NES Early Childhood Special Education (813) Practice Tests

Competencies 0001–0006 make up about 27% of the test. They ask you to understand typical processes of human growth and development; analyze the developmental significance of disabilities; understand learning processes, and more.

• Competency 0001: Understand typical processes of human growth and development. Skills tested: Typical characteristics and progressions relating to young children's physical, communicative, cognitive, psychological, and social/emotional development; Interactions among different domains of development; Factors that may influence growth and development in various domains, including environmental, genetic, health-related, economic, and linguistic factors.
• Competency 0002: Analyze the developmental significance of disabilities. Skills tested: Effects of disabilities on young children's physical, communicative, cognitive, psychological, and social/emotional development; Developmental similarities and differences between children with disabilities and their nondisabled peers; How disabilities relating primarily to one domain of development may affect other domains; Strategies for fostering development that are responsive to children's individualized needs and optimize their capabilities.
• Competency 0003: Understand learning processes. Skills tested: Processes by which young children's learning typically occurs; Recognition of learning as an active, constructive process; Applications of learning theories; Factors that may influence children's learning, including environmental, genetic, health- related, economic, and linguistic factors.
• Competency 0004: Analyze the significance of disabilities for learning. Skills tested: Effects of various disabilities on children's learning; Similarities and differences between children with disabilities and their nondisabled peers with regard to learning processes; Factors that may facilitate or impede learning in children with disabilities; Strategies for promoting learning that are responsive to children's individualized needs and optimize their capabilities.
• Competency 0005: Understand assessment procedures for evaluating individual differences and making placement and programming decisions for young children with disabilities. Skills tested: Types and characteristics of informal and formal assessments used in placement and programming decisions for young children (e.g., screening, diagnostic assessment, Response to Intervention); Interpretation and communication of assessment information to identify and understand children with special needs and to make placement and program recommendations; Assessment-related issues and evidence-based practices in special education (e.g., early identification and intervention, differentiated instruction, nondiscriminatory assessment); Strategies and guidelines for using assessment data and multiple sources of information to inform instruction, plan interventions, and monitor student progress.
• Competency 0006: Understand medical aspects and physical management implications of disabilities. Skills tested: Medical knowledge (e.g., disease etiology, syndromes, impact of chronic illness) required by teachers working with young children with disabilities; Procedures for the physical management of children with disabilities; Emergency procedures that may be used in special education settings, including those related to medical conditions (e.g., epilepsy) and mental health issues; Role of assistive, alternative, and augmentative technology and procedures in fostering optimal student development, participation, and access.

Competencies 0007–0019 make up about 59% of the test. They ask you to apply procedures for structuring space and time to create safe, stimulating, and developmentally appropriate learning environments for children with disabilities; apply procedures for using developmentally appropriate individual and group management strategies to provide an atmosphere that enhances young children's learning; apply procedures for establishing a positive and supportive classroom climate that promotes all children's self-esteem and sense of competence, and more.

