at least one

Correspondence: L. Mevissen, Accare, Centre for Child and Adolescent

Psychiatry, Diepenveenseweg 169, 7413 AP, Deventer, The Netherlands.
Tel: +31570851500. Fax: +31570851501. E-mail: [email protected]

History
Received 11 August 2013
Accepted 12 August 2013
Published online 1 October 2013

month and should cause impairment in functioning and

significant distress [7]. The estimated lifetime prevalence of
PTSD in the general population is about 8% [8].
Since PTSD was first mentioned in the DSM there is an
ongoing controversy about how to diagnose and classify PTSD
[912]. For example, studies have shown that people who have
been exposed to an event fulfilling the DSM-IV-TR criterion
A1 report significantly less symptoms of PTSD following this
event than those who have experienced an event that is not
subsumed under the DSM-IV-TRs definition of a traumatic
event [e.g. 10]. Furthermore, with regard to the value of the
DSM-IV criterion A2, it has been found that persons who did
not experience intense fear, helplessness, or horror during the
trauma, still fulfilled the criteria for PTSD as based upon their
symptom scores on the PTSD Symptom Scale [13].
For the DSM-5 several changes have been proposed,
including a sharpened criterion A1 and the elimination of
criterion A2 [14]. Another prominent proposed change based
on reviews [15, 16] is the addition of a fourth cluster of
symptom criteria pertaining to negative alterations in mood
and cognitions associated with the traumatic event(s). This
includes, for example, persistent and exaggerated negative
beliefs or expectations about oneself, others or the world, a
persistent negative emotional state, and markedly diminished
interest or participation in significant activities [14].
Different suggestions have been made for the DSM-5
PTSD diagnosis in children. Based on the assumption that
developmental differences affect presentation of PTSD

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L. Mevissen et al.

symptoms, Scheeringa et al. [17] examined four diagnostic

criteria sets in trauma-exposed children younger than seven
years old: (1) DSM-IV, (2) PTSD-AA (alternative algorithm),
(3) the proposed DSM-5 post-traumatic stress in pre-school
children, and (4) DSM-5-UC (DSM-5 with two symptoms
under condition). Three of the criteria sets [i.e. (2)(4)]
resulted in significantly more PTSD-cases compared with
using the DSM-IV criteria. Moreover, all these extra cases
were highly symptomatic and impaired, suggesting that
DSM-IV criteria are insensitive for diagnosing PTSD in
young children. The data support the adoption of a developmental subtype of PTSD for pre-school children in the DSM-5
[17]. The most important additional change in this developmental PTSD subtype is the reduction of the total number of
criterion C (avoidance) and D (negative mood and cognitions)
symptoms, from at least three symptoms to at least one
symptom. Data regarding an alternative algorithm for schoolaged children seemed to be more limited and less consistent
compared with data with regard to the proposed DSM-5
subtype for pre-school children [18].
One group of individuals that seems to be particularly
vulnerable to exposure to distressing (traumatic) events are
people with intellectual disabilities (ID), a population in
which the frequency of psychiatric disorders is estimated to
be two to four times higher than in the general population
[1921]. People with ID experience more often sexual or
physical abuse [2225], emotional abuse [23], life-threatening
illness or injury and parental divorce [19] than people without
ID. It has been stated that even having an ID can be traumatic
in itself [26]. Furthermore, it is assumed that people with ID
are more vulnerable to develop PTSD than people without
ID, due to limited skills to cope with traumatic events [27].
Moreover, it has been argued that language problems impede
sharing overwhelming experiences with others [27].
PTSD often goes undetected in people with ID [28].
Although in research associations have been found between
adverse life events and psychopathology in this particular
population, evidence for a relationship between life events
and specific types of psychopathology such as anxiety and
mood disorders in people with ID is scarce [19]. Furthermore,
in this clinical field it is not uncommon practice to ascribe
emotional and behavioral problems to the ID itself, termed as
diagnostic overshadowing [29]. The release of the
diagnostic manual (DM)-ID [29], an adapted version of the
DSM-IV, was an attempt to enhance the reliability of
psychiatric diagnoses in people with ID. Because of its
alleged importance, PTSD is assigned its own chapter in the
DM-ID [29]. Mainly based on clinical practice, recommendations were given for adapted PTSD symptoms in people
with ID [27]. It has been argued that PTSD symptoms in
adults with mild ID do not differ from those seen in adults
without ID, while adults with more severe ID report PTSD
symptoms that are more similar to those seen in children [27].
With regard to the PTSD traumatic stressor criterion, as
applied in the DSM-IV, the DM-ID takes into account that
also events that the DSM-IV-TR would not classify as
traumatic (e.g. an outplacement engineered by others or
developmentally inappropriate experiences including voluntarily engaged sexual experiences) can be considered
traumatic in people with ID [27]. According to the DM-ID,

