Speech-Language Impaired K–12

Test Format and Sample Questions

The Speech-Language Impaired K–12 subject area test consists of approximately 80 multiple-choice questions.The Speech-Language Impaired K to 12 subject area test consists of approximately 100 multiple-choice questions. You will have two and one-half hours to complete the test.

Each question will contain four response options, and you will indicate your answer by selecting A, B, C, or D.

The table below presents types of questions on the exam and directs you to examples of these formats among the sample items that follow.

Table of Question Formats

Type of Question	Sample Question
Direct Question Choose the response option that best answers the question.	Question 1
Scenario Examine a situation, problem, or case study. Then answer a question, make a diagnosis, or recommend a course of action by selecting the best response option.	Question 3

Sample Questions

The following questions represent both the form and content of questions on the examination. These questions will acquaint you with the general format of the examination; however, these sample questions do not cover all of the competencies and skills that are tested and will only approximate the degree of examination difficulty.

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Competency 1—Knowledge of philosophical, historical, and legal foundations of communication and swallowing disorders and their impact on the education of students

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

In which of the following ways does the multi-tiered system of supports approach affect the SLP profession in schools?

Choose an answer

1. reducing the number of SLPs needed in school districts
2. increasing the presence of SLPs in the general education setting
3. promoting the visibility of SLPs to educators within school districts
4. involving SLPs directly in the early identification of students' needs

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

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Competency 1—Knowledge of philosophical, historical, and legal foundations of communication and swallowing disorders and their impact on the education of students

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following teacher actions is most consistent with the construct of Lev Vygotsky's zone of proximal development?

Choose an answer

1. developing activities targeting multiple student learning objectives
2. monitoring students' progress using measures to evaluate learning
3. determining students' baseline skills before introducing new concepts
4. scaffolding language-learning activities to support student achievement

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

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Competency 1—Knowledge of philosophical, historical, and legal foundations of communication and swallowing disorders and their impact on the education of students

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A school district establishes a goal to improve its identification of students with suspected disabilities who move frequently. Which of the following strategies would most effectively support the district in reaching this goal?

Choose an answer

1. screening students at the beginning of every school year
2. conducting monthly screenings in locations throughout the community
3. posting an advertisement on social media about educational screening services
4. sending screening questionnaires to families to informally assess their children's development

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B.

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Competency 2—Knowledge of typical and atypical communication and swallowing processes and development

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Subglottal air pressure is critical to phonation for which of the following reasons?

Choose an answer

1. increasing the mass of the vocal folds
2. suspending the vocal folds in the larynx
3. adducting and abducting the vocal folds
4. adjusting vocal fold length during speech

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C.

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Competency 2—Knowledge of typical and atypical communication and swallowing processes and development

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

The length and shape of the ear canal contributes to which of the following functions of the hearing mechanism?

Choose an answer

1. activating the auditory nerve
2. draining fluid from the middle ear
3. increasing sound pressure or intensity
4. transmitting sound waves into electrical signals

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C.

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Competency 2—Knowledge of typical and atypical communication and swallowing processes and development

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

By age 3, children typically demonstrate which of the following social-language skills?

Choose an answer

1. verbalizing a variety of emotions
2. shifting topics appropriately in conversation
3. understanding that others can hide their feelings
4. producing narratives with logical sequences of events

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

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Competency 2—Knowledge of typical and atypical communication and swallowing processes and development

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A kindergarten student orally isolates and manipulates sounds in words and identifies consonant sounds that correspond with letters. Which of the following reading skills should the student acquire next in the hierarchy of developmental reading skills?

Choose an answer

1. increasing rate and accuracy
2. gaining phonics skills for decoding texts
3. matching the rate of oral language production
4. encoding words with complex syllable patterns

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B.

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Competency 2—Knowledge of typical and atypical communication and swallowing processes and development

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A kindergarten teacher reports that a student who is culturally and linguistically diverse is having difficulty telling stories during share time. Which of the following actions should the SLP take first to address the teacher's concern to differentiate a language disorder from a language difference?

Choose an answer

1. implementing visual supports to improve the student's language organization
2. providing a Tier 1 intervention to support the student's language development
3. conducting an evaluation to determine if the student has a language impairment
4. explaining how variations in language background may influence the student's oral narratives

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

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Competency 2—Knowledge of typical and atypical communication and swallowing processes and development

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following symptoms is consistent with a student who is experiencing dysphagia in the esophageal phase of the swallow?

