Functional life skills and the purpose of teaching
Functional life skills teaching for intellectual disability is the individualized, systematic instruction of everyday activities that help a person participate in home, community, education, employment, and personal life. It includes selecting meaningful goals, identifying what the person already does, teaching manageable steps, arranging environmental supports, and checking whether the skill can be used in ordinary conditions. Effective teaching aims to increase practical opportunity, control, communication, and quality of life, whether a person performs an entire activity alone or directs assistance from others. AAIDD defining criteria.
Intellectual disability involves significant limitations in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior originating during the developmental period. Adaptive behavior concerns conceptual, social, and practical skills learned and used in daily life. A clinical diagnosis addresses the person's intellectual and adaptive profile; a teaching assessment asks which actions, supports, environmental conditions, and learning opportunities are needed for a specific outcome. Two people with the same diagnosis may have different strengths, interests, physical abilities, communication preferences, and histories of opportunity. Consequently, neither IQ nor diagnostic severity can determine an individual's functional curriculum. AAIDD adaptive behavior.
The most informative starting question is what the learner wants to do and what would make that activity possible. Teaching someone to prepare a preferred meal, contact friends, use a calendar, select clothes, or travel a familiar route has immediate relevance. Repetitive instruction disconnected from the person's own goals is less likely to create meaningful participation. Supports may include personal assistance, accessibility adaptations, communication systems, and technology that remain available after direct instruction ends. AAIDD and The Arc, Individual Supports.
The scope of daily living and adaptive skills
Practical daily living activities include washing, dressing, eating, cooking, laundry, cleaning, using a phone, handling purchases, keeping appointments, following transport arrangements, and acting safely in familiar environments. Conceptual skills include recognizing symbols, understanding a schedule, applying number or money concepts, and directing one's own actions. Social skills include requesting assistance, interpreting simple social routines, expressing boundaries, identifying trustworthy supporters, and communicating preferences. Real activities combine these domains: buying groceries may require planning, navigation, communication, money management, social judgment, and motor coordination. AAIDD adaptive domains.
Functional does not mean limited to self-care. A person's valued life may also include choosing leisure activities, joining a group, interacting with digital media, preparing materials for a job, handling personal correspondence, or contributing to family decisions. An adult who chooses a meal and communicates instructions to an assistant participates meaningfully even when someone else must manipulate the equipment. Physical performance, initiation without prompts, and decisional autonomy should be assessed separately. The right to participate in community life includes access to supports and the opportunity to choose where and with whom one lives. United Nations, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 19.
Age and cultural setting shape the relevance of particular goals. Young children may practice dressing or snack routines within play and family life. Adolescents may learn school schedules, community mobility, and privacy skills. Adults may prioritize cooking, shopping, managing appointments, relationships, recreation, and participation in work. A culturally appropriate curriculum respects how a household organizes meals, personal care, money, roles, and technology. It also avoids materials that infantilize teenagers and adults.
How skills are assessed before instruction
An instructional baseline begins with direct observation of a real or realistically simulated activity. An observer records the steps completed independently, the prompts required, assistive devices used, time taken, and the circumstances of errors or distress. The assessment should identify the person's preferred outcome and communication method. It should also examine whether equipment is accessible and whether the person has ever had a fair opportunity to perform the task. An unpracticed skill may reflect exclusion or an inaccessible environment rather than an inability to learn.
Standardized adaptive behavior measures contribute useful contextual information, but they do not replace observation of the exact routine. The Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scale, for example, supports the assessment of conceptual, social, and practical skills within its validated age range of 4 through 21 years. Its diagnostic purpose differs from recording the number of laundry steps completed with a picture checklist. A functional teaching plan uses both broader understanding and task-specific performance data without confusing them. AAIDD, Diagnostic Adaptive Behavior Scale.
Baseline assessment also considers language comprehension, AAC access, vision, hearing, mobility, pain, sensory processing, mental health, medication effects, fatigue, and prior instruction. A person may understand a task but have difficulty reaching tools, tolerating particular textures, or following rapidly delivered speech. The response may be to rearrange the environment or provide an alternative tool, not simply to repeat verbal instructions. Where physical or psychological health concerns emerge, appropriate clinical evaluation belongs alongside skill instruction.
A useful baseline specifies opportunities as well as performance. A person may appear unable to use a washing machine because others always do the laundry. A phone task may fail because the software has inaccessible navigation or the device lacks connectivity. Observe the activity using the actual equipment and make sure instructional expectations reflect reasonable access to opportunities. Record which barriers are environmental, instructional, communication-related, or physical.
