RSED 3000 Exam 2 – Practice Questions, Study Guide & Special Education Exam
Review 2026
IDEA Definition of Autism - ANS ✔✔i) Autism means a developmental disability affecting verbal
and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that
adversely affects a child's educational performance.
ii) Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and
stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and
unusual responses to sensory experiences.
iii) Autism does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily
because the child has a serious emotional disturbance.
APA Definition of Autism - ANS ✔✔Autistic disorder is marked by 3 defining features with onset
before age 3: (a) qualitative impairment of social interaction (e.g., lack of social or emotional
reciprocity and affect); (b) qualitative impairment of communication (e.g., delay or total
absence of spoken language); and (c) restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of
behavior, interests and activities (e.g., stereotypic or repetitive speech or motor behavior,
excessive adherence to routines, preoccupation with unusual objects).
Asperger's Syndrome - ANS ✔✔Impairments in all social areas, particularly an inability to
understand how to interact socially. These children do not have general language delay, and
most have average or above average intelligence.
Childhood Disintegrative Disorder - ANS ✔✔Shares characteristics with autistic disorder, but
doesn't begin until after the age of 2 and sometimes not until age 10
Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) - ANS ✔✔Diagnosis
given to children who meet some, but not all, of the criteria for autistic disorder
Proposed DSM-5 definition of ASD - ANS ✔✔DSM-5 combines two core deficit areas -
impairments in social interaction and impairments in communication -
,into a single domain of social/communication deficits and subsumes Asperger's disorder into a
single diagnostic category of autism spectrum disorder.
A child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder will be ascribed one of three levels of severity
based on the amount of support required.
What is the percentage of students with ASD who don't speak? - ANS ✔✔50%
Echolalia - ANS ✔✔Verbatim repetitions of what people around them have said; common
communication deficit for people with autism
Characteristics of ASD - ANS ✔✔1) Impaired social relationships
o Extreme aloofness
o Deficits in joint attention
2) Communication and language deficits
o About half of children with autism do not speak
o Echolalia is common among those who do talk
o Concrete or literal processing of verbal information is common
3) Repetitive, ritualistic, and unusual behavior patterns
o Some children exhibit stereotypy - a pattern of persistent and repetitive behaviors
Insistence on sameness and perseveration
o Children with autism often have issues about routines
4) Unusual responsiveness to sensory stimuli
o About 70-80% exhibit abnormal reactions to sensory stimulation - hypersensitivity or
hyposensitivity
5) Varying levels of intellectual functioning, uneven skill development
o 70 and 80% also meet the diagnostic criteria for intellectual disabilities
o About 10 to 15% exhibit "splinter skills" - areas of relatively superior performance that are
unexpected compared to other domains of functioning
,o About 10% have savant syndrome - an extraordinary ability or knowledge in a particular area
o Many exhibit overselectivity - focusing on a minute feature of an object/person rather than
the whole
6) Problem behavior
o Some students exhibit property destruction, aggression toward others, and even self-injury
o Many experience a variety of sleep problems
o Some have extremely narrow food preferences
o Some engage in pica - the compulsive, recurrent consumption of nonfood items
o The frequent, high-intensity, and sometimes dangerous behavior problems of some children
with autism creates stress on parents and can lead to family dysfunction if not brought under
control
Percentage of ASD students who meet standards for ID - ANS ✔✔70 to 80%
Characteristics of Asperger's Syndrome - ANS ✔✔o Intense interest in a particular subject
o Clumsiness, difficulty with fine-motor and/or gross-motor activities
o Inflexible adherence to routines
o Fascination with maps, globes, and routes
o Superior route memory, tendency to amass many related facts
o Speech and language impairments in the areas of semantics, pragmatics, and prosody;
pedantic, odd speech patterns; formal style of speaking
o Difficulty understanding others' feelings
o Extensive vocabulary
o Perfectionistic, frustrated when asked to submit work one feels is below standard
o Difficulty developing and maintaining friendships
Prevalence of ASD - ANS ✔✔Recent estimates - 1 in 110 births (30-121 cases per 10,000 births)
, Rise in prevalence
Boys affected 4 to 5 times more often
Fastest growing category in special education
Idiopathic ASD - ANS ✔✔Cases of autism for which the etiology, or cause, is unknown (90-95%
of cases)
Genetic risk factors for ASD - ANS ✔✔Autism clearly has a genetic component
Complex inheritance - multiple genetic factors involved
Parents who have a child with autism have a 19% chance overall of having a second child with
autism
Basic Screening Instruments for ASD - ANS ✔✔1. Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT)
2. Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT)
3. Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ)
4. Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ)
5. Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS2)
6. Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule
(ADOS)
7. Asperger Syndrome Diagnostic Scale (ASDS)
ABA - ANS ✔✔Applied Behavioral Analysis
ABA provides a scientific approach to designing, conducting, and evaluating instruction based
on empirically verified principles describing functional relationships between events in the
environment and behavior change. No other treatment has the amount or quality of scientific
research attesting to its effectiveness. ABA uses behavioral principles such as positive
reinforcement to teach children skills in a planned, systematic manner and gives opportunities
to practice these skills in different settings.
