Case Report
Introduction
Ethan Yancey is a 7 year old 2nd grader who is here because he is struggling with reading on his grade level. As clinicians in Appalachian State University’s Master’s Degree Program in Reading Education, we tutored Ethan for 12 weeks across the spring, 2010 semester. I, Elizabeth Norwood, conducted the initial assessment and first 6 weeks of tutoring. Abby Boughton tutored Ethan the second six weeks and administered the post-assessment.
Initial literacy assessments
A battery of tests were administered to Ethan on January 21, 2010, includingthe Schlagal Spelling Inventory, a Word Recognition in Isolation task, and a passage reading task. Later, Ethan’s listening level, sense of story, and oral and written composition were assessed.
During testing Ethan was always cooperative and eager to do what was asked of him. He was very friendly and talkative. During the testing he appeared to be confident in his skills and did not show any signs of frustration.
Spelling
The Schlagal Spelling Inventory includes eight 12-word lists that increase in difficulty across the 1st to 8thgrade levels. These lists include words that contain avariety of spelling patterns that are commonly used in reading and writing for that particular grade level. This inventory was given in order to determine Ethan’s independent, instructional, and frustration levels of spelling and phonics, as well as, to identify strengths, readiness, and needs in his spelling and phonics knowledge.When looking at scores on this spelling inventory a child is considered to be independent at the highest level they spell 90-100% of the words accurately, instructional at the highest level they spell 50-89% of the words accurately, and frustrational at the highest level they spell below 40% of the words accurately.
Ethan’s spelling was 92% on the first level of spelling, which is at independent level. On the 2nd grade list he scored 50% on the initial list, and 33% on 3rd grade. I later went back and administered the additional words for each of the Schlagal lists for 2nd and 3rd grade and Ethan scored 40% on both of these lists.
From Ethan’s scores I have determined that he is an independent 1st grade speller and is working instructionally at 2nd grade level.He can use beginning and ending sounds, short vowels and most blends and digraphs accurately. At this time, Ethan needs to work on long vowel patterns. Specifically, he needs work on lower frequency vowel patterns. For example, he spelled cool as coll, scream as srcem, and thirsty as therste. He also needs to work on ck at the end of words, as in his spelling he spelled knock as knok and thick as thik. After working on and mastering these he should be ready for work on learning whether or not to double when adding suffixes -ed and -ing. For example, he spelled shopping as shoping and stepping as steping.
Word recognition in isolation
A Word Recognition in Isolation task was administered to determine Ethan’s instructional word recognition level. This task consists of ten 20-word lists that range in difficulty from pre-primer to eighth grade. Beginning at pre-primer level, the words are flashed for approximately ¼-½ second, and the student’s response is recorded. Once the child is unable to read 50% of the words accurately as they are flashed, the test is discontinued. This score then helps the administrator of the assessment to determine the scope of the student’s automatic sight word vocabulary, his word attack skills, and where to begin reading on the Word Recognition in Context portion of the assessment.For this section of the assessment a child is considered to be independent on the highest level they are able to accurately read 90-100% of the words as they are flashed to them, they are instructional on the highest level they can accurately read 70-89% of the words as they are flashed, and they are frustrational at the level in which they can not read more than 50% of the words accurately.
Ethan’s independent level for word recognition in isolation is primer at which he could read 95% of the words accurately as they were flashed, his instructional level is 2nd grade at which he could read 70% of the words accurately as they were flashed, and his frustrational level is 3rd grade at which level he could read 25% of the words accurately as they were flashed. Ethan appears to have strong decoding skills, as his untimed word recognition scores were instructional even at 3rd grade level. However, his flash scores show that his word recognition in isolation skills are at 2ndgrade level.Ethan needs to continue working on automaticity and accuracy with words in isolation. Given Ethan’s 1st grade spelling results, I would have expected his word recognition to be lower than this. In looking at his errors, the only consistent error with his spelling I see at his instructional level is that for break he read breck. This shows some continuing confusion with long vowel patterns. On most other words he missed, he just didn’t offer a response on the flash portion of the assessment, but when given time to look at the word on the untimed portion, he was able to read it correctly.
Contextual reading
The contextual reading portion of the assessment addresses oral reading accuracy, rate and comprehension. This is used to determine a child’s independent, instructional, and frustrational levels in reading. It also allows the opportunity to be able to analyze what types of strengths and weaknesses the child has in these areas. A child is considered to be independent on the highest level at which they can read accurately 98-100% of a text and comprehend 90-100% of that text, they are instructional at the highest level they can read accurately 95-97% of a text while comprehending 75-89% of that text, and frustrational on the highest level at which they can accurately read no more than 89% of the text and comprehend no more than 49% of that text. Rate also plays an important part in determining a child’s independent, instructional, and frustration levels, but the criteria for rate varies depending upon the level of the text. This is shown in the table below.
