EDU 221 Chapter 8 ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS
DEFINITIONS
1. Pica—eating nonfood substances compulsively and to excess
2. Enuresis—lack of urinary control; bedwetting (in older children) is the most common form
3. Food jag—eating one particular food or foods to excess while often refusing other foods
4. Phobia—an irrational fear that interferes with everyday living
5. Perseveration—the tendency to continue doing the same thing over and over with no obvious
purpose (dysfunctional repetitions)
6. Echolalia—a language deviation in which the individual mimics what others say but has little
or no functional speech of his or her own
7. Respite care—providing alternative care-giving situations so that the primary caregiver can
“get a break” from the endless, sometimes 24-hour-a-day, duty required by some impaired
children (and adults).
8. Behavior disorder—a behavior that is extreme, chronic, and unacceptable for the age of the
child and for the cultural and ethnic norms of the society
9. ADHD—a long list of behaviors such as excessive distractibility, N fidgeting, trouble
following directions, interrupting others, and disorganization that have been ongoing for at
least six months and appeared before the age of seven.
10. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) – a term increasingly used to refer to a broad definition of
Autism including the classical form of the disorder as well as closely related disabilities that
share many of the core characteristics
LISTS
1. Does the child
 have trouble making and keeping friends?
 experience rejection by peers?
 tend toward bullying or aggressiveness?
2. Autism may be characterized by
 resistance to being held or cuddled as an infant.
 ritualistic playing with string, wheels, or other objects.
 rigid requirements for sameness in routines and surroundings.
 self-stimulating behaviors: spinning, rocking, head banging.
3. Characteristics of young children with possible learning problems:
 poor motor coordination
 easily frustrated
 overly distractible
 much purposeless activity
 deficient perceptual motor skills
 frequent mood changes
4. Learning disabled children do not have
 vision or hearing deficits.
5.
6.
7.
8.
 mental retardation.
 emotional disturbance.
 environmental, social, or economic disadvantage.
Large-motor problems related to sensory-motor difficulties include
 poorly coordinated or jerky movements.
 poor balance.
 trouble in throwing, jumping, kicking.
 inability to cross body at the midline.
 not using opposite arms and legs in synchrony (lacking bilateral and contralateral
control).
Language deviations include
 trouble acquiring advanced grammatical forms.
 frequent inability to retrieve a well-known word.
 trouble repeating short sentences, directions, or rhymes.
Tips for teachers include
 giving directions one at a time; allowing ample time to comply.
 providing learning materials familiar in the child’s own culture.
 consistently reinforcing behaviors that facilitate learning.
 using task analysis to teach delayed or troublesome skills.
 giving descriptive praise for even minor accomplishments.
 reexamining the environment for obstacles to the child’s learning.
 not expecting learnings to generalize to a dissimilar situation
Suggestions include
 keep message simple and direct
 use objects along with words
 give the child opportunities to interact with nondisabled peers
 rearrange the environment (place highly desired items out of reach) and use teaching
strategies that motivate the child to request these items provide opportunity for the
child to generalize new skills by ensuring the opportunity to practice these skills in a
variety of settings (home, school, and park) and with a variety of people (several
teachers, parents, siblings, peers)
 focus on improving the child’s communication skills, perhaps using a communication
device such as the Picture Exchange Program (PECS) (Bondy & Frost, 1994). PECS
teaches children to give a picture of a desired object in exchange for that item. By
using PECS the child learns to initiate communication reduce class or group size and
provide appropriate seating for the child to help minimize distractions
 modify the curriculum on the basis of the child’s strengths and weaknesses
 maintain frequent communication with parents and other care providers