Adaptive behavior and intellectual disability: 50 years of history and early development in education in Chile

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to describe the genesis of the construct adaptive behavior, its relation with the idea of intellectual disability and to remark the importance of the adaptive behavior as criteria for the diagnosis of intellectual disability. Also will be characterized the adaptive behavior construct in what concerns to legal aspects, as well as its use for the diagnosis in the technical orientations and the unique forms proposed by the Ministry of Education in Chile. Finally, we present a discussion about the strengths and shortcomings of the incipient development of the use of adaptive behavior construct, with respect to their use in people with intellectual disabilities specifically in educational settings.