Dev Neurorehabil, Early Online: 18

symptoms of re-experiencing and arousal will be manifested

in overt and behavioral form, such as in self-injury, aggression, and outbursts of anger, while symptoms of avoidance
might be seen as noncompliance [27].
However, despite the growing interest in trauma and the
negative effects of life events in people with ID [30], there is
still a limited number of studies on assessment and treatment of
PTSD in people with ID [28, 31]. In addition, in the aforementioned studies by Scheeringa et al. [17, 18] on PTSD in children,
those with ID were excluded, while in the few studies that did
assess the effects of traumatic events on people with ID,
diagnostic instruments were used that were not validated for
people with ID [28, 31]. The question as to how PTSD
manifests itself in people with ID is still under researched.
The first aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility
of a clinical interview (ADIS-C PTSD section, adapted
for children with mild to borderline ID; Mevissen, Didden,
and De Jongh, 2012) developed to assess PTSD in children
with mild to borderline ID. The second aim was to explore to
what extend the manifestation of PTSD in children with mild
to borderline ID corresponds to the manifestation of PTSD
in children without ID. Two hypotheses were tested with
regard to trauma exposure in children with mild ID: (1) events
not specifically meeting PTSD stressor criterion (A1) are
associated with the development of PTSD symptoms and
(2) a greater level of exposure to potentially traumatic events
is associated with more PTSD symptoms.

Material and methods

Participants and setting
Participants were 15 children, 8 girls and 7 boys, of a special
need school in the eastern part of the Netherlands. All
participants lived at home with their parent(s). Their mean
age was 10.0 years (range: 8.013.1; SD: 1.09). The mean
intelligence quotient (IQ) of the participants was 74 (range:
6484; SD: 7.5).
Materials
Interview. An adapted version of the section PTSD of the
Dutch translation of the child interview of the ADIS-C
(Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule of DSM-IV Child
version) [32] was used. Because the ADIS-C is based on the
DSM-IV, for this adapted clinical interview the ADIS-C was
complemented with questions about traumatic events and
symptoms of PTSD corresponding with three other classification systems (PTSD-AA [18], proposed DSM-5 criteria [14],
and proposed DSM-5 criteria for pre-school children [14],
literature about PTSD in people with ID [28, 31, 3335],
clinical trauma treatment experience using Eye Movement
Desensitisation and Reprocessing [3639] and open-ended
questions. The first part of the adapted version of the interview
consists of 25 questions addressing different types of traumatic
events (Table I). The response format for each question is
yes, no, or otherwise. When the child responds to the
question about one of the traumatic events in the affirmative,
the child is asked three more questions: What happened?,
How did you react to that?, and How old were you when it
happened? Next, the child is asked which event actually is the
worst to think about. The second part of the interview consists

DOI: 10.3109/17518423.2013.834998

Clinical assessment of PTSD in children with ID

Table I. Exposure rates by type of trauma or life event (n 15).

