Deck 10: Language and Learning Disorders

Question 1

One major theme underlying the modern field of language and learning disorders is an interest in how well individuals function in some intellectual/communication areas relative to other areas.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Although learning problems have long been recognized, it was not until the 1960s that a field of study grew around the concept of specific learning disabilities.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 was renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The definition of learning disability used by the federal government includes youngsters whose disability appears to be caused by economic disadvantage.

Question 5

The most common way to identify a learning disability is to compare general intellectual functioning and functioning in a specific achievement area.

Question 6

There is little variability in how states implement Response to Intervention programs.

Question 7

Semantics of a language refers to meanings in the language.

Question 8

By 2 years of age, most children speak in phrases or sentences of two or more words.

Question 9

Prevalence of language disorder is higher in girls than in boys, but the opposite is true for reading disorder.

Question 10

It is generally thought that receptive-expressive language disorder is a less severe disorder than expressive disorder.

Question 11

Language disorders and reading disabilities appear to be unrelated.

Question 12

Reading disabilities are differentiated by deficits in word level reading versus comprehension.

Question 13

Samuel Orton emphasized perceptual rather than language deficits as underlying reading problems.

Question 14

Recognizing that the word "mad" has three sounds is an example of phonological decoding.

Question 15

Phonological deficits are evident in all cases of reading disability.

Question 16

The male to female ratio for reading disability diagnosis in clinic samples is 3 or 4 to 1.

Question 17

Males with comorbid reading disability and ADHD are more likely to exhibit ODD and CD than males with only reading disability.

Question 18

Transcription involves putting ideas into written form.

Question 19

When adding 2 + 3, children will start with counting all (1- 2- 3- 4- 5) and develop into counting on (start with 2 and then add 3- 4- 5).

Question 20

Research indicates that males are more likely to have math disabilities than girls.

Question 21

Conti-Ramsden and Botting, 2004, found that 11 year-olds with language impairments were 3 times as likely to experience victimization more than once a week than typical 11 year-olds.

Question 22

It is unlikely that motivation plays a role in learning disabilities because children's beliefs and attitudes are unrelated to academic success.

Question 23

The right and left planum temporal areas of the brain are usually equal in size in persons in the general population but are asymmetrical in size in the presence of language and learning disorders.

Question 24

Research indicates that interventions have little impact on brain functioning.

Question 25

A twin study on language disorders found a concordance rate of 75% in MZ pairs.

Question 26

The heritability rate of reading disorders has been estimated at .60.

Question 27

The concordance rate for a math disability is higher in MZ vs. DZ twins.

Question 28

Data from behavior genetic studies indicate that environmental influences on language and learning disorders are unlikely.

Question 29

Study habits, motivation, and self-esteem are important factors when evaluating a student for language or learning disorders.

Question 30

Response to intervention is often conceptualized as a prevention effort with universal, secondary, and tertiary prevention components,

Question 31

Articulation and expressive skills are more easily remediated than receptive skills.

Question 32

The Fast ForWord program, designed to improve the speed of auditory processing, has proven to be highly effective in recent meta analytic studies.

Question 33

According to the meta-analysis conducted by Swanson and Hoskyn, a combination of direct instruction and strategy instruction is the most effective approach for treating learning problems.

Question 34

Although direct instruction has been shown to be effective in treating learning disorders, cognitive approaches have been shown to be surprisingly ineffective.

Question 35

According to data from the U.S. Department of Education (2007), approximately 41% of persons aged 3 to 21 years who received services had specific learning disabilities.

Question 36

A majority of youth with learning disabilities (70%) are in full time special education classes.

Question 37

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (PL 94-142) has been amended several times over the years and is now retitled the

A)Education for All Disabled Children Act.
B)Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
C)Individualized Education for those with Disabilities Act.
D)Education for Individuals with Disabilities Act.

Question 38

Which condition is excluded from the federal government's definition of specific learning disabilities?

A) Learning problems due to emotional disturbance
B) Learning problems due to brain dysfunction
C) Learning problems due to perceptual handicaps
D) Learning problems due to dyslexia

Question 39

A major criticism of excluding children from being diagnosed with learning disabilities on the basis of primary emotional disturbance or economic disadvantage is that

A) these children may create problems for students in the general education classroom.
B) it is clearly a way that the government avoids paying more for special education.
C) it is often difficult to determine whether these other factors lead to learning disabilities or vice versa.
D) these children need the label in order to receive benefits or services.

Question 40

When learning disabilities are identified by a child's performing below expected grade or age,

A) the child must be at least two grades or years behind what is expected.
B) the child must be at least three grades or years behind what is expected.
C) a large discrepancy with peers appears more serious for younger than older children.
D) a large discrepancy with peers appears more serious for older than younger children.

Question 41

Which of the following is true regarding the Response to Intervention (RTI) approach?

A) Children are exposed to interventions before they are diagnosed.
B) The 2004 reauthorization of IDEA discouraged the use of the RTI approach.
C) The impact of poor instruction cannot be eliminated.
D) Professionals agree on how the approach should be conceptualized.

