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Descriptive Statements:
- Apply knowledge of ways in which teacher attitudes and behaviors affect students with and without disabilities and effective strategies for establishing and maintaining rapport with all students.
- Demonstrate knowledge of strategies for planning and managing the learning environment for students with disabilities, including strategies for establishing reasonable behavioral expectations, designing consistent daily routines, fostering students' independence, and maintaining students' attention.
- Apply knowledge of strategies for creating a safe, supportive, and positive classroom and schoolwide climate that fosters respect for diversity and positive interactions among all students.
- Demonstrate knowledge of barriers to accessibility and acceptance of students with disabilities and adaptations that can be made to the physical environment to provide optimal learning opportunities for students with disabilities.
- Apply knowledge of effective methods for fostering students' active participation and individual academic success in one-to-one, small-group, and large-group settings and for facilitating students' integration into various settings.
- Apply knowledge of strategies for modifying the learning environment to manage behaviors and strategies for crisis prevention and intervention.
Sample Item:
A middle school social studies teacher consults with a special educator about a new student who has cerebral palsy and an associated speech impairment. The social studies teacher wants to know the best way to include the student in class discussions. Which of the following would be the special educator's most appropriate response?
- "Give the student five minutes to prepare a response to a question during discussions."
- "Ask the student questions at the very beginning of discussions to minimize her anxiety."
- "Discuss with the student her preferred method of communication."
- "Position the student in the center of the classroom so that everyone can hear the student's contributions."
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
C. This question requires the examinee to apply knowledge of effective methods for fostering students' active participation in large-group settings. Depending on the student's degree and type of impairment, the student may have little or no control over the muscles involved in producing speech. For example, the student may have a mild to moderate speech disorder and use speech to communicate. On the other hand, the student may have a severe speech disorder and use an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system. To foster this student's participation in social studies discussions, the general education teacher should encourage the student to use the student's preferred method of communication.
Descriptive Statements:
- Apply knowledge of research-supported methods for providing reading and written language instruction to all students with disabilities.
- Apply knowledge of research-supported methods for providing mathematics instruction to all students with disabilities.
- Demonstrate knowledge of methods for teaching students learning strategies to compensate for deficits in perception, attention, language processing, memory, and retrieval; and methods for teaching students to use self-assessment, problem-solving, and other cognitive strategies to meet their needs.
- Demonstrate knowledge of effective strategies for teaching essential concepts, vocabulary, and content across the general curriculum; for facilitating maintenance and generalization of academic skills; and for helping students recognize relationships across disciplines.
Sample Item:
A special education teacher is planning to use drill-and-practice software to reinforce the mathematical computation skills of a student with a learning disability. This type of software would be especially useful for the teacher's intended purpose because of its ability to provide:
- virtually unlimited examples of any given type of problem.
- highly entertaining visual displays.
- direct comparisons with different students' performances.
- immediate feedback on answers.
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
D. This question requires the examinee to apply knowledge of research-supported methods for providing mathematics instruction to all students with disabilities. Research has shown that using drill-and-practice software is an effective instructional strategy to use with students who have a specific learning disability in mathematics because such software provides students with repeated opportunities to practice facts, immediate feedback, and the opportunity to experience success. Immediate feedback helps ensure that students are not learning facts incorrectly.
Descriptive Statements:
- Demonstrate knowledge of instructional strategies for fostering the communication skills of students with disabilities, including students from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds and students who use alternative and augmentative communication systems.
- Apply knowledge of strategies for fostering students' social skills; for increasing self-awareness, self-management, and self-esteem; and for developing self-advocacy skills, resulting in self-determination.
- Apply knowledge of strategies for developing, implementing, modifying, and monitoring behavioral interventions for students with disabilities, including strategies for providing positive behavioral supports.
- Apply knowledge of appropriate expectations for personal and social behavior in educational and community settings and strategies for teaching problem-solving and conflict-resolution skills.
Sample Item:
A middle school student with specific learning disabilities has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) goal to develop self-determination skills. Which of the following would be most effective for the special educator to use in helping the student achieve this goal?
- including the student as a collaborator at his own IEP annual review meeting
- providing the student with opportunities to evaluate his own work
- assigning the student a research project to present to classmates orally
- providing the student with reading material to learn more about the IEP process
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
A. This question requires the examinee to apply knowledge of strategies for developing students' self-advocacy skills, resulting in self-determination. Developing self-determination skills means that students learn to make choices and take an active role in their education and in transition planning. One way to help students develop these skills is to have them participate in setting goals for themselves during their annual Individualized Education Program (IEP) team meeting. By participating in their IEP meeting, students learn to take ownership of their education and ultimately their future.
Descriptive Statements:
- Apply knowledge of strategies for teaching daily living skills (e.g., food preparation, money management, medical self-management, use of assistive technology, accessing community resources).
- Apply knowledge of strategies for teaching skills to promote students' vocational/career competence and participation in civic, leisure, and recreational activities.
- Demonstrate knowledge of sources of specialized materials, curricula, and resources for students with disabilities; effective career, vocational, and transition programs for students with disabilities; and strategies for developing and selecting instructional content that is responsive to students' cultural, linguistic, and gender differences.
- Apply knowledge of strategies that promote successful transitions between various environments (e.g., classroom to classroom; school to school; school to adult life roles, employment, or postsecondary education or training).
Sample Item:
It would be especially important to take gender differences into account when a special education teacher is planning instruction for which of the following components of a functional curriculum?
- leisure activities
- personal hygiene
- money management
- vocational skills
Correct Response and Explanation (Show Correct ResponseHide Correct Response)
B. This question requires the examinee to demonstrate knowledge of strategies for developing and selecting instructional content that is responsive to students' gender differences. In addition to learning academic curricula, some students with disabilities receive instruction in functional living skills, including self-care skills. Learning skills related to personal hygiene enhances students' level of autonomy and independence. Of the categories of functional living skills listed, personal hygiene skills are most likely to be different depending on gender, particularly for older students (e.g., shaving, applying makeup).
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