Practice Questions for Praxis

Question 1

A clinician who employs active listening is doing which of the following?

Answer 1

Responding to both the content and the affect of the client’s remarks

Question 2

Which of the following is the best action to take initially with a client who presents with poor oral control of liquids and solids, coughing and choking while eating and drinking, and a history of hospitalizations associated with pneumonia?

Answer 2

Obtaining a modified barium-swallow study to determine appropriate interventions

Question 3

A client exhibits weakness, atrophy, and fasciculations of the right side of the tongue and lower face. The client also has right vocal-fold weakness and nasal regurgitation of fluid when swallowing. These problems are the result of damage to which part of the nervous system?

Answer 3

Brain stem

Question 4

Which of the following constitutes the major component of an audiologic rehabilitation program for infants with a moderate sensorineural hearing loss?

Answer 4

Parent-mediated auditory stimulation

Question 5

Children diagnosed as having specific language impairments are likely to exhibit the greatest deficits in which of the following?

Answer 5

Production of sentences with appropriate inflectional morphology and syntax

Question 6

After sustaining a CVA, Ms. Williams, age 75, was referred to an SLP for a speech and language evaluation. While Ms. Williams was describing the cookie-theft picture, the SLP observed that her grammatical structure appeared to be intact and her prosody was normal but that many of her sentences were meaningless, did not fit the context, and included nonsensical paraphasic errors. Additional testing also revealed that Ms. Williams exhibited poor repetition and naming skills, did not respond appropriately to many simple commands, and had difficulty reading. Ms. Williams appeared happy and talked excessively. She did not appear to be aware of her communication deficits. What is the most likely location of the lesion?

Answer 6

Left posterior superior temporal gyrus

Question 7

Which of the following is the most important acoustic cue that distinguishes between an unreleased final /p/ and an unreleased final /b/, as in “cap” versus “cab”?

Answer 7

Duration of the preceding vowel

Question 8

Six months ago, an SLP evaluated 4-year-old Molly’s speech fluency during conversation. At that time, she displayed physically relaxed repetitions of words and phrases (occurring at a frequency of 2 per 100 words), and interjections such as “um” (occurring at a frequency of 1 per 100 words). She did not display any sound prolongations or facial grimaces; she did not produce any pitch rises or phonatory breaks; and she did not appear to avoid any sounds or words. Results from several formal tests suggested that her articulation and language development were within normal limits. Molly reportedly began producing repetitions and interjections at age 24 months, and the frequency of these disfluency types reportedly has remained stable since then. The SLP did not recommend speech-language intervention following the previous evaluation; however, she did provide the parents with information about fluency development, symptoms of stuttering, and general suggestions for how to facilitate children’s fluency. A reevaluation is scheduled for next week. Which of the following is most appropriate for the SLP to do if Molly’s speech fluency has remained the same since the previous evaluation?

Answer 8

Recommend that Molly be released from the SLP’s active caseload

Question 9

For which of the following conditions is it most appropriate for the SLP to recommend that the patient’s primary-care physician refer the patient to a prosthodontist for construction of a palatal-lift appliance?

Answer 9

Flaccid paralysis of the soft palate

Question 10

Which of the following communication disorders is most frequently associated with significant dysphagia?

Answer 10

Flaccid dysarthria
Flaccid dysarthria and dysphagia are both disorders likely to be characterized by flaccidity or weakness of the oromotor and laryngeal mechanisms that results from cranial nerve damage. These two disorders frequently coexist.

Question 11

Linguistic approaches to the treatment of sound-production errors in children are based on the notion that the errors are systematic and rule-based and that the goal of treatment is to modify a child’s rule system to approximate the rule system used by adults. Which of the following is a treatment objective that reflects a linguistic approach to treatment?

Answer 11

The child will contrast alveolar stops with velar stops in meaningful word pairs.

Question 12

Which of the following factors contributes to UES opening?

Answer 12

Partial relaxation of the cricopharyngeal portion of the inferior constrictor muscle
Superior and anterior hyolaryngeal excursion

Partial relaxation of the cricopharyngeal portion of the inferior constrictor muscle is part of the neurological sequence. Superior and anterior hyolaryngeal excursion provides a mechanical opening.

