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Study Guide

Sample Selected-Response Questions
Field 83 Special Education: Early Childhood

Practice Questions

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Subarea I–Understanding Young Children with Special Needs

Objective 0001: Understand typical processes of human growth and development.

1. Which of the following language behaviors typically emerges when children in the preoperational stage begin to engage in social play?

  1. echolalic speech
  2. mimicking intonation patterns demonstrated by others
  3. metaphorical speech
  4. taking turns in conversation
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0002: Analyze the developmental significance of disabilities.

2. Longitudinal studies identify a consistent relationship between young children with communication impairments and the incidence of:

  1. psychosocial and behavior disorders.
  2. autism spectrum disorder.
  3. moderate cognitive disability.
  4. high-risk and addictive personality disorder.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0003: Understand learning processes.

3. During the preoperational stage, a child's thinking is affected primarily by the child's:

  1. application of rules of conservation.
  2. symbolic representation of abstract concepts.
  3. perceptions of concrete objects.
  4. sensory and motor reflexes.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0004: Analyze the significance of disabilities for learning.

4. A five-year-old child with a moderate intellectual disability is likely to respond most similarly to a peer in the general education program during which of the following sequencing events?

  1. following multistep verbal commands
  2. following classroom routines over time
  3. assembling designs from written directions
  4. retelling the details of a story read the previous week
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 0005: Understand assessment procedures for evaluating individual differences and making placement and programming decisions for young children with disabilities.

5. Which of the following screening activities would be most effective in detecting a deficit in auditory memory in a five-year-old child?

  1. asking the child to point to the picture that matches an orally presented word
  2. ringing a bell outside of the child's field of vision and asking the child to point to the source of the sound
  3. directing the child verbally to perform a series of three sequential tasks and observing his or her performance
  4. reading aloud a 200-word story and asking the child to answer questions about details in the story
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0006: Understand medical aspects and physical management implications of disabilities.

6. To ensure that a preschool classroom is prepared to accommodate the physical needs of a young child with low vision, it would be most important for a multidisciplinary team to recommend that:

  1. the school purchase large-print books and materials to include in activity centers.
  2. the teacher identify auditory distractions and any potentially dangerous obstacles.
  3. the child visit the room and become familiar with its physical layout.
  4. a vision specialist visit the room and offer specialized consultation to the teacher.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

 

Subarea II–Promoting Young Children's Growth and Development

Objective 0007: Apply procedures for structuring space and time to create safe, stimulating, and developmentally appropriate learning environments for children with disabilities.

7. When developing instructional plans for a preschool class of three-year-olds, which includes children with disabilities, which of the following questions should the teacher address first?

  1. How will children with disabilities be integrated in learning activities with their nondisabled peers?
  2. Which types of toys and objects will make the learning activities interesting for every child?
  3. How much time will the children with disabilities need to understand the object of the learning activities?
  4. Which method will be used to assess the new knowledge each child gains from the learning activities?
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0008: Apply procedures for using developmentally appropriate individual and group management strategies to provide an atmosphere that enhances young children's learning.

8. A teacher of young children can most positively influence children's feelings and attitudes toward differences among individuals by:

  1. using learning materials that feature characters with disabilities.
  2. offering frequent encouragement to children with disabilities.
  3. avoiding the practice of grouping students based on their performance.
  4. modeling acceptance through verbal and nonverbal behavior.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0009: Apply procedures for establishing a positive and supportive classroom climate that promotes all children's self-esteem and sense of competence.

9. George slams his book closed and yells, "I can't do it! All this math work is too much and too hard!" George is a third-grade student with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The special education teacher walks over to George's desk and quietly says, "I'm hearing you say you are frustrated with your math work assignment and don't feel you can do it. Is that correct?" Which of the following conflict resolution strategies is the teacher using in this scenario?

  1. negotiating
  2. active listening
  3. mediating
  4. role-playing
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 0010: Understand how to promote young children's self-regulation and autonomy.

10. Darrin is a five-year-old with mild developmental delays. He frequently has trouble controlling his behavior when he cannot have or do something he wants. Of the following, the most effective strategy for promoting Darrin's development of self-discipline would be to:

  1. review with Darrin every morning a list of the behavior rules he is expected to follow at school.
  2. establish a behavior contract with Darrin.
  3. help Darrin reflect on his own behavior in comparison with that of peers who are acting appropriately.
  4. role play with Darrin appropriate ways to express his feelings.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0011: Understand how to promote young children's social development.

