Primary Special Education

Adaptive Development

This domain focuses on self-care skills like eating, dressing, going to the bathroom and etc. and awareness of surroundings and ability to keep oneself safe. skills that enable individuals to function independently in their daily lives and adapt to various social and environmental demands.

Cognitive Development

Refers to the growth of a Childs ability to think, reason, and understand their world. Development of knowledge, skills, solving abilities.

Spatial reasoning

is the ability to mentally visualize and manipulate objects in three dimensions. It involves understanding spatial relationships, visualizing how objects change shape or position, and solving problems using spatial information. This skill is crucial for various tasks, from everyday activities to STEM fields. 

Stages of Cognitive Development: Sensorimotor stage

(birth to 2 years) Infants learn through their senses and actions, developing object permanence (understanding that objects exist even when they are not visible)

Stages of Cognitive Development:

Pre-operational stage

(2 to 7 years) children develop symbolic thinking, language skills, and begin to engage in pretend play. However, they are still egocentric and have difficulty with logical reasoning.

Stages of Cognitive Development:

Concrete Operational stage

(7 to 11 years) children develop logical thinking abilities related to concrete objects and events. they can understand concepts like conservation *that the quantity of something remains the same despite changes in appearance)

Stages of Cognitive Development:

Formal Operational stage

(12 years and up) Adolescents develop the ability to think abstractly, hypothetically, and engage in more complex problem-solving and reasoning.

Social-emotional development

The process through which children learn to understand and manage their emotions, build relationships, and navigate social situations.

Piagets Cognitive Development Theory

This theory outlines stages of cognitive development emphasizing how children actively construct knowledge through exploration and interaction with thier environment. Educators can use this knowledge to create approrate learning experiences that match a child’s devleopmental stage.

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory

This theory highlights the importance of social interaction and culture in cognitive development, suggesting that learning is a social process facilitated by more knowledgeable others. educators cause use this to foster collaboration, peer learning, and culturally responsive teaching practices.

Erikson’s Psychosocial Development Theory

This theory focuses on the social and emotional development of individuals throughout their lifespan, emphasizing the impact of social interactions on identify formation. understanding this theory helps educators create supportive learning environment that promote positive social and emotional growth

Bruner’s Theory of Cognitive Development

This theory is emphasized by the importance of active learning and scaffolding, suggesting that students can learn complex concepts with appropriate support and guidance. This theory encourages educators to provide students with opporuintites to explore, experiment, and construct their own learning.

Attachment Theory

This theory focuses on the importance of early parent-child relationships in shaping social and emotional development. Understanding attachment styles helps educators create safe and secure learning envinroment where students feel comfortable taking risks and engaging in learning.

Interconnectedness

Family Members are emotionally and behaviorally linked, meaning that a change in one persons’s behavior can trigger changes in others.

Validity

An assessment that accurately reflects the specific knowledge, skills, or abilities that the teacher is trying to assess.

For example: a math test designed to assess students’ understanding of algebra should not include questions that primary test reading comphrension.

Reliability

Refers to the consistency and dependability of an assessment. Produces similar results if administered multiple times unders similar conditions.

For example: if aa teachers grading is inconsistent their assessments lack ______ standardized tests are designed to be ____ with consistent scoring across different administrations.

Fairness

Assessment does not discriminate against any group of students based on factors unrelated to the construct being measured. This is ensures that all students have an equal opportunity to demonstrated their knowledge and skills on an assessment. This includes considering factors like language, cultural background and learning styles.

For example:

-a math test written in overly complex language might unfairly disadvantage students with weaker reading skills.

-A group project with unequal access to resources could be unfair to some sudents.

Diagnostic Assessments

Evaluations used to identify a students strengths, weaknesses, and knowledge gaos before or during instruction. They help teachers understand what students already know and can do, enabling them to tailor their teaching to meet individual needs, These assessments are typically low-skates, meaning they don’t impact a students grade.

A pre- test

A specific type of diagnostic assessment focused on measuring prior knowledge before instruction,while diagnostic assessments, in general, aim to identify both strengths and weaknesses to inform teaching strategies. 

Formative assessments

Evaluations used during instruction to monitor student learning and provide feedback. (exit tickets)

Summative Assessments

Evaluations conducted at the end of a unit or course to measure overall learning and achievement, These assessments summarize what a student has learned.

example: final exams, standardized tests, end of the year projects and major papers.

Screening

The use of a brief standardized assessments to identify students who many be at risk for academic or behavioral difficulties, or who may need additional support.

Reading screenings

Assesses foundational reading skills like phonemic awarness, phonics, and fluency to idneitfy students who may need support with reading development

Math screenings

Evaluate basic math skills like number sense, computation, and problem solving to identify students who may need additional math instruction.

Behavioral screenings

Assess social-emotional skills and behaviors to identify students who may need support with social skills, self-regulation, or behavior management

Holistic Rubrics

Provide a single score base on an overall impression of the work

Analytic Rubric

Provide separate scores for each criterion,, offering more detailed feedback

Developmental Rubrics

Focus on assessing the development of skills or abilities over time. rather than just the final product or performace.

qualitative observation

Research method that relies on subjective sensory experiences (sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing) to gather data about a situation. in education this might involve observing a classroom, student interactions, or teaching strategies. Instead of using numbers or measurements this observation focuses on describing the qualities and characteristics of what is observed

example: when measuring student engagement, observing how students participate in class. (susie is very engagement in the content, she raises her hand a few times to answers the teachers questions)

Quantitative observation

Involves collecting and analyzing numerical data to understand and evaluate various aspects of the educational process. This can include measuring students performance on tests, tracking attendance, analyzing tine spent on learning task

Universal Screening

Screening givien to everyone to dsee which students need additonal support

Prereferral

Purpose is to provide interventions and support to students within the general education setting to address academic or behavior concerns before a formal referral for special education.

Process: team (gen ed teachers, special ed teachers, admin, and sometimes other support staff) collaborated to develop and implement interventions, monior progress and make adjustments.

Referral

Purpose: to formally request a comprehensive evaluation for special education services.

Process: when prereferral interventions are not successful, a formal referral is made, typically in writing, to the schools special education department.

WHO can refer? parents, teachers, school staff, and sometimes outside agencies or medial professionals can intitate a referral.

FBA (functional behavior assessment)

a systematic process used to understand why a specific behavior occurs