being able to sit quietly without demanding attention for only a short time (e.g., 1 minute) to being able to do so for longer time periods (e.g., more than 5 minutes). Children also progress from being able to move only a few feet away from a parent when in a new situation, to wanting to work independently and asking for help only when needed.
Attachment theory as well as synactive theory of develop- ment are well-known theories of early development. They contribute to our understanding of adaptive skill development during the early childhood years. Each of these theories is described in the following paragraphs.
Attachment Theory
In the context of attachment theory, the word ‘‘attachment’’
describes the natural tendency for a child to bond with care- givers or a few special adults (Bowlby, 1958; Grossman &
Grossman, 2005). ‘‘Attachments are the natural pre-requisite for becoming emotionally and socially acculturated’’ (Grossman &
Grossman, 2005: 10). Thus, attachment theory underscores the paramount importance of social acculturation for survival and adaptation. Social acculturation utilizes social adaptive skills.
For example, social acculturation requires an individual first to be able to interact socially with others and later to be responsive to the needs of others – again, a hallmark of adaptive skills.
Each of these is a quintessential component of social adaptive behavior development.
Additional adaptive functions also are served by the instinct to form an attachment with one’s caregiver. The formation of attachment, when examined from an evolutionary perspective, highlights its role as essential to help ensure newborns have access to emotional, social, and physical resources needed for survival. Therefore, the skills required to form attachments should be considered among the most important early adaptive skills infants must possess. Forming and maintaining secure attachments helps children obtain necessary survival resources and thus foster both their mental and physical health (Grossman & Grossman, 2005).
Therapists, clinicians, developmentalists, pediatricians, psychologists, and other professionals often focus on the
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importance of directly observable abilities and behaviors of an infant, toddler, or preschooler when assessing adaptive skills.
Using attachment theory as a framework, the following three questions may be addressed during the observable assessment of adaptive behaviors in young children:
1. How successful are young children at establishing attachment(s) to caregiver(s)?
2. How successful are young children at maintaining attachment(s)?
3. What primary role does a young child play in the formation of attachments?
In other words, what does the child do to foster the forma- tion and maintenance of the attachment?
Most children begin life with several instinctual drives that assist in the initiation, development, and maintenance of attachment(s). For example, normal healthy newborns are able to suck, cling, cry, and smile. The expression of each of these behaviors helps in the formation and maintenance of attach- ment (Bowlby, 1958). For example, infants may become calm when in their mothers’ arms, or may cry when their mother leaves the room. Likewise, infants smile when approached by important caregivers, thus helping promote a secure attach- ment with them – again, qualities essential to an infant’s survival (Bowlby, 1958). The Adaptive Behavior Scale of the Bayley-III asks parents to rate how often their infant or toddler displays a special closeness or relationship to a parent, and runs to greet special family members and friends, and how their child responds differently to familiar and unfamiliar people.
Each of these items assesses the young child’s adaptive behaviors related to critical aspects of attachment with special adults in the child’s life.
Synactive Theory of Development
The synactive theory of development, like attachment theory, assumes that instinctive abilities must be present at birth for early adaptive functioning to flourish. However, whereas attachment theory focuses primarily on an infant’s social pattern, the synactive theory of development focuses
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primarily on infants’ developmental capacity to respond to their environment (Als, 1982). Thus, an infant’s primary responsibility is to adapt to life outside the womb and to develop neurobehavioral competence. Specifically, the newborn is charged with gaining control over his or her physiological system, including breathing, heart rate, and temperature control. Next, the newborn must establish orga- nization and differentiation of his or her motor system.
Newborns learn to affect the range, smoothness, and complexity of their movements (Brazleton, 2000; Robertson, Bacher, & Huntington, 2001). Newborns also attain organiza- tion and later control of their states of consciousness, including deep sleep, light sleep, indeterminate drowsy, wide-awake alert, fussy alert, and crying. Infants achieve control over the transitions between states of consciousness as they develop their adaptive skills.
Within the synactive theory of development, an infants’
neurobehavioral competencies and organization (e.g., sleep–
wake cycles, crying, attention, self-regulation) are understood through the following five subsystems that guide an infant’s interaction with his or her environment: the autonomic system, the motor system, the state-organizational system, the attention and interaction system, and a self-regulatory balancing system that integrates and organizes the other subsystems. According to this theory, these subsystems interact with one another during each stage of development. The purpose of the self- regulatory subsystem is to synthesize the actions of the other four subsystems.