Task analysis and the teaching of sequences
Task analysis decomposes an activity into actions that can be described, taught, observed, and reviewed. For washing hands, these may be approaching the sink, turning on water, wetting hands, applying soap, rubbing, rinsing, turning off the tap, and drying. For preparing a snack, the sequence may involve choosing ingredients, cleaning hands, gathering materials, assembling food, returning ingredients, and tidying the work area. A useful analysis describes what happens with the learner's real equipment and allows assistive tools that are part of the intended outcome. Liu and colleagues, systematic review.
Not every step deserves equal instructional weight. Safe food handling, controlled use of electrical appliances, correct identification of medication arrangements, and street crossing are more consequential than small variations in the order of nonessential actions. Tasks should therefore distinguish essential safety steps, steps that can vary, and components for which permanent assistance is appropriate. A rigid sequence may be revised when the learner finds a simpler, equally safe method.
Forward chaining teaches an initial step and then adds later ones, while a supporter helps complete the remaining sequence. Backward chaining allows the learner to master a final step first and work backward through the sequence. Total-task instruction practices the full activity, supplying support at whichever steps require it. The appropriate approach depends on existing skills, task length, fatigue, motivation, access to meaningful completion, and the importance of practicing the whole activity. A universal ranking of chaining methods across all learners and routines is unwarranted.
Prompting, feedback, and independence from the instructor
Prompts are assistance that makes a desired action more likely. A learner might use a gesture, picture sequence, object cue, demonstration, spoken reminder, timer, vibration, or short video segment. A physical prompt, when appropriate and consented to, may assist a motor action that cannot yet be completed. The selection of prompts should reflect sensory access, comprehension, preference, privacy, and safety rather than teacher convenience. Accessible communication is central to choosing cues that a person can understand and control. ASHA, Augmentative and Alternative Communication.
Prompt fading systematically reduces unnecessary instructional dependence. A supporter might begin by demonstrating an action, then point toward the necessary object, and later allow the ordinary environmental cue to guide the learner. Waiting briefly before prompting can permit an independent response. In some cases the best outcome is replacement of repeated caregiver directions with a stable visual checklist or phone reminder. Aids that a person chooses and uses independently may appropriately remain in place rather than being withdrawn merely to obtain an unaided performance score.
Feedback should be timely, understandable, and connected to the actual outcome. Preparing and enjoying a preferred snack often provides a more authentic consequence than abstract praise. When praise is used, it should reflect the learner's preferences and preserve an age-appropriate, respectful relationship. Records can distinguish accuracy, initiation, speed, the intrusiveness of assistance, signs of stress, and satisfaction. Teaching progress is broader than the number of correct steps. Liu et al., caregiver-implemented intervention review.
Prompt dependence occurs when performance becomes organized around a helper's reminders rather than cues embedded in the task. Instructors can avoid this by planning natural cues from the beginning, teaching a method of asking for assistance, varying the person who practices the activity, and periodically observing without unnecessary prompting. A change in prompt level should be decided from observations rather than a fixed schedule applied to everyone.
Video modeling and video prompting
Video modeling presents a demonstration of an activity for the learner to observe and imitate. Video prompting divides an activity into short clips that can be watched immediately before individual steps. A systematic review published in 2022 examined handheld-device video prompting and modeling for daily living skills among people with intellectual disability. It included 24 single-case research-design studies and 64 participants; 19 studies targeted domestic routines and five targeted community skills. Findings generally supported improved performance on taught tasks, while the authors noted that personal care such as dressing, grooming, and toileting was absent from the included studies. Stierle, Ryan, Katsiyannis, and Mims, 2022.
A 2019 systematic review of video modeling and video prompting for intellectual disability also found that daily living skills were frequently taught using these methods, sometimes combined with error correction and time delay. A 2024 review of people with severe disabilities reported positive visual trends for video prompting across selected skills, although most studies evaluated packages containing additional elements. These are promising findings about specific participants and task types. They do not establish that any device or filming format will be effective for every learner. Park, Bouck, and Duenas, 2019; 2024 video prompting review.
