Case Report
Tutor: Shannon Knopp
Student: Josh
July 19,2010
As a graduate reading clinician in Appalachian State University’s Master’s Degree Program in Reading Education, I tutored Josh for 14 one-hour sessions across the summer 2010 semester. Josh is a seven year old rising second grader. His first grade teacher has recommended retention because he is behind in reading.
Initial Literacy Assessments
A number of literacy assessments were given to determine instructional levels and areas of needs and readiness in reading, writing, word study, and listening comprehension. These assessments were given to determine the student’s independent, instructional and frustration levels in reading and spelling. 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 at which he can not readily benefit even with instructional support. The assessments given were: Schlagal’sSpelling Assessment, ERSI (Early Reading Screening Instrument), word recognition in isolation, contextual reading, listening comprehension, oral and written composition, and sense of story.
Josh was sad to leave his mother at first, and was a little pouty when we first started. But after a brief introduction of what we were doing, Josh warmed up to me and the tasks at hand. Josh was clearly trying very hard on the assessments. He was focused and wanted to please me with his accomplishments. He let me know when things felt too hard, but tried them anyway. He was polite, and after about fifteen minutes he said, “I think I’m getting used to this now” with a big smile!
Spelling
The Schlagal spelling assessment has eight lists of twelve spelling words. They start out with first grade and go all the way up to eighth grade. The spelling test is given as a part of reading assessment because spelling and word recognition are highly correlated. The spelling assessment allows a view into the child’s phonics knowledge and demonstrates areas of strength and weakness in phonics. This assessment is used to determine the child’s instructional level in spelling and phonics and the types of errors he is making at that level.
For spelling, independent level is defined as the highest level at which the child scores ninety percent or better. Instructional level is the level that the child scores between fifty and ninety percent. Frustration level is the level at which the child scores below forty percent. There is a gray area between forty and forty-nine percent on a list. The tutor then uses other information from word recognition in isolation and contextual reading to make a judgment on spelling level.
Josh only spelled two of twelve words correctly on the level one spelling assessment. This means that Josh was at frustration level on the first list. His errors show that he does not fully understand short vowels and is spelling in the letter name stage. He made logical substitutions such as “wesh” for “wish”. He also was using but confusing silent e, “trape” for “trap” and “plan” for “plane”. He showed a strong knowledge of beginning and ending consonants, and beginning blends and digraphs, such as: tr, dr, pl, sh. He is at level one spelling and is in the short vowel and letter name stage of spelling.
ERSI
The Early Reading Screening Inventory is given to students who are emergent reader. It assesses their alphabetic knowledge, concept of word, phonological awareness and sight vocabulary. This assessment is given if a child misspells eight or more of the level one words on the spelling assessment and an analytic value of .3 or lower. Josh misspelled ten of the level one words and his analytic value was between about .3and . 4. I calculated it very quickly and it was just above a .3 average but not quite a .4, so I administered the ERSI.
Josh was able to recognize all the letters of the alphabet and he was able to correctly produce twenty three of them, though the remaining three he that he messed up he quickly erased and self corrected without me saying anything. He first wrote “c” for “k”, “x” for “y” and “c” for “s”, but erased and changed them to the correct letter. His concept of word was perfect. He pointed to each word as he said it and was able to identify the target words in the text without hesitation. Josh scored a fifteen on phoneme awareness. He correctly spelled “feet” and “dig”, but he misspelled “bac” for “back” and “jup” for “jump” and “steep” for “step”. This shows a high level of phonemic awareness; he is representing each sound in a logical though incorrect way. One word recognition Josh scored eight out of ten. The words he missed were “lap” and “met”. He said “lape” and “meet” instead. This shows a confusion between long and short vowels sounds.
Josh has concept of word an adequate phonemic awareness to be assessed on the Word Recognition in Isolation test.
Word Recognition in Isolation (WRI)
The WRI assessment is a series of eight grade-leveled lists of words that are flashed for one quarter of a second each to the child. The child is given more time if they can’t recognize the word with the flash presentation. This assessment gives insight into a child’s automaticity with word recognition on the flashed portion, and it demonstrates their decoding ability in the untimed section. The ability to automatically recognize words is the backbone of reading. This assessment also guides the tutor on where to start the contextual reading passages. The passages should begin at the level the student scored eighty percent or better on flashed word recognition.
One’s instructional level in word recognition in isolation is considered to be the highest at which he can recognize at least seventy percent of the words correctly on the flashed presentation. The independent level is considered to be a score between ninety and one hundred percent, and frustration level is a score below fifty percent.
