What ARE IADLs?

What are instrumental activities of daily living?

IADL stands for Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). IADLs are things you do every day to take care of yourself and your home. Things like like making a meal or going to a birthday party.

While activities of daily living (ADLs) are basic self-care tasks like bathing, IADLs require more complex planning and thinking.

We often associate IADLs with elderly people becoming more dependent on others for help but these same tasks which or core to our independence are often discussed when assessing the skills of someone on the autism spectrum or with an intellectual disability along with skills needed for regular ADLs.