Video support should be created with the learner's actual utensils, location, and needs in mind where possible. Short, unambiguous clips may be easier to use than long recordings. A first-person view can make a motor action clear for one learner, whereas seeing a familiar model may be better for another. The learner should have meaningful control over playback, privacy, consent to recording, and whether a video is retained. Recorded material should not expose intimate care or unnecessary identifying information.
Some routines are better supported through photographs, tactile objects, spoken instructions, or an in-person demonstration. Technology access, battery life, motor control, screen visibility, and sensory tolerance matter. A successful app-based performance should also be tested when a different device, staff member, or environment is involved. Long-term usefulness is a separate outcome from immediate acquisition.
Selecting personally meaningful goals
Instruction begins with conversation and observation using the person's preferred communication mode. The learner may choose a preferred snack, an activity with friends, a way to contact relatives, or a personally important household contribution. A goal should specify the real activity, accepted aids, setting, level of assistance, and measurable outcome. For example: Using a picture sequence and adapted utensils, prepare a preferred cold snack and complete essential hygiene steps in four out of five ordinary opportunities. The target should be negotiated, revisable, and relevant to the person's life.
Choice making is an important instructional and ethical outcome. A systematic review and meta-analysis published in 2023 examined interventions promoting self-determination for people with severe or profound intellectual disability. The review included 76 articles and 631 participants, with substantial heterogeneity in interventions, populations, and research quality. It showed the range of methods used to encourage choice, engagement, and autonomy, while limiting confident generalization about one standard package. Kuld and colleagues, 2023.
Goals may need to be divided into immediate, intermediate, and longer-term accomplishments. An immediate objective might be choosing ingredients, an intermediate one preparing the snack with a checklist, and a longer-term one adjusting the routine in another kitchen. Such planning respects the learner's pace without assuming that the final step must be full unaided performance. Independent initiation and the ability to ask for help may be as valuable as remembering every action.
A complete instructional cycle
Step 1. Define the functional outcome
Name the activity and its reason for importance. Identify the materials, ordinary environment, safety conditions, and communication needed to do it. Ask the learner what kind of assistance is acceptable and which steps they want to control. Make sure the goal reflects an opportunity that will genuinely be available outside instruction.
Step 2. Record performance and supports
Observe several authentic opportunities when feasible. For each step, distinguish independent completion, completion with a visual or verbal cue, completion after modeling, physical assistance, and steps not attempted because equipment or context is inaccessible. Include signs of fatigue or distress and identify any health concerns requiring separate assessment. A percentage without information about prompt level and task difficulty can be misleading.
Step 3. Teach the sequence in meaningful practice
Use a task analysis, modeling, supported rehearsal, or video prompting as appropriate. Keep instruction manageable, communicate what comes next, and allow sufficient response time. Provide feedback connected to the task's purpose. Ensure that the learner can request a pause or stop. Everyday opportunities such as snack time, laundry, shopping, or leisure may be more useful than practice entirely separated from life, provided the setting is safe.
Step 4. Reduce instructional prompting and vary contexts
Transfer control toward natural cues, accessible checklists, alarms, object arrangements, or the learner's own plan. Introduce manageable variations: a different appliance, a second supporter, or another familiar location. Teach responses to predictable disruptions such as a missing item, changed appointment, or unavailable bus. Practice requesting help as part of competent performance. AAIDD individual supports statement.
Step 5. Measure transfer and maintenance
Observe performance after the active teaching phase and periodically thereafter. Ask whether the learner can initiate the routine, complete meaningful steps, use aids, communicate difficulty, and participate satisfactorily in the actual setting. A task retained only in the original teaching room has not demonstrated broad generalization. Revisit goals after transitions between residences, schools, work settings, assistive devices, or support staff.
Step 6. Revise the plan when outcomes change
When progress slows, reconsider comprehension, materials, preferred reinforcement, task complexity, physical access, practice opportunities, staff consistency, fatigue, anxiety, and health. Changing a prompt, reducing distractions, or selecting a more accessible device can be more useful than simply increasing practice repetitions. Measurement should inform adaptation rather than label the learner as a failure.
Real-world teaching examples
Preparing a preferred meal
Suppose an adolescent wants to assemble a sandwich. Instruction may include washing hands, choosing ingredients, gathering adapted utensils, opening containers, assembling the food, storing ingredients, and cleaning the work surface. A picture sequence can show each step. The adolescent may complete assembly while receiving assistance with packaging or sharp utensils. The outcome is meaningful participation in preparing a chosen meal. Later probes may use different ingredients or another kitchen.
