A Case Study on The Reading and Writing Struggles of a 7 Year Old

Sam is a 7 yearold male in the 1st grade. Sam is an only child, and his parents are recently divorced. Halfway through the year, Sam and his mom moved to Utah, and his school records indicate that he has been falling behind recently. Reading and writing seem to be the areas where he struggles the most, but he sometimes has trouble staying focused and on task as well. His most recent teacher had just started having him work with a tutor on reading and writing, and has been keeping data on his progress for about a month previous to his move. He is motivated by prizes and is interested in superheroes and animals.

As teachers, we have a responsibility to be highly effective educators, but working with students with disabilities, we have specific and essential legal responsibilities to ensure that they are able to receive the educational help that they need to be successful. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) gave students with disabilities 6 rights: free appropriate public education, appropriate evaluation, individualized education programs, least restrictive environment, parental participation, and procedural safeguards. We also moral and ethical responsibilities to leave all medical and diagnostic decisions completely up to the parents. (Gargiulo, Richard M.; Metcalf, Debbie. Teaching in Today's Inclusive Classrooms: A Universal Design for Learning Approach (Page 7). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition.)

Sam has been diagnosed with dyslexia which falls under specific learning disability. His condition impacts how he is able to learn because he has trouble with written language, making it difficult for him to read and/or write properly. (Gargiulo, Richard M.; Metcalf, Debbie. Teaching in Today's Inclusive Classrooms: A Universal Design for Learning Approach (Page 7). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition.) Sam’s condition is causing him to fall behind in class readings and is affecting his confidence and motivation to read at all. He can tell that his classmates are not struggling with reading as much as he is.

Sam has many strengths and is a valuable member of the classroom. He is creative and works hard on assignments that are meaningful to him. He is willing to try again when he gets frustrated. Sam struggles to read with fluency and comprehension. His knowledge of phonic and letter sounds is behind his classmates, and he struggles to decode words and to understand the meaning behind what he has read. He commonly mixes up d and b while decoding. (http://www.readingrockets.org/article/common-signs-dyslexia-0)

PLAAFP

1st Grade Language Arts:

Based on a curriculum-based assessment given on 1/25/2018, Sam can accurately read 10 of the 20 sight words when the teacher points to them. He needs to be able to read all 20 words when the teacher points to them. Based on a curriculum-based assessment given on 1/25/2018, Sam is able to read and comprehend only 60% of an average 1st grade-level reading passage. He needs to be able to read and comprehend with at least 80% accuracy.

Based on a curriculum-based assessment given on 1/25/2018, Sam is able to correctly spell 7 of 15 spelling words. He needs to be able to correctly spell all 15 of the words.

There are many classroom accommodation that will facilitate learning for Sam and other students who struggle with reading and writing. We found three evidence based accommodations that would work specifically with Sam.

1. An accommodation for Sam’s reading is to use physical objects when teaching new words. Using physical objects, like blocks, to represent individual sounds in a word helps students develop segmentation skills. Using concrete objects will help Sam better remember and internalize the new word because it involves visual and tactile experience. (Gargiulo, Richard M.; Metcalf, Debbie. Teaching in Today's Inclusive Classrooms: A Universal Design for Learning Approach p. 81)

2. Another accomodation for Sam would be to use audio books for him to follow along with while reading. This will be helpful to Sam because it still allows him to participate in reading and looking at the words, rather than just being excused from reading altogether. He will be able to read and understand as the audio recording helps him recognize, decode, and understand words that he may struggle with on his own. (https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/partnering-with-childs-school/instructional-strategies/at-a-glance-classroom-accommodations-for-dyslexia)

3. Another accomodation to use in the classroom to help Sam with following directions and staying on task is to provide verbal instruction that is repeated often. This way, Sam can hear and understand the instructions without having to read them, and he will be reminded often of the task at hand and what is expected of him. (https://dyslexiaida.org/accommodations-for-students-with-dyslexia/)