Question 42

Overall, children with learning disabilities tend to perform ____ on tests of general intelligence.

A) Markedly below average
B) In the low average range
C) In the high average range
D) Markedly above average

Question 43

Phonemes are to _____ as graphemes are to _____.

A) meanings; form
B) form; meanings
C) sound; letters
D) letters; sound

Question 44

The pragmatics of a language refers to

A) meanings of the language.
B) the sounds of the language and rules for combining them.
C) the use of the language in a social context.
D) the organization of words into phrases and sentences.

Question 45

Carlos makes incorrect sounds and at times omits sounds when speaking. When given a choice between "boat" or "bowl," he does not know which word rhymes with "coat". His most likely diagnosis would be

A) morphological disorder.
B) expressive language disorder.
C) receptive language disorder.
D) phonological disorder.

Question 46

Jimmy has been diagnosed with expressive language disorder. We would thus expect Jimmy

A) to have problems in understanding what others say to him.
B) to speak in simplified, sometimes incorrect, sentences.
C) to have age-appropriate vocabulary.
D) to respond atypically to the speech of others, almost as if he were deaf.

Question 47

With regard to language expression and reception,

A) expression develops earlier than reception.
B) expression and reception develop at about the same time.
C) children with expressive problems necessarily have receptive problems.
D) children with receptive problems usually have expressive problems.

Question 48

Which of the following is an example of a receptive language skill?

A) Babbling
B) Combining vowel sounds
C) Using pronouns
D) Following commands

Question 49

Risk for continuing language problems increases across which order of language disorders?

A) Simple phonological, receptive-expressive, expressive
B) Expressive, receptive-expressive, simple phonological
C) Expressive, simple phonological, receptive-expressive
D) Simple phonological, expressive, receptive-expressive

Question 50

Which is true with regard to the prevalence of language disorders?

A) Prevalence for specific language impairments ranges from 3 to 7 percent.
B) Prevalence is equal across socioeconomic groups.
C) Language disorders usually appear around age 8 or 9.
D) Phonological problems are rare and typically persist into adulthood.

Question 51

With regard to the psychological deficits underlying specific language disabilities,

A) executive functions have been most investigated.
B) auditory processing and memory for sound are implicated.
C) it is likely that one deficit is responsible for all the different types of language problems.
D) most language disorders appear to be caused by underlying motivational deficits.

Question 52

Which term refers to a specific mathematics disability?

A) Dysnumeria
B) Dysgraphia
C) Aphasia
D) Dyscalculia

Question 53

Which of the following is a DSM-IV criterion for a learning disability?

A) A discrepancy between a standardized measure of language and of reading skills
B) A discrepancy between a standardized measure of intelligence and a specific achievement
C) A deficit in executive functions and attention is clearly evident
D) A discrepancy that is caused by a sensory deficit

Question 54

Early explanations of dyslexia emphasized __________ deficits; current explanations emphasize _________ deficits.

A) hearing; visual
B) visual; hearing
C) visual; language
D) language; visual

Question 55

Investigations of reading, especially of learning to read, emphasize the critical role of

A) syntax.
B) phonological processing.
C) pragmatics.
D) semantic processing.

Question 56

Gina has difficulties in recognizing that words can be broken into sound segments. Gina appears to have a problem in

A) semantic processing.
B) phonological awareness.
C) short-term memory for sound.
D) pragmatic intentions.

Question 57

Jill can decode and recognize single words. She can read aloud an entire passage of text; however, she is unable to accurately answer questions about what she has just read. Jill is likely experiencing

A) dyslexia.
B) deficits in phonological decoding.
C) expressive language disorder.
D) problems with comprehension.

Question 58

In the Lipka, Lesaux and Sieqel (2006) study, youth with late emerging learning problems

A)had mastered early phonological processing skills, but lost the ability as they aged.
B)had masked early deficits by learning to sight read words.
C)made up a small percentage (less than 10%) of the sample.
D)demonstrated motivational deficits.

Question 59

The prevalence of reading disorders in the school population is estimated as

A) 1 to 5 percent.
B) 10 to 15 percent.
C) 15 to 20 percent.
D) 20 to 25 percent.

Question 60

With regard to the developmental outcome for specific childhood reading disabilities,

A) most all cases of reading problems are remediated by adolescence.
B) phonological problems are usually remediated by adolescence.
C) reading problems tend to persist into later years but there is individual variation.
D) the "Mathew Effect" indicates that weak readers tend to catch up to strong readers over time.

Question 61

Karen has difficulty understanding the goal of her classroom writing assignments. She cannot seem to develop a plan or organize her written assignments. She does not seem to see her mistakes so she turns in work that needs significant revision even after several drafts. Her sentence structure is poor and she rarely divides her work into paragraphs. What is her likely diagnosis?

