Activities of daily living in persons with intellectual disability: Strengths and limitations in specific motor and process skills

Abstract

As there is a wide range of abilities among clients with intellectual disability, occupational therapists should use assessments of activities of daily living that specify clients’ strengths and limitations to guide and target interventions. The aim of the present study was to examine if activities of daily living performance skills differ between adults with mild and moderate intellectual disability. Three hundred and forty‐eight participants with either mild intellectual disability (n = 178) or moderate intellectual disability (n = 170) were assessed using the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills to examine the quality of their activities of daily living skills. The overall activities of daily living motor and activities of daily living process hierarchies of skill item difficulties remained stable between groups. Although participants with moderate intellectual disability had more difficulty overall with activities of daily living motor and activities of daily living process skills, they were able to carry out some of these activities equally as well as participants with mild intellectual disability. The findings are discussed in relation to the planning of specific interventions to improve the ability of clients with intellectual disability to carry out activities of daily living.