Ravi is a fourteen-year-old boy from Nashik. Last month the school psychologist gave him an intelligence test, and his IQ score came to 62. His parents recall that from about the age of four he was much slower than his cousins in picking up words and daily habits. Even now his mother has to button his shirt and help him bathe. At the local shop he cannot work out the change from a fifty-rupee note, and he gets lost if he walks to the bus stop without his elder sister. His teachers are now planning special training for him.
Ravi's need for help in dressing, counting change and finding his way to the bus stop points to a deficit in which of the following?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Adaptive behaviour
Option (1) Adaptive behaviour — Correct. Adaptive behaviour is a person's capacity to be independent and deal effectively with the environment. Dressing, handling money and travelling to the bus stop are such everyday tasks, so Ravi's need for help with them is a deficit in adaptive behaviour.
Option (2) General intellectual functioning — Incorrect. General intellectual functioning is judged by the IQ score, and an IQ below 70 is sub-average. Ravi's IQ of 62 shows this feature, but his trouble with daily tasks is the separate, second feature of the definition.
Option (3) Emotional intelligence — Incorrect. Emotional intelligence is the skill of noticing, expressing and regulating one's own and others' emotions. The passage describes practical self-care and money tasks.
Option (4) Specific aptitude — Incorrect. An aptitude is a person's potential to learn skill in one specific field, such as music or mechanics, after training. Ravi's difficulty covers basic self-care across daily life.
Note: An IQ below 70 alone does not make intellectual disability; deficits in adaptive behaviour must also be seen, between 0 and 18 years.
NCERT (2026-27): “Intellectual Deficiency |