Tutor: Michelle Patton Hagy

Case Report

______

Tutor: Michelle Patton Hagy

Student: Logan Shepherd

7/02/10

Introduction

Logan is a seven-year-old boy who will repeat first grade next year. As a graduate reading clinician in Appalachian State University’s Master’s Degree Program in Reading Education, I tutored Logan for 13 one-hour sessions across the summer, 2010 semester.

Initial literacy assessments

A series of assessments were administered to determine Logan’s independent, instructional, and frustrational levels. A student’s independent level in a particular area is the highest at which he or she can successfully work without instructional support. The instructional level is the optimal level for working with instructional support. One’s frustration level is that which he or she cannot readily benefit even with instructional support. I administered the following assessments: Interest Inventory, Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (Garfield), Schlagal Spelling Inventory, Word Recognition in isolation (WRI), Passage reading Inventory (IRI), Listening Comprehension, Oral and written composition, and sense of story.

Logan’s favorite activity was the Garfield assessment. Logan was compliant and willing to complete all assessments. However, he does evidence low self-confidence while completing some activities requiring praise and reassurance.

Interest Inventory

Logan was asked eighteen questions about his interests, likes and dislikes. The purpose of this inventory is to inform the tutor of possible book choices and writing prompts.

Logan likes to play games on the computer and play his XBOX. He also likes comic books and Sponge bob Square pants. Logan also has an older brother.

Garfield Survey

The Elementary Reading Attitude Survey, or the Garfield Survey, has twenty questions. I read aloud the questions, which asked about particular reading experiences. For example, one question asks “How do you feel when you read a book on a rainy Saturday?” Logan circled one of four Garfield characters (Happy, somewhat happy, somewhat upset, or very upset). Each question pertains to reading enjoyment and motivation. The purpose of this survey is to find out how a child feels about reading and whether or not he or she likes it.

Logan circled very upset for seventeen of the twenty questions. He continued to say, “I don’t like to read” after circling his answer. He did choose somewhat upset for two of the twenty responses and he chose happy for one response. According to the survey, Logan does not enjoy reading and his motivation to read is low.

Spelling

The Schlagal Spelling Inventory contains 12-word lists that range in level from first through eighth grade. Each list contains spelling patterns taught at that grade level. The ability to spell words is highly correlated with the ability to read words. The spelling inventory also gives us insight into the child’s phoneme awareness and orthographic awareness.

Logan missed nine of the twelve words on the level one list. Therefore, I analyzed his errors. These showed that Logan knows beginning and ending consonants (eg. bed, wish). He does struggle to consistently identify correct medial vowels and consonants (eg. “bump” as BUP). He uses but confuses blends and digraphs (eg. “drive” as JRV). He also does not mark the silent E on the end of long vowel words (eg. “plane” as PLAN and “bike” as BIK). He needs extra practice with word families (with and without blends and digraphs) and short vowels (with and without blends and digraphs).

Word recognition in isolation (WRI)

The word recognition in isolation assessment contains graded lists of words. Each list contains twenty words with spelling patterns for that grade level. The word is flashed for one-fourth of a second. If the child hesitates or misidentifies the word, more time is given (untimed). The test is stopped when the flash drops below 50%. The purpose of the test is to gain an indication of the child’s sight vocabulary (flashed) and decoding skills (unitimed). The independent level for WRI is 90-100%, the instructional level is a score of 70-89% and frustrational is below 50% on the flashed portion of the test. If the child scores below 50% on the Preprimer and Primer lists (flashed), we use at the untimed scores to establish levels rather than the flashed scores.

Logan was not able to correctly identify more than half of the words on the Preprimer list during the flash portion. However, when given more time, Logan was able to correctly decode most words on the Preprimer and primer lists. Logan scored a 40% on the Preprimer flash score and a 45% for the primer list. However, Logan is able to correctly identify words when given the opportunity to decode. Logan scored a 100% on the preprimer list (untimed), which means this is his Independent level when given the opportunity to decode words. His instructional level is primer with 80% correct. His frustrational level is first grade with a significant drop of 0% (flash) and 15% (untimed). Logan will benefit with short vowel rhyming word families to help make those words more automatic. Logan will also benefit from short vowel non-rhyming sorts with and without blends/digraphs.

Logan’s spelling predicted his level word recognition and reading would be found to be in the PrePrimer-Primer range.

