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Study Guide

Field 114: Learning Disabilities
Sample Multiple-Choice Questions

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Subarea 1—UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Objective 001—Understand the educational foundations and principles in the field of learning disabilities.

1. Which of the following best illustrates a teacher's support of students' use of metacognitive strategies?

  1. offering students feedback on their work using multiple formats
  2. arranging for students to apply their learning in real-life opportunities
  3. providing students with guided and independent practice of their learning
  4. facilitating students in planning and monitoring their own learning
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

2. Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

A teacher of students with learning disabilities is working with a fifth-grade student with a specific learning disability in the area of math reasoning after a whole-class math lesson. The teacher uses the following strategies when working with the student.

  • repeating instruction for the student using simplified math problems
  • conducting a "think aloud" of the problem being solved
  • modeling steps used to solve the problem
  • guiding the student in thinking through and solving a similar problem

The teacher's use of these strategies best illustrates application of:

  1. inquiry learning.
  2. task analysis.
  3. scaffolded instruction.
  4. summative assessment.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 002—Understand types, characteristics, and implications of learning disabilities on the progressions of learning, communication, physical, and social-emotional skills development.

3. A high school student identified with delays in motor planning and metacognition would likely experience the most difficulty with:

  1. paying attention during a whole-class lecture.
  2. using visual supports to understand new content.
  3. understanding the meaning of commonly used vocabulary.
  4. applying a learned strategy to a specific task.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Subarea 2—ASSESSING STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES AND DEVELOPING INDIVIDUALIZED PROGRAMS

Objective 003—Understand various assessment instruments and assessment practices for evaluating the strengths and needs of students with learning disabilities.

4. A seventh-grade student is given a standardized achievement test as part of a reevaluation and receives a standard score of 80 on the Reading Comprehension Subtest and a standard score of 91 on the Math Problem Solving Subtest. This evidence indicates that the student performed:

  1. above average in the areas of reading comprehension and math problem solving.
  2. below average in reading comprehension and average in math problem solving.
  3. in the average range in reading comprehension and above average in math problem solving.
  4. as well as or better than 80 percent of students in reading comprehension and as well as or better than 91 percent of students in math problem solving.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 004—Understand procedures for conducting assessments and for interpreting and communicating the results of assessments to address the individual strengths and needs of students with learning disabilities.

5. Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

A fourth-grade student has a learning disability that impacts the student's executive functioning. The student often requires prompting to perform class activities during the morning routine. The teacher of students with learning disabilities conducts the following assessment of the student's performance of the morning routine.

Morning Routine Activity Student Performs Independently in Four Out of Five Consecutively Observed Days
Hang coat and backpack in cubby No
Take out home-school folder Yes
Put home-school folder in teacher's bin No
Get seated for morning work No
Take out pencil from desk and notebook Yes
Begin morning work Yes

Results from this assessment are primarily useful in:

  1. addressing the student's intrinsic motivation to successfully complete all morning routine activities.
  2. identifying and designing interventions to support the student's specific morning routine skill acquisition.
  3. understanding which morning routine activities the student prefers to do and is more likely to complete without prompting.
  4. increasing the student's ability to attend during activities where the student presents as highly distractible.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 005—Understand procedures for developing, implementing, and amending Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and transition plans for students with learning disabilities.

6. According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team is required to consider which of the following special factors when developing a student's IEP?

  1. Does the student have limited English language proficiency, and if so, what are the communication needs of the student as it relates to the student's IEP?
  2. Has the student been enabled to select the scope and sequence of their learning standards?
  3. Are all instructional activities that will be conducted with the student outlined on the student's IEP?
  4. Is the student being offered educational accommodations that have been effectively used by other students with documented disabilities?
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

7. To meet the transition services provisions required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education ACT (IDEA), the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team of a 16-year-old student must:

  1. offer the student modified criteria for high school graduation based on preferences documented by the student and the student's family.
  2. conduct a comprehensive reevaluation of the student for continued eligibility for federal postsecondary special education and related services.
  3. include relevant assessments based on the individual needs of the student to be used to determine appropriate postsecondary goals.
  4. contain a plan for vocational school or training in areas the student has demonstrated relative academic strength.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 006—Understand methods and practices of managing the learning environment and individualizing instruction for students with learning disabilities.

8. Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

During a third-grade math class, a teacher of students with learning disabilities regularly works in a small instructional group with several students with difficulties in executive functioning. The teacher has posted the following expectations of the students when transitioning to the group.

  1. Go to assigned area
  2. Take out work folder and pencil
  3. Begin warm-up activity in folder

This practice primarily supports the students' work in the instructional group by promoting:

  1. skills needed for independent versus group work.
  2. focus on academic achievement.
  3. awareness of specific steps of the routine.
  4. practice of skills that are used in all subject areas.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Subarea 3—TEACHING AND PROMOTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Objective 007—Understand strategies and practices for promoting the oral language and communication skills of students with learning disabilities.

9. A student with a learning disability who demonstrates difficulties with receptive language comprehension would likely have the most difficulty with which of the following tasks?

  1. verbally explaining to the teacher what the student did over the weekend
  2. initiating a conversation with a preferred peer during lunch
  3. following a series of verbal directions given by the teacher
  4. expressing an opinion on a social topic to a peer
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

10. A fifth-grade student has a learning disability that affects the ability to recall words and impacts expressive language. The student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) includes the following objective.

The student will use a visual support (e.g., concept map of key terms along with a picture image) when engaging in a discussion about a grade-level text in three out of five occasions over two consecutive weeks.

To promote progress toward the achievement of this objective, which of the following steps is most important for the teacher of students with learning disabilities to take first?