Question 13

Which of the following procedures would be effective in remediating a falsetto voice for an adult male with a severe bilateral hearing loss?

Answer 13

Manual depression of the larynx

Question 14

Naturalistic teaching chiefly involves which of the following?

Answer 14

Establishing successful and useful communication

Question 15

A 67-year-old male patient with no history of swallowing problems has undergone a cardiothoracic surgical procedure. Postoperatively, he is found to be aspirating while swallowing and is diagnosed with a left vocal-fold paralysis and left pharyngeal paresis. Which of the following is the most likely etiology?

Answer 15

Damage to the left recurrent laryngeal nerve
The left recurrent laryngeal nerve courses under the aortic arch in its course back to innervate the left larynx and the inferior pharynx. The nerve can be damaged in cardiothoracic operations including aortic arch or valve repairs. Only the left (and not the right) recurrent laryngeal nerve has this course.

Question 16

A client has been determined to have poor upper esophageal sphincter opening secondary to decreased hyolaryngeal excursion, following a lateral medullary stroke. Cognitive functions are within normal limits. Which of the following interventions would be the most appropriate recommendation for this client as an initial course of treatment for the underlying disorder?

Answer 16

Mendelsohn maneuver

Question 17

A 3-year-old child presents for an evaluation of communication skills. When the SLP says “Sit in your seat,” the child responds by saying [tɪ ɪ ti]. When the SLP asks the child to “put the big block in the box,” the child responds by saying [bɪ bɑ ɪ bɑ].

Answer 17

A receptive and/or expressive language impairment

Question 18

Which of the following is the most reasonable standard to apply when judging whether a client has achieved generalization of a targeted skill?

Answer 18

The client uses the targeted skill under stimulus conditions that were not present during the training process and without reinforcement.

Question 19

Which of the following muscles produces the opposing action to those that produce velopharyngeal closure?

Answer 19

Palatoglossus

Question 20

Which of the following describes an important diagnostic distinction between apraxia of speech and dysarthria?

Answer 20

Strength and coordination of the speech musculature are intact in clients with apraxia of speech, whereas slowness, weakness, incoordination, or altered tone of the speech musculature are associated with dysarthria.

Question 21

Which of the following actions will most effectively control the problem of overreferral in school screening programs that use impedance/immittance measurements?

Answer 21

Waiting three to five weeks to retest those who did not pass the first screening

Question 22

Which of the following is an accurate statement about whispered speech?

Answer 22

It is composed largely of aperiodic sounds.

Question 23

An otolaryngologist has referred a 45-year-old man for voice treatment following medialization thyroplasty for a paralyzed vocal fold. Which of the following is the most appropriate therapeutic strategy for the SLP to use?

Answer 23

Assisting the patient to produce a hard glottal attack

Question 24

The sensorimotor integration of the muscles of the lower face depends on which two of the cranial nerves?

Answer 24

The trigeminal and facial

Question 25

Language impairment in a child with Down syndrome is often determined by comparing performance on one or more standardized language tests with the child’s mental age, rather than with the child’s chronological age. Although mental age should not be used to specify the need for treatment, mental age can legitimately be used as a performance criterion because

Answer 25

using chronological age would overidentify language disorders

Question 26

Mr. Charles, age 78, has had Alzheimer’s disease for the past nine years. A recent speech and language evaluation at his nursing home indicated severe deficits in verbal reasoning, memory, word finding, discourse, pragmatics, phonology, semantics, and syntax. Which of the following should the speech-language pathologist do next?

Answer 26

Examine his living conditions and, if necessary, educate the nursing staff concerning ways to help him communicate more effectively

Question 27

In terms of communication impairment, an adult with Alzheimer’s-type dementia tends to differ from an adult with aphasia associated with a CVA in that

Answer 27

the capacity of the adult with aphasia to make appropriate comments about recent events is generally better

Question 28

Apraxia of speech is associated with lesions in…

Answer 28

Broca’s area

Question 29

What type of symbols would you use on an AAC device with a client that has some proficiency in American Sign Language?

Answer 29

Sig symbols

Question 30

What is a granuloma?

Answer 30

Unilateral localized inflammatory vascular lesion (VF)

Question 31

What are traits of ataxic cerebral palsy?

Answer 31

Disturbed balance, awkward gait, uncoordinated movement

Question 32

What is the last morpheme acquired according to Brown’s stages?

