Hi everyone and welcome to day one in the #AtoZChallenge. This year, I chose intellectual and developmental disabilities as my theme. One of the defining characteristics of intellectual disability, and also a common trait of other developmental disabilities, is impaired adaptive behavior. For my letter A post, I want to talk about that.
So what is adaptive behavior? Adaptive behavior refers to the skills we learn in life in order to adapt to the expectations of the world around us. It includes the following:
- Conceptual skills, such as literacy, self-directedness and the ability to comprehend money, numbers and time.
- Social skills, such as interpersonal skills, self-esteem, skills necessary to obey rules and the law and avoid being victimized.
- Practical skills, such as personal care, travel, money management, housekeeping, etc.
Adaptive behavior is sometimes also called adaptive functioning. The skills that it includes are often referred to as “life skills”. Adaptive behavior is important, because it allows an individual to adjust to the changing demands of life. It is related to intelligence, but it’s not the same.
In order to be diagnosed with an intellectual disability, in addition to a significantly below-average IQ (which I will talk about in my letter I post), a person must be significantly impaired in their adaptive functioning. However, impairments in adaptive behavior are not exclusive to individuals with an intellectual disability. People with other neurodevelopmental disabilities, such as autism, often show impairments in this area too. I, for one, do.
A Multitude of Musings 