Type of trauma or life event

Yes

No

Othera










12
12
10
11
9
7
6
6

3
3
5
4
6
8
8
8

0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1

7
7

8
8

0
0

7
5
5
4
3
3
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0

8
10
10
11
10
12
13
13
14
14
14
14
15
15

0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
0

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Did you ever experience that a beloved pet died or got seriously injured?
Did you ever experience that somebody died or got seriously injured?
Have you ever seen an accident or a fire?
Were you ever in hospital or did you have horrible medical surgeries or treatments?
Have you ever been severely harassed or have you seen someone else being severely harassed?
Have you ever been sent away from school or have you been forced to change school?
Did you ever experience a flood or an earthquake, or has there been a very serious storm close to your home?
Did you ever hear horrible stories at the computer or the television or from other people or have you ever seen awful
pictures (for example, about disasters, war, accidents, deaths, maltreatment, serious illness, sexual abuse, frightening
medical surgeries or treatments, ghosts, or monsters)?
Did someone ever hit you repeatedly or hurt you severely?
Have you ever seen someone being threatened or maltreated (beating, kicking, shooting, stabbing, going at someones
throat), within your family or somewhere else?
Have your parents been divorced?
Did you ever experience a burglary?
Did you ever get lost?
Have you or someone you know very well ever been in prison?
Did someone ever touch your body even though you did not want this?
Have you ever been robbed or attacked by somebody?
Have you ever been picked up or questioned by the police?
Did you ever have very serious problems with someone within your family of with a friend or girlfriend?
Were there ever adults who did not tolerate anything and punished you harshly?
Did you ever see someone else being forced to have sex?
Did you ever experience a serious accident or a fire in which you nearly died?
Have you ever been outplaced or were you in a crisis centre for a short while?
Have you ever been forced to touch someones body parts when you really did not want to?
Did someone ever do something else to you or forced you to do something you really did not want to?

The child answers, e.g.: I do not know, sometimes, or any other unclear answer.

Table II. Frequency rates of potential PTSD symptoms, included in DSM-IV, PTSD-AA, DSM-5, and DSM-5 for pre-school children (n 15).
Symptoms

Yes

No

Othera

 Are you seriously frightened when something happens unexpectedly or suddenly, for example, if all of a sudden you hear
a loud noise or if someone touches you unexpectedly?
 Do you frequently have nightmares or horrible dreams about what has happened?
 Do you try as hard as you can, not to think of those event(s)?
 Do you have nightmares or horrible dreams about other things?
 Do you get totally upset if something reminds you of those event(s)
 Do you always watch out very carefully because you think something bad might happen again?
 Do you get angry more often since those event(s) happened?
 Do you still often think of the event(s) even though you really do not want to?
 If something reminds you of the event(s), do you get awful feelings in your body? For example, does your heart start to
beat much faster, do you start to sweat or shake?
 If something reminds you of the event(s) do you get stomach ache or headache?
 Since the event(s), has it become more difficult for you to show other people how you feel? For example, do you avoid
showing someone else how you are feeling and do you keep your feelings to yourself?
 Are you unable to sleep well, for example; is it difficult to fall asleep, do you often wake up during the night or do you
wake up too early in the morning?
 Has it become more difficult to trust other people since the event(s)?
 Is it difficult to keep your mind on things, do you have difficulties concentrating?
 Do you often feel bad? Do you, for example, often have feelings of anxiety, blame, or shame or do you often think things
are very awful?
 Since those event(s) happened, did you stop doing things you really liked to do before, for example, playing games or
going out, hobbies? Or do you no longer like to do those things?
 Are there some parts of the event(s) you no longer remember?
 Do you have serious outbursts of anger?
 Do you try to stay away from things that remind you of the event(s)? For example, situations, places, noises, smells?
 Do you no longer feel like seeing your friends or girlfriends since the event(s)?
 Do you feel lonely or isolated more often since those event(s)?
 Cannot you feel happy anymore since those event(s)?
 Do you sometimes hurt yourself or others or do you break things?
 Is it as if you cannot feel anything anymore since those event(s)?
 Did you start doing things again you did not do since you were a little child, for example, wetting your pants again,
sucking your thumb or always trying to stay close to your father and mother or caregivers?
 Do you always blame yourself or others about what has happened while in fact this is not with good reason?
 Do you no longer watch out for what you are doing; do you act dangerously?
 Do you think that if you are grown up, you are able to do anything you would like to do, for example, receive training, get
married, find a job, raise children or any of these types of things?

