Final Examination—SPED 700
Name
July 06, 2011
Final Examination—SPED 700 (Teaching Fellows)
Instructions Each response is worth five (5) points. GOOD LUCK! Read each item
carefully!
Question 1
One of the current key factors in New York State supporting an IEP team’s
determination that a student has a learning disability is:
a. The student does not achieve adequately (demonstrates a gap of 50%
expected proficiency) for the student’s age when provided with learning
experiences and instruction appropriate for his/her age
b. The student consistently confuses first and second language oral and
written expression
c. The student has a minor hearing impairment that effects the ability to
differentiate between select phonemes
d.
The student’s family qualifies for various governmental subsidies due to
its low socio-economic status
Question 2
The identification of students with an emotional disability:
a. Is based solely on standardized and quantitative observation
instruments
b. Is inherently a subjective process
c. Follows the detailed objective guidelines reflected in IDEA
d. Must include an IQ score that reflects sub-average intelligence
Question 3
Research shows that approximately 5% of American public school students
have limited English proficiency (ELL). Of these, approximately 40% were
born in other countries. A critical implication of this data for members of a
multi-disciplinary assessment team is to:
a. Look beyond (not consider) the unique traits and characteristics of
diverse cultural groups and regard all students solely based on
academic performance.
b. Remember that all parents have due process rights but that there
must be an expectation that parents must interact with them in a
prescribed way. If a family is uncomfortable with the school’s view
of family involvement, the team may proceed with evaluations
because of timeframe pressures.
c. Take the parents’ culturally influenced view of disability into
consideration when presenting the school’s recommendation of the
need for a multidisciplinary evaluation. This involves the team
working with the family to determine how a mutual working
relationship is to be established even if the parents’ initial reaction
is one of distrust.
d. Not be obligated to communicate with parents whose first language
is not English in the preferred language of the parents. IDEA
recognizes due process rights but does not require that
communications (written or oral) be provided in the parents’
preferred language or mode of communication.
Q
Question 4
Students with autism spectrum disorders require careful transition
planning to prepare them for adulthood. Which of the questions below
is NOT appropriate during a discussion of transition planning with the
student’s parents?
a. Does your child have any special interests or hobbies that
may be incorporated into work/job planning?
b. Do you (the parent) have ample financial means right now so
that we do not have to recommend that you seek the advice of
a financial planner for long term financial security for your
child?
c. Are there other family members besides you and/ or other
social supports who should be involved with and
knowledgeable about this transition planning?
d. Do you (the parents) have any ideas or plans as to the type of
residential environment that your child may prefer when (s)he
reaches adulthood?
Question 5
General education teachers_______________
a. must work with special educators to provide equal educational
opportunities to students with disabilities in their classroom
b. have a right to refuse the placement of a student with a disability even if
a general education classroom is the LRE stated on the IEP
c. are not entitled to be involved in IEP meetings about students with
disabilities or suspected of having a disability
d. both b and c
Question 6
The population of students having severe and multiple disabilities represents a
low-incidence category. This group of students comprises approximately 0.1 to 1
% of the general school-age population and approximately 2% of the total
population of students having special education needs. Consequently, based on
natural proportions, it is possible that a student with severe and multiple
disabilities would be enrolled in a general education classroom at least part of
the instructional day. Given this:
a. Adaptations to the general education environment would be limited only
to the specific equipment that is already available in the school, such as
a computer or a smartboard.
b. General education and special education staff must collaborate to offer
differentiated instructional approaches and familiarize themselves with
mandated adaptive technology devises (if mandated on the IEP) to be
employed in the general education setting.
c. The general education teacher has the due process right to not accept
the student with severe and multiple disabilities in his/her class even if
appropriate supports and services mandated on the IEP are present.
d. The parents of the general education students have the right to demand
that the student with severe and multiple disabilities be removed from
the general education setting since that student would be too much of a
distraction to the delivery of instruction to everyone else.
Question 7
Which item below is NOT described on an IEP reflecting a student’s current level
of performance?
a. Health and Physical Development
b. Academic Performance and Learning Characteristics
c. Social/Emotional Status
d. The effects of the family’s socio-economic status on the student’s ability
to learn
Question 8
IDEA’s definition of LRE mandates that:
a. All students with disabilities must be initially placed in a general
education classroom for observation for a minimum of ten school days to
determine the LRE
b. At an IEP meeting, only the parent (no other multidisciplinary team
members) determines what the LRE will be for his/her child because of
parental due process
rights.
c. If a student’s IEP states that the LRE is a special class in a highly
restrictive “self contained” special education school with no opportunities
for interacting with general education peers, this complies with IDEA
since the IEP team has determined that the student requires intensive
services and will not, at this time, benefit from such interaction
d.
The decision regarding a student’s appropriate placement may only be
made once a year.
