Adaptive behavior

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Adaptive behavior is behavior that enables a person (usually used in the context of children) to cope in their environment with greatest success and least conflict with others. This is a term used in the areas of psychology and special education. Adaptive behavior relates to everyday skills or tasks that the "average" person is able to complete, similar to the term life skills.

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Nonconstructive or disruptive social or personal behaviors can sometimes be used to achieve a constructive outcome. For example, a constant repetitive action could be re-focused on something that creates or builds something. In other words, the behavior can be adapted to something else.

In contrast, maladaptive behavior is a type of behavior that is often used to reduce one's anxiety, but the result is dysfunctional and non-productive coping. For example, avoiding situations because you have unrealistic fears may initially reduce your anxiety, but it is non-productive in alleviating the actual problem in the long term. Maladaptive behavior is frequently used as an indicator of abnormality or mental dysfunction, since its assessment is relatively free from subjectivity. However, many behaviors considered moral can be maladaptive, such as dissent or abstinence.

Adaptive behavior reflects an individual's social and practical competence to meet the demands of everyday living.

Behavioral patterns change throughout a person's development, life settings and social constructs, evolution of personal values, and the expectations of others. It is important to assess adaptive behavior in order to determine how well an individual functions in daily life: vocationally, socially and educationally.

Examples

Core 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 eventual independent living. Making and sustaining personal relationships present significant challenges for many persons with mental disabilities. Limited cognitive processing skills, poor language development, and unusual or inappropriate behaviors can seriously impede interactions with others. Teaching students with mental disabilities appropriate social and interpersonal skills is an important function of special education. Students with mental disabilities often exhibit behavior problems than students who do not have the similar disabilities. Some behaviors observed by students with mental disabilities are difficulty accepting criticism, limited self-control, and inappropriate behaviors. The greater the severity of the mental disabilities, generally the higher the incidence of behavioral problems.[ citation needed ]

Problems 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. [1]

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.[ citation needed ]

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

  1. Bus riding [2]
  2. Independent walking [3]
  3. Coin summation [4]
  4. Ordering food in a restaurant [5]
  5. Vending machine use [6]
  6. Eating in public places [7]
  7. Pedestrian safety [8]

Peer access and retention

  1. Clothing selection skills [9]
  2. Appropriate mealtime behaviors [10] [11] [12]
  3. Toy play skills and playful activities [13] [14]
  4. Oral hygiene and tooth brushing [15] [16]
  5. Soccer play [17]

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. [18]

Barriers to access to peers and communities

  1. Diurnal bruxism [19]
  2. Controlling rumination and vomiting [20] [21]
  3. Pica [22]

Adaptive 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 their 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 sex 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 [23] 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 to practopoietic theory, [24] creation of adaptive behavior involves special, poietic interactions among different levels of system organization. These interactions are described on the basis of cybernetic theory in particular, good regulator theorem. In practopoietic systems, lower levels of organization determine the properties of higher levels of organization, but not the other way around. This ensures that lower levels of organization (e.g., genes) always possess cybernetically more general knowledge than the higher levels of organization—knowledge at a higher level being a special case of the knowledge at the lower level. At the highest level of organization lies the overt behavior. Cognitive operations lay in the middle parts of that hierarchy, above genes and below behavior. For behavior to be adaptive, at least three adaptive traverses are needed.

See also

Related Research Articles

Developmental disorders comprise a group of psychiatric conditions originating in childhood that involve serious impairment in different areas. There are several ways of using this term. The most narrow concept is used in the category "Specific Disorders of Psychological Development" in the ICD-10. These disorders comprise developmental language disorder, learning disorders, motor disorders, and autism spectrum disorders. In broader definitions ADHD is included, and the term used is neurodevelopmental disorders. Yet others include antisocial behavior and schizophrenia that begins in childhood and continues through life. However, these two latter conditions are not as stable as the other developmental disorders, and there is not the same evidence of a shared genetic liability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social skills</span> Competence facilitating interaction and communication with others