11

8
9
7
7
7
7
6
6

5
4
7
6
8
7
8
7

2
2
1
2
0
1
1
2

6
6

7
7

2
2

5
5
4

8
8
8

2
2
3

2
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1

11
10
12
11
12
9
12
13
14

2
2
0
2
1
5
2
1
0

0
0
12

14
14
0

1
1
3

The child answers, e.g.: I do not know, sometimes, or any other unclear answer.

L. Mevissen et al.

Dev Neurorehabil, Early Online: 18

Table III. Frequency rates of other potential PTSD symptoms (n 15).

Symptoms
 Do you sometimes have the feeling it could easily happen again?
 Since the event(s), did you change eating behavior, for example, eating too much or too little?
 Since those events, is it harder to accept when things go different than expected, for example, if an appointment has been
cancelled or if you suddenly have to do something unexpected?
 Do you sometimes hear voices in your head with regard to the event(s)?
 Do you have to do some things again and again or always in the same order?
 Do you no longer take care of yourself as well as you did before, for example, has it become more difficult to wash
yourself and dress and do you no longer succeed in brushing your teeth well?
 Do you start to behave exaggeratedly happy if you have to think about the event(s)?

Yes

No

Othera

7
6
5

7
7
9

1
2
1

4
1
0

10
14
14

1
0
1

15

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The child answers, e.g.: I do not know, sometimes, or any other unclear answer.

of 37 questions about PTSD-symptoms (Table II). For these

questions, the response format is yes, no, or otherwise. Seven of the 37 questions pertain to symptoms not
subsumed in one of the four PTSD algorithms (Table III). In
these seven questions, the child is asked to provide an
explanation when responding in the affirmative. Two questions
are open ended. The child is asked whether he or she has
noticed anything else since the events, and in case the answer is
yes s/he is also asked to provide an explanation. In all other
30 questions no further explanation is required, irrespective of
the childs response. The final interview question refers to the
interference in daily life functioning: To what degree do you
think your daily life functioning actually is impaired by the
event(s) you have experienced? The ADIS-C thermometers
card (see below) was used to facilitate this.
Thermometers card. The child had to indicate the interference
by naming or pointing to a scale consisting of nine thermometers with 0 referring to totally not, 2 a little bit,
4 somewhat, 6 a lot, and 8 very much. The other
thermometers were in between [40].
Timeline. A timeline was used to get a picture of all the
traumatic events the child ever had experienced, and to
support the child in a visual way. The timeline was a piece
of paper on which a horizontal line was drawn, which
represented the childs lifetime from birth to present age, and
which was divided in equal pieces of one year corresponding
with the childs age. The interviewer assisted the child
in writing or drawing each of the experienced events on the
matching timeline point. While assessing the symptoms the
interviewer pointed at the timeline with the experienced
event(s) to make sure that if yes was answered, the child
felt as if there was a straight relationship between the negative
event(s) and the reported symptoms.
Procedure
Eleven special needs schools around Nijmegen, a college town
in the eastern part of the Netherlands, were invited to participate. None of school staff expressed willingness to participate.
Those who gave a reason argued that being questioned about
traumatic events might emotionally affect the children in a way
that could not be handled by the school. The first author
approached a school of special needs in Deventer, a city in the
eastern part of the Netherlands. Its director, psychologist and
intern supervisors gave their permission to participate. It was
agreed that, if needed, the nearby center for child and
adolescent psychiatry (i.e. Accare) would provide outpatient