Choose an answer

1. choking while swallowing solids
2. gagging before initiating the swallow
3. regurgitating the bolus after the swallow
4. coughing immediately after swallowing liquids

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C.

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Competency 2—Knowledge of typical and atypical communication and swallowing processes and development

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Students who have difficulties with executive functioning are most likely to require support with which of the following reading skills?

Choose an answer

1. reading with adequate rate and expression
2. developing motivation to engage in reading
3. applying phonological awareness to reading
4. self-monitoring comprehension while reading

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

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Competency 3—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive evaluation processes for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

An SLP administers a test of childhood articulation that has high-content validity. In doing so, the SLP most effectively ensures which of the following outcomes?

Choose an answer

1. accurate prediction of later performance on a similar examination
2. assessment of all consonant and vowel phonemes in the language
3. evaluation of consonant phonemes from each place and manner of production
4. narrow representation of the theoretical construct of phonological development

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B.

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Competency 3—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive evaluation processes for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

An SLP examines a norm-referenced, narrative assessment in which students are asked to orally retell a story about a character who encounters several mishaps while giving a meal order to a waiter at a restaurant. Which of the following actions should the SLP take before administering the assessment to students?

Choose an answer

1. avoiding assessment activities that are likely to be perceived as difficult by the students
2. ensuring that the assessment activities correspond with the experiences of the students
3. determining which rewards would promote the students' motivation to participate in the assessment
4. preteaching concepts to build the students' background knowledge to promote assessment performance

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B.

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Competency 3—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive evaluation processes for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following statements most appropriately describes the advantage of using local norms when assessing students for ESE?

Choose an answer

1. relating students' performance to that of peers across the nation
2. comparing students' achievements to peers with similar backgrounds
3. capturing students' academic strengths and needs in a natural context
4. measuring students' growth toward state academic learning standards

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B.

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Competency 3—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive evaluation processes for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

An SLP wants to assess a 10^thtenth-grade student's safety awareness and ability to communicate safety information, such as how to call a physician to schedule an appointment and problem solving in emergency situations. Which of the following assessments would most accurately evaluate the student's functional skills?

Choose an answer

1. administering a standardized test measuring the student's functional skills
2. using a checklist to inventory the functional skills the student has not acquired
3. utilizing a rating scale to quantify the student's functional skills while engaging in targeted tasks
4. interviewing the student's teacher to determine the student's ability to use functional skills independently

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C.

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Competency 3—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive evaluation processes for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following data sources would be most useful in gathering information about an 8^theighth-grade student's writing strengths and needs?

Choose an answer

1. generative writing samples from classroom assignments
2. grades on learning standards addressed in the classroom
3. academic achievement standardized subtest scores in writing
4. criterion-referenced scores on statewide English language arts tests

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

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Competency 3—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive evaluation processes for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

An SLP considers discontinuing language services for a 7^thseventh-grade student whose scores were in the average range on a comprehensive receptive and expressive language assessment. In addition, the student has met all the language IEP goals and has demonstrated good generalization of targeted skills. Which of the following approaches would provide the information needed to inform the multidisciplinary team's decision about the student's eligibility for language services?

Choose an answer

1. administering formal tests to assess the student's speech and language function in all areas
2. reviewing the student's cumulative education file to determine when the student began to make progress
3. interviewing the student's parents or guardians to obtain past medical history and background information
4. using curriculum-based measurements to determine how the student's language abilities impact academic performance

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

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Competency 3—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive evaluation processes for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

When requesting consent from parents or guardians for their child's initial evaluation, an SLP should take which of the following steps?

Choose an answer

1. ensuring that the evaluation request is provided in the parents' or guardians' home language
2. contacting the parents or guardians to discuss the chosen measurements for their child's evaluation
3. creating a document defining the vocabulary words used in the evaluation for the parents or guardians to reference
4. providing the parents or guardians with the eligibility staffing team members' contact information to respond to evaluation-related questions

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

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Competency 3—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive evaluation processes for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following communication strategies would be most appropriate for an SLP to use to promote parents' or guardians' understanding of their child's scores on standardized assessments?

Choose an answer

1. creating a written reference describing skills that need to be acquired
2. summarizing specific subtests or subtest items that negatively impacted performance
3. using an image of a bell curve to visually compare performance to a normal distribution
4. presenting test performance in terms of age-equivalencies since these are more relatable

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C.

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Competency 4—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive service delivery techniques for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following children is most at risk for developing a language disorder?