• Competency 0007: Apply procedures for structuring space and time to create safe, stimulating, and developmentally appropriate learning environments for children with disabilities. Skills tested: Relationships between young children's developmental characteristics and needs and teacher decisions about structuring learning environments; Strategies for structuring the physical environment, planning learning areas, and scheduling different types of activities to promote children's development in all domains; Procedures for modifying learning environments in the context of different program models (e.g., resource room, self-contained) to address children's various physical, social, affective, linguistic, and cognitive needs.
• Competency 0008: Apply procedures for using developmentally appropriate individual and group management strategies to provide an atmosphere that enhances young children's learning. Skills tested: Factors, processes, and issues related to individual and group management in a classroom that includes young children with disabilities (e.g., play-based learning, appropriate expectations for students); Strategies for managing routines and transitions and for establishing and maintaining developmentally appropriate standards of behavior; Strategies for creating productive, cooperative learning environments and experiences for all; Procedures and criteria for conducting and interpreting functional behavior assessments (FBAs) and for developing, implementing, modifying, and monitoring behavior intervention plans (BIPs).
• Competency 0009: Apply procedures for establishing a positive and supportive classroom climate that promotes all children's self-esteem and sense of competence. Skills tested: Procedures for establishing a classroom climate that is responsive to the cognitive, social, and affective needs of all children; Strategies for ensuring that all children, including those with heritage-based and language differences, develop friendships, feel a sense of membership in a supportive learning community and develop a sense of achievement and competence; Recognition of the effects of teacher behaviors and expectations on children's self- esteem, attitudes toward learning, and social acceptance of differences.
• Competency 0010: Understand how to promote young children's self-discipline and autonomy. Skills tested: Recognition of how self-discipline and autonomy develop in young children; Ways in which children's disabilities may affect the development of self-discipline and autonomy; Learning experiences and environments that foster self-discipline and autonomy (e.g., those that offer children opportunities to apply decision-making, self-assessment, and self-help skills).
• Competency 0011: Understand how to promote young children's social development. Skills tested: Appropriate expectations for young children's social behaviors; Ways in which disabilities and other factors may affect social development; Assessment of social skills and interpretation and communication of assessment results; How to address inappropriate social behaviors and enhance the social skills of children with specified needs; Ways to provide children with opportunities to interact productively with peers and adults in various settings.
• Competency 0012: Understand how to promote young children's receptive language development. Skills tested: Ways in which disabilities and other factors (e.g., having a home language other than English) may affect receptive language development; Informal and formal assessment procedures for evaluating needs and progress in receptive language; Interpretation and communication of assessment results; Selection and adaptation of methods, resources, and technologies to help children meet specified goals and compensate for receptive language impairments; Strategies for providing children with opportunities for functional and social communication in authentic settings.
• Competency 0013: Understand how to promote young children's expressive language development. Skills tested: Ways in which disabilities and other factors may affect oral or alternative language development; Informal and formal assessment procedures for evaluating needs and progress in expressive language; Interpretation and communication of assessment results; Selection and adaptation of methods, resources, and technologies to help children meet specified goals and compensate for expressive language impairments; Strategies for providing children with opportunities for meaningful oral communication in authentic settings.
• Competency 0014: Understand emergent literacy and how to encourage the emergence of literacy in young children. Skills tested: Recognition of how literacy emerges and develops, and the relationship between literacy and language development; Ways in which disabilities and other factors may affect emergent literacy in young children; Strategies for creating a print-rich environment that offers children opportunities to develop skills, knowledge, and positive attitudes related to emergent literacy and to interact with print in varied and meaningful contexts.
• Competency 0015: Understand how to promote young children's daily living skills. Skills tested: Ways in which disabilities and other factors may affect the development of daily living skills; Assessment procedures for evaluating needs and progress in daily living competence; Interpretation and communication of assessment results; Use of task analysis and other strategies to develop instruction; Selection and adaptation of methods, resources, and technologies to address individualized daily living skills and goals.
• Competency 0016: Understand how to promote young children's cognitive development. Skills tested: Ways in which disabilities and other factors may affect the development of cognitive skills and abilities; Informal and formal assessment procedures for evaluating needs and progress related to cognitive skills development; Interpretation and communication of assessment results; Selection and adaptation of methods, resources, and technologies to help children develop cognitive skills and meet specific cognitive goals.
• Competency 0017: Understand how to promote young children's understanding of their world through exploration of content-area skills and concepts. Skills tested: Recognition of developmentally appropriate learning goals and experiences in mathematics, social studies, and science; Assessment procedures for evaluating needs and progress related to content-area skills and concepts; Interpretation and communication of assessment results; Strategies to facilitate young children's content-area learning and foster their thinking and problem-solving skills; Selection and adaptation of instructional strategies, resources, and technologies to individualize content-area instruction, integrate content-area instruction, and facilitate achievement.
• Competency 0018: Understand aesthetic development and the role of the arts in young children's overall development. Skills tested: Ways in which disabilities and other factors may affect young children's appreciation of and engagement with the arts (i.e., visual arts, music, dramatic forms); Strategies for providing young children with opportunities to create and respond to various art forms; Strategies for using the arts to help children explore ideas, express personal thoughts and feelings, and achieve desired goals in various developmental domains.
• Competency 0019: Understand how to promote young children's physical development. Skills tested: Ways in which disabilities and other factors may affect the development of young children's gross-motor, fine-motor, and perceptual awareness skills; Assessment procedures for evaluating needs and progress related to physical skills development; Interpretation and communication of assessment results; Strategies for providing developmentally appropriate experiences and activities to promote physical development; Selection and adaptation of instructional strategies, resources, and technologies to address individual goals and needs.

Competencies 0020–0024 make up about 14% of the test. They ask you to understand how to establish partnerships with other members of the school community to enhance learning opportunities for young children with disabilities; understand how to foster strong school-home partnerships; understand how to encourage school-community interactions that enhance young children's opportunities for learning and development, and more.

• Competency 0020: Understand how to establish partnerships with other members of the school community to enhance learning opportunities for young children with disabilities. Skills tested: Consultation, collaboration, coteaching, and communication skills and strategies for working with other school staff and support service providers to solve problems and promote children's development (e.g., effective use of Response to Intervention); Strategies for providing various services (e.g., providing inservice programs for staff, coordinating instruction involving multiple educators); Strategies for working with other professionals in the context of different program models (e.g., home-based, integrated, self-contained classroom).
• Competency 0021: Understand how to foster strong school-home partnerships. Skills tested: Strategies for establishing school-family partnerships and maintaining effective communication with families, including families with various backgrounds; How to recognize and overcome barriers to communication, access, and participation; How to work collaboratively with families to solve problems and promote their participation in educational planning, in classroom activities, and in their child's learning at home; How to provide information, support, counseling, and referrals to families whose children have disabilities.
• Competency 0022: Understand how to encourage school-community interactions that enhance young children's opportunities for learning and development. Skills tested: Strategies for working effectively with community agencies and services that can help meet the needs of young children with disabilities; How to establish and maintain positive relationships with community institutions to facilitate children's successful transitioning; Strategies for engaging community support for the early childhood special education program.
• Competency 0023: Understand requirements, responsibilities, and constraints associated with teaching young children with disabilities. Skills tested: Legal and ethical issues affecting early childhood special education teachers; Teacher roles and responsibilities (e.g., resource person, advocate, member of Evaluation Team and IEP committee); Application of special education-related regulations (e.g., Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, PL 94-142, ADA, PL 99-457) and guidelines (e.g., involving referral, evaluation, eligibility, program development, due process); Procedures for evaluating programs and using and communicating program evaluation results.
• Competency 0024: Understand the history and philosophy of early childhood special education and key issues, trends, practices, and research relating to the education of young children with disabilities. Skills tested: The historical, philosophical, and theoretical foundations of early childhood special education; Key issues and trends in early childhood special education (e.g., early intervention, multisensory instruction, alternative assessment); Evidence-based best practices and research in early childhood special education and their appropriate applications (e.g., differentiated instruction, Universal Design for Learning).