1) Intro about yourself: Experience, interest in the field, area of research
Hi I am Dr Chen Mo. My career has largely evolved around individuals with disabilities and their families. I graduated from Beijing Normal University in special education, focusing on psychological assessment. I found myself still not quite knowing how to systematically and effectively teach learners with developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorders or intellectual disabilities. Hence, For my doctoral studies, at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities with the special education program in the Department of Educational Psychology, is behaviorally focused. Those years provided me many opportunities to work with learners across different age groups with developmental disabilities and their families who are from different cultural backgrounds. I am very grateful for those research, internship, and particularly two-year intensive hands-on work by providing in-home applied behaviour analysis services for young children with autism. These experiences enabled me to feel more confident about how to effectively work with learners with developmental disabilities. As a Doctoral-level Board Certified Behavior Analysist (BCBA-D), I always think being caring and patient is important in working with learners with developmental disabilities, but it is not sufficient. Professionally working with them entails more than having a kind heart.
Upon receiving of my doctoral degree, I applied for jobs in Singapore (possibly hoping to escape from the winter in Minnesota… just joking). As a research scientist in NIE, my research area focuses on the assessment and intervention for learners with developmental disabilities and/or communication impairments. I am also interested in how to well utilize technology to advance the assessment and intervention for this group of learners, such as the use of computerized adaptive test, and the implementation of augmentative and alternative communication intervention for learners with limited or no verbal repertories. I am also hoping to explore the interplay between communication skills and challenging behaviours among this group of learners who may exhibit both communication impairment and certain severe challenging behaviours.
2) What are adaptive skills and why are they important? Can you give us some examples of adaptive skills?
Adaptive skills reflect the degree to which a learner meets the requirements for personal independence and social responsibilities; the extent to which one can perform such socially appropriate behaviors. Adaptive skills are usually considered as qualitatively distinguished from intelligence. While intelligence or IQ allows a person to perform a given behaviour, adaptive skills means that the person can independently perform that behaviour when life demands it (What a person can do vs. What a person does do). For example, let’s say even if a 7-year-old child knows how to brush his/her teeth, but he/she does not do it, or rarely do it independently. That means the child does not seem to have this particular adaptive skill, which would probably compromise the child’s potential of growing into a more independent and socially responsible person.
The importance of adaptive skills was initially underscored during 1960s when researchers realised that in addition to IQ there were other skills that are also needed to function independently in society.
Given the connotation of personal independence and social responsibility in the construct of adaptive skills, a variety of skills fall into this category of skills, including those we usually pick up relatively easily and may not often consciously realize how important it is for us, such as washing hands (this in current situation definitely becomes quite relevant).
Adaptive skills can range from self-care and personal hygiene, to communicating effectively and engaging with others appropriately in different settings, to community or work skills (e.g., adhering to rules and regulations), social skills (e.g., recognises and responds appropriately to cues in conversation), leisure skills and functional academics are all part of adaptive skills.
3) What are the main groups of adaptive skills that we can think about?
According to the American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities (AAIDD), adaptive behavior is defined as “the collection of conceptual, social, and practical skills that have been learned and are performed by people in their everyday lives.” As a starting point, consider your child's strengths and areas of need in the areas of conceptual, social and practical adaptive skills. Some examples of the skills under each area are presented as follows.
- Conceptual skills—language and literacy; money, time, and number concepts; and self-direction.
- Social skills—interpersonal skills, social responsibility, self-esteem, gullibility, wariness, social problem solving, and the ability to follow rules/obey laws and to avoid being victimized.
- Practical skills—activities of daily living (personal care), occupational skills, healthcare, travel/transportation, schedules/routines, safety, use of money, use of the telephone.
To elaborate, conceptual skills refers to common knowledge and general knowledge a child should possess according to their age group. For instance, conceptually children aged 6 to 12 years in Singapore are usually expected to have a basic knowledge of Singapore, such as the major festivals and the various ethnicities living in Singapore. Socially they are usually expected to have basic manners and basic understanding of social cues. Practically primary age children are usually expected to independently carry out many self-care activities such as grooming, toileting and personal hygiene, and possibly knowing to sense and identify a part of the body that is feeling uncomfortable as well as being aware of own’s personal appearance and cleanliness.
4) How then can parents help their child grow their adaptive skills?
In consideration of their child’s age, an estimation on his/her level of performance can be done based on these three domains. If a parent finds that his/her child is lacking in certain skills that other children of the same age group are able to perform well, the parent can prioritize this particular skill, and consciously provide more opportunities to help the child improve on this skill until the child’s master that skills.
For instance, if a child is unable to maintain the tidiness and cleanliness of his/her own room, parents can help the child to start with some ‘baby steps’, such as modeling and then guiding the child to arrange his/her items and place the items in appropriate places. Gradually, parents can teach their child to vacuum clean and mop the floor. Parents can also set up weekly schedules for their child to adhere and complete, so that they will be more independent in the future when it comes to maintaining cleanliness.
5) How are adaptive skills relevant to daily living?
Daily living can be considered as belonging to the practical domain of adaptive skills. More specifically, daily living skills refer to the skills typically needed to manage basic life needs, such as grooming/personal hygiene, dressing, toileting/continence, transferring/ambulating, and eating. These are fundamental skills that an individual need to be equipped with in order to manage basic physical needs and maintain an adequate level of health and safety. The practical domain of adaptive skills including daily living skills is closely related with a person’s quality of life.
The importance of the daily living skills may actually become more prominent than before due to the covid-19 situation. For instance, frequently washing hands, coughing and sneezing while covering the mouth, and maintaining certain social distancing from each other suddenly become a part of our life. Health goes first. Thus daily living skills are actually quite rudimentary for all of us to lead a life of dignity and happiness.
6) Any advice to give children who are coping with their differences in school?
Cognitively, I may encourage children to think more objectively and positively toward differences. No one in this world are the same. We are all different from each other but we could always find some commonalities or similarities. For example, I may be slow in picking up new knowledge compared to my peers. But I would tell myself “It is okay. As long as I don’t give up, I will master it.” Gradually, I would even start to realize persistence is possibly my forte.
Being objective and positive in way of thinking when considering differences is important also due to the scenario that negative thinking (e.g., “why am I so different from others?” “why am I so slow?”) could produce negative feelings and emotions, which would then further impact how we react to the situations.
With objective and positive way of thinking toward differences, we could have better emotional energy to react, respond, and behave. Behaviourally, I may recommend children pick their own battle and make a good choice. If you are more of a quiet and introvert child, it is totally okay. You don’t need to behave like an extrovert child, even though you may still need to pick up basic social skills. Embracing and respecting differences can be reflected in many different ways and it does not mean we have to change who we are. Try to learn to make a good choice among different options, and try to explore solutions on how to convert the differences into actions that is beneficial for oneself and possible for others.
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