Adaptive Behavior in Williams-Beuren Syndrome, Down Syndrome, and Autism Spectrum Disorder

Adaptive behavior (AB) is defined as the skills acquired in response to everyday life demands. AB profiles of genetic syndromes have been proposed, but the literature on them has not been conclusive, mainly due to the large number of these syndromes and marked within-profile variability. The aim of the present study was to analyze the different ABs observed in subjects with Williams-Beuren Syndrome (WBS), Down Syndrome (DS) and Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) through a literature review using the PubMed and Scopus database. The results indicated that Socialization strongly affects WBS; however, this group demonstrated the greatest amount of difficulty in the domain of daily living. The DS group demonstrated better performance in Socialization and Daily Living compared to Communication. The ASD group displayed better performance in Daily Living and Communication and the worst performance in socialization. Although the reviewed studies appear to demonstrate controversial results related to how ABs occur in each group, the main skills and shortages remained similar to each corresponding diagnostic behavioral characteristic. We conclude that it is possible to build AB profiles in the analyzed diagnostic groups, and we believe that these profiles may facilitate the construction of intervention plans.