trauma treatment. The psychologist and intern supervisors of

the school designated 30 children, taking into account the
following criteria: (1) aged between 6 and 18 years, (2) IQ
between 50 and 85, and (3) ability to answer questions during a
one-hour interview. Five successive class-levels were included.
Sixteen parents gave their written informed consent. Each
interview was videotaped. The children were interviewed by
the second author in a separate room during school time. At
first, a number of questions were asked to comfort the child,
such as Do you have any brothers or sisters? and What are
your plans for the holidays? Next, the interview was
introduced. At the end of the interview, the child was asked
about his or her opinion about the interview. The session was
always closed in a positive way. Of one child the IQ data
appeared unavailable, as a consequence only the data of the
other 15 participants were analyzed.
Reliability
To determine the reliability of the interview, 4 of the 15
randomly chosen videos were examined by a second observer
who independently scored the participants answers to all
questions. Reliability was calculated on a question-by-question basis, and results were corrected for chance. Kappas (k)
were calculated which varied between 0.87 and 0.95,
suggesting that the inter-observer agreement of the interview
was excellent (k40.75; [41]). The interviewer and second
observer independently coded participants scores according
to the different PTSD algorithms. In case of disagreement, the
final decision was made by the last author based upon his
interpretation of the criteria of that specific PTSD algorithm.
Statistical analyses
Frequency analyses were used for exposure rates of trauma
and life events and standard as well as additional PTSD
symptoms. t-Tests for independent samples (two-tailed) were
employed to analyze differences between the thermometer
scores of children who did and those who did not fulfill the
other PTSD symptom criteria, and to determine the difference
between the number of potentially traumatic events of those
meeting PTSD symptom criteria and those who did not.
MannWhitney U-tests were used in case the assumption
of normal distribution of the data was violated. Outcomes
were corroborated with MannWhitney U-tests. Fishers exact
test was employed with regard to meeting PTSD A1 criterion
and occurrence of PTSD symptoms. The level of significance
was set at 0.05.

Clinical assessment of PTSD in children with ID

DOI: 10.3109/17518423.2013.834998

Results

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Feasibility of the interview

For all children, the full interview could be completed.
They answered all questions and seemed to understand them.
Incidentally, a child asked for explanation or the interviewer
asked another question to make quite sure the child did not
misinterpret the question. Only one child needed a break
during the interview. None of the children got upset as a result
of being interviewed. When asked What do you think
about the interview? 10 of the 15 children were positive
(e.g. fun, good, and relieving), two were negative
(e.g. a lot of the same questions and talk about the events
feels uncomfortable), two were neither negative nor positive
about the interview and one participant did not answer the
question.
Manifestation of PTSD and its relationship with the
different PTSD algorithms
Trauma or significant life events
Table I presents the exposure rates by type of trauma or life
event.
The most frequently experienced events were death or
serious injury of a person or a pet, witnessing an accident or a
fire, and being confronted with bullying. None of the children
reported any kind of sexual abuse, near death experiences
because of an accident or fire, nor being outplaced.
On 12 accounts, the open-ended question was answered
affirmatively (not shown in Table I). Four of the events that
were reported could not be classified. In one case, this was
because the answer was not specific enough. The other
answers (i.e. being exposed to a group member shattering a
window pane; a duck that was run over by a car; grandfather
who was carried into an ambulance) could not be classified
under the given categories. Most frequently reported events as
being actually the most distressing were: death of a loved one
(four times), parental divorce (three times), and witnessing or
learning about an accident (three times).
PTSD symptoms
Table II shows the frequency rates of all PTSD symptoms
included in the four different diagnostic systems (i.e. DSMIV, PTSD-AA, DSM-5, and DSM-5 for pre-school children)
as reported by the participants.
Symptoms most frequently reported were: being seriously
frightened when something happens unexpectedly and
getting angry more often (hyperarousal), trying to avoid
thinking of the event(s) (avoidance), and having nightmares
(re-experiencing). None of the children suffered from blaming
themselves for what happened.
Frequencies of PTSD according to the four different
algorithms
Three children could be diagnosed with PTSD based on the
DSM-5 criteria, four children following the DSM-IV criteria,
and six children according to the PTSD-AA and the DSM-5
criteria for pre-school children. Three of the 15 children could
be diagnosed with PTSD based on all criteria of all systems

Table IV. Difference in mean number of additional potentially PTSD

symptoms between participants who met and did not meet PTSD
symptom criteria according to the different diagnostic systems (n 15).

