ILTS Learning Behavior Specialist I (290) cheat sheet

IDEA lists 13 disability categories for school-age students; developmental delay is an optional additional category states may apply to children ages 3 through 9.

Specific learning disability is the largest category (about one-third of students served), followed by speech or language impairment.

SLD requires a disorder in basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language; the exclusionary clause rules out lack of appropriate instruction and other disabilities.

Intellectual disability = significantly subaverage intellectual functioning (about IQ 70-75 or below) plus adaptive behavior deficits, with onset before age 18.

Emotional disturbance requires one or more of five characteristics over a long period and to a marked degree; a student who is socially maladjusted alone does not qualify.

ADHD has no separate IDEA category; students typically qualify under other health impairment when the condition limits strength, vitality, or alertness and hurts performance.

Dyslexia affects accurate and fluent word recognition and spelling (phonological processing); dyscalculia affects number sense and calculation; dysgraphia affects written expression and handwriting.

Autism eligibility requires social communication and interaction deficits plus restricted, repetitive behavior patterns; DSM-5 includes sensory hyper- or hyporeactivity as a criterion.

Traumatic brain injury is an acquired injury caused by external physical force; congenital, degenerative, or birth-related brain injuries do not qualify under this category.

An initial evaluation must be completed within 60 days of parental consent (Illinois: 60 school days), and parents receive a copy of the evaluation report.

RTI generally follows an 80/15/5 distribution across Tier 1 (universal), Tier 2 (targeted small group), and Tier 3 (intensive individualized) supports.

Most norm-referenced tests use a mean of 100 and SD of 15: 85-115 is average, 70-84 is below average, and 130 or above is two standard deviations above the mean.

Reliability is consistency of scores across time and raters; validity is the extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure.

Curriculum-based measurement uses brief, repeated, standardized probes; a trend line flatter than the aimline signals that instruction must change.

An FBA identifies antecedents, behavior, and consequences to determine function (attention, escape, access to tangibles, sensory), and the BIP is built from that function.

An IEP must contain the PLAAFP, measurable annual goals, special education and related services, extent of general education participation, accommodations, and progress reporting.

Eligibility requires two prongs: the disability must adversely affect educational performance, and the student must need specially designed instruction.

Reevaluation is required at least every three years; transition planning must begin by age 16 under IDEA, and Illinois requires it by age 14 and one-half.

LRE requires education with nondisabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate; the continuum runs general education, resource, self-contained, separate school, home/hospital, residential.

Kounin's management variables are withitness, overlapping, smoothness, momentum, and group alerting; these maintain group focus and reduce misbehavior.

Continuous reinforcement produces the fastest initial learning; variable ratio schedules produce the highest and most extinction-resistant response rates.

Group contingencies: dependent (one student's behavior earns for the group), independent (each earns individually), interdependent (the whole group must meet the criterion).

Effective praise is specific, contingent, and immediate; recommended positive-to-correction interaction ratios run about 4:1 or higher.

Illinois prohibits prone restraint; physical restraint is limited to imminent danger of serious harm and requires documentation plus parental notification.

PBIS tiers are universal screening and schoolwide expectations (all students), targeted small-group supports (some), and individualized FBA/BIP (few).

Physical arrangement variables affecting behavior include sightlines, traffic flow, noise and lighting levels, preferential seating, visual schedules, and defined work stations.

Co-teaching models: one teach/one observe, one teach/one assist, station teaching, parallel teaching, alternative teaching, and team teaching.

Accommodation changes access (extended time, text-to-speech) without changing the standard; modification changes content, level, or expected performance.

Explicit instruction sequence: review, modeling, guided practice with feedback, independent practice, and cumulative review, with frequent opportunities to respond.

Prompt hierarchy from least to most intrusive: natural cue, verbal prompt, gestural prompt, modeling, physical guidance.

Time delay of about 3-5 seconds after a cue increases independent responding; errorless learning uses immediate prompts that are systematically faded.

Reading's five components are phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension; fluency combines accuracy, rate, and prosody.

CRA sequence for math: concrete manipulatives, then representational drawings, then abstract symbols and algorithms.

Decision rule example: four consecutive progress-monitoring points below the aimline indicates the intervention should be changed.

Differentiation adjusts content, process, or product based on readiness, interest, and learning profile while the grade-level standard stays constant.

Working-memory supports include chunking, graphic organizers, mnemonics, checklists, and shortened task segments; wait time of 3-5 seconds raises response quality.

IEP team membership: parent, general education teacher, special education teacher, LEA representative, someone to interpret evaluation results, related services providers as appropriate, and the student when appropriate.

Prior written notice is required before proposing or refusing to change identification, evaluation, placement, or services, and must state the reasons and parent safeguards.

Discipline: more than 10 cumulative school days of removal is a change of placement, and a manifestation determination must occur within 10 school days of that decision.

Special circumstances (weapon, illegal drug, serious bodily injury) allow an interim alternative educational setting for up to 45 school days regardless of the manifestation determination.

Stay-put: during a due process hearing the student remains in the current placement unless parents and the district agree or a hearing officer orders otherwise.

Section 504 covers any physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity; it provides accommodations and FAPE but no IDEA funding or special education entitlement.

FERPA lets parents inspect and request amendment of records, generally within 45 days; directory information may be released unless the parent opts out.

Transition planning uses age-appropriate assessments to write postsecondary goals in education/training, employment, and independent living when appropriate.

ESY eligibility rests on regression/recoupment data or the need to maintain a critical emerging skill, not on the student's disability category.