Contextual reading

The Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) measures a child’s word recognition in context reading accuracy (WRC), words read per minute, and comprehension. The IRI allows the tutor to identify strengths and weaknesses in those three areas across grade levels and determine independent, instructional and frustrational reading levels. The passages also give the tutor an indication of the child’s developing reading process. For example, a tutor can see if the child relies more on contextual or letter-sound cues while reading. A tutor can also see if the self-corrections hinder the child’s comprehension. The Independent level for reading accuracy is 98-100% and the comprehension is 90-100%. The Instructional level for reading accuracy (WRC) is 95-97% and the comprehension score should be between 70-89%. A child is frustrational when the accuracy drops below 90% and the comprehension drops below 40%. However, a child may have an Instructional score for accuracy but the comprehension score may be frustrational. The rate or the words read per minute is also required in determining level but is different at each grade level.

I started Logan on the primer passage due to Logan scoring an 80% on the untimed portion at the primer level. His accuracy was 83%, his rate was 33 wpm and his comprehension score was a 96%. Although his accuracy is frustrational, his comprehension score is instructional. He did read disfluent while reading this passage. Therefore, I gave Logan the preprimer (PP2) passage, which proved to be his instructional level. His word recongition accuracy was 95% and he read more fluently compared to the primer passage. Lastly, I gave Logan the Emergent passage. He scored a 100% on accuracy and read very fluently while reading this passage. Therefore, his independent level is emergent or preprimer 1. Logan needs to read and reread books on his instructional level (PP2). He also needs to build a word bank of words that he learns through rereading these books.

Logan’s untimed score on the word recognition (untimed) test predicted his reading level to be primer. However, he was frustrational at the primer passage. Looking at his flash score would have been a better starting point for Logan (PP1 or Emergent).

His contextual reading scores are charted below:

Listening Comprehension

The Listening Comprehension test is given to see how well students can comprehend text when it is read for them. Logan listened to a 2nd grade passage and answered comprehension questions. His score was a 50% at the 2nd grade level. Therefore, I read the first grade passage to Logan to compare scores. He scored a 92% while listening to the first grade passage. This difference shows that Logan is able to comprehend text read to him at the first grade level much better compared to the 2nd. His instructional listening level is a first grade passage. However, he did score a 50% at the second grade level, which is at the bottom end of the gray area. I feel books read aloud to Logan should be at the early 2nd grade level due to integration of book language during the “read to” part of our lesson.

Sense of Story

Sense of story involves the tutor telling a story and afterwards the child retells the story back in his or her own words. This activity checks for the child’s retelling abilities and the use of book language while retelling. It also assesses the retelling for inclusion of story elements (beginning, setting, characters, sequence of events, feelings of characters, uses descriptive words, conversation, and ending) story organization, and what type of sentences or phrases used.

I read the story Goldilocks to Logan and asked him to retell it back to me in his own words. He told me “I don’t remember.” I had to encourage and probe him to give me more than nothing. After probing, Logan did tell me about the characters and events that happened in the story (2/8). Logan’s organization during the retell was mixed up and jumping from one thing to the next; therefore, I gave him a score of B=Leap Frogging. He gave his retell in phrases (B). I also read Poor Old Dog to Logan and asked him to retell it back to me. He was able to give me the beginning “Once upon a time” and the two characters, the dog and man (2/8). He was only able to tell me those two things; therefore, his retells was disoriented or confused (A). He told me the retell in one or two word statements (A).

Logan is able to retell the key events in Goldilocks but unable to retell any of the key events in the Poor Old Dog. Goldilocks is a familiar story; therefore, Logan is more than likely relying somewhat on his memory while retelling. Logan has a low self-confidence while retelling text above his instructional level. When asked to retell the story, he would say things like “I don’t know” before trying. He appeared more anxious during the sense of story activity.

Writing

The tutor orally tells the child a story then asks the child to tell a story. Afterwards, the tutor and child both write their respective stories. The tutor looks to see if the oral telling of the story matches the written part. The tutor wants to know if spelling affects written language expression. The tutor also checks for book or story language within both the oral and written products.

I told Logan a story about a time I was happy and asked him to do the same. He told me the following: “My brother and me went to Game Stop to get games. Just one.” I only probed him to “tell me more” one time. His written piece has the exact same thing-“Me and my brother goes to gamestop (see spelling).” Logan is able to begin a story but he doesn’t have an ending. Logan does not use book language and does not tell a full story. We will work on telling more to create a more full story. We will also work on giving more details. For example, we will write a story about his favorite game. We will later add more details about the game (Day 2). I will ask him questions to clarify his story more. I will also write his story while he orally tells it to me. Towards the end of our time together, I will give him the pen to write more. Hopefully, my modeling a longer story will help him write more freely.