Choose an answer

1. a 3-year-old who was born at 37 weeks gestation
2. a 5-year-old who omits a consonant from consonant blends
3. a 4-year-old who has experienced two middle ear infections
4. a 2-year-old who has been exposed to elevated levels of lead

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

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Competency 4—Knowledge of intervention techniques for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following intervention approaches would most appropriately address the needs of a 9^thninth-grade student who is experiencing difficulty comprehending nonliteral and indirect language meaning in social contexts?

Choose an answer

1. social scripts
2. social narratives
3. social skills groups
4. social stages of development rubric

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C.

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Competency 4—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive service delivery techniques for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A 9^thninth-grade student with strengths in writing mechanics has difficulty generating ideas to write expository or persuasive essays. Which of the following accommodations would most effectively promote the student's ability to generate ideas?

Choose an answer

1. editing checklist
2. vocabulary bank
3. sentence frames
4. graphic organizer

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

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Competency 4—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive service delivery techniques for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A prekindergarten child with a gastrostomy tube is working with an outpatient swallowing specialist. The swallowing specialist recommends the student participate in mealtimes. Which of the following steps should the SLP have the student take first?

Choose an answer

1. interacting socially with peers during lunch
2. drinking liquids from a cup while peers have a snack
3. exploring pureed textures during intervention sessions
4. making choices about lunch to establish food preferences

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

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Competency 4—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive service delivery techniques for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following service delivery models would most appropriately address the speech needs of a prekindergarten child with apraxia of speech?

Choose an answer

1. frequent services for short durations
2. biweekly services for longer durations
3. integrative services to address grade-level standards
4. consultation with the student's general education teacher

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

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Competency 4—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive service delivery techniques for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

The use of curriculum-based measurements as an approach to progress monitoring can be expected to have which of the following benefits?

Choose an answer

1. determining students' growth toward learning standards incrementally
2. comparing students' academic performance to that of grade-level peers
3. assessing students' acquisition of academic concepts using summative tests
4. using students' assessment data to decide whether to retain or advance students

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

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Competency 4—Knowledge of culturally- and linguistically-responsive service delivery techniques for students served in the school population

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

An SLP collaborates with the school social worker and behaviorist when planning for weekly high school social groups. In this context, interprofessional collaboration can be expected to have which of the following benefits?

Choose an answer

1. making planning for intervention more efficient
2. ensuring that each profession is regarded as equally important
3. incorporating multiple perspectives to improve student outcomes
4. sharing responsibility for documenting service delivery intervention

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: C.

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Competency 5—Knowledge of ethics and professional scope of practice

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following components of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act ensures that children with disabilities have access to free and appropriate public education?

Choose an answer

1. procedural safeguards
2. evaluation team reports
3. manifestation determination
4. specially designed instruction

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: D.

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Competency 5—Knowledge of ethics and professional scope of practice

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following SLP practices most appropriately aligns with the ethical principles of Rule 6A-10.081, Florida Administrative Code, Principles of Professional Conduct for the Education Profession in Florida?

Choose an answer

1. evaluating or screening every student entering prekindergarten and kindergarten
2. providing educational opportunities for students to achieve their highest potential
3. writing IEP objectives defining the evaluation criteria to measure students' progress
4. establishing partnerships with private practitioners in the local community and state to support students

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B.

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Competency 5—Knowledge of ethics and professional scope of practice

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following approaches to determining students' eligibility for an IEP most clearly exemplifies the difference between the educational model and the medical model?

Choose an answer

1. deciding if the disability impacts the student's academic performance
2. using clinical judgment to determine if the student requires intervention
3. establishing that the student has a disability based on testing performance
4. verifying that the student has needs that must be addressed with speech-language services

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

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Competency 5—Knowledge of ethics and professional scope of practice

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following factors would have the largest impact on an SLP's workload?

Choose an answer

1. participating in additional daily duties as assigned
2. providing services to multiple students with complex communication needs
3. maintaining licensure by fulfilling annual continuing education requirements
4. assessing students with suspected disabilities while adhering to federal regulations

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: B.

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Competency 5—Knowledge of ethics and professional scope of practice

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

An SLP works with a 3rd-grade student on using language scripts to replace adverse behaviors with functional communication. The targeted language scripts are shown below. In addition to promoting functional communication, the SLP's intervention approach would most directly benefit the student in which of the following ways?

I am feeling frustrated. I need your help.

I understand ____blank line, but I don't understand ____blank line.

Can you help me please?

Choose an answer

1. fostering self-advocacy
2. making personal choices
3. supporting problem solving
4. accessing learning strategies

AnswerEnter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded

Correct Response: A.

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