STR Exam UPDATED Actual Exam
Questions and CORRECT Answers
Asset-Based Approach - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔-An asset-based (or strengths-based)
approach to education builds learning around a student's strengths and existing knowledge,
rather than focusing on what they lack.
-the asset-based approach views diversity in thought, culture, and traits as positive assets that
should be valued.
-based on the idea that teaching to a student's strengths helps them to feel valued, build their
confidence, and reach their full potential. The approach seeks to celebrate differences and
eliminate biases that hold back certain student demographics, especially those with
disabilities, students of color, and English language learners (ELLs).
deficit-based approach: - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔focuses on students' shortcomings.
instructional strategies that work well in an asset-based teaching approach: - CORRECT
ANSWER- ✔✔-continually adjusting flexible groupings according to each child's current
assessed knowledge and skills
-providing students with freedom of choice and autonomy in their learning
-drawing on prior knowledge that students bring into the classroom
Dyslexia - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔-learning disorder that affects a student's ability to
read, spell, write, and speak.
-Students identified as having dyslexia typically experience some or all of the following
characteristics:
1. difficulty with phonological awareness (including phonemic awareness)
2. difficulty reading words in isolation
3. difficulty decoding unfamiliar words
4. slow, inaccurate, or labored (without prosody) oral reading
5. difficulty spelling
6. limited reading fluency
-As a result, these students often experience difficulties in reading comprehension and/or
written expression and limited vocabulary growth due to limited reading experiences.
,Early Indicators for dyslexia: - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔1. Preschool:
-Delayed speech
-Difficulty with rhyming
-Difficulty pronouncing words
-Poor auditory memory of nursery rhymes and chants
-Difficulty adding new words to vocabulary
-Poor word retrieval skills (or inability to recall the right word)
-Trouble learning and naming letters and numbers
-Dislike of print (e.g. doesn't enjoy following along as a book is read aloud)
2. Kinder-1st:
-Difficulty breaking words into smaller parts or syllables
-Difficulty identifying and manipulating sounds
-Difficulty remembering the names of letters and their sounds
-Difficulty decoding single words (reading words in isolation)
-Difficulty spelling words phonetically (the way that they sound) or remembering letter
sequences of common words often seen in print
2nd-3rd:
*Previously described behaviors still exist along with:
-Difficulty recognizing common sight words
-Difficulty recalling the correct sounds for letters and letter patterns in reading
-Difficulty connecting speech sounds with appropriate letter combinations and omitting
letters in words for spelling
-Difficulty reading fluently
-Difficulty decoding unfamiliar words
-Reliance on picture clues, story theme, or guessing at words
-Difficulty with written expression
Dyslexia Instruction: - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Should focus on structured, systematic,
and explicit instruction in the following:
-Phonological awareness (including phonemic awareness) - identifying and manipulating
sounds
,-Sound-symbol association (alphabetic principle) - knowledge of the speech sounds and
corresponding letter or letter combinations
-Syllabication - rules related to the types and division of syllables
-Orthography - the written spelling patterns and rules in a language
-Morphology - the study of how morphemes (units of meaning) are combined to form words
-Syntax - the set of principles regarding the sequence and function of words in a sentence
-Reading comprehension strategies
-Reading fluency
Accommodation for Dyslexia Students: - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔To accommodate
students with dyslexia, teachers can provide students with:
-an opportunity to pre-read texts in small groups before reading aloud
-additional time for class assignments and tests or reduced/shortened assignments (without
eliminating concepts)
-an alternative testing location or priority seating with reduced distractions
-oral reading of directions or written materials
-word banks
-audiobooks
-text to speech and/or speech to text
-electronic spellers and/or electronic dictionaries
-adaptive learning tools
The most common co-occurring disorders with dyslexia: - CORRECT ANSWER-
✔✔attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and specific developmental language
disorders, like dysgraphia.
dysgraphia: - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Difficulty with handwriting, or dysgraphia, is a
different language-based disorder that frequently occurs in children with dyslexia. Those with
dysgraphia struggle with the mechanics of writing resulting in impaired or illegible
handwriting that interferes with spelling, written expression, or both that is unexpected for
the student's age/grade.
Messy handwriting (due to issues such as poor formation of letters, improper size, spacing
between letters or words, or slant of words) is the main sign of dysgraphia. Additionally,
some of the following characteristics can indicate dysgraphia:
, -slow or labored written work
-poor pencil grip
-inadequate pressure during handwriting (too hard or too soft)
-excessive erasures
-inability to recall accurate orthographic patterns for words
-"b" and "d" reversals beyond developmentally appropriate time
-inability to copy words accurately
-inability of student to read what was previously written
-overuse of short familiar words such as "big"
-avoidance of written tasks
-difficulty with visual-motor integrated sports or activities
Difficulties for students with dysgraphia: - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Difficulty writing can
make it harder for students to learn spelling, thus making children with dysgraphia poor
spellers. It also causes students to write slowly, which can affect their ability to express
themselves in writing.
Helping Students with Dysgraphia - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔providing children with
printed copies of the notes, giving students graph paper to assist with their writing, or
allowing students to use an audio recorder in class. Teachers could also offer students
assistive technology, ranging from simple pencil grips to keyboards, touch screens, and
dictation software. In addition to teacher accommodations, children with dysgraphia would
benefit from seeing an occupational therapist.
Ongoing assessments: - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔-guide the pace and content of
instruction. With short-term and long-term goals in mind, assessment should be used to
determine student knowledge and dictate whether the class is prepared to move on to a new
skill.
-Plan to use ongoing assessments as a tool to prevent reading difficulties before they occur.
This need is particularly important in the earliest reading instruction. Those early building
blocks, like letter/sound correspondence or specific syllable patterns, come together to help
students make sense of words, sentences, and texts as a whole.
Differentiation in Reading Instruction - CORRECT ANSWER- ✔✔Differentiation of reading
instruction can only occur in classrooms if teachers have a strong understanding of their