Hot surfaces, food allergies, choking hazards, and sharp tools require specific risk assessment. A cold-food routine may be the appropriate initial activity. Teaching success on that activity is not evidence of competence with a stove. Progression should depend on direct evidence about safety and the person's physical and cognitive access, alongside qualified advice when relevant.
Dressing, hygiene, and personal care
A person learning a dressing routine may use clothing organized in sequence, adapted fasteners, a mirror, or a visual plan. Motor coordination, sensory tolerances, modesty, and clothing preferences should be considered. For brushing teeth, an electric toothbrush or another texture may improve access. Intimate routines require attention to privacy, consent, bodily autonomy, and trusted support. Distress or refusal should invite communication and reassessment, rather than coercion.
The 2022 ID-focused review of handheld video instruction did not include studies targeting personal care such as dressing or toileting; evidence about success in laundry and cooking cannot automatically be treated as evidence for these intimate tasks. Individualization may involve occupational therapy, healthcare assessment, accessible communication, and environmental changes. A respectful, reliable support routine may be the best available outcome. Stierle and colleagues, 2022.
Grocery shopping and using money
Shopping can be taught through a photograph list, a familiar route, recognition of an item, asking for help, paying, and returning home. Adaptive supports might include a controlled payment card, a simplified budget, a phone reminder, or an accompanying person. The learner should practice what happens when an item is missing or a checkout process changes. Privacy around financial credentials and the ability to decline an interaction belong in the plan. A classroom simulation is a preparatory step, not proof of competence in every community setting.
Transportation and community mobility
Travel instruction may address identifying a destination, using an accessible timetable, waiting safely, boarding the right vehicle, communicating with staff, and responding to a change of route. Some people benefit from a travel trainer and gradual reduction in prompts. Others will continue to use accompaniment, location-sharing arrangements, or transport services. Safety cannot be inferred from the number of successful repetitions on one familiar route. Transfer probes must reflect the actual traffic, communication, sensory, and navigation demands involved.
Schedules, healthcare participation, and technology
A phone alarm can cue a morning routine, an appointment reminder, or preparation for work. The learner may practice reading or listening to the alert, selecting the next action, and communicating a change in plans. Healthcare participation can include keeping an accessible list of concerns, using an AAC phrase to ask a question, and identifying trusted people to contact. Decisions about medication doses and medical treatment remain within appropriate professional care; a routine teaching exercise does not confer clinical authority.
Digital skills also include protecting passwords, responding to messages, recognizing requests for private information, and using video calls to sustain relationships. A person can be supported to make genuine choices about technology while learning safeguards for online exploitation. Instruction should avoid blanket exclusion from digital activities as well as unrealistic assumptions about unsupervised safety.
Communication and accessible instruction
Communication access is a prerequisite for genuine instructional participation. AAC can include signs, gestures, picture boards, objects, and speech-generating devices. It allows a person to choose an activity, ask for help, indicate a problem, negotiate when to stop, and communicate satisfaction. The system should match the individual's motor and sensory access, comprehension, language, and personal preferences. Staff must know how to use it consistently during ordinary activities. ASHA AAC practice portal.
A learner who can communicate “help,” “different,” “later,” or “stop” has more control over teaching and daily routines. Such messages must lead to an appropriate response. Persistent difficulty during an activity may reflect unclear instruction or an unmet need. For a broader examination of language, comprehension, and support, see Communication Difficulties in Intellectual Disability: Language, Understanding, and Support.
Family and direct-support professional involvement
Families, educators, and support workers often create the practice opportunities required for daily living skills. A 2025 systematic review of caregiver-implemented interventions identified 38 articles; 20 articles containing 21 experiments were rated high quality under applicable What Works Clearinghouse single-case design standards. Among those high-quality experiments, 86% reported improved daily living skills. This is a finding about the selected studies and their experimental outcomes, not a promise that 86% of all people or programs will succeed. Liu and colleagues, 2025.
Common caregiver training procedures included instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. Prompting, task analysis, and reinforcement were frequently used. For consistency, supporters can agree on the same step sequence, how long to wait before helping, what assistance is acceptable, and how outcomes will be recorded. Too many competing instructions can undermine learning. Instructors should also consider the practical burden on families and paid staff. A technically effective procedure that cannot be implemented sustainably is unlikely to improve everyday life.