Autonomic System
The autonomic system includes the regulation of bodily functions. The adaptive behaviors related to the autonomic system (e.g., cardiopulmonary activity, bowel movements, blood flow, etc.) are assessed typically by pediatric specialists, and are not addressed in the Adaptive Behavior Scale of the Bayley-III. The autonomic system is the most basic of the systems described by the synactive theory. Infants who fail to attain control of it tend to remain dependent on medical equipment (e.g., respirators). Therefore, assessment of the autonomic system is specialized, and is addressed by measures
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such as the APGAR at birth and the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (Brazelton, 1973). The reader is directed to Chapter 7 of this book for more information on the autonomic system as described by the synactive theory of development (see alsoAls, 1982, and Brazleton, 1990a).
Motor System
The motor system includes posture, movement abilities, and muscle tone (Als, 1982). Items on the Adaptive Behavior Scale of the Bayley-III that are related to this subsystem assess an infant’s movement and posture abilities. For example, items progress from an infant’s ability to follow a moving object by moving his or her head, to lifting the head to look around, and rolling over, through the ability to manipulate materials such as shaking toys, reaching for objects, and ultimately using objects as tools.
Similarly, infants’ gross motor skills progress from gaining basic trunk and head control, moving to and maintaining a sitting position, standing with and without support, and progressing through a series of complex gross motor activities required to accomplish other functional tasks (e.g., squatting to lift a desired object, balancing and then hopping on one foot, running, and skipping). The synactive theory underscores the importance of assessing motor abilities when examining the adaptive behavior of young children, as these motor abilities enable young children to achieve other important functional and social tasks. One strength of the Adaptive Behavior Scale of the Bayley-III is its attention to the assessment of the adaptive behaviors supported by the motor system.
State-organizational System
The synactive theory of development describes the state- organizational system as one that addresses the ability to cycle between quiet sleep, active sleep, active–quiet transitional sleep, sleep–wake transition, and wakefulness – including crying. One of an infant’s the most important tasks is ‘‘learning to control alert states and maintain habituated states in sleep’’
(Brazleton, 1990a: 1662). A primary role of an infant’s caretaker (s) is to help the infant obtain and maintain the skills necessary to adapt to sleep schedules that meet both the infant’s and the
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family’s needs (Brazleton, 1990a, 2000). Therefore, estimating the state control and effective sleep states of the newborn is an essential goal of an assessment of the neonate (Thoman &
McDowell, 1989; Brazleton, 1990a, 2000). Accordingly, the Adaptive Behavior Scale of the Bayley-III asks caregivers how often infants and toddlers sleep through most of the night.
Although the Adaptive Behavior Scale of the Bayley-III does attend to the state-organizational system, it is important to note that detailed information regarding a young child’s progression through various stages is not obtained through the use of this scale.
Attention and Interaction System
An infant’s ability to attain and maintain an alert and attentive state is addressed by the attention and interaction system, as described by the synactive theory of development.
Specifically, differentiation, or the shifting and internal organ- ization to the attentional-interactive system, is a primary developmental task of neonates. Newborns must rely on the assistance of primary caregivers when working toward this adaptive skill, again highlighting the importance of attachment in acquiring adaptive skills (Als, 1982; Als, Butler, Kosta, &
McAnulty, 2005). The attentional-interactive system also addresses the adaptive functions of crying. Shortly after birth, the adaptive purposes of cries often are apparent – for example, infants commonly cry when hungry or uncomfortable. These cries inform the infant’s primary caretaker that the infant is in need of something (Brazleton, 1990b). The presence of crying to communicate physiological needs is an adaptive skill. There- fore, the Adaptive Behavior Scale of the Bayley-III asks care- givers if infants are able to raise and lower voices to express different feelings and to cry to communicate. Again, although the Adaptive Behavior Scale of the Bayley-III adequately addresses this system, detailed information regarding this system is not rendered only through the use of this tool.
Self-regulatory System
The self-regulatory system is synonymous to a conductor of a symphony. Each of the systems described thus far is easily
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able to be described independently. However, it is the process of each of the four systems described previously (i.e., auto- nomic, motor, state-organizational, and attention and inter- action systems) interacting with one another, as well as with the infant’s environment, that the synactive theory of devel- opment eloquently describes. The job of the fifth system, the self-regulatory system, is to ensure that the previous four systems are interacting with one another (Als, 1982; Alset al., 2005). Self-regulation is described further in Chapter 5 of this book.