Based on the information from the ERSI and the spelling list, I expected Josh to not get beyond the primer list for flashed word recognition. This assumption was correct. Josh scored a seventy-five on the pre-primer list and was able to decode four of the missed words when given extra time to score a ninety-five untimed on the list. On the primer list Josh scored a fifty percent flash and eighty untimed. Since the test should stop when the child scores below fifty percent on flash I continued to the first grade list. This list was clearly too hard and Josh was missing every word, so we did not finish the first grade list. Many of Josh’s errors were hesitations. He could not figure out the word in the quick flash time limit, so he required more time. He could not figure out “where” on the pre-primer list even with more time. He said “were” and then “weer” for “where”. On the primer list he also had many hesitations, but he also made more mistakes. He said “lake” for “like” and “rean” for “rain” and “who” for “how”. These mistakes demonstrate a weakness in vowel knowledge. Josh seems to be confused by long vowels and short vowels that break the rules such as where. He even seems to be confused by some typical short vowel words seen in his saying “had” for “hid” on the primer list.
Contextual Reading
Students are given passages to read aloud. Accuracy, rate, fluency and comprehension are measured as a child is reading these passages. This test allows the tutor to see where the child is struggling in the reading process. While listening to the reading it will become apparent if the child is reading too slow and halting, or if she is making frequent errors or if he lacks the skills to comprehend what he has read.
For a child to be at her independent level in reading she should achieve an accuracy of ninety-eight percent or better on a passage and a comprehension score between ninety and one hundred percent. The instructional range is ninety-five to ninety-seven percent accuracy and comprehension score of seventy to eighty-nine percent. Anything below ninety percent accuracy and fifty percent comprehension is considered frustration level, and ninety to ninety-four percent accuarcy is considered a gray area were the teacher must make a judgment based on other information such as rate, fluency, comprehension, WRI, and spelling. The child must also have a reading rate that is appropriate for the level of the text.
I started Josh at the primer level for passage reading. I started here because he scored an eighty on the untimed WRI. Based on the spelling, ERSI and word recognition in isolation I expected Josh to be instructional at about the pre-primer two level. As he read the primer text it was obvious he was frustrated. He read very slowly and only scored seventy-six percent accuracy on this primer level passage. His comprehension at this level was forty-two percent. Josh read the pre-primer two passage next. He still read slowly and with little fluency but he achieved ninety-five percent accuracy, so this is his instructional level. He is independent at pre-primer one. He was able to read this level much more quickly and with some cadence in his voice. He also only made one mistake, so his accuracy was ninety-eight percent.
Listening Comprehension
The listening comprehension test consists of the tutor reading passages to the student and then asking comprehension questions. The passages should start at the child’s grade level or whichever level they scored sixty percent or higher on oral reading comprehension. This test assesses the student’s ability to comprehend what is being read to them. This test can indicate whether the actual act of reading is getting in the way of comprehension or if it is a language problem that prevails even when the child is read to.
I first read the second grade passage to Josh because this is the grade he is going into. He scored a ninety percent on the comprehension for this passage, so this is his independent level. On the third grade passage Josh scored a seventy six percent which is his instructional level. Josh scored a thirty-two percent on the fourth grade passage, so this is his frustration level. This is good for Josh because it means he has the ability to listen to and understand text above his grade level. It is the actual reading of words that is holding him back in reading and not his ability to understand language.
Sense of Story
The sense of story assessment is used to assess a child’s awareness of book language and story elements. Two short stories are read to the child, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” and “The Poor Old Dog”. Then the child is asked to re-tell these stories without reading them. The purpose is to determine how much of the book language a child uses in the retelling or if they re-tell it everyday oral language. This assessment can help determine how much a child needs to be exposed to stories written in rich language to increase their understanding of book language and story elements.
Josh scored a six out of eight on sense of story elements. He included all listed elements except for feelings and descriptions. Sense of story elements include: beginning, setting, character introductions, sequence, feelings, description, conversation and ending.
Josh scored a level C which is complete sentences on the sense ofstory syntax scale below.
E / Book language grammar, usage, and vocabulary honoredD / Complete sentences with subordinate clauses
C / Complete sentences
B / Phrases
A / 1 or 2 word statements
He also scored a C which is chronological sequencing on the sense of story organization scale below.
E / Audience awareness demonstrated through complete informationD / Appropriate use of introductory, connecting, and closing words and phrases
C / Chronological sequence (and then, and then)
B / Leap frogging
A / Syncretic retelling (Disoriented)
This indicates that Josh has been exposed to stories and is familiar with the way they work. He does need work with expressing more details about the story including things like feelings and descriptions.
