Praxis 5358 cheat sheet

IDEA requires a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE) for every eligible child aged 3-21; LRE means education with nondisabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate.

Six IDEA procedural pillars: child find, evaluation, IEP, LRE, procedural safeguards, and parent participation; a denial of any one can support a due process complaint.

Related services (transportation, speech therapy, counseling, occupational therapy) are those required to help a child benefit from special education; they are not special education themselves.

Disability categories under IDEA: autism, deaf-blindness, deafness, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment including blindness, and developmental delay (ages 3-9 at state option).

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act applies to any program receiving federal funds and requires equal access; it has no categorical list and no IEP requirement, only a 504 plan.

ADA Title II extends nondiscrimination duties to state and local government services, including public schools, independent of federal funding status.

IEP required contents: present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, measurable annual goals, progress measurement, special education and related services, least restrictive environment justification, accommodations, and transition planning by age 16.

Transition services must begin by age 16 (or earlier under state law) and address postsecondary education, employment, and independent living, based on age-appropriate transition assessments.

Discipline: a student may be removed for up to 10 school days without a manifestation determination; a change of placement beyond 10 days triggers a manifestation determination review within 10 school days.

Specific learning disability is defined by unexpected underachievement in reading, writing, or math relative to ability; IDEA prohibits requiring an IQ-achievement discrepancy, and states may use response to intervention or patterns of strengths and weaknesses.

Dyslexia affects word-level decoding and phonological processing; dyscalculia affects number sense and fact retrieval; dysgraphia affects written expression and handwriting fluency.

Emotional disturbance requires one or more characteristics (inability to learn not explained by other factors, relationship problems, inappropriate behavior, unhappiness or depression, physical symptoms or fears) over a long period that adversely affects performance.

Autism spectrum disorder is characterized by deficits in social communication and interaction plus restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities; the DSM-5 collapsed prior subtypes into one spectrum.

Intellectual disability involves significantly subaverage intellectual functioning (about two standard deviations below the mean, IQ roughly 70 or below) with concurrent deficits in adaptive behavior appearing before age 18.

ADHD is typically served under other health impairment when it adversely affects educational performance; it is not a separate IDEA category.

Speech or language impairment covers articulation, fluency, voice, and language disorders; it is the most common primary disability category for young children.

Deaf-blindness is a combined hearing and vision impairment whose severity requires services beyond those for either impairment alone; it is a distinct IDEA category.

Typical development milestones: by 12 months most children use gestures and single words; by 24 months combine two words; by 36 months use short sentences understood by unfamiliar listeners.

Initial evaluation must be completed within 60 days of receiving parental consent, unless the state establishes a different timeframe; eligibility determination follows evaluation.

Evaluation must use a variety of assessment tools and strategies, not a single measure, and must be in the child's native language or mode of communication.

Assessments must be technically sound, administered by trained personnel, and selected to assess the specific areas of suspected disability, not just general intelligence.

Informed parental consent is required before initial evaluation; consent may be revoked, and refusal to consent cannot be overridden except through due process for initial evaluation.

Reevaluation occurs at least every three years unless parents and school agree it is unnecessary; a reevaluation is also required before determining a child is no longer eligible.

Response to intervention (RTI) uses universal screening, tiered interventions of increasing intensity, and progress monitoring to identify students needing support; it can inform but not delay evaluation.

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) probes are brief, standardized, repeated measures used to quantify growth and evaluate intervention effectiveness.

Standard scores have a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15; a score of 85 is one standard deviation below the mean, and percentile rank indicates the percentage scoring below that score.

Test scores must be interpreted cautiously with culturally and linguistically diverse students; assessors must consider bias, use nondiscriminatory measures, and rule out lack of instruction or limited English proficiency as primary causes.

Specially designed instruction adapts content, methodology, or delivery of instruction to address the unique needs of a child and ensure access to the general curriculum.

Accommodations change how a student accesses material or demonstrates learning (extended time, read-aloud, preferential seating) without altering content expectations; modifications change what is taught or the performance standard.

Measurable annual goals must include the target skill, the conditions, the criterion for acceptable performance, and a method for measuring progress.

Progress toward IEP goals must be reported at least as often as report cards are issued to nondisabled peers.

Explicit instruction sequence: model, guided practice with feedback, independent practice, and cumulative review; it is effective for students with learning disabilities.

Systematic phonics instruction and phonemic awareness training have strong evidence for students with word-reading difficulties; repeated reading builds fluency; reciprocal teaching supports comprehension.

Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) use a tiered continuum: universal supports, targeted group interventions, and intensive individualized supports with functional behavioral assessment.

A functional behavioral assessment identifies antecedents, behaviors, and consequences to build a behavior intervention plan; it is required after a disciplinary change of placement for behavior that is a manifestation of disability.

Universal design for learning provides multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression to reduce barriers before individual accommodations are added.