Praxis 5941 cheat sheet

IDEA entitles eligible students ages 3–21 to a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE); Part C covers infants and toddlers birth–3 through an IFSP.

Six IDEA procedural safeguards: prior written notice, parental consent, access to records, independent educational evaluation (IEE), mediation, and due-process hearing.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973) and the ADA prohibit disability discrimination; 504 requires a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity but provides no federal funding.

Child Find is the district's affirmative duty to identify, locate, and evaluate all children with suspected disabilities, including private-school and homeless children.

Evaluation timeline under IDEA: initial evaluation within 60 days of parental consent (states may set a shorter period); eligibility determined by a multidisciplinary team including the parent.

Related services (IDEA) include transportation, speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, counseling, and school health services needed to benefit from special education.

Discipline: a student may be removed to an interim alternative educational setting for up to 45 school days for weapons, drugs, or serious bodily injury; a manifestation determination must occur within 10 school days of a change of placement.

Confidentiality: FERPA governs education records; parents may inspect and request amendment, and consent is required before disclosure except for specified exceptions such as school officials with legitimate educational interest.

IDEA disability categories (13): 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.

Specific learning disability is defined by a disorder in basic psychological processes affecting listening, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, spelling, or math; IDEA prohibits requiring a severe discrepancy between ability and achievement.

Dyslexia is a language-based reading disability affecting phonological processing and word decoding; dyscalculia affects number sense and fact retrieval; dysgraphia affects written expression and handwriting.

ADHD is typically served under other health impairment (OHI) when it adversely affects educational performance through limited alertness to the educational environment.

Autism eligibility requires deficits in social communication and interaction plus restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities that adversely affect educational performance.

Emotional disturbance requires one or more of five characteristics (inability to learn, relationship problems, inappropriate behavior, unhappiness/depression, physical symptoms/fears) exhibited over a long period and to a marked degree.

Intellectual disability: significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning (IQ roughly 70 or below, ±5 measurement error) with concurrent deficits in adaptive behavior, manifesting during the developmental period.

Deaf-blindness means simultaneous hearing and visual impairments whose combination causes severe communication, developmental, and educational needs that cannot be met in programs solely for one impairment.

Assessments must be validated for the specific purpose, administered by trained personnel, selected and administered so as not to be racially or culturally discriminatory, and given in the child's native language or mode of communication.

Norm-referenced tests compare a student to a standardization sample (standard scores, percentile ranks); criterion-referenced tests compare performance to a defined skill standard.

Standard score mean is 100 with SD 15 (most cognitive/achievement tests); a score of 85 is one SD below the mean, at about the 16th percentile.

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) uses brief, timed probes (e.g., words read correct per minute, digits correct) to monitor progress and inform instructional decisions.

RTI is a multi-tiered framework: Tier 1 universal core instruction, Tier 2 targeted small-group intervention, Tier 3 intensive individualized intervention, with progress data used for eligibility decisions.

Present levels of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP) must state the student's strengths, the parents' concerns, and how the disability affects progress in the general curriculum.

SMART IEP goals include measurable baseline, target behavior, conditions, and criteria for mastery; progress must be reported at least as often as nondisabled peers receive report cards.

Transition planning begins by age 16 (earlier in some states) and must include measurable postsecondary goals in education/training and employment, and where appropriate independent living.

Evidence-based practices for reading include explicit phonics, phonemic awareness training, repeated reading for fluency, and reciprocal teaching for comprehension.

Explicit instruction sequence: review prior knowledge, state objective, model (I do), guided practice (we do), independent practice (you do), and cumulative review.

Scaffolding fades: systematic prompting hierarchies (e.g., verbal, gestural, model, physical) are withdrawn as the student gains independence.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has three principles: multiple means of engagement (why), representation (what), and action/expression (how).

Positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) apply a three-tier continuum: universal prevention, targeted group supports, and intensive individual supports with functional behavioral assessment.

Accommodations change how content is accessed (extended time, preferential seating, text-to-speech); modifications change what is taught or the performance standard.

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

Self-monitoring, goal setting, and mnemonic strategies (e.g., keyword mnemonics) are evidence-based self-regulation and memory tools for students with learning disabilities.