Adaptive functioning refers to the skills required to cope with daily demands, such as communication, social skills, and independent living. Accurate assessment of this functioning is essential for diagnosing intellectual disability and borderline intellectual functioning, and especially for evaluating the support needs people may have. It is known that psychiatric comorbidities can affect adaptive functioning, so it is important to understand the connections between them.

What was examined in the study?

The study aimed to investigate the relationships between adaptive functioning and psychiatric comorbidities in individuals with intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning. The researchers used an assessment tool called ADAPT to measure adaptive functioning. They compared the ADAPT scores of people with psychiatric comorbidities to those of people without comorbidities.

What are the key findings?

The findings showed that among individuals with intellectual disability:

  • Autism was associated with a lower ADAPT score, indicating that autistic people with intellectual disability may face greater challenges in adaptive functioning.
  • In contrast, depressive mood disorder was found to be associated with a higher ADAPT score, meaning better adaptive functioning.
  • Overall, a negative correlation was found between the number of psychiatric comorbidities and the average total ADAPT score. This means that the more psychiatric comorbidities there were, the more challenging the overall adaptive functioning was.

What is the significance for autistic adults?

For autistic adults in Israel, especially those also diagnosed with intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning, these research findings emphasize the importance of a holistic and comprehensive view. A full understanding of an individual's complete psychiatric diagnoses is crucial for an accurate assessment of their adaptive functioning. When a person has multiple comorbidities, this may indicate more complex support needs in daily life. Recognizing these connections can help therapists and professionals better tailor the required support and prevent misclassification of the level of intellectual disability or borderline functioning.

These findings were published in a study in the J Appl Res Intellect Disabil, 2026 Jul. It is important to remember that this is one study indicating statistical correlations, and does not necessarily establish causality. Additionally, the study focused primarily on people with intellectual disability or borderline intellectual functioning, so generalizing the findings to the entire autistic population requires caution.