A) Writing disorder, text generation
B) Dyslexia
C) Writing disorder, transcription
D) Aphasia

Question 62

The most appropriate time for identifying writing disorder probably is

A) when the child begins to try to draw and color.
B) when the child enters school, that is, about five years of age.
C) about 8 years of age.
D) about 14 years of age.

Question 63

Which of the following is true regarding math disabilities?

A)Children with math disabilities are well researched.
B)Math disabilities co-occur with reading disabilities about 10% of the time.
C)The acquisition of arithmetic skills is highly sensitive to the quality of instruction in the classroom.
D)Math disabilities are the least likely of all disabilities to persist into adulthood

Question 64

Which is true of peer evaluations of learning disabled (LD) children relative to evaluations of non-learning disabled children?

A) LD children are rejected or neglected
B) LD children are rated as more popular
C) Research finding have been inconsistent
D) LD children are evaluated almost identically to non-LD children

Question 65

Jack believes that he will fail at most academic tasks. He tends to give up easily on tasks and considers himself "stupid". He repeatedly states, "School is just not my thing. What is the point of trying?" This is evidence for

A) a mastery orientation.
B) hopelessness.
C) conduct disorder.
D) a helplessness orientation.

Question 66

The planum temporale is located in which part of the brain?

A) the hypothalamus
B) the temporal and parietal lobes
C) the temporal lobes and cerebellum
D) the thalamus

Question 67

Which of the following is true regarding language and reading and brain function?

A) Broca's area is related to phonological processing.
B) Wernicke's plays a central role in rapid word recognition.
C) Strong readers rely more on the back areas of the brain when reading.
D) In individuals with reading disabilities, the posterior left side of the brain appears to be overactive when engaging in reading tasks.

Question 68

With regard to genetic influence,

A) both single-gene and multiple-gene effects may be involved in the transmission of language and reading disabilities.
B) most cases of reading disability are known to be caused by chromosome 21 abnormalities.
C) reading but not language disabilities run in families.
D) language but not reading disabilities run in families.

Question 69

Which of the following is true regarding the FOXP2 story?

A) The family members with the mutation all exhibited verbal dyspraxia.
B) The family members with the mutation had higher nonverbal IQ scores than family members without the mutation.
C) The mutation was on chromosome 2.
D) FOXP2 has since been found to be related to other speech and language disorders.

Question 70

Assessment of learning disabilities

A) usually occurs in mental health clinics and hospitals.
B) usually occurs by preschool age.
C) requires a battery of tests to evaluate general intelligence and specific academic skills and achievements.
D) typically has placed the most emphasis on evaluating the child's motivation and social environment.

Question 71

Which of the following is true regarding the prevention of language and learning disabilities?

A) It is of minor concern since most of America's youth acquire the necessary learning skills.
B) Earlier treatment is more successful than later treatment.
C) Currently most disabilities are identified by age 4.
D) Children who are late talkers or exhibit other problems early on are unable to develop normal language skills.

Question 72

The psychoeducational treatment approach to LD

A) aimed to improve the child's social behavior so that classroom learning was facilitated.
B) emphasized direct practice on academic tasks.
C) focused on relieving perceptual and cognitive deficits thought to underlie LD.
D) was proven to be the most effective treatment for LD.

Question 73

Which treatment model has been the most successful in remediating learning disabilities?

A) The medical model that recommends stimulant medication
B) The medical model that recommends a combination of stimulant medication and vitamins
C) Direct instruction and cognitive approaches
D) The perceptual-motor model

Question 74

Swanson and Hoskyn's meta-analysis of the effectiveness of interventions for learning disabilities found that

A) direct instruction was the most effective.
B) strategy instruction was the most effective.
C) the combination of direct instruction and strategy instruction was the most effective.
D) adding direct instruction to strategy instruction did not increase effectiveness.

Question 75

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act was enacted in what year?

A) 1975
B) 1985
C) 1960
D) 1965

Question 76

Which of the following is not mandated by IDEA for the education of students with handicaps?

A) All children should receive the most appropriate education.
B) Parents have rights to participate in decisions regarding their children's education.
C) Educational plans must be constructed for all students.
D) All children must be educated in general education classrooms.

Question 77

The concept of inclusion as applied to youngsters with disabilities argues that children are best educated in

A) educational settings best matched to their specific needs.
B) resource rooms.
C) general education classrooms.
D) educational settings that have special education teachers.

Question 78

Currently, most students with learning disabilities receive their educational experiences in

A) general education classes and resource classes.
B) separate classes.
C) classes in special schools.
D) after school instruction facilities.

Question 79

Which is true with regard to the education of students with learning disabilities?

A) Included students with disabilities do not do as well on standardized achievement tests as students in special education classrooms.
B) Students with disabilities have lower self-esteem than students without disabilities, and that can be exacerbated by inclusion.
C) It has been documented that non-disabled students have poorer outcomes when they share the classroom with learning disabled students.
D) General education teachers are often well prepared for inclusion practices.

Question 80

Discuss criticisms of the definition of specific learning disabilities that is employed by the federal government.