The learner's own authority should remain central. Adults may prefer a support worker or peer rather than a relative for private matters, finance, intimate care, or social activities. The individual's consent and wishes should inform who participates in instruction and what information is shared. A support relationship can change as the person's life, interests, and available opportunities change. AAIDD and The Arc, Individual Supports.
Generalization, maintenance, and support needs
Generalization is the use of an acquired skill with new materials, people, locations, or demands. Maintenance is retention after active instruction has been reduced. Both require deliberate assessment. Someone may learn to wash dishes in one kitchen but struggle with unfamiliar faucets or storage systems. Another learner may recognize grocery items on a classroom worksheet yet find a crowded store overwhelming. Teaching therefore includes planning for varied real environments rather than presuming automatic transfer.
A maintenance plan can retain a chosen picture schedule, assistive technology, or trusted human assistance. The essential distinction is whether the person can access a valued activity reliably and exercise the degree of choice they seek. Physical independence, instructional independence, and decisional autonomy are different aspects of functioning. A person can direct a supporter in a complex task while needing extensive assistance with its physical completion. Kuld and colleagues, self-determination review.
The quality of the environment matters. Accessible transport, supported employment, adapted kitchens, reliable public services, and competent assistance can substantially alter the outcome of a skill program. People should not be required to master every component unaided before accessing ordinary community activities. Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes the right to live in the community and access necessary support services. United Nations, Article 19.
Teaching across developmental stages
For children, goals often emerge from play, family routines, communication development, and school participation. Teaching may involve dressing, organizing materials, using a picture schedule, and joining meals. The child's developmental level, sensory profile, motor needs, and language access should be assessed rather than attributing every difficulty to intellectual disability. Comprehensive interdisciplinary developmental intervention is addressed separately in Early Intervention for Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
For adolescents, functional teaching can contribute to transition planning: preparing a simple meal, managing personal time, understanding privacy, using community services, and participating in work exploration. Instruction should include direct opportunities in adult environments whenever feasible. Goals should reflect the young person's own anticipated activities rather than remain tied to a childhood curriculum.
For adults, instruction may address employment routines, changing a residence, community mobility, technology, health participation, and social relationships. Learning can continue throughout adulthood, although the pace and supports vary. For people with extensive intellectual and multiple disabilities, communication, choice making, environmental control, and personally meaningful participation remain valuable outcomes. A 2023 systematic review of self-determination interventions included people with severe or profound intellectual disability and highlighted the diversity of possible supports as well as limitations in comparable evidence. Kuld and colleagues, 2023.
Aging, health changes, medication effects, sensory losses, and alterations in support staffing can change performance of established skills. When a skill becomes harder, assess these factors and the changing environment before assuming irreversible loss of ability. Adaptation and ongoing support remain part of lifelong functional participation.
Safety, distress, and ethical limits
Some tasks involve greater risk than others. Cooking with heat, crossing streets, managing money, online interaction, medication routines, and intimate personal care require proportionate safeguards. A safety plan identifies the actual hazard, supplies accessible information, sets reasonable supervision and assistive arrangements, and specifies how the person can request help. Successful practice under supervision should not be generalized to high-risk unsupervised conditions without direct assessment.
Refusal, agitation, or withdrawal during teaching can reflect pain, anxiety, sensory overload, fatigue, unclear instructions, trauma, or a goal the person does not value. Challenging behavior is not itself an explanation. NICE guidance recommends attention to physical and mental health, communication, environmental circumstances, the function of behavior, individual preferences, and quality of life. If new or serious distress appears, the response is to secure safety and evaluate underlying needs, including clinical assessment where indicated. NICE NG11 recommendations.
Prompting that involves physical contact raises special concerns about consent, comfort, and power. The person should be able to express assent, refusal, or a wish to change the activity. Accessible demonstrations and environmental modifications may often reduce the need for hands-on prompting. Protecting privacy and bodily autonomy is especially important in hygiene, dressing, and other intimate routines. An instructional plan should not turn compliance into a substitute for choice.
Outcomes and scientific evidence
The strongest immediate indicators of functional teaching are observable gains in selected tasks under defined conditions. These may include more steps completed, fewer intrusive prompts, increased initiation, faster performance, more appropriate requests for help, and reduced frustration. Broader outcomes include greater participation, preference fulfillment, opportunities for relationships, and improved quality of life. The same program can increase task completion without increasing autonomous choice, making multidimensional evaluation essential. AAIDD and The Arc, Individual Supports.
