Running Head: COMPREHENSIVE CASE STUDY

Comprehensive Case Study

Lynda Eslinger

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Fall 2015; SPED 638

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COMPREHENSIVE CASE STUDY

Literacy is one of the most difficult skills to acquire. Teaching someone to be literate is

just as challenging. There are so many rules in the English language that make it confusing to

learn and teach. I had the pleasure of tutoring a student over the course of 10 weeks. In this study

I will share a description of my students strengths, area of needs, pre and post assessment data,

and reflect on my practice, interventions, and overall experience.

Description of Student

Student A is a six-year old boy attending first grade at a public elementary school.

This is his first year in public education as he attended a private school for preschool and

kindergarten.

Student Interests

Student A is interested in books for boys. He likes to read about Batman, superheroes,

Legos, etc. He enjoys playing basketball and spending time with his family. Student A is

friendly, outgoing, and playful. He has a good sense of humor and is not shy to ask questions.

Student Strengths

Student A has excellent listening comprehension especially when presented with

picture cues. He has good phoneme segmentation fluency as he can represent phonemes with

letters for initial, medial, and final sounds. For example, if given a picture of a dog, he can

recognize that /d/ is the beginning sound, /o/ is the medial sound, and /g/ is the final sound.

Areas of Need:

Student A does not know all of his letter names and sounds. He does not recognize

letter names for g, j, b, q, and i. In addition, he does not recognize the following sounds: /g/, /h/,

/y/, /v/, /q/, /x/, /u/, and /o/. Occasionally hell mix up letters /o/ and /a/ as well. Reversals for
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letters b, d, p, q are significant. Sight word recognition is poor. Student A has difficulty retaining

the 5 words introduced each week, even with multi-sensory approach. Lack of motivation and

effort towards reading is also evident. Student A expressed in a self-assessment that he does not

like to read because the words are too hard. He escapes by occupying his hands as he is

constantly pulling on his slippers and touching other objects during reading instruction.

Assessments

I was able to gather assessment data for all five areas of reading (phonemic awareness,

phonics, fluency, comprehension, and word recognition) using McGraw

Hills Reading Wonders Placement and Diagnostic Assessments (Phonics Survey), IRI, and

STAR Universal Screener. Here is the pre-tutoring data.

Phonemic Awareness:

Phoneme Segmentation Fluency: 37/92

Phonics:

VC and CVC Nonsense Words: 0/10

VC and CVC in Text: 0/20

Fluency/Readiness:

NA

During the initial assessments at the beginning of the year, Student A could not

read the fluency passages presented to him.

Comprehension:

He answered 7/8 questions correctly. Two different reading passages were read
aloud to him in a one-to-one setting. Questions were also read aloud and the
answer choices were in picture format.

IRI Listening Answered comprehension questions without picture cues.

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Was unable to read grade 1 word list. Read the first passage to him, as the IRI
became a listening activity.

Word Recognition:

Recognizes 6 sight words: and, do, for, go, is, like

STAR Universal Screener:

Early Literacy: 582/900

Reading: 0

Tutoring Interventions

I had the opportunity to meet with Student A for thirty minutes three times a week over

the course of 10 weeks using the Wonder Works Intervention Program that aligns with our core

reading program by McGraw-Hill Reading Wonders. Based on assessment results, Student A

was a below level reader in Wonders. Wonders has 4 levels (beyond, on level, approaching, and

ELL/well below). It was without a doubt that his first goal would be to recognize letter names

and sounds. I focused on building letter recognition by using letter and picture cards from

Wonder Works. I began by drilling him at the beginning of each of our tutoring sessions. We

followed with building words, specifically targeting the letter names and sounds that he was

most unfamiliar with. Within a couple of weeks, Student A had stronger letter name and sound

recognition. Once he demonstrated mastery, I set a new goal.

His second goal was to build and blend CVC words. I used direct instruction to build and

blend CVC words using a sound-by-sound spelling technique. Immediately following our build

and blend practice, Student A would practice reading the same CVC words in the form of a word

list, sentence, and with a decodable reader. We also worked on sight-word recognition as the
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weekly words appeared in the decodable reader. It was a nice way to reinforce the new sight-

words, as this was an area of need for my student.

I followed the progression of the Wonders program that introduced short vowels first,

followed by blends and digraphs. Student A was successful with short vowels and is developing

in the areas of blends and digraphs. I taught my student how to blend words to read them. I also

taught him how to chunk unfamiliar words and use context clues.

Most of our tutoring sessions took place during our specials classes (Art, Music, and PE).

