CDT Study Guide 2026
Everything you need to pass the CDT exam in one place: the exam format, every topic to study, real practice questions with explanations, flashcards, and full-length practice tests. Free, no sign-up needed.
📋 CDT Exam Format at a Glance
📚 CDT Topics to Study (21)
✍️ Sample CDT Questions & Answers
1. In Shaywitz's research, which brain reading pathway is UNDERACTIVATED in readers with dyslexia during word recognition tasks?
Shaywitz's neuroimaging studies show underactivation of the left occipito-temporal region (the 'word form area' or 'brain's letterbox') in dyslexic readers.
2. Onset-rime awareness involves:
Onset-rime awareness involves recognizing that syllables can be split into the onset (initial consonant or cluster) and the rime (the vowel and everything after it, e.g., 'c' + 'at' in 'cat').
3. Which is an example of multisensory instruction?
Multisensory instruction involves engaging several senses simultaneously to enhance learning. Tracing letters while saying their sounds out loud is a prime example, as it combines visual input (seeing the letter), auditory input (hearing the sound), and kinesthetic/tactile input (feeling the movement of tracing), reinforcing the letter-sound correspondence.
4. Which document formalizes the goals, services, and accommodations agreed upon by the school team and parents for a student with dyslexia?
The IEP is the legally binding document that outlines specific goals, services, accommodations, and parent consent under IDEA.
5. Which of the following is a therapeutic technique commonly used for dyslexia?
Multisensory techniques and structured reading programs are commonly used for dyslexia because they engage multiple senses (sight, sound, touch, movement) simultaneously. This approach helps reinforce learning pathways in the brain, making it easier for students with dyslexia to connect sounds to letters, decode words, and improve reading fluency. These programs are often explicit, systematic, and cumulative.
6. A CDT explains to a teacher that a student's letter reversals (b/d) are NOT a vision problem. Which neurological explanation is MOST accurate?
Letter reversals reflect incomplete orthographic memory formation, not vision problems; the brain has not yet established firm directional representations for similar-looking graphemes.