A social skill is any competence facilitating interaction and communication with others where social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning these skills is called socialization. Lack of such skills can cause social awkwardness.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA), also called behavioral engineering, is a psychological intervention that applies approaches based upon the principles of respondent and operant conditioning to change behavior of social significance. It is the applied form of behavior analysis; the other two forms are radical behaviorism and the experimental analysis of behavior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Job interview</span> Type of interview

A job interview is an interview consisting of a conversation between a job applicant and a representative of an employer which is conducted to assess whether the applicant should be hired. Interviews are one of the most common methods of employee selection. Interviews vary in the extent to which the questions are structured, from an unstructured and informal conversation to a structured interview in which an applicant is asked a predetermined list of questions in a specified order; structured interviews are usually more accurate predictors of which applicants will make suitable employees, according to research studies.

Behaviour therapy or behavioural psychotherapy is a broad term referring to clinical psychotherapy that uses techniques derived from behaviourism and/or cognitive psychology. It looks at specific, learned behaviours and how the environment, or other people's mental states, influences those behaviours, and consists of techniques based on behaviorism's theory of learning: respondent or operant conditioning. Behaviourists who practice these techniques are either behaviour analysts or cognitive-behavioural therapists. They tend to look for treatment outcomes that are objectively measurable. Behaviour therapy does not involve one specific method, but it has a wide range of techniques that can be used to treat a person's psychological problems.

Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, especially in "language, mobility, learning, self-help, and independent living". Developmental disabilities can be detected early on and persist throughout an individual's lifespan. Developmental disability that affects all areas of a child's development is sometimes referred to as global developmental delay.

Pivotal response treatment (PRT), also referred to as pivotal response training, is a naturalistic form of applied behavior analysis used as an early intervention for children with autism that was pioneered by Robert Koegel and Lynn Kern Koegel. PRT advocates contend that behavior hinges on "pivotal" behavioral skills—motivation and the ability to respond to multiple cues—and that development of these skills will result in collateral behavioral improvements. In 2005, Richard Simpson of the University of Kansas identified pivotal response treatment as one of the four scientifically based treatments for autism.

A group home, congregate living facility, care home, adult family home, etc., is a structured and supervised residence model that provides assisted living and medical care for those with complex health needs. Traditionally, the model has been used for children or young people who cannot live with their families or afford their own homes, people with chronic disabilities who may be adults or seniors, or people with dementia and related aged illnesses. Typically, there are no more than six residents, and there is at least one trained caregiver there 24 hours a day. In some early "model programs", a house manager, night manager, weekend activity coordinator, and four part-time skill teachers were reported. Originally, the term group home referred to homes of 8 to 16 individuals, which was a state-mandated size during deinstitutionalization. Residential nursing facilities, also included in this article, may be as large as 100 individuals in 2015, which is no longer the case in fields such as intellectual and developmental disabilities. Depending on the severity of the condition requiring one to need to live in a group home, some clients are able to attend day programs and most clients are able to live normal lifestyles.

Emotional and behavioral disorders refer to a disability classification used in educational settings that allows educational institutions to provide special education and related services to students who have displayed poor social and/or academic progress.

Positive behavior support (PBS) uses tools from applied behaviour analysis and values of normalisation and social role valorisation theory to improve quality of life, usually in schools. PBS uses functional analysis to understand what maintains an individual's challenging behavior and how to support the individual to get these needs met in more appropriate way, instead of using 'challenging behaviours'. People's inappropriate behaviors are difficult to change because they are functional; they serve a purpose for them. These behaviors may be supported by reinforcement in the environment. People may inadvertently reinforce undesired behaviors by providing objects and/or attention because of the behavior.

The professional practice of behavior analysis is a domain of behavior analysis, the others being radical behaviorism, experimental analysis of behavior and applied behavior analysis. The practice of behavior analysis is the delivery of interventions to consumers that are guided by the principles of radical behaviorism and the research of both experimental and applied behavior analysis. Professional practice seeks to change specific behavior through the implementation of these principles. In many states, practicing behavior analysts hold a license, certificate, or registration. In other states, there are no laws governing their practice and, as such, the practice may be prohibited as falling under the practice definition of other mental health professionals. This is rapidly changing as behavior analysts are becoming more and more common.

