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Praxis 5358 study materials
Praxis 5358 study resources

Praxis 5358: Development and Characteristics of Learners with Disabilities

Praxis 5358 · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Development and Characteristics of Learners with Disabilities

Domain 2: Development and Characteristics of Learners with Disabilities

This domain tests how disability characteristics and developmental patterns affect learning, communication, behavior, and social participation. Questions ask you to distinguish typical development from atypical development, recognize the 13 IDEA disability categories, and avoid confusing cultural or linguistic differences with disability.

Core concepts

  • IDEA categories include specific learning disability (SLD), speech or language impairment, intellectual disability (ID), emotional disturbance (ED), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), other health impairment (OHI), hearing impairment, visual impairment, orthopedic impairment, traumatic brain injury, deaf-blindness, multiple disabilities, and developmental delay (state-defined).
  • SLD involves unexpected academic underachievement and a processing deficit; a severe discrepancy is not required by IDEA, and RTI data can support identification.
  • ID requires significantly subaverage intellectual functioning and deficits in adaptive behavior that affect everyday functioning.
  • ASD is characterized by social communication differences and restricted, repetitive behaviors or interests; it is not simply introversion or poor manners.
  • ADHD is not an IDEA category, but a student may qualify under OHI if the ADHD adversely affects educational performance.
  • ED requires a condition over a long period that adversely affects performance; social maladjustment alone is excluded unless the student also meets ED criteria.

Worked example

A 9-year-old has average nonverbal reasoning, age-appropriate adaptive skills, and weak phonological awareness; reading decoding is far below grade level. The profile suggests SLD in reading, not ID: cognitive ability is average and adaptive behavior is intact. The team should document the processing weakness, academic deficit, and exclusionary factors, then use multiple measures to determine eligibility.

Traps

Do not infer ID from a single low IQ score. Do not label an English learner as SLD without examining language proficiency and opportunity to learn. Do not assume ASD means a student cannot benefit from general education.