This is how our school designed RTI for us this year. It was very difficult at first because I could

tell that he felt left out and was not as interested in the sessions as he knew he was missing out. I

tried to work on a rotation and work with him afterschool some days so he wouldnt miss all of

his specials. After a couple of weeks, he was asking when it would be his turn to stay with me. I

could tell that he was gaining confidence and was enjoying our tutoring sessions. I used as many

multi-sensory resources as possible to make it fun and interactive for him.

Documentation

I used our schools documentation of interventions template to document our sessions.

With each session, I noted a quick description of which Wonder Works lesson we focused on

and included other notes/progress monitoring information. I made note of school holidays/breaks

and student absences.

Student Name: STUDENT A Grade 1 Teacher Mrs. Eslinger

Concern SMART Goal Statement
o Reading Goal #1: To recognize all letters and letter sounds.
o Writing MASTERED. Will continue to review as necessary!
o Vocabulary Goal # 2: To blend and read CVC words (MASTERED).
o Math Goal # 3: To recognize and read high-frequency words
o Behavioral/Emotional introduced in unit 1 & 2.
o Family Concerns
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o Speech/Language Tier Service Level: 1 2 3

o Physical Health

Intervention Codes

0. General 17. Differentiation- 34. Parent/Teacher

Classroom Compacting Conference
Instruction 18. Differentiation - 35. Peer
1. Adult Assistance Contracting Mentors/Assistan
2. Alternate 19. Differentiation- ce
Curriculum Flexible 36. Preferential
3. Alternate Test Grouping Seating
Format 20. Differentiation- 37. Repeating
4. Auditory Problem-Based Directions
Cues/Prompts Learning 38. SIS Initiated
5. Behavior 21. Differentiation- (ESLL)
Contract Tiering 39. Social Skills
6. Behavior Support 22. Extended Time Training
Plan 23. Grade Checks 40. Student/Teacher
7. Behavior 24. Frequent Breaks Conference
Learning Centers 25. Frequent Checks 41. Time Out
8. Change in for 42. Tutorial
Schedule Understanding Assistance
9. Chunking of 26. Home 43. Visual
Information Involvement Plan Cues/Prompts
10. Communication 27. Individualized
with Parent Instruction with
11. Conference: Student
Parent/Teacher 28. Instructional
12. Conference: Adaptations
Student Team 29. Minimizing
13. Correction and Auditory
Conference with Distractions
the Student 30. Minimizing Visual
14. Counseling Distractions
15. Curricula 31. Monitor
Modifications Attendance
16. Differentiation- Record
Acceleration 32. Oral Directions
and Content 33. Parallel
Enhancement Curriculum

Date Notes Student Response to

Intervention
9/8 Absent - Trip
9/9 Abesent Trip
9/16 U1W4 Wonder Works IRI frustration level
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9/17 Letter sounds y, q, h=j, u=y, e Mixing up b & d

High-Frequency Words
9/18 Adaptive Learning Tool (computer Introduced new tool
lab)
9/23 1. HFW practice.
2. Letter sounds: y=I, u=y
3. build and blend CVC
9/24 1. Multi-Sensory: Used play dough Notes: Sounded out and
to shape u & y blended words to read
2. Letter cards to build words with using the words with
blends. letter cards. Without
3. Read decodable Wonder Works letter cards he still did
Sit Down Kids. well. Read crab, slab,
snack, track, grim, swim.
Missed trot and spot.
Covered each sound
and reread trot and
spot correctly.

9/25 Work on Writing. Practiced writing

the spelling words and high-
frequency words using colored
markers. Also logged on to the
adaptive learning app on Wonders
9/30 WEEKLY COMPREHENSION TEST:
1.Reread U1W4 Weekly Test for
Comprehension. Got 0/5 the first
time as whole class. Reread and
got 5/5.
1. Reviewed HFW using shaving
cream.
2. ASSESSMENT ON HFW. Knows
26/45 words. missed the following:
and, are, do, has, he, here,
look=log, my, play, said, she=some,
the=they, this, was, we, where, with
= went, does, , you=we,out=not,
good, make=mack, they,
move=mop,
10/1 Letter Assessment: Knows all letter YAY! Occasionally will
names and sounds. Set a new reverse the b and d.
goals.
10/2 Adaptive Learning Tool

Fall Break Continue to work on Goal #2 & # 3:

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10/13 1. hfw practice. Mixes up reading /ea/

2. U2W2 WW short e. words. Tries to sound
them out
10/14 U2W2 Wonder Works

10/15 U2W2 Wonder Works Trying a new technique

Drew pictures for each high to help him with retain
frequency word. high-frequency words.