Reading Level / Oral Reading Rate (wpm) / Silent Reading Rate (wpm)1st / 45-85 / 50-90
2nd / 80-120 / 95-145
3rd / 95-135 / 120-170
4th / 110-150 / 135-185
5th / 125-155 / 150-200
6th / 135-160 / 160-210
7th / 145-160 / 170-220
8th / 145-160 / 180-230
Ethan’s contextual reading assessment shows that he is independent at primer level, instructional at an early 2nd grade level, and frustrational at 3rd grade level. On primer level Ethan made no mistakes as he read. His comprehension was 100% and his rate of reading was 88 wpm. These results all show that this level is appropriate for his unsupported independent reading. At the first grade level Ethan made three mistakes as he read, reading to for he, licks for likes (which is the same type of error he made in both spelling and word recognition in isolation), and slid for slipped. He self-corrected the first two of these. The mistake that was not corrected did not change the meaning of the story. His comprehension dropped to 75% and his rate of reading was 72 wpm. At 2nd grade level Ethan made 5 errors as he read which makes him 95% accurate, he omitted and, read “cannee” for knee, and for the, it for I, and a for the. He self-corrected all of these errors. His comprehension was 70% and his rate of reading was 81 wpm. These results indicated an instructional level that was getting close to frustration. As we went on to the 3rd grade passage, Ethan’s mistakes went up dramatically to 16 errors, 13 of these were meaning change errors and none of these were self-corrected. His comprehension dropped to 68% and his rate was 45 wpm. This was clearly too difficult for Ethan. This is in line with Ethan’s WRI score of 2nd grade, but is a level higher than his spelling scores would have indicated on the Schlagal Spelling Inventory.
Listening comprehension
The listening comprehension portion of the assessment is given in order to determine the highest level at which a child can understand what is being read to him. This also helps to determine if the child is having difficulty with reading comprehension due to lack of automaticity with word recognition or due to lack of understanding of the vocabulary, concepts, and/or language structure. This assessment is done by reading passages to the child, beginning at their grade level, and then asking questions about what was read.
Ethan’s listening comprehension was 60% at both 2nd and 3rd grade levels. At 4th grade level it dropped to 0%. Ethan should be listening to books read aloud at a 3rd grade level.Ethan needs to hear stories with rich book language and compelling plots in order to develop book language and sense of story. This finding is in line with his word recognition in context scores. Since he is instructional in readingat 2nd grade, it makes sense that he would be a level above this for listening level.
Sense of story
I read aloud two stories to Ethan and then had him retell these orally to me. The two stories used were Goldilocks and the Three Bears and The Poor Old Dog. ForGoldilocks and the Three Bears Ethan was able to retell the story accurately with most story elements present (6/8). This could be due to the fact that this is a story with which he is familiar. His retelling contained “leap frogging” as he jumped around the actual sequence as he retold what happened in the story. He used mostly phrases in retelling rather than complete sentences. ForThe Poor Old DogEthan didn’t have quite as many story elements present when he retold this story (4/8). He was able to retell the story in chronological order, but again, used mostly phrases in his retelling. I think his score here shows that he wasn’t as familiar with this story, and is actually more representative of Ethan’s true sense of story.
Ethan can retell a story with some consistency as far as setting, sequencing, descriptive words, and ending. He can remember what happened, but may have some difficulty keeping everything in the exact order of the story. Ethan’s sense and use of more complex sentences, story organization, and more descriptive language should increase in proportion to the amount he is read to from books containing rich written language. This seems to me to be in line with his scores in his listening comprehension.
Writing
I told Ethan a story about a time that I was scared about something and then asked him to do the same. He told me a story about a time that he went ice skating and was afraid that he would fall on the ice.Ethan’s oral telling of the story and written composition of the story were almost the same as his writing is much like his oral language. Ethan can write a story that he tells orally accurately. He doesn’t use many details, and often has a hard time giving the ones that he does.In later writings I have noticed that Ethan is hesitant to write, and I have been writing for him as he dictates his stories. This has helped with his detail. He is still struggling with this. He needs to have many opportunities to write in many different ways on many different topics. He also needs to be continually immersed in books with rich language and compelling context in order to begin to incorporate these into his writings.
Instructional Plans and Progress Report
Plans for Ethan were made across the instructional areas of reading, writing, and word study (spelling and phonics) based on the conclusions drawn from the initial assessment. Tutoring lessons included activities in these four areas and were adjusted according to Ethan’s progress and needs.
Reading
Ethan will be working on reading late first grade to early second grade passages fluently, accurately, and with understanding. This practice will not only help his word recognition in context, but also his fluency and automaticity with word recognition in isolation.
