CH. 9: KEY TERMS

Question 1

Asperger syndrome

Answer 1

a relatively mild autism spectrum disorder in which the child has relatively good verbal language skills, milder nonverbal language problems, and a restricted range of interests and relationships.

Question 2

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Answer 2

a disability in which children consistently show one or more of the following characteristics: (1) inattention, (2) hyperactivity, and (3) impulsivity.

Question 3

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)

Answer 3

conditions ranging from the severe disorder labeled autistic disorder to the milder disorder called Asperger syndrome. Children with these disorders are characterized by problems in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors.

Question 4

Autistic disorder

Answer 4

a severe autism spectrum disorder that has its onset in the first three years of life and includes deficiencies in social relationships, abnormalities in communication, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior.

Question 5

Brainstorming

Question 6

Convergent thinking

Answer 6

thinking that produces one correct answer and is characteristic of the kind of thinking tested by standardized intelligence tests.

Question 7

Creative thinking

Answer 7

the ability to think in novel and unusual ways and to come up with unique solutions to problems.

Question 8

Critical thinking

Answer 8

thinking reflectively and productively, as well as evaluating evidence.

Question 9

Cultural-familial intellectual disability

Answer 9

condition in which there is no evidence of organic brain damage but the individual’s IQ is between 55 and 70.

Question 10

Culture-fair tests

Answer 10

tests of intelligence that are designed to be free of cultural bias.

Question 11

Divergent thinking

Answer 11

thinking that produces many answers to the same question and is characteristic of creativity.

Question 12

Dyscalculia

Answer 12

also known as developmental arithmetic disorder; a learning disability that involves difficulty in math computation.

Question 13

Dyslexia

Answer 13

a category of learning disabilities involving a severe impairment in the ability to read and spell.

Question 14

Elaboration

Answer 14

an important strategy for remembering that involves engaging in more extensive processing information.

Question 15

Emotional and behavioral disorders

Answer 15

serious, persistent problems that involve relationships, aggression, depression, fears associated with personal or school matters, as well as other inappropriate socioemotional characteristics.

Question 16

Fuzzy trace theory

Answer 16

states that memory is best understood by considering two types of memory representations: (1) verbatim memory trace, and (2) gist. In this theory, older children’s better memory is attributed to the fuzzy traces created by extracting the gist of information.

Question 17

Gifted

Answer 17

having above-average intelligence (an IQ of 130 or higher) and/or superior talent for something.

Question 18

Inclusion

Answer 18

educating a child with special requirements full-time in the regular classroom.

Question 19

Individual differences

Answer 19

the stable, consistent ways in which people differ from each other.

Question 20

Individualized education plan (IEP)

Answer 20

a written statement that spells out a program specifically tailored to a child with a disability.

Question 21

Intellectual disability

Answer 21

a condition of limited mental ability in which the individual (1) has a low IQ, usu. below 70 on a traditional intelligence test; (2) has difficulty adapting to the demands of everyday life; and (3) first exhibits these characteristics by age 18.

Question 22

Intelligence

Answer 22

problem-solving skills and the ability to learn from and adapt to the experiences of everyday life.

Question 23

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

Answer 23

a person’s mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100.

Question 24

Learning disability

Answer 24

difficulty in understanding or using spoken or written language or in doing mathematics. (To be classified as a learning disability, the learning problem is not primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, intellectual disability, emotional disorders; or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.)

Question 25

Least restrictive environment (LRE)

Answer 25

a setting that is as similar as possible to the one in which children who do not have a disability are educated.

Question 26

Long-term memory

Answer 26

a relatively permanent type of memory that holds huge amounts of information for a long period of time.

Question 27

Mental age (MA)

Answer 27

Binet’s measure of an individual’s level of mental development compared with that of others.

Question 28

Metacognition

Answer 28

cognition about cognition, or knowing about knowing.

Question 29

Metalinguistic awareness

Answer 29

knowledge about language, such as understanding what a preposition is or being able to discuss the sounds of a language.

Question 30

Mindfulness

Answer 30

being alert, mentally present, and cognitively flexible while going through life’s everyday activities and tasks.

Question 31

Neo-Piagetians

Answer 31

developmentalists who argue that Piaget got some things right but that his theory needs considerable revision. They have elaborated on Piaget’s theory, giving more emphasis to information processing, strategies, and precise cognitive steps.

Question 32

Normal distribution

Answer 32

a symmetrical distribution with most scores falling in the middle of the possible range of scores and a few scores appearing toward the extremes of the range.

Question 33

Organic intellectual disability

Answer 33

a genetic disorder or condition involving brain damage that is linked to a low level of intellectual functioning.

Question 34

Phonics approach

Answer 34

the idea that reading instruction should teach the basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds.

Question 35

Seriation

Answer 35

the concrete operation that involves ordering stimuli along a quantitative dimension (such as length).

Question 36

Stereotype threat

Answer 36

the anxiety that one’s behavior might confirm a negative stereotype about one’s group.

Question 37

Strategies

Answer 37

deliberate mental activities that improve the processing of information.

Question 38

Transitivity

Answer 38

the ability to logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions.

Question 39

Triarchic theory of intelligence

Answer 39

Sternberg’s theory that intelligence consists of analytical intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence.

Question 40

Whole-language approach

Answer 40

an approach to reading instruction based on the idea that instruction should parallel children’s natural language learning. Reading materials should be whole and meaningful.

Question 41

Working memory

Answer 41

a mental “workbench” where individuals manipulate and assemble information when making decisions, solving problems, and comprehending written and spoken language.