Diagnostic system
DSM-IV
PTSD-AA
DSM-5
DSM-5 for pre-school
children

PTSD
symptom
criteria

SD

t (13)

Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No

4
11
6
9
3
12
7
8

3.00
1.00
2.67
0.78
3.33
1.08
2.57
0.63

1.16
1.10
1.21
0.97
1.16
1.08
1.13
0.92

3.09

0.009*

3.35

0.005*

3.18

0.007*

3.68

0.003*

*p50.05.

(DSM-IV, PTSD-AA, DSM-5, and DSM-5 for pre-school

children).
Relevance of additional PTSD symptoms that might be
characteristic for children with ID
Table III displays the frequency scores for the seven potential
symptoms of PTSD, which might be characteristic for
children with ID, but are not included in one of the four
different PTSD algorithms. The two open-ended questions
(When something reminds you of the event(s), do you notice
anything else in yourself? and Did you notice anything else
since those events?) that were included in the symptom
section (not depicted in Table III) were only once answered
with yes. This participant described his/her symptom as
becoming hyperactive.
Table IV presents mean number of additional potential
PTSD symptoms (range 07) that were not included in the
four different PTSD algorithms (see also Table III) for
children who did and those who did not meet PTSD symptom
criteria according to the different diagnostic systems. For all
four systems, the mean number of additional potential PTSD
symptoms was significantly higher in participants who met
PTSD symptom criteria than in participants who did not meet
these symptom criteria.
Impairment in daily life functioning
Table V presents mean thermometer scores of participants
fulfilling the criteria of the different sets of PTSD symptom
criteria and participants who did not fulfill the set of PTSD
symptom criteria. Children who met the PTSD symptom
criteria of DSM-IV, DSM-5, and DSM-5 for pre-school
children reported a significantly higher mean thermometer
score than those who did not meet the appropriate set of
PTSD symptom criteria.
Association between events not specifically meeting
PTSD stressor criterion (A1) and meeting PTSD
symptom criteria
Table VI presents results of Fishers exact tests on the
association between meeting criterion A1 and fulfilling
PTSD symptom criteria for each of the diagnostic systems.
When full PTSD symptom criteria were present, in all but one

L. Mevissen et al.

Dev Neurorehabil, Early Online: 18

Table V. Differences of thermometer scores between participants who

fulfilled and did not fulfill PTSD symptom criteria, following the
different diagnostic systems (n 15).
Other symptom criteria

SD

df

DSM-IV
Yes
4 7.75 0.50 4.43 11.28a
No
11 3.45 3.11
PTSD-AA
Yes
7 6.14 2.55 1.84 13
No
8 3.25 3.41
DSM-5
Yes
3 8.00 0.00 4.69 11
No
12 3.75 3.14
DSM-5 for pre-school children
Yes
7 6.86 1.22 3.38 9.09a
No
8 2.63 3.30

Table VII. Differences in mean number of events in children meeting

A1 criterion, between children who fulfilled and did not fulfil PTSD
symptom criteria, according to the different algorithms.

p
0.001*

Diagnostic system
DSM-IV

0.089

PTSD-AA
DSM-5

0.001*
DSM-5 for pre-school
children

PTSD
symptom
criteria n
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No

4
3
6
8
3
8
6
5

SD

12.50
11.00
11.00
8.50
13. 67
8.38
11.83
7.40

2.38
2.65
2.97
3.55
0.58
3.38
2.64
3.65

0.79

df

5 0.466

0.19 12 0.152
2.61

9 0.028*

2.34

9 0.044*

0.008*
*p50.05.

