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.
Adaptive behavior reflects an individual's social and practical competence to meet the demands of everyday living.
It is important to assess adaptive behavior in order to determine how well an individual functions in daily life: vocationally, socially and educationally.
Limitations in self-care skills and social relationships, as well as behavioral excesses, are common characteristics of individuals with mental disabilities.
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.
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.
Training in adaptive behavior is a key component of any educational program, but is critically important for children with special needs.
In 2001, the United States National Research Council published a comprehensive review of interventions for children and adults diagnosed with autism.
According to practopoietic theory,[24] creation of adaptive behavior involves special, poietic interactions among different levels of system organization.