Established evidence supports the importance of learned conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills and the use of explicit individualized support planning. Systematic reviews of task analysis, prompting, caregiver instruction, and video methods provide positive evidence for particular taught daily living skills. However, the intervention literature frequently relies on small single-case studies, with heterogeneous participants and combined treatment components. Such designs can provide strong evidence of within-person change when properly conducted, but they do not automatically establish a general population-level success rate. Liu et al., 2025; Stierle et al., 2022.
Evidence is more limited for long-term maintenance, generalization to unfamiliar environments, personal-care tasks, the best instructional dosage, comparisons among chaining methods, and the effects of specific technologies when separated from broader packages. Many studies measure short-term steps rather than community participation, choice, or satisfaction. Consequently, evidence-informed teaching should combine scientifically supported procedures with direct measurement of whether the chosen outcome improves the person's life. Park et al., 2019; 2024 review.
Debates about independence are partly conceptual. Treating the absence of help as the sole outcome can misclassify self-chosen assistive technology or personal assistance as failure, even though such supports expand agency and participation. Self-determination involves choice, involvement, control, and meaningful relationships. Research into these outcomes remains heterogeneous, especially for people with severe or profound intellectual disability. Kuld et al., 2023.
Frequently asked questions
Can adults with intellectual disability learn new daily living skills?
Yes. Adult learning remains possible when activities are meaningful, instruction is accessible, and practice occurs in relevant environments. The speed of acquisition and level of ongoing assistance vary across people and tasks. Adults may also develop ways to direct others, use chosen assistive technology, or reorganize activities to suit their preferences. AAIDD and The Arc supports.
Is task analysis the same as functional behavior assessment?
Task analysis describes the actions involved in performing a skill. Functional behavior assessment investigates environmental conditions and consequences associated with behavior that causes concern. Both can inform support, but they answer different questions. A separate discussion appears in Functional Behavior Assessment in Intellectual Disability: Methods and Examples.
Must a person complete every step without assistance?
No. Assistance and technology can be enduring parts of a successful support arrangement. The relevant outcome is reliable access to a valued activity, meaningful direction over how it is done, and an appropriate degree of safety and participation. Independence can refer to initiating decisions and using chosen aids as well as direct physical performance. AAIDD individual supports.
How often should functional skills be practiced?
Practice should be frequent enough to provide meaningful learning opportunities and to show stable performance, while respecting fatigue, motivation, health, support capacity, and the task's natural occurrence. No single number of sessions fits every person. Continued observation after the teaching phase is essential for evaluating maintenance and transfer. Liu and colleagues, 2025.
Can video prompting replace all human instruction?
Video prompting is a useful tool for selected routines, but choosing goals, adapting materials, evaluating safety, supporting communication, and monitoring transfer generally require competent human involvement. The published evidence does not justify claiming that one device or procedure replaces support for every learner and task. Stierle et al., 2022.
How does functional instruction relate to specific learning disorders or autism?
Functional skills teaching addresses everyday performance for a person with intellectual disability and their individual support needs. Academic-specific disorders and autism have distinct clinical questions and broader scientific literatures. In adults with co-occurring autism and intellectual disability, communication and support needs should be considered without treating the diagnoses as interchangeable. See Autism and Intellectual Disability in Adults: Differences and Support.
Scientific synthesis and practical implications
Functional life skills instruction is a continuous process of selecting meaningful goals, observing existing performance, teaching accessible task sequences, arranging necessary supports, and testing whether the person can use learned skills in their actual life. Task analysis, appropriately faded prompts, modeling, and video instruction can improve the performance of selected activities. The resulting changes should be judged by maintenance, generalization, communication, safety, personal satisfaction, and opportunity. A functional learning program succeeds when it expands the person's ability to participate and exercise practical control in a life that they value. AAIDD supports statement; UN Convention Article 19.
Related Articles
Communication Difficulties in Intellectual Disability: Language, Understanding, and Support — Communication access, comprehension, and the supports that make instruction usable.
Early Intervention for Children With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities — Developmentally appropriate interdisciplinary supports in childhood.
Functional Behavior Assessment in Intellectual Disability: Methods and Examples — Investigation of behavioral functions when distress affects participation.
Autism and Intellectual Disability in Adults: Differences and Support — Adult autism and intellectual disability as distinct but potentially co-occurring diagnoses.
Special Education Supports for Students With Intellectual Disability — ID-specific learning programs and school supports.
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