Review 2026
IDEA Definition of Autism - ANS ✔✔i) Autism means a developmental disability affecting verbal
and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that
adversely affects a child's educational performance.
ii) Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and
stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and
unusual responses to sensory experiences.
iii) Autism does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily
because the child has a serious emotional disturbance.
APA Definition of Autism - ANS ✔✔Autistic disorder is marked by 3 defining features with onset
before age 3: (a) qualitative impairment of social interaction (e.g., lack of social or emotional
reciprocity and affect); (b) qualitative impairment of communication (e.g., delay or total
absence of spoken language); and (c) restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of
behavior, interests and activities (e.g., stereotypic or repetitive speech or motor behavior,
excessive adherence to routines, preoccupation with unusual objects).
Asperger's Syndrome - ANS ✔✔Impairments in all social areas, particularly an inability to
understand how to interact socially. These children do not have general language delay, and
most have average or above average intelligence.
Childhood Disintegrative Disorder - ANS ✔✔Shares characteristics with autistic disorder, but
doesn't begin until after the age of 2 and sometimes not until age 10
Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) - ANS ✔✔Diagnosis
given to children who meet some, but not all, of the criteria for autistic disorder
Proposed DSM-5 definition of ASD - ANS ✔✔DSM-5 combines two core deficit areas -
impairments in social interaction and impairments in communication -
,into a single domain of social/communication deficits and subsumes Asperger's disorder into a
single diagnostic category of autism spectrum disorder.
A child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder will be ascribed one of three levels of severity
based on the amount of support required.
What is the percentage of students with ASD who don't speak? - ANS ✔✔50%
Echolalia - ANS ✔✔Verbatim repetitions of what people around them have said; common
communication deficit for people with autism
Characteristics of ASD - ANS ✔✔1) Impaired social relationships
o Extreme aloofness
o Deficits in joint attention
2) Communication and language deficits
o About half of children with autism do not speak
o Echolalia is common among those who do talk
o Concrete or literal processing of verbal information is common
3) Repetitive, ritualistic, and unusual behavior patterns
o Some children exhibit stereotypy - a pattern of persistent and repetitive behaviors
Insistence on sameness and perseveration
o Children with autism often have issues about routines
4) Unusual responsiveness to sensory stimuli
o About 70-80% exhibit abnormal reactions to sensory stimulation - hypersensitivity or
hyposensitivity
5) Varying levels of intellectual functioning, uneven skill development
o 70 and 80% also meet the diagnostic criteria for intellectual disabilities
o About 10 to 15% exhibit "splinter skills" - areas of relatively superior performance that are
unexpected compared to other domains of functioning
,o About 10% have savant syndrome - an extraordinary ability or knowledge in a particular area
o Many exhibit overselectivity - focusing on a minute feature of an object/person rather than
the whole
6) Problem behavior
o Some students exhibit property destruction, aggression toward others, and even self-injury
o Many experience a variety of sleep problems
o Some have extremely narrow food preferences
o Some engage in pica - the compulsive, recurrent consumption of nonfood items
o The frequent, high-intensity, and sometimes dangerous behavior problems of some children
with autism creates stress on parents and can lead to family dysfunction if not brought under
control
Percentage of ASD students who meet standards for ID - ANS ✔✔70 to 80%
Characteristics of Asperger's Syndrome - ANS ✔✔o Intense interest in a particular subject
o Clumsiness, difficulty with fine-motor and/or gross-motor activities
o Inflexible adherence to routines
o Fascination with maps, globes, and routes
o Superior route memory, tendency to amass many related facts
o Speech and language impairments in the areas of semantics, pragmatics, and prosody;
pedantic, odd speech patterns; formal style of speaking
o Difficulty understanding others' feelings
o Extensive vocabulary
o Perfectionistic, frustrated when asked to submit work one feels is below standard
o Difficulty developing and maintaining friendships
Prevalence of ASD - ANS ✔✔Recent estimates - 1 in 110 births (30-121 cases per 10,000 births)
, Rise in prevalence
Boys affected 4 to 5 times more often
Fastest growing category in special education
Idiopathic ASD - ANS ✔✔Cases of autism for which the etiology, or cause, is unknown (90-95%
of cases)
Genetic risk factors for ASD - ANS ✔✔Autism clearly has a genetic component
Complex inheritance - multiple genetic factors involved
Parents who have a child with autism have a 19% chance overall of having a second child with
autism
Basic Screening Instruments for ASD - ANS ✔✔1. Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT)
2. Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT)
3. Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ)
4. Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ)
5. Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS2)
6. Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule
(ADOS)
7. Asperger Syndrome Diagnostic Scale (ASDS)
ABA - ANS ✔✔Applied Behavioral Analysis
ABA provides a scientific approach to designing, conducting, and evaluating instruction based
on empirically verified principles describing functional relationships between events in the
environment and behavior change. No other treatment has the amount or quality of scientific
research attesting to its effectiveness. ABA uses behavioral principles such as positive
reinforcement to teach children skills in a planned, systematic manner and gives opportunities
to practice these skills in different settings.
