Adaptive functioning

Adaptive functioning is the ability to do things that are necessary for everyday living, like taking care of ourselves, communicating with others, and doing household chores. It's like a big game of "grown-up skills" that we all play every day.

Think of it like a video game. In the game of life, you have to do certain things to get through each level. For example, in the very first level, you have to be able to feed and dress yourself. Once you master this level, you move on to the next one, where you have to learn to communicate with others, like your family and friends.

Just like in a video game, each level gets harder and harder, and you have to learn more skills to keep moving forward. Eventually, you get to the final level where you have to be able to live independently and take care of yourself without any help from others.

Adaptive functioning is like how good you are at playing this game of life. Some people are really good at it and can easily move through all the levels, while other people might need some help or take a little bit longer to learn each skill.

But no matter how good you are at the game, everyone gets better with practice and can keep moving forward to new levels.