Writing
The written composition assessment has two parts: first the child tells a story from their own life orally, then the child attempts to write the story down. The assessment helps determine the child’s composition ability with their story told orally and the degree to which spelling hinders their composition with their written version of the story.
Josh’s oral story was much more coherent than his written story. He is clearly limited by his spelling when writing. He struggled writing just one sentence of his story and it took him a lot of time. In both stories Josh lacked descriptive details, but his story seemed to be sequential and make sense. Josh needs help adding details and expanding on his stories. Josh also needs help writing his stories down and needs to at least share the pencil with an adult when he is trying to get his ideas down on paper.
Plans, Progress and Recommendations
Plans were made across the instructional areas of reading, writing, word study (spelling and phonics), and being read to in accord with the conclusions drawn from the initial assessment. Tutoring lessons included activities in these four areas and were adjusted according to Josh’s progress and needs.
Reading
Josh’s instructional reading level for reading is pre-primer two (PP2). The reading instruction used during the summer reading clinicwas supported rereading with a word bank as well as Directed Reading Thinking Activity (DRTA). When Josh first read a new text, we would do a picture walk to familiarize Josh with vocabulary found in the new book. Josh would then read the book aloud to me. I would help him with words he didn’t know if he asked for help. At times, if he was struggling, I would read a page and he would echo read it after me. Josh read the book two times the first day he was introduced to it. The second day he looked at cards with the words from the books on them. If he knew these words then they would be added to his word bank. If he did not yet know the words, then they were put back to be looked at again the next day. The second day Josh would read the original book aloud to me, and then I would introduce a new book. A new book was introduced each day, and an old book was rotated out once Josh was able to read it with ninety-eight percent accuracy. This means that he could read a book of one hundred words and make two or fewer errors while reading it on his own without my help.
I also did Directed Reading Thinking Activities (DRTA) with Josh as we progressed. When we did this activity did not preview the text with a picture walk. Instead, Josh would read the text (at times he would have to echo read a page after me) and I would stop him at particular points and ask three questions. What do you think is going to happen? Why do you think this? What have you read that makes you think this? Josh was successful with these DRTA’s and was able to make logical guesses. He often wanted to support his guesses with prior knowledge, and I had to lead him back to reread to support his guess from the text. Josh did well with both activities, but sometimes needed more support with the words than a DRTA provides. I would recommend that Josh does a DRTA the first time he reads the book, but that he rereads these books for two day to cement the words and patterns in his mind. Josh read fourteen books during the four weeks of the reading clinic. Some of the books included:
The Thirsty Cats: (PP2)
Big Greg the Firefighter: (PP2)
Hide and Seek: (PP2)
Escape From the Zoo:(PP2)
Josh took two to five days to get to the point where he could read a book with ninety- eight percent accuracy. Josh was eager to read new book and he worked hard throughout the reading sessions. Josh was very proud when he mastered a book. Josh increased the words in his word bank regularly. He started recognizing forty-eight words from his reading. He ended the four weeks knowing one hundred and forty words. He also increased the number of words he could recognize on his flash word recognition in isolation by recognizing six additional words flashed for one quarter of a second and four additional words untimed. I recommend that Josh continues to read at the pre-primer two level when he has instructional support and pre-primer one (pattern books) when he is reading independently. I recommend that Josh spend forty percent of his Reading/Language Arts period reading at his instructional or independent level.
Writing
Josh’s writing is limited by his spelling. He is unable to express his ideas on paper the way he can orally. Because of this, much of Josh’s writing was conducted by having him dictate what he wanted to say and I would write it down. At times throughout this composition process I would give Josh the pencil and he would write a sentence or two on his own. Josh dictated original stories and retellings of books I had read to him. We worked on him elaborating on his ideas and adding details. When Josh told me the information he wanted and we finished, we would go back through and read it together and I would ask questions about what was going on to allow him to add descriptive details to his writing. I also had Josh focus on getting a beginning, middle and end to his stories and not just a list of events. Josh created two stories of his own and retold two picture books, Blabber Mouse and Curious George Goes to School, this summer. It is recommended that Josh spend about thirty percent of his Reading/Language Arts block working on writing. Because Josh’s spelling limits his writing, it is recommended that most of his writing is dictated to an adult to write down for him. I also recommend that Josh work on adding details and focusing on getting a beginning, middle and end to his stories.