Instructional Plans, Progress, and Recommendations

Plans were made across the instructional areas of reading, writing, word study (spelling and phonics), and being read to as a result of the conclusions drawn from the initial assessment. Tutoring lessons included activities in these four areas and were adjusted according to Logan’s progress and needs.

Reading

I selected text on Logan’s instructional level of PrePrimer two (PP2). We spent twenty-five minutes reading on this level. I used the Directed Reading/Thinking Activity (DRTA) during this time. Before reading I identified three stopping points where I asked the following questions: “What do you think will happen next?” “Why do you think that?” By asking these two questions, Logan had to use information previously read to formulate a prediction. A word bank was accumulated throughout the tutoring sessions. As a beginning reader, Logan needs to build a sight vocabulary of 150-250 words. After introducing a new book, Logan would reread books introduced in the last three days (3 books). The rereading of books helps build automatic word recognition, or sight vocabulary, and fluency.

Across our tutoring sessions Logan read ten books. His accuracy was above 95% on the Preprimer two books after reading five books. He read 96% of words accurately on a Preprimer three book. Therefore, I moved his instructional level from PP2 to PP3. However, his accuracy dropped while reading longer Preprimer three books. For example, while reading Operation Elephant Foot, Logan read 91% of the words accurately during the first read. His accuracy did improve each day after with a 93% and then a 97%. While reading Three Pigs (PP3), Logan read 88% of words accurately. A third book on the Preprimer three level also dropped below 95%. At the end of tutoring I moved Logan’s instructional level back to a PP2. A word bank was accumulated throughout the tutoring sessions. Five words read accurately from each book were compiled for a total of fifty words.

Logan should continue to read books at the PP2 level during guided reading. After several weeks, Logan should be ready for PP3 books during this time. Logan needs to read about fifty minutes per day. About twenty-five minutes should be spent on guided reading and rereading of books to develop fluency. The other twenty-five minutes should be spent reading at home or school on his independent level. His independent level is Preprimer.

Writing

My general recommendation was to use Logan’s interests in video games and to write a personal narrative. For writing I focused on adding details to his stories. Each day we spent about fifteen minutes in this area. Logan told me a story and I wrote it out for him. I typed up the story and I would ask questions for further clarification of story. Logan wrote about a time he had fun (going to Gamestop), a favorite video game (Skateboarding 2), a favorite TV show (Johnny Test). Logan was able to tell me most of a story with a beginning and middle. He had multiple sentences; however, things needed to be moved around or clarified after the first day. His stories lacked an ending. For example, Logan’s last story ends with “The robots try to eliminate Gil.” This was the first time Gil or the robots had been mentioned in the story.

Logan should have about thirty-five minutes of writing instruction each day. The area of focus for writing should be adding details to create a beginning, middle and ending.

Word Study

Logan sorted words according to word families and short vowels, some blends and digraphs (Letter Name stage). As he mastered sorts, he took spelling assessments to check for mastery. He also read and sorted mastered lists for speed and accuracy. We spent ten minutes in the area of word study.

Logan started sorting words into the following word family columns: -an, -ap, -at. Logan mastered this sort within three days. By the end of tutoring Logan sorted these words (18) in forty-seven seconds. We spent several tutoring sessions working on the following sort: -ig, -in, -it. Logan was able to sort these words (18) in forty-six seconds. We also did an o-family sort with the following patterns: -ob, -op, -ot. Logan mastered this sort as well. We spent a couple of days on the following u-family sort: -ug, -un, and –ut. Logan was successful while sorting word families with no errors. We spent three days on the following short vowel sort: short a, short i, and short o. Logan was able to accurately sort the words according to short vowels. However, he did not master the list through a spell check. While giving the spell check, I noticed Logan misspells –ck words. For example, he spelled “rock” as RCK and “sock” as SCK.

The word sorts mentioned above are charted below:

About twenty-five minutes each day should be spent on word study. Logan should continue to work on the above-mentioned sorts for automatic recall and speed. Logan should be able to sort one word every two seconds. Logan needs to work on the following sorts: short vowel sorts, -ck patterns, and long vowel words with the silent e.