Across the first six weeks, we worked on doing Directed Reading Thinking Activites withlevel 2-1 reading selections during the reading portion of our lessons. In a DRTA the child reads, and the tutor stops at preselected points in the text and asks the child to predict what may happen next. The child is also asked to substantiate the prediction they make based on clues found within the text they have read. Ethan read Arthur’s Funny Money, The Case of the Cat’s Meow, and began Little Poss and Horrible Hound. During reading Ethan continually showed enthusiasm and confidence in his reading. He always reads with great expression! We charted Ethan’s fluency as we worked on rereading portions of these stories. At the beginning of our tutoring sessions, Ethan was reading an average of 60 wpm. As we worked on rereading for fluency and accuracy, he was reading an average of 70-90 wpm. I believe that at this time, Ethan may be ready to try reading a late second grade story.
Across the first few weeks Ethan was hesitant to make predictions based on what was happening in the stories he was reading. I believe this has to do with him being a bit worried about being “wrong” and not wanting to go out on a limb in order to make a prediction. When I noticed this, I started modeling making predictions for him so that he could see how to predict, and that it wasn’t always about being “right” or “wrong,” but more about how to use the text to help make sense of what is going on in the story and what may happen next. As we worked together, and he became more comfortable, he began making more predictions that were logical and were based on what he was reading.
Writing
We will be working on writing by use of student writing of, as well as dictating of,personal narratives and compositions in areas of interest with an emphasis on pre-writing planning, editing, and revising successive drafts. In doing this we will also be working on his major areas of need: adding details to writing and putting writing into a logical order.
Across the first six weeks, we worked on writing about things that interested Ethan. I tried to get him talking about things that he liked and did, and then I had him write about them. He started with a story about going ice skating. We worked on it for several sessions, adding details, and going back through it later on word hunts to look for patterns we were working on in word study. We began a story about snow but he struggled with it so we skipped to writing a story about his new twin cousins because he enjoyed talking about them. In the beginning, I was having Ethan do most of the writing, but found that he was much less confident in his writing than in his reading. He would write, but minimally, when asked to do so. His writing conventions were good, as was his spelling, but he seemed limited in how much he would write. I began having him dictate to me what he would like to have written down, and he seemed much less intimidated by the process, but it was still hard to get much information from him. He will continue working on adding detail to his writing.
Word study
According to the Schlagal Spelling Assessment, Ethan is a level 2 speller. We will be working on word sorts that will reinforce and increase his knowledge of short vowel patterns, long vowel patterns, ck vs. ke, doubling, and lower frequency vowel patterns. We will work on spelling past tense with regular and irregular verbs. We will also introduce lower frequency second grade vowel patterns. This word study should allow him to aquire and remember sight words that he will come across in reading. It will also strengthen his spelling skills.
Across the first six weeks, we began by working on sorts containing short vowel vs. long vowel sorts along with “oddball” words. Ethan demonstrated quickly that this type of sort was easy for him so we moved on to more difficult long vowel patterns such as ai, ay, oa, and ow. Ethan was able to sort most words with these patterns, but it was a lengthy process, and he had some difficulty with the “oddball” words. We worked on these for automaticity over the next few sessions and once he was able to sort them in only a few seconds per word, and could successfully complete a spell check with each spelling pattern, we moved on to long e vowel patterns. I continued to see the same results as before, mostly success with the sorting, but difficulty with the “oddballs.” We worked on these for several more sessions and he became very quick and accurate with these sorts as well. We ended up our six weeks of tutoring by working on ck vs. ke and the three sounds of suffix -ed. He was just beginning with these, but seems ready to check for accuracy and automaticity with these patterns as well.
Being read to
I will be reading to Ethan from texts at a third grade reading level that contain rich language and compelling content so as to increase his familiarity with the type of vocabulary and book language found in these stories. In doing this, he will be better prepared to read this type of text on his own later when he is required to do so, as well as, incorporate these into his writing.
Across the first six weeks, we read Miss Smith’s Incredible Storybook, The Six Fools, Pinduli, and Always in Trouble. We read these and did Directed Listening Thinking Activities along with them. In a DLTA, a story is read to the child, and then stopping at points of interest, the child is asked what they think will happen next. They are also asked to substantiate their guesses with clues from the text. Making predictions was hard for him, as discussed above in the reading section, but as time went on and he became more comfortable with the process, he was able to make logical predictions. He is very literal in his predictions, and does have some difficulty making inferences. I worked on modeling this for him, and in looking back at what information the text has given us, in order to make inferences about what may happen next. He truly enjoys being read to, and worked hard at following along with each story, and working on predicting what would happen next.