CH. 9: KEY TERMS Flashcards
Asperger syndrome
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.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
a disability in which children consistently show one or more of the following characteristics: (1) inattention, (2) hyperactivity, and (3) impulsivity.
Autism spectrum disorders (ASD)
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.
Autistic disorder
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.
Brainstorming
Convergent thinking
thinking that produces one correct answer and is characteristic of the kind of thinking tested by standardized intelligence tests.
Creative thinking
the ability to think in novel and unusual ways and to come up with unique solutions to problems.
Critical thinking
thinking reflectively and productively, as well as evaluating evidence.
Cultural-familial intellectual disability
condition in which there is no evidence of organic brain damage but the individual’s IQ is between 55 and 70.
Culture-fair tests
tests of intelligence that are designed to be free of cultural bias.
Divergent thinking
thinking that produces many answers to the same question and is characteristic of creativity.
Dyscalculia
also known as developmental arithmetic disorder; a learning disability that involves difficulty in math computation.
Dyslexia
a category of learning disabilities involving a severe impairment in the ability to read and spell.
Elaboration
an important strategy for remembering that involves engaging in more extensive processing information.
Emotional and behavioral disorders
serious, persistent problems that involve relationships, aggression, depression, fears associated with personal or school matters, as well as other inappropriate socioemotional characteristics.
Fuzzy trace theory
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.
Gifted
having above-average intelligence (an IQ of 130 or higher) and/or superior talent for something.
Inclusion
educating a child with special requirements full-time in the regular classroom.
Individual differences
the stable, consistent ways in which people differ from each other.
Individualized education plan (IEP)
a written statement that spells out a program specifically tailored to a child with a disability.
Intellectual disability
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.
Intelligence
problem-solving skills and the ability to learn from and adapt to the experiences of everyday life.
Intelligence quotient (IQ)
a person’s mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100.
Learning disability
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.)
Least restrictive environment (LRE)
a setting that is as similar as possible to the one in which children who do not have a disability are educated.
Long-term memory
a relatively permanent type of memory that holds huge amounts of information for a long period of time.
Mental age (MA)
Binet’s measure of an individual’s level of mental development compared with that of others.
Metacognition
cognition about cognition, or knowing about knowing.
Metalinguistic awareness
knowledge about language, such as understanding what a preposition is or being able to discuss the sounds of a language.
Mindfulness
being alert, mentally present, and cognitively flexible while going through life’s everyday activities and tasks.
Neo-Piagetians
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.
Normal distribution
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.
Organic intellectual disability
a genetic disorder or condition involving brain damage that is linked to a low level of intellectual functioning.
Phonics approach
the idea that reading instruction should teach the basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds.
Seriation
the concrete operation that involves ordering stimuli along a quantitative dimension (such as length).
Stereotype threat
the anxiety that one’s behavior might confirm a negative stereotype about one’s group.
Strategies
deliberate mental activities that improve the processing of information.
Transitivity
the ability to logically combine relations to understand certain conclusions.
Triarchic theory of intelligence
Sternberg’s theory that intelligence consists of analytical intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence.
Whole-language approach
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.
Working memory
a mental “workbench” where individuals manipulate and assemble information when making decisions, solving problems, and comprehending written and spoken language.