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As the assumption of equal variances was not met (tested with Levenes
test) t-test for unequal variances are reported.
*p50.05

Table VI. PTSD criterion A1 and PTSD symptom criteria for the
different algorithms (n 15).
Symptom criteria
Criterion A1
DSM-IV
Yes
No
PTSD-AA
Yes
No
DSM-5
Yes
No
DSM-5 for pre-school children
Yes
No

Yes

No

4
0

3
8

0.026*

6
0

8
1

1.00

3
0

8
4

0.52

6
1

5
3

0.57

manifested in children with mild to borderline ID. The

findings suggest that the clinical interview is applicable
for children with mild to borderline ID. This is supported by
the finding that the full interview could be completed in
all participants, and that none of the children showed any
signs of adverse reactions to being interviewed on this topic.
The second aim of the study was to investigate to what
extent manifestations of PTSD corresponded with the four
PTSD algorithms. The results suggest that the consequences
of trauma in children with mild to borderline ID are similar to
those in children without ID. This holds true with regard
to the (a) reported PTSD symptoms, (b) impact on daily
life functioning, and (c) proportion of frequencies of PTSD
diagnoses across the different algorithms.
Reported PTSD symptoms

Tested with Fishers exact test.

*p50.05.

case a criterion A1 event had been reported. Only for DSMIV a significant association was found between having
experienced a criterion A1 event and meeting PTSD symptom
criteria.
Association between level of exposure to potentially
traumatic events and meeting PTSD symptom criteria
Table VII displays the mean number of events in the children
fulfilling A1 criterion according to the different PTSD
algorithms for children meeting PTSD symptom criteria and
children who did not meet PTSD symptom criteria. It appears
that for DSM-5 as well as the DSM-5 version for pre-school
children, children who met A1 criterion and PTSD symptom
criteria had been exposed to a significantly higher number of
negative events than children who did not meet both of these
criteria.

Discussion
To our knowledge, this study is the first to provide a detailed
examination of the feasibility of a PTSD clinical interview.
It is also the first study that investigated how PTSD is

The high frequencies of post-traumatic nightmares (i.e. eight),

intrusive thoughts (i.e. six), and alertness to danger (i.e.
seven) (also see Table II) are in line with findings pertaining
to PTSD symptoms in traumatized children without ID [22].
The symptoms that were supposed to be distinctive of people
with ID, and were added to the original interview as these
were derived from the literature on trauma in children with ID
(Table III), seem to be redundant. The analysis suggests that
it is not necessary to collect additional information about
these potentially relevant PTSD symptoms, since reporting a
high frequency of these symptoms was highly associated with
(already) meeting the symptom criteria of the four existing
PTSD algorithms. Moreover, none of the children mentioned
PTSD symptoms that were different from the symptoms
included in the algorithms for children without ID. Twice the
children were asked if they suffered from complaints, other
than those the interviewer explicitly had asked for. This
appeared to be not the case, suggesting that no additional
questions relating to other symptoms are necessary for
children with mild to borderline ID.
Impact of PTSD symptoms on daily life functioning
Not only manifestations of PTSD in children with mild to
borderline ID correspond with PTSD seen in children without
ID, but also regarding the impact on daily life functioning.
The interference question showed that for all diagnostic
systems, except PTSD-AA, children who met PTSD-symptom

DOI: 10.3109/17518423.2013.834998

criteria reported a significantly higher mean thermometer

score than those who did not meet these criteria. This would
suggest that, similar to children without ID, PTSD symptoms
cause severe impairment and distress in children with mild to
borderline ID.

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Proportion of PTSD frequencies across diagnostic