11. Susie is a five-year-old child who has multiple disabilities, including visual and hearing impairments and intellectual disability. She communicates primarily through gestures and a few manual signs. Susie has tantrums when frustrated or when required to make transitions from preferred to less preferred activities, and her parents have gone to the special education teacher for advice about Susie's tantrum behavior. Of the following, the most important initial point for the teacher to make about Susie's tantrums is that they:

  1. represent a means Susie has found for communicating her feelings.
  2. have been allowed to go on for so long that they may be difficult or impossible to extinguish.
  3. are universal in children with problems as severe as Susie's.
  4. will probably disappear fairly quickly if the parents consistently ignore them.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0013: Understand how to promote young children's expressive language development.

12. Which of the following strategies would be most appropriate for developing the expressive language skills of a student with limited verbal abilities?

  1. providing language models that are at the same level as the student's language
  2. encouraging the student to use verbal communication exclusively
  3. reinforcing the student's attempts to verbalize consistently
  4. giving immediate correction of as many of the student's verbal errors as possible
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0014: Understand emergent literacy and how to encourage the emergence of literacy in young children.

13. A kindergarten teacher plays an oral game with students. In the game, the teacher says a familiar word and students respond by repeating and drawing out each individual sound they hear in the word. For example, when the teacher says the word miss, the students say /mmmiiisss/. This kind of phonemic segmentation oral language activity most directly supports the development of which of the following future literacy skills?

  1. applying word-learning strategies
  2. interpreting print conventions
  3. spelling regular words
  4. recognizing textual structures
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0015: Understand how to promote young children's cognitive development.

14. A three-month-old infant shows little interest in the environment, limited responses to visual and auditory stimuli, and a general lack of alertness. These behaviors are most commonly associated with which of the following factors or conditions?

  1. attention deficit disorder
  2. malnourishment
  3. developmental delay
  4. muscular dystrophy
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.
Objective 0016: Understand how to promote young children's daily living skills.

15. In which of the following instructional situations would task analysis be the most appropriate approach to use?

  1. A teacher wants to decrease the time a student takes to perform a mastered skill.
  2. A student performs a skill only when provided with verbal or gestural cues.
  3. A teacher is not sure which skill a student is ready to learn next.
  4. A student is having difficulty performing a multistep skill.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.
Objective 0019: Understand how to promote young children's physical development.

16. A special education teacher physically assists students to perform arm movements by firmly holding their wrists as they begin each arm movement. The teacher gradually reduces the pressure of the grip once the students' arms are in motion. Which of the following techniques is the teacher using in this situation?

  1. modeling
  2. prompting
  3. positive reinforcement
  4. incidental learning
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

 

Subarea III–Working in a Collaborative Learning Community

Objective 0020: Understand how to establish partnerships with other members of the school community to enhance learning opportunities for young children with disabilities.

17. To work effectively with a physical therapist, the special education teacher of a student with a severe orthopedic impairment should:

  1. modify the student's prescribed equipment for increased adaptability to classroom needs.
  2. ensure that the student uses prescribed adaptive equipment properly.
  3. help the therapist conduct the student's gross-motor assessment.
  4. make recommendations for the appropriate sequence of therapy.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 0021: Understand how to foster strong school-home partnerships.

18. When involving parents or guardians in developing an individual behavior management program to use at home with their child, it is most important to:

  1. arrange for the parents or guardians to meet with others who have carried out successful behavior management programs at home.
  2. ask the parents or guardians to share their observations and concerns regarding behaviors the child exhibits at home.
  3. demonstrate how to use a wide variety of behavior management strategies to determine parents' or guardians' preferences.
  4. encourage the parents or guardians to read research and theories related to the behaviors the child exhibits.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.
Objective 0022: Understand how to encourage school-community interactions that enhance young children's opportunities for learning and development.

19. The teachers in a school's kindergarten program are meeting to discuss ways to ease children's transition from day-care centers to the kindergarten setting. Which of the following approaches would likely be most effective for achieving this goal?

  1. establishing ongoing relationships with day-care center staff to facilitate continuity between the programs
  2. providing the day-care centers with lists of the skills and behaviors that children will need to have acquired by the time they enter kindergarten (e.g., independent toileting and handwashing)
  3. giving parents/guardians suggestions for promoting positive transitions (e.g., explaining to their children that they are "big" boys and girls now)
  4. explaining to the children on the first day of school how kindergarten will differ from their experiences in day care
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.
Objective 0023: Understand requirements, responsibilities, and constraints associated with teaching young children with disabilities.

20. Under the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, the parents or guardians of a minor who is receiving special education services may:

  1. obtain copies of the student's educational records to share with nonschool professionals.
  2. prevent the special education teacher from viewing the student's educational records.
  3. specify that information contained in the student's records be limited to the annual IEP document.
  4. take permanent possession of the student's records if they contain information that the parents or guardians deem inaccurate.
Enter to expand or collapse answer. Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.