Adaptive Behavior

Abstract

This paper suggests that a continuum of severity can be observed within the learning disabled population and that this continuum is functionally related to the ease with which learning disabled individuals adapt to the environment. The paper reviews the research related to severity and adaptive behavior, the precedents for using adaptive behavior to determine severity, and the behaviors associated with different severity levels of learning disabled individuals. Based on this review, it is suggested that adaptive criteria can be used to determine homogeneous subgroups among the learning disabled population functionally as well or better than criteria based on traditional diagnostic methods.