systems
With regard to the distribution of the frequencies of PTSD
diagnoses across the different diagnostic systems (i.e. n 3,
4, 6, and 6), the manifestation of PTSD in children with ID
also appeared to be in accordance with that of children
without ID. It is understandable that the number of DSM-5
diagnoses (n 3) in our study is lower than that of DSM-IV
diagnoses (n 4) considering that it is more difficult to meet
all PTSD-5 criteria because of the sharpened A1 criterion
of DSM-5, and the addition of a new symptom cluster in the
proposed diagnostic criteria for this DSM edition [14].
By contrast, fulfilling the PTSD criterion according to the
PTSD-AA and DSM-5 for pre-school children is much easier.
This explains the high frequency (n 6) of such PTSD
diagnoses. Both algorithms, having few internal differences,
are developed for children aged six or younger. Because of
the developmental level of this age group, less symptoms of
avoidance/numbing are required in order to meet all symptom
criteria for a PTSD diagnosis. Furthermore, the A2 criterion
is removed as pre-school children are unable to reliably selfreport initial responses of fear, helplessness, or horror, and
adults are not always present to observe the childs reaction [17]. In our sample, considering participants mild to
borderline ID, and their ages (at least eight years), more than
50% of the sample might have had a mental age higher than
six years. This would mean that, in fact, it was not appropriate
using the PTSD-AA and DSM-5 for pre-school children
when diagnosing PTSD in our sample. Therefore, a total of
six PTSD diagnoses in this study sample might reflect an
overestimation as a result of using the latter diagnostic
systems.
The results also show a remarkably high prevalence rate
of PTSD in our sample (i.e. 27% for the PTSD DSM-IV
diagnoses) in comparison with outcomes of PTSD DSM-IV
prevalence rates in children without ID. In children without
ID the estimated lifetime prevalence rate of PTSD ranges
between 1% and 14% [42], and approximately one of three
children is likely to develop PTSD following trauma exposure
[43]. Although it is difficult to draw any firm conclusions on
small study samples, the relatively high frequency of DSM-IV
PTSD diagnoses may be explained by the fact that people
with ID are more frequently exposed to traumatic and
negative life events than people without ID [28].
Our hypothesis that in children with ID less overwhelming
events, not specifically meeting A1 criterion (e.g. being
harassed, being sent away from school, and death of a pet) are
associated with having a PTSD diagnosis, was not supported
by the current data. All children (except one) who fulfilled
PTSD symptom criteria also fulfilled criterion A1. The
opposite was not true; that is, regarding DSM-5, PTSD-AA,
and DSM-5 for pre-school children, experiencing a criterion
A1 event was not found to be associated with meeting PTSD

Clinical assessment of PTSD in children with ID

symptom criteria. This finding is supportive of the general

notion that only a minority develops PTSD after having
been exposed to a traumatic event. Accordingly, no support
was found for the view that criterion A1 should be broadened
for children with mild to borderline ID.
Our hypothesis, that a greater level of exposure to
potentially traumatic events would be associated with the
report of more PTSD symptoms, was only partly supported.
Only for the DSM-5 and DSM-5 for pre-school children,
those who met A1 criterion as well as PTSD symptom criteria
had been exposed to a significantly higher number of negative
events than those who did not meet both of these criteria
(Table VII). Protective factors [44] apparently fall short in
case children are overwhelmed by a great burden of
(combinations of) traumatic and life events.
An important limitation of this study is the small sample
size. Nevertheless, the findings of this study are of particular
value considering the difficulty to include suitable participants due to the common concern that exposing children
to such an interview may be too overwhelming and could
re-traumatize participants, although independently performed
evaluation of participants have pointed to the reported
benefits and personal satisfaction with participation [45].
In conclusion, given the impact of PTSD on daily life
functioning on the one hand, and the widespread hesitation
to discuss traumatic experiences with potentially vulnerable
individuals on the other, it is of importance that the present
findings suggest that an adapted interview is applicable,
useful and even child-friendly. Furthermore, these preliminary
findings suggest that the interview is meaningful in terms of
enhancing timely and accurate assessment, and is congruent
with the introduction of DSM-5 in which research-based
attention is given to the (mental) age-related manifestation
of PTSD, making it of particular relevance for people with
intellectual and developmental disabilities. Due to the inclusion of a timeline, it offers the opportunity to establish
an overview of exposure to potentially traumatic events, in
relation to the clients complaints and by means of this be
helpful in the preparation for treatment of PTSD in children
with mild and borderline ID. The results also showed that
for both the DSM-5 and DSM-5 for pre-school children
greater level of exposure to potentially traumatic events
were associated with greater PTSD symptom report. Another
important finding was that the manifestations of PTSD
in children with ID did not appear to differ from those in
children without ID. Overall, these preliminary results
provide no reason to conclude that the criterion A1 for
children with mild to borderline ID should be broadened.

Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone
are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

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