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Test Items
Chapter 11: Understanding Students with Autism
Multiple Choice
1. Autism is a developmental disability that significantly affects a student’s verbal and
nonverbal communication, social interaction, and:
A. Educational performance
B. Intellectual abilities
C. Vocational skills
D. Functional skills
2. Autism is generally evident before age three and is manifest when the child resists
environmental change, displays unusual responses to sensory experiences, and:
A. Fails most academic activities
B. Engages in frequent problem behavior
C. Engages in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements
D. Resists engaging in social activities
3. What percent of students served by IDEA have autism?
A. 10%
B. 25%
C. 15%
D. 5%
4. Compared to European American children, students who are African American or Latino are:
A. Less likely to be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder
B. Twice as likely to be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder
C. Four times as likely to be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder
D. As likely to be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder
5. Each of the following is a characteristic of autism EXCEPT:
A. Sensory and movement disorders
B. Atypical social development,
C. Typical language development
D. A need for environmental predictability
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6. What percent of students with autism do not develop sufficient communication through
natural speech to meet environmental conditions?
A. About 75%
B. Nearly 33%
C. Approximately 25%
D. Up to 50%
7. Students with autism often have all of the following characteristics of communication
EXCEPT:
A. Attention focused on one topic only
B. Articulation problems
C. Repeating other people’s language
D. Interrupting when others are communicating
8. Atypical social development is characterized by each of the following EXCEPT:
A. Impaired use of nonverbal behavior
B. Lack of peer relationships
C. Too readily sharing enjoyment with others
D. Lack of reciprocity
9. Which of the following involves repeated movements and verbalizations, such as motor
movements, persistent attention to parts of objects, and strict adherence to routines?
A. Atypical social development
B. Repetitive behavior
C. Echolalia
D. Self-injurious behavior
10. When students engage in behavior that impedes their or other students’ learning, IDEA
requires educators to consider using:
A. Positive behavior support
B. Response to intervention
C. Functional behavioral analysis
D. Aversive behavior modification
11. Problem behavior seen in students with autism includes aggression, tantrums, property
destruction, and which of the following?
A. Talking back to adults
B. Self-injurious behavior
C. Echolalia
D. Repetition
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12. Problem behavior typically serves:
A. To get a student out of doing something
B. To end an activity
C. An emotional purpose
D. A communicative function
13. Abnormal posture; abnormal movements of the face, head, trunk, and limbs; abnormal eye
movements; repeated gestures and mannerisms; and awkward gait are characteristics of
which of the following?
A. Sensory disorders
B. Behavior disorders
C. Intellectual disorders
D. Movement disorders
14. Which of the following are related to food selectivity, toe walking, visual/auditory
sensitivity, and energy levels?
A. Behavior disorders
B. Sensory disorders
C. Movement disorders
D. Intellectual disorders
15. Autism is primarily:
A. Biological in origin
B. Behavioral in origin
C. Environmental in origin
D. Familial in origin
16. Each of the following is a type of nondiscriminatory evaluation procedure used after referral
to special education EXCEPT:
A. Individualized IQ test
B. Adaptive behavior scale
C. Psychological evaluation
D. Individualized achievement test
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17. Which of the following identifies specific relationships between a student’s behavior and the
circumstances that trigger those behaviors, especially those that impede a student’s ability to
learn?
A. Functional behavioral assessment
B. Positive behavior support plan
C. Psychological evaluation
D. Direct observation
18. The “payoffs” a student obtains when she demonstrates the problem behavior is the:
A. Reward
B. Punishment
C. Consequence
D. Outcome
19. Memory strategies that help students learn and retain information are:
A. Keyed strategies
B. Pegboard strategies
C. Repetition strategies
D. Mnemonic strategies
20. Which of the following teaches students to link a word to a new word or concept to help
them remember the new material?