Donald M. Baer was an American psychologist who contributed to the science of applied behavior analysis and pioneered the development of behavior analysis at the University of Kansas and the University of Washington. Baer is best known for his contributions at the University of Kansas. Throughout his career, he published over two hundred articles, books, and chapters on various psychological issues. Some of his most noteworthy contributions include literature on behavior-analytic theory, experimental design, and early childhood interventions. Baer received numerous awards during his lifetime which acknowledged his innovation and dedication to his field of research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intellectual disability</span> Generalized neurodevelopmental disorder

Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability and mental retardation, is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant impairment in intellectual and adaptive functioning that is first apparent during childhood. Children with intellectual disabilities typically have an intelligence quotient (IQ) below 70 and deficits in at least two adaptive behaviors that affect everyday, general living. According to the DSM-5, intellectual functions include reasoning, problem solving, planning, abstract thinking, judgment, academic learning, and learning from experience. Deficits in these functions must be confirmed by clinical evaluation and individualized standard IQ testing. On the other hand, adaptive behaviors include the social, developmental, and practical skills people learn to perform tasks in their everyday lives. Deficits in adaptive functioning often compromises an individual's independence and ability to meet their social responsibility.

A behavioral cusp is any behavior change that brings an organism's behavior into contact with new contingencies that have far-reaching consequences. A behavioral cusp is a special type of behavior change because it provides the learner with opportunities to access new reinforcers, new contingencies, new environments, new related behaviors (generativeness) and competition with archaic or problem behaviors. It affects the people around the learner, and these people agree to the behavior change and support its development after the intervention is removed.

Natural language training is a set of procedures used by behavior analysts that rely heavily on mand training in the natural environment. These procedures include incidental teaching, functional communication training, and pivotal response treatment, which are used to mirror the natural areas of language use for children. Behavior analytic language training procedures run along a continuum from highly restrictive such as discrete trial training to very nonrestrictive conversationally-based strategies. Natural language falls in the middle of these procedures.

The Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP) is an assessment and skills-tracking system to assess the language, learning and social skills of children with autism or other developmental disabilities. A strong focus of the VB-MAPP is language and social interaction, which are the predominant areas of weakness in children with autism.

Classwide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) is a variation of peer-mediated instruction that has been used in elementary, middle school, and high school classrooms. In CWPT students form pairs and take turns in the roles of tutor and student. Students earn points for their teams by participating in the tutoring and the winning team is recognized. Researchers have investigated CWPT's effectiveness in several different academic areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Reiss</span>

Steven Reiss (1947–2016) was an American psychologist who contributed original ideas, new assessment methods, and influential research studies to four topics in psychology: anxiety disorders, developmental disabilities, intrinsic motivation, and the psychology of religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Iwata</span> American psychologist (1948–2023)

Brian Anthony Iwata was an American psychologist. He was a Distinguished Professor at University of Florida.

Beth Sulzer-Azaroff was a psychologist and pioneering figure in the field of behavior analysis. She conducted research on organizational behavior management and promoted the use of applied behavior analysis for teaching children with autism. The Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences noted her contributions as "instrumental in translating findings from the basic behavior analytic laboratory to the applied setting, from the classroom to the factory."

