Is Adaptive Behaviour too Normal to be Normally Distributed?
Purpose: This study attempts to ascertain if adaptive behaviour complies with the characteristics of a normal distribution.
Methods: Adaptive behaviour data collected from two large state samples of 2900 were reviewed to determine the shape of their distributions. A smaller convenience sample of 37 adults without intellectual disability was similarly reviewed.
Results: Findings suggest that the shape of the distribution of adaptive behaviour increasingly deviates from normal as cognitive abilities increase.
Conclusions/Implications: It does not appear that adaptive behaviour is normally distributed. This will impact the diagnosis of intellectual disability because while IQ scores two standard deviations below the mean reliably cut off about 2% of the population, a similar cut-off cannot be assumed for adaptive behaviour.
Keywords
Adaptive behavior
normal distribution
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How to Cite
Scott Spreat (2017-11-27). Is Adaptive Behaviour too Normal to be Normally Distributed?. Disability, CBR & Inclusive Development, Vol. 28 No. 3 (2017): Autumn 2017, 71-79. https://doi.org/10.5463/dcid.v28i3.652
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Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License By-NC-ND 4.0 that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access ).
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