Praxis Special Education: Severe to Profound flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Severe to profound disability

A disability involving substantial cognitive impairment and adaptive behavior deficits that require extensive, pervasive supports across home, school, and community settings throughout life.

Multiple disabilities

Concurrent impairments, such as intellectual disability with motor or sensory loss, whose combination creates educational needs that a program for one disability alone cannot address.

Deaf-blindness

A combined vision and hearing loss so severe that neither sense serves as a primary learning channel, requiring tactile, residual-sense, and object-based instructional approaches.

Cortical visual impairment

A brain-based visual impairment producing variable and inconsistent visual responses, not explained by eye structure, and often worsened by fatigue, stress, or overstimulation.

Cerebral palsy

A nonprogressive motor disorder resulting from early brain injury that may co-occur with intellectual disability, seizures, or sensory loss but does not itself determine cognitive level.

Alternate assessment participation

Assessment based on alternate achievement standards, selected by the IEP team for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and documented in the IEP.

Dynamic assessment

A test-teach-retest procedure in which the examiner measures gain after instruction, estimating learning potential and responsiveness rather than a static ability score.

Functional behavioral assessment

A process identifying antecedents, consequences, and the function of a behavior, which then informs a behavior intervention plan and progress monitoring.

Ecological inventory

An assessment that documents the demands and supports of a student's actual environments, used when norm-referenced tests are floor-bound or invalid for the learner.

Measurable IEP goal

A goal stating the target skill, the conditions under which it occurs, and the criterion for mastery, linked to grade-level or alternate academic standards.

Task analysis

Breaking a target skill into ordered component steps so each step can be taught, prompted, and measured separately with data.

Embedded instruction

Inserting learning trials for IEP goals into natural classroom routines such as meals, transitions, and hygiene, increasing practice without adding separate instructional time.

Partial participation

A principle allowing a student to perform selected steps of an activity with support rather than being excluded because full independent performance is not possible.

Universal design for learning

A lesson-design framework providing multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression so students access content through their strongest channels.

Discrete trial training

An intensive teaching format with a clear instruction, a prompted or independent response, and a consequence, often followed by naturalistic instruction for generalization.

Time delay procedure

A procedure inserting a brief delay between instruction and prompt, either fixed (constant) or gradually increased (progressive), to shift control to the natural cue.

Errorless learning

Arranging prompts so errors are unlikely, often through most-to-least prompting, which suits learners who do not readily learn from correction.

Pivotal response training

A naturalistic intervention targeting motivation, multiple cues, self-management, and self-initiation, delivered in child-selected contexts with reinforcing materials.

Behavioral skills training

A procedure teaching new skills through instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback, commonly used for safety and self-advocacy skills.

Programmed generalization

Deliberately teaching and reinforcing a skill across settings, people, and materials until it occurs in new contexts without extra support.

Aided language modeling

A partner strategy in which the communication partner activates or points to symbols on an AAC system while speaking, providing receptive input in the student's expressive mode.

Core vocabulary

A small set of high-frequency words such as go, stop, more, want, and finished that yields more communicative power than many context-specific fringe nouns.

Functional communication response

A recognizable, efficient request taught to replace a problem behavior and serve the same function, such as asking for a break or help.

Partner-assisted scanning

A selection method in which a partner scans options and the student signals choice with a reliable movement when the desired item is presented.

Peer-mediated intervention

Training peers to prompt, model, and reinforce social initiations with a student, increasing social interaction within structured play and classroom routines.

Behavior function

The reinforcer maintaining a behavior, typically attention, escape, access to tangibles, or sensory/automatic reinforcement, identified before a behavior plan is written.

Replacement behavior

A socially acceptable skill taught to serve the same function as a problem behavior and to be more efficient for the student to use.

Seizure action plan

A written protocol listing recognized seizure types, rescue medication steps, timing, and criteria for calling emergency services, with staff trained to implement it.

Positioning and handling plan

Therapy-derived instructions for seating, head control, and transfers implemented by all staff to prevent injury and support attention and participation.

Prior written notice

A required written notice to parents before the school proposes or refuses to change identification, evaluation, placement, or services, supporting procedural safeguards.

Independent educational evaluation

An evaluation by a qualified examiner outside the school, which parents may request at public expense when they disagree with the school's evaluation.

Paraeducator supervision

A model in which paraeducators deliver instruction under teacher direction while the certified teacher retains responsibility for planning, data design, and progress monitoring.