Question 9
Approximately what percentage of students with cerebral palsy have normal
intelligence?
a. 40%
b. 60%
c. 75%
d. 80%
Question 10
Response to Intervention (RTI) represents a federally legislated process for
addressing students at risk for being considered for special education. RTI
provides opportunities to address a student’s particular learning style and other
characteristics prior to a formal referral to a multi-disciplinary team for possible
categorization as a student with a disability (most notably LD). Which of the
following statements is NOT correct in regard to RTI:
a. The first tier involves providing all students with a standard reading
program that has been demonstrated through research to be effective.
b. The second tier of RTI addresses the approximately 15% of students
who require more support than typically provided in tier #1 above. At
this tier, a specific, research based reading program such as Wilson
Reading Program or another program based on the Orton-Gillingham
research will be utilized for a defined period of time.
c. Regardless of a general education teacher’s experience or skill at
working with culturally diverse English language learners (ELL), if these
students are not responding to the standard reading curriculum, they
must be automatically moved to the tier two level of intense data based
interventions. The teacher’s methodology need not be reviewed nor
should the teacher be questioned regarding his/her ability to address
the ELL students’ first and second language issues.
d. The third tier of RTI addresses the remaining small percentage
(approximately 2% or 3%) of students who still do not respond to either
tier 1 or 2 interventions. Consideration of diagnosing these students by
a multi-disciplinary team as learning disabled occurs only after specific
and focused opportunities have occurred to practice new skills using
student specific performance data to individualize the pace and delivery
of individualized, research based interventions.
Question 11
Currently, it is believed that one possible significant cause of autism
involves:
a. Brain malfunctions and possible genetic factors
b. Emotional problems in the home
c. Severe trauma, such as a life-threatening accident
d. Extreme shyness
Question 12
A student who has the disability of “blind” on his/her IEP:
a. uses vision as his/her primary means of learning but requires related
services for certain adaptive tasks
b. receives no useful information through vision but benefits from
instruction by using other sensory modalities and utilizing adaptive
equipment and materials
c. learns primarily via other senses but can use his/her moderate level of
vision in a supplemental manner to learn or perform tasks
d. none of the above
Question 13
The single most influential litigation in the early 1970s involving children with
disabilities that shaped the overall foundation of IDEA is:
a. Hobson v. Hansen
b. Brown v Board of Education- Topeka, Kansas
c. PARC v Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
d. NYARC v Rockefeller
Question 14
A student with a mild level of retardation who has had appropriate transitional
support will most likely, upon reaching 21 years of age:
a. Acquire some vocational skills but require full time supervision
during work site employment
b. Be able to live independently in the community
c. May only be able to learn a minimum number of self-help skills
such as dressing and eating
d. None of the above
Question 15
What is manifestation determination?
a. A preventative process of student assistance which must occur prior to
an initial evaluation by the multidisciplinary team
b. A process of determining whether states and local school districts are
adequately implementing IDEA mandates
c. A review of the relationship between a student’s disability and that
student’s behavior
d. A process to determine if related services are required in order for the
student with a disability to receive an appropriate education
Question 16
Since 2001, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requires that students
participate in high stakes testing. This standards and accountability movement:
a. Does not include students with severe disabilities---they are exempt
from any form of formalized assessments.
b. Requires that students with IEPs, who are on an “academic track”,
must be tested for yearly progress based on their demonstrated
performance levels and not on their chronological age level.
c. Calls for increased collaboration between general and special
education teachers to ensure equal access to the general education
curriculum for students with disabilities.
d. IDEA overrules NCLB and leaves the decision of whether a student
with a disability must take these standardized content specific tests to
the discretion of the local school district.
Question 17
By the time a student with a disability is 16 years old, the IEP team must
address transition to adulthood. Transition plans include:
a. Focusing only on those skills that parents deem necessary based on
their perceptions of their “aging out” young adult’s abilities and
aspirations.
b.
Instruction related to community based work experiences as well as an
ongoing emphasis on academics (or functional academics)
c. Specifically tailored to the input of local employers based on their
business needs and the local economic conditions
d. Discussing only those career/post secondary school choices that
require no reasonable accommodations in order to avoid the students’
reliance on such accommodations.
Question 18 Why is the Oberti federal court decision of 1993 significant to multidisciplinary
teams developing an IEP?
a.
The decision ruled that, for a student with significantly sub-average intellectual
functioning, the general education classroom may never be considered the LRE. There
are too many expenses for this placement to be an option.
b.
The decision ruled that the transition mandate of IDEA precludes a student with a
disability from participating in the general education setting once the student reaches
the age of 16.
c. The decision extended the school year to 12 months for students who would
“significantly regress” if they attended school for ten months.
d.
The decision offers a set of criteria to determine if a student with a disability can be
educated satisfactorily in a general education classroom.
Question 19
Why is it not possible to speak English and sign ASL at the same time?
a. It is confusing to the spectator to watch hands and mouth at the same time
b. The grammatical rules of ASL are different than English
c. The interpreter has to concentrate on his/her gestures
d. It takes longer to sign ASL that to speak
Question 20
Students who have mild to moderate levels of hearing impairment:
a. Usually are placed in special classes as their least restrictive environment
b. Can process information from sounds with the assistance of amplification provided by
hearing devices and/or adapted technology
c. Are unable to process linguistic information through hearing, with or without
amplification
d. Always rely on American Sign Language to communicate to others