A. Keyword strategies
B. Pegword strategies
C. Letter strategies
D. Number strategies
21. Teaching students how to deal with fights between and among friends and acquaintances and
how to help their peers do so is:
A. General friendship skills
B. Conflict resolution
C. Positive interaction style
D. Taking the perspective of others
22. A technique used to teach appropriate interactions, cool and uncool behaviors, understanding
others’ perspectives, and knowing the unwritten codes of conduct is:
A. Conflict resolution
B. Peer mediation
C. Social stories
D. Schoolwide behavior support
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23. Which of the following is a systems-level and evidenced-based method for improving valued
social and learning outcomes for all students?
A. Schoolwide positive behavior support
B. Conflict resolution
C. Problem-based learning
D. Social stories
24. Positive behavior support seeks to tailor students’ environments to their strengths, needs, and
which of the following?
A. Differences
B. Preferences
C. Family structure
D. Cultural background
25. Universal support, group support, and individual support are levels of which of the
following?
A. IEP
B. ITP
C. Individual positive behavior support
D. Schoolwide positive behavior support
26. Which of the following uses the principles of operant psychology to reduce problem behavior
or increase positive behavior?
A. Positive behavior support
B. Discrete trial training
C. Applied behavior analysis
D. Social stories
27. Which of the following uses the discriminative stimulus, the response, and the reinforcing
stimulus or consequence?
A. Positive behavior support
B. Discrete trial training
C. Applied behavior analysis
D. Social stories
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28. Which of the following is an event or action that follows your student’s response and
increases the possibility that your student will exhibit that same response again?
A. Discriminative stimulus
B. Response
C. Reinforcing stimulus
D. Consequence
29. What percent of students with autism spend 80-100% of their time in general education
settings?
A. 10%
B. 50%
C. 18%
D. 36%
30. An accommodation that is fairly unique to students with autism is:
A. Use of a familiar examiner
B. Use of a familiar testing site
C. More than doubling extended time
D. Using questions with only one format
Praxis style questions
1. Joslyn has severe autism and exhibits several repetitive self-injurious behaviors. To address
these behaviors, Joslyn’s parents and teachers are engaging in a functional behavioral
assessment. Which of the following is an intended outcome of this assessment process?
A. To determine if Joslyn qualifies for special education with the label of autism.
B. To determine the purpose of Joslyn’s self-injurious behaviors.
C. To develop a system of punishing Joslyn when she exhibits such behaviors.
D. To increase Joslyn’s academic skills so the negative behaviors will subside.
2. A 14-year-old boy with mild autism would be LEAST likely to have which of the following
components in his curriculum?
A. Functional academics on how to read bus schedules
B. Social-skills training in how to join a conversation
C. Reading instruction in a second grade text
D. Career interest development
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3. Lauren is a student in your class who has autism. During group activities or unstructured
time, Lauren becomes very antagonistic with her peers and teacher. What would be a good
course of action to help Lauren with this behavior?
A. Remove Lauren from the classroom during these times.
B. Use social stories to help her learn ways to concentrate in noisy environments.
C. Use mnemonic strategies to help her control her behavior.
D. Discuss Lauren’s behavior with her and set up a plan for consequences when the
behavior occurs.
Short Answer
1. Explain the relationships among the terms autism, pervasive developmental disorders (PDD),
autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and Asperger syndrome.
2. List 3 of common attributes of communication of children with autism.
3. Explain social stories and the different types of sentences used in them.
4. List (and briefly describe) the five instructional areas for promoting friendships.
5. Describe schoolwide positive behavior support and how it helps all students.
Essay
1. Describe characteristics of social development exhibited by children with autism.
2. Describe repetitive and problem behaviors exhibited by some students with autism and suggest
possible explanations for those behaviors.
3. Discuss the causes of autism, and provide an historical perspective on causes.
4. Explain functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and its purposes.
5. Describe applied behavior analysis (ABA) and discrete trial training.
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Chapter 11
Multiple Choice
Praxis
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Short Answer
Essay
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