Disabilities Impact Adaptive Behavior

Navigating life as an adult involves utilizing a range of knowledge and abilities, from reading comprehension and time management to basic math skills. Practice in many of these areas occur throughout childhood by means of schooling and parental guidance, although sufficient preparation for adulthood goes beyond academic achievement. According to psychologists and child development professionals, becoming a capable, independent adult requires developing a selection of skills collectively known as adaptive behavior. However, children with chronic conditions or injuries that interfere with development or intellectual capacity can find this challenging.

Adaptive behavior refers to those behaviors needed to meet societal expectations for adulthood, as well as the conceptual and practical skills essential to everyday life. For instance, self-sustaining adults show competence in practical skills like self-care, housekeeping, and those skills necessary for retaining employment, caring for their health, and using public and shopping services. Conceptual skills encompass abilities connected to functional academics and self-direction intrinsic to daily life, including reading, basic math skills, problem-solving, and activity planning.

However, impairments to cognition, motor function, and speech can make it difficult for children to acquire skills in one or multiple adaptive behavior subsets. These challenges in many cases devolve into adaptive developmental delays. During early childhood, parents and guardians can pinpoint signs of this by tracking their children’s developmental milestones, which outline specific adaptive skills at each age range indicative of normal development. The milestones primarily comprise skills associated with self-care and motor coordination, such as the ability to dress oneself and use eating utensils.

Developmental delays might lead to a child remaining unable to brush their own hair or teeth by age 6 or still requiring assistance with handwashing at this age. Having trouble in forming age-appropriate adaptive behaviors can also manifest as restricted intellectual abilities that become more apparent as a child grows. For example, some children begin to develop verbal communication skills later than their peers.

Delays in adaptive behavior commonly occur in children with conditions and developmental disabilities such as neuromuscular diseases (NMDs). Youth with NMDs exhibit insufficient practical adaptive skills. Furthermore, the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities lists limitations in adaptive behavior as a defining characteristic of intellectual disabilities. Signs of these disabilities range from learning and memorization difficulties to below-average ability in reading and comprehension.

Despite the emphasis placed on academics in childhood, traditional classrooms do not inherently incorporate all of the adaptive skills necessary for adulthood. Children typically learn about self-care, public-facilities use, and many other practical skills from their parents or guardians, although not all families can effectively impart this information. Moreover, developmental and intellectual delays often hinder learning and slow understanding of basic concepts, transforming otherwise simple tasks into complex endeavors involving multiple steps, subskills, and cognitive processes. This can leave children ill-equipped for the transition into adulthood, as well as living independently.

Child specialists and behavioral experts emphasize the importance of dedicated lessons and training in adaptive behavior for children with developmental delays and tailoring instruction to each individual’s needs. This allows children to receive coaching in the adaptive behavior subsets that they find most perplexing and provides them with the opportunity to practice specific skills. Studies indicate that among the most successful approaches for this is applied behavior analysis (ABA), which involves manipulating a person’s environment to facilitate positive behavioral changes.