References

  1. ↑ Psychometrics and Psychological Assessment, Carina Coulacoglou, Donald Saklofske, published 20 June 2017
  2. ↑ Neef, A.N.; Iwata, B.A.; Page T.J. et al. (1978). Public Transportation Skills. In vivo versus classroom instruction. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 11, 331–4.
  3. ↑ Gruber, B.; Reeser R.; Reid, D.H. (1979). Providing a less restrictive environment to retarded persons by teaching independent walking skills. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 12, 285–97.
  4. ↑ Lowe, M.L. & Cuvo, A.J. (1976). Teaching coin summation to the mentally retarded. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 9, 483–9.
  5. ↑ Haring, Thomas G.; Kennedy, Craig H.; Adams, Mary J.; Pitts-Conway, Valerie (1987). "Teaching Generalization of Purchasing Skills Across Community Settings to Autistic Youth Using Videotape Modeling". Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 20 (1): 89–96. doi: 10.1901/jaba.1987.20-89 . ISSN   0021-8855. PMC   1285955 . PMID   3583966.
  6. ↑ Sprague, J. R.; Horner, R. H (1984). "The effects of single instance, multiple instance, and general case training on generalized vending machine use by moderately and severely handicapped students". Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 17 (2): 273–278. doi:10.1901/jaba.1984.17-273. ISSN   0021-8855. PMC   1307940 . PMID   6735957.
  7. ↑ Van den Pol, R.A.; Iwata, B.A.; Ivancic M.T.; Page, T.J.; Neef N.A. & Whitley (1981). Teaching the handicapped to eat in public places: Acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of restaurant skills. JABA. 14, 61–9.
  8. ↑ Page, T. J.; Iwata, B. A.; Neef, N. A. (1976). "Teaching pedestrian skills to retarded persons: generalization from the classroom to the natural environment". Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 9 (4): 433–444. doi:10.1901/jaba.1976.9-433. ISSN   0021-8855. PMC   1312038 . PMID   1002631.
  9. ↑ Nutter D. & Reid D.H. (1978). Teaching retarded women a clothing selection skill using community norms. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 11, 475–87.
  10. ↑ McGrath, A.; Bosch, S.; Sullivan, C.; Fuqua, R.W. (2003). Teaching reciprocal social interactions between preschoolers and a child diagnosed with autism. Journal of Positive Behavioral Interventions, 5, 47–54.
  11. ↑ O'Brien, F.; Bugle, C. & Azrin N.H. (1972). Training and maintaining a retarded child's proper eating. JABA, 5, 67–72.
  12. ↑ Wilson, P.G.; Reid, D.H.; Phillips, J.F. & Burgio, L.D. (1984). Normalization of institutional mealtimes for profoundly retarded persons. Effects and non-effects of teaching family-style dining. JABA, 17, 189–201.
  13. ↑ Haring, T.G. (1985). Teaching between class generalization of toy play behavior to handicapped children. JABA, 18, 127–139.
  14. ↑ Lifter, K.; Sulzer-Azaroff, B.; Anderson, S.R. & Cowdery, G.E. (1993) Teaching Play Activities to Preschool Children with Disabilities: The Importance of Developmental Considerations. Journal of Early Intervention, 17, 139–159.
  15. ↑ Singh, N.N.; Manning, P.J. & Angell M.J. (1982). Effects of an oral hygiene punishment procedure on chronic rumination and collateral behaviors in monozygous twins. JABA, 15, 309–14.
  16. ↑ Horner, R.D. & Keilitz, I. (1975). Training mentally retarded adolescents to brush their teeth. JABA, 8, 301–309.
  17. ↑ Luyben, P D; Funk, D M; Morgan, J K; Clark, K A; Delulio, D W (1986). "Team sports for the severely retarded: training a side-of-the-foot soccer pass using a maximum-to-minimum prompt reduction strategy". Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 19 (4): 431–436. doi:10.1901/jaba.1986.19-431. ISSN   0021-8855. PMC   1308094 . PMID   3804877.
  18. ↑ "Psychology: Adaptive Behavior". Archived from the original on 2 February 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  19. ↑ Blount, R.L.; Drabman, R.S.; Wilson, N.; Stewart D. (1982). Reducing severe diurnal bruxism ib tw profoundly retarded females. JABA, 15, 565–71.
  20. ↑ Kholenberg (1970). Punishment of persitent vomiting: A case study. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 3, 241–245.
  21. ↑ Rast, J.; Johnston, J.M.; Drum, C. & Corin, J. (1981). The relation of food quantity to rumination behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 14, 121–130.
  22. ↑ Mace, F C; Knight, D (1986). "Functional analysis and treatment of severe pica". Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 19 (4): 411–416. doi:10.1901/jaba.1986.19-411. ISSN   0021-8855. PMC   1308091 . PMID   3804874.
  23. ↑ Professional practice of behavior analysis
  24. ↑ Nikolić, Danko (2015). "Practopoiesis: Or how life fosters a mind". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 373: 40–61. arXiv: 1402.5332 . Bibcode:2015JThBi.373...40N. doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.03.003. PMID   25791287. S2CID   12680941.
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