Examples
* A child born with cerebral palsy will most likely have a form of hemiparesis orCore problems
Limitations in self-care skills and social relationships, as well as behavioral excesses, are common characteristics of individuals with mental disabilities. Individuals with mental disabilities—who require extensive supports—are often taught basic self-care skills such as dressing, eating, and hygiene. Direct instruction and environmental supports, such as added prompts and simplified routines, are necessary to ensure that deficits in these adaptive areas do not limit one's quality of life. Most children with milder forms of mental disabilities learn how to take care of their basic needs, but they often require training in self-management skills to achieve the levels of performance necessary for eventualProblems with assessing long-term and short-term adaptation
One problem with assessments of adaptive behavior is that a behavior that appears adaptive in the short run can be maladaptive in the long run and vice versa. For example, in the case of a group with rules that insist on drinking harmful amounts of alcohol both abstinence and moderate drinking (moderate as defined by actual health effects, not by socially constructed rules) may seem maladaptive if assessments are strictly short term, but an assessment that focuses on long-term survival would instead find that it was adaptive and that it was obedience under the drinking rule that was maladaptive. Such differences between short term effects and long-term effects in the context of harmful consequences of short-term compliance with destructive rules are argued by some researchers to show that assessments of adaptive behavior are not as unproblematic as is often assumed by psychiatry.Adaptive behaviors in education
In education, adaptive behavior is defined as that which (1) meets the needs of the community of stakeholders (parents, teachers, peers, and later employers) and (2) meets the needs of the learner, ''now'' and ''in the future''. Specifically, these behaviors include such things as effective speech, self-help, using money, cooking, and reading, for example. Training in adaptive behavior is a key component of any educational program, but is critically important for children with special needs. The US Department of Education has allocated billions of dollars ($12.3 billion in 2008) for special education programs aimed at improving educational and early intervention outcomes for children with disabilities. In 2001, the United States National Research Council published a comprehensive review of interventions for children and adults diagnosed with autism. The review indicates that interventions based on applied behavior analysis have been effective with these groups. Adaptive behavior includes socially responsible and independent performance of daily activities. However, the specific activities and skills needed may differ from setting to setting. When a student is going to school, school and academic skills are adaptive. However, some of those same skills might be useless or maladaptive in a job settings, so the transition between school and job needs careful attention.Specific skills
Adaptive behavior includes the age-appropriate behaviors necessary for people to live independently and to function safely and appropriately in daily life. Adaptive behaviors include life skills such as grooming, dressing, safety, food handling, working, money management, cleaning, making friends, social skills, and the personal responsibility expected of their age, social group and wealth group. Specifically relevant are community access skills and peer access and retention skills, and behaviors which act as barriers to such access. These are itemised below.Community access skills
# Bus riding # Independent walking # Coin summation # Ordering food in a restaurant # Vending machine use # Eating in public places # Pedestrian safetyPeer access and retention
# Clothing selection skills # Appropriate mealtime behaviors # Toy play skills and playful activities # Oral hygiene and tooth brushing # Soccer play Adaptive behaviors are considered to change due to the persons culture and surroundings. Professors have to delve into the students technical and comprehension skills to measure how adaptive their behavior is.Barriers to access to peers and communities
# Diurnal bruxism # Controlling rumination and vomiting # PicaAdaptive skills
Every human being must learn a set of skills that is beneficial for the environments and communities they live in. Adaptive skills are stepping stones toward accessing and benefiting from local or remote communities. This means that, in urban environments, to go to the movies, a child will have to learn to navigate through the town or take the bus, read the movie schedule, and pay for the movie. Adaptive skills allow for safer exploration because they provide the learner with an increased awareness of his/her surroundings and of changes in context, that require new adaptive responses to meet the demands and dangers of that new context. Adaptive skills may generate more opportunities to engage in meaningful social interactions and acceptance. Adaptive skills are socially acceptable and desirable at any age and regardless of gender (with the exception of gender specific biological differences such as menstrual care skills).Learning adaptive skills
Adaptive skills encompass a range of daily situations and they usually start with a task analysis. The task analysis will reveal all the steps necessary to perform the task in the natural environment. The use of behavior analytic procedures has been documented, with children, adolescents and adults, under the guidance of behavior analysts Professional practice of behavior analysis and supervised behavioral technicians. The list of applications has a broad scope and it is in continuous expansion as more research is carried out in applied behavior analysis (see '' Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis'', '' The Analysis of Verbal Behavior'').Practopoietic theory
According toSee also
* '' Adaptive Behavior'' – journal *References
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