Answer 32

Contractible Auxiliary

Question 33

What is a heuristic function according to Halliday?

Answer 33

“Why doggy bark?”

Question 34

Piaget’s concrete operational stage

Answer 34

7-11 years

Question 35

How is velopharyngeal closure achieved?

Answer 35

Palatoglossus, tensor veli palatini, levator veli palatini

Question 36

What is a juncture difference?

Answer 36

I scream vs. ice cream

Question 37

What is normal distribution based on?

Answer 37

Arithmetic mean of scores

Question 38

Least restrictive environment mandate

Answer 38

P.L 94-142

Question 39

Presentation of right hemisphere syndrome?

Answer 39

attention/perceptual deficits

Question 40

What elevates ribs 1 through 9?

Answer 40

Serratus anterior

Question 41

An SLP evaluates a 4; 3 child that does not produce /r/ sound correctly and has exhibited periods of stuttering over the last 18 months; During the evaluation the child exhibits sound syllable repetitions on 30% of her words. What should the SLP do?

Answer 41

Provide stuttering intervention but no articulation intervention for /r/ at the present time

Question 42

During a transient ischemic attack, Mr. Mahmood has difficulty producing intelligible speech and retrieving words in conversation. One week later, Mr. Mahmood’s speech and language would typically be characterized by

Answer 42

no noticeable abnormalities

Question 43

Which of the following best describes the role of the SLP in a collaborative-consultation service-delivery model?

Answer 43

The SLP works with teachers and families to facilitate a student’s communication and learning.

Question 44

An 8-year-old child with a repaired palatal cleft has received speech intervention for two years in order to reduce moderately severe hypernasality and nasal emission. Cognitive and linguistic skills are normal. All clinical data support a conclusion that abnormal speech characteristics are primarily the result of an inadequate velopharyngeal mechanism. There have been small improvements, but none in the past
six to nine months. Which of the following is the most appropriate course of action for the SLP to take with the child at this point?

Answer 44

Referring the child to a cleft palate team for consideration of surgical or prosthetic management

Question 45

A typically-developing 10-month-old child will exhibit which of the following skills?

Answer 45

Canonical babbling

Question 46

Carrie, a 9-year-old child, has normal receptive language abilities and normal intelligence. She produces narratives in correct sequential order of events, but they are characterized by verbal mazes with no identification of major themes and contain few, if any, referents. Which of the following is the most appropriate for her school SLP to implement?

Answer 46

A collaborative program emphasizing skills in establishing presuppositions within units of discourse

Question 47

Which of the following describes an important diagnostic distinction between dysarthria and apraxia of speech?

Answer 47

Strength and coordination of the speech musculature are intact in the client with apraxia of speech, whereas slowness, weakness, incoordination, or altered tone of the speech musculature are associated with dysarthria.

Question 48

Which of the following hearing problems is most prevalent among children with cleft palate?

Answer 48

Conductive loss

Question 49

An otolaryngologist refers a 4-year-old child to an SLP six months after a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Following surgery, the child’s speech became hypernasal. The SLP’s evaluation confirms mild-to-moderate hypernasality. If the child has no other speech or language problems, which is the most appropriate course of action for the SLP to take?

Answer 49

Refer the child and family to a cleft palate/craniofacial team for further evaluation.

Question 50

Evaluation of a 5-year-old child with persistent dysfluencies has uncovered information suggesting alcoholism in the family, parental feuding, inappropriate behavior by a sibling, and maternal depression. The SLP’s most appropriate action at this time would be to

Answer 50

refer the family to a mental health service and provide a program for fluency management

Question 51

Which would most effectively decrease the fundamental frequency of the laryngeal tone?

Answer 51

Raising the position of the larynx within the neck

Question 52

A client exhibits weakness, atrophy, and fasciculations of the right side of the tongue and lower face. The client also has right vocal-fold weakness and nasal regurgitation of fluid when swallowing. These problems are the result of a single tumor of the nervous system. The tumor is most likely located in which part of the nervous system?

Answer 52

Brain stem

Question 53

A 67-year-old male patient with no history of swallowing problems has undergone a cardiothoracic surgical procedure. Postoperatively, he is found to be aspirating while swallowing and is diagnosed with a left vocal fold paralysis and left pharyngeal paresis. Which of the following is the most likely etiology?