  1. ensuring the student receives a small reward each time that he independently uses visual supports
  2. identifying opportunities during regular guided reading group instruction for the student to practice using visual supports
  3. scribing the student's oral responses to a reading prompt and then instructing him to self-check his work using a visual support
  4. planning for the student to routinely write a summary at the end of independent reading while allowing him to use a visual support
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 008—Understand strategies and practices for promoting the emergent literacy skills of students with learning disabilities.

11. Use the information below to answer the question that follows.

A teacher of students with learning disabilities recently conducted a phonological assessment with a second-grade student. The teacher orally presented a series of word pairs to the student, and the student responded whether the word pair consisted of words that sounded exactly the same or words that sounded different. The student was unable to see the teacher's mouth while presenting the words, and the student's responses were recorded. A portion of the assessment results are shown below.

Word Pair Read Aloud Student Response
1. coast toast Different
2. pat pet Same
3. lease leash Same
4. bat bath Same

Assessment results indicate the student exhibits difficulty in the area of auditory:

  1. blending.
  2. association.
  3. discrimination.
  4. memory.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 009—Understand strategies and practices for promoting the reading skills of students with learning disabilities.

12. A teacher of students with learning disabilities is working with an eighth-grade student with a learning disability that affects reading comprehension. The teacher guides the student in using the following prompts when reading complex text.

This practice is likely to promote the student's ability in:

  1. improving sight-word automaticity.
  2. decoding words with accuracy and fluency.
  3. comprehending characteristics of the genre.
  4. understanding vocabulary using context.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

13. Dyslexia is a learning disability often characterized by demonstrated difficulties in:

  1. listening comprehension.
  2. abstract reasoning.
  3. pragmatic skill development.
  4. phonological processing.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 010—Understand strategies and practices for promoting the written expression of students with learning disabilities.

14. A student with dysgraphia would most likely benefit from assistive technology that promotes the student's abilities in:

  1. discriminating between sounds in words.
  2. understanding grade-level text read aloud.
  3. applying standard writing conventions.
  4. comprehending that print carries meaning.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 011—Understand strategies and practices for promoting the mathematical performance of students with learning disabilities.

15. A teacher of students with learning disabilities plans to assess a student's ability to demonstrate one-to-one correspondence. Which of the following student activities best demonstrates the student's ability to use this math skill?

  1. singing a song that includes reciting numbers sequentially from 1 to 20
  2. making a big pile and a small pile of paper clips and explaining which pile contains more
  3. counting a group of toy cars by touching each car and saying the number of cars in the group it represents
  4. expressing the correct name of a number on a set of cards printed with numerals from 1 to 10
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 012—Understand strategies for promoting the social-emotional competence of students with learning disabilities.

16. A ninth-grade student with a learning disability and related executive function disorder (EFD) has difficulty understanding relationships between concepts. Which of the following actions best illustrates a teacher of students with learning disabilities promoting the student's independent access to grade-level curriculum?

  1. supporting the use of a speech-to-text device when the student is writing a response to a social studies article
  2. using a digital program of the student's science text that offers a text of simpler and more easy to understand concepts
  3. providing an audiobook version when reading along with a printed version of a book in English language arts
  4. facilitating the student in using mind-mapping software when structuring thinking to defend a math idea
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

17. A teacher of students with learning disabilities regularly models for students how to use "I" statements when communicating with others, such as, "I am concerned about your scores. Maybe we should work on some new study skills." This communication practice primarily:

  1. enables the speaker to be assertive without attaching blame.
  2. ensures the listener is flexible during the conversation.
  3. promotes the speaker's ability to paraphrase the needs of the listener.
  4. illustrates an example of active listening between communication partners.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 013—Understand strategies for developing and implementing effective behavioral interventions for students with learning disabilities.

18. A teacher of students with learning disabilities has been supporting an eighth-grade student with a language processing disorder in completing a scale to represent various emotions. The scale includes a range of emotions, including "miserable," "sad," "ok," "good," "great," "excited," and "ecstatic." The teacher and student review pictures in magazines and photographs of people showing the general features associated with expressing emotions of sadness and happiness. They then discuss each picture and try to analyze more precisely the specific feeling conveyed. This activity primarily promotes the student's ability to:

  1. reflect on personal emotional experiences.
  2. expand vocabulary to describe variations of an emotion.
  3. demonstrate appropriate emotions in specific circumstances.
  4. apply a strategy to self-regulate emotions.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Subarea 4—WORKING IN THE PROFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Objective 014—Understand strategies for communicating and collaborating with students, their families, general education teachers, and related service providers to achieve desired learning outcomes for students with learning disabilities.

19. A representative from a local education agency (LEA) is working as an advocate for the parent of a third-grade student who is being considered for special education eligibility. A primary responsibility of the advocate is:

  1. understanding and communicating reasons for recommendations being made by the student's multidisciplinary evaluation team (MET).
  2. being present at or administering any standardized assessment instrument being used to determine the student's eligibility for special education services.
  3. developing academic goals and specialized instruction plans to include in the student's initial Individualized Education Program (IEP).
  4. arranging for the student to concurrently receive an independent educational evaluation from an outside organization.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 015—Understand the professional, ethical, and legal roles and responsibilities involved in the education of students with learning disabilities.

20. A second-grade student who receives special education services for a developmental delay is transitioning to a new school. The student's new Individualized Education Program (IEP) team is reviewing the student's educational record compiled by the student's previous school. Procedural safeguards for the student and the student's family must include:

  1. maintaining confidentiality of the parents'/guardians' personally identifiable information.
  2. arranging for parents/guardians to be part of any evaluation being considered for continued service eligibility.
  3. ensuring the parents/guardians agree that any information that has been collected for the record is objective and comprehensive.
  4. giving the parents/guardians authority over the content of the information kept in the record.
Answer. Enter to expand or collapse. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.