10/16 U2W2 Wonder Works

10/21 U2W3 WW lesson PA, phonics short Still needs hfw practice.
u, build fluency rereading Decoded well. Mixes up
Decodable 1. b & d but expressed he
wasnt sure which it
was. First time he asked
if it was a b or d.
10/22 U2W3 WW

10/23 NO SCHOOL PARENT TEACHER

CONFERENCES
10/26 NO SCHOOL PARENT TEACHER
CONFERENES

10/27 1. Unit 2 decodable.

2. Practiced reading sentences
with page 22/hfw sentences.
3. ASSESSMENT on HFW:
Recognized all 5 hfw from U2W2
YAY!!! Could, live, then, one, three.
* Sent home word cards of these
words for him to keep. This may be
helping!

10/28 1. hfw test:18/30

2. U2W3 Wonder Works
3. Phonemic Awareness short
u
4. Read Big Bud. Got stuck on
YES.

10/30 (computer lab)

Wonders Progress Monitor
Recognized 2/5 Hfw. Decoded
words with short /a/ with accuracy.
Read sentences.
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11/2 Afterschool: Hfw and U2W3

11/4 (computer lab) Strong cvc /a/

Wonders Progress Monitor. Read
5/5 hfw and 8/8 decodable /a/
words. Read sentences

11/6 I attended a Wonders Training at

Keolu Elementary.
11/10 U2W4 WW

11/11 No School: Veterans Day

11/12 1. Hfw = all, call, her, want, day

(4/5) Drew pictures on the
board to match each hfw.
2. Read sentences with hfw
Using WWorks page

11/13 (computer lab) Listened to stories

with the same sight words.
11/17 U2W5 WW
11/19 Drew pictures for each U2W5 sight
word.
Read sentences with the same
high-frequency words.
Read words with digraphs.
11/20 U2W5 WW/ Reviewed sight words.
11/24 Hfw test 29/45 unit 1&2 hfw. He is retaining most of
Missing 16 = does, out, what, they, the Unit 2 words. He
move, again, help, now, there, use, corrected some unit 1
could, one, who, of, want, many words that he missed on
the last test in October.
11/26-27 THANKSGIVING BREAK
Results of Tutoring Interventions

Throughout the tutoring sessions, I used the progress monitoring from Wonders to assess

the weekly high-frequency words and word reading of the weekly phonics skill. I reassessed the

five areas of reading using the same assessments with different passages. These are the post

scores.

Phonemic Awareness:

Phoneme Segmentation Fluency: 63/92

Phonics:

VC and CVC Nonsense Words: 10/10

VC and CVC in Text: 18/20

Fluency/Readiness:

29 WCPM

Comprehension:

Answered 5 out of 8 questions. Comprehension level is at a buffer level (51%-

74%). Questions based on reading passage that he read on his own.

Word Recognition:

Recognizes 36 out of 51 sight words

STAR Universal Screener:

Early Literacy: 778/900

Reading: 1.1
Summary

I constantly reflected on my practice throughout the entire tutoring experience. As I

previously mentioned, tutoring in reading is difficult as there are so many areas that one could

focus on. I had to remind myself to stick to the goals and not veer from them. As for the

instructional materials, our school purchased the Wonder Works Intervention Kits solely for the

use of RTI instruction. We had limited training and had to learn on the go. I had to modify and

make adjustments as necessary to help meet the needs of my student. For example, the program

introduced blends and digraphs too soon for my student, as he still needed to master short

vowels. I did like how the program aligned nicely with our core instruction. My student was able

to make strong connections.

When it came to high-frequency words, I was really stuck on helping my student learn

them. He just wasnt responding to the weekly practice. I had to dig a little deeper to find

something that would work for him. I finally discovered a YouTube video of a mom that taught

her dyslexic son how to spell using picture cues. I wondered if that same technique would work

with high-frequency words. I also printed large word cards for him to keep and post at home.

Within a few sessions, I noticed that he was retaining more words. He felt successful and it was a

nice breakthrough. I learned that my student was definitely a visual learner.

Based on the latest data, I plan to set new goals for my student. I would also like to try a

new intervention program such as Sonday. I think its time to change things up a little bit. I

wouldnt make too many changes as I would gradually introduce the new program and monitor

his response. I recommend continuing to build and blend words using the sound-by-sound

technique and teaching the high-frequency words with the picture cues. A recommendation for
myself would be to learn more about Sonday and other intervention programs. I would also love

to have access to the Read Naturally Phonics Series to help build his fluency.

Although my tutoring project started off a little rocky, I am so excited that things fell into

place and that my system worked for my student. I am beyond pleased that he is now an

approaching level reader and has made strong gains. I was literally holding back tears when I

assessed him. He is now reading words with consonant digraphs and is building his oral reading

fluency. Above all, he is now reading and doing so with confidence. Something he didnt have

before. Now he has the tools to be a successful life-long reader.