Answer 53

Damage to the left recurrent laryngeal nerve

Question 54

A study tested subjects with a phonological disorder prior to treatment and again after treatment. Change in the subjects’ test performance may have been due to the effects of the treatment, but also to the fact that the subjects were already practiced in taking the test.

Such subject “practice effects” are a threat to which of the following aspects of the study?

Answer 54

Internal validity

Question 55

Nonfluent speech, reduced phonemic repertoire, absence of function words, and overuse of content vocabulary are characteristic of the verbal ability of a person who has had damage to which of the following parts of the brain?

Answer 55

Inferior frontal gyrus

Question 56

When should the treatment program for an adult client with a cognitive-communication disorder secondary to a traumatic-brain injury begin?

Answer 56

As soon as the client is aware of activities in his or her environment

Question 57

Which of the following muscles opposes velopharyngeal closure?

Answer 57

Palatoglossus

Question 58

Which is true about the diagnosogenic theory of stuttering?

Answer 58

It is not considered to be an adequate explanation of the factors that cause developmental stuttering.

Question 59

Laborious, halting, telegraphic utterances are typical of patients with which type of aphasia?

Answer 59

Transcortical motor

Question 60

A kindergarten teacher asks the class, “Who wants chocolate milk today?”

Which of the following responses to the teacher’s question uses ellipsis?

Answer 60

“I do.”

Question 61

A 5-year-old girl with a repaired cleft palate and moderate velopharyngeal insufficiency, as documented by nasoendoscopy, exhibits the following speech characteristics: mild breathiness; moderate-to-severe hypernasality; moderate nasal emission; inconsistent substitution of glottal stops for velar stops; occasional substitution of nasalized alveolar stops for velar stops; and omission of many fricatives and affricates or substitution of /h/ for them. Dentition and occlusion are normal. Cognitive and language skills are age-appropriate, and the client has had no previous speech therapy. Pharyngeal flap surgery is scheduled, but because of pending cardiac surgery will not take place for 12 to 15 months. Which management strategies and rationales is most appropriate and desirable for the child at this time?

Answer 61

Instituting therapy focused on the development of correct articulatory placement of misarticulated phonemes

Question 62

Hypernasality is heard in each of the following conditions EXCEPT

Answer 62

Enlarged adenoids

Question 63

A child with cerebral palsy seems to produce a diminished oral airflow during the production of certain consonants. The most accurate method of verifying this impression would be to use

Answer 63

a face mask coupled to a pneumotachograph

Question 64

The major acoustic characteristic of voiceless fricatives is

Answer 64

aperiodicity

Question 65

A 50-year-old kindergarten teacher independently contacts an SLP for a voice examination. She reports to the clinician that for the past four months, her voice has been starting strong but grows weaker with extended vocalization throughout the day. The clinician also notes that the teacher’s voice is hypernasal and breathy with decreased volume.
The most appropriate recommendation for the client is

Answer 65

referral to a physician

Question 66

In terms of communication impairment, an adult with Alzheimer’s-type dementia tends to differ from an adult with aphasia associated with a CVA in that

Answer 66

the capacity of the adult with aphasia to make appropriate comments about recent events is generally better

Question 67

Front vowels are characterized by a relatively

Answer 67

high-frequency second formant (F2)

Question 68

After sustaining a CVA, Ms. Williams, age 75, was referred to an SLP for a speech and language evaluation. While Ms. Williams was describing the “Cookie Theft” picture, the SLP observed that her grammatical structure appeared to be intact, her prosody was normal, but many of her sentences were meaningless and did not fit the context, and she exhibited many nonsensical paraphasic errors. Additional testing also revealed that Ms. Williams exhibited poor repetition and naming skills, did not respond appropriately to many simple commands, and had difficulty reading. Ms. Williams appeared happy and talked excessively. She did not appear to be aware of her communication deficits. What is the most likely location of the lesion?

Answer 68

Left posterior superior temporal gyrus

Question 69

A 12-year-old native speaker of Spanish who has been studying English as a second language for three years is most likely to do which of the following when speaking English in casual conversation with teachers at school?

Answer 69

Use multiple negations inappropriately