Author: Sarah
Last saved by: Teacher

Meet the Child
Alyssa is twelve years old and in the fifth grade.  Her strengths include a positive attitude about learning and a cooperative nature.  Alyssa’s content area teachers all report a difficulty with reading.  Alyssa is concerned that she has difficulty reading and comprehending material. Alyssa is Caucasian, has blonde hair and freckles, and seems like most fifth grade girls cognitively and developmentally.  She lives with her parents, two older sisters, two uncles, and a cousin.  Her main focus while at school tends to be social, but she does reflect a desire to improve in reading.  I chose to work with Alyssa this semester as she is in my Title I classroom for reading. More specifically, though, Alyssa was selected to be tested because she is showing a lack of comprehensive skills in all subjects, and I am curious to see if the problem is simply a comprehension issue, or if it is a deeper reading problem such as decoding and vocabulary.   Alyssa is easy to work with, and gets along well with everybody. Alyssa’s parents support her being tested and express excitement about anything that can be done to help Alyssa.

Interests and Attitudes

When interviewed, Alyssa expressed interest in playing games on the computer and watching Disney shows on the television.  She stated that she hopes to be a back-up dancer when she gets older.  Alyssa’s favorite classes were mathematics and spelling, because she does well in those subjects.  She vocally expressed that she is not a good reader and that she dislikes reading for classroom purposes.  At home, Alyssa says that she reads when she is bored.  Her favorite book at this time is “Ella Enchanted,” which she is reading with a partner in the Title I classroom.  Alyssa reflects that she does not like to read during the summers and during class time (non-fiction).  She dislikes reading aloud in class and answering questions about the text.  In a reading interest survey, Alyssa noted that she would like to read about sports, people, and history.  She also expressed an interest in reading texts about dogs, mysteries, and monsters.  She does not want to read any science texts. 

The Assessments

San Diego Quick Assessment
This test is a quick check of word recognition.  It is normally used to make a rapid determination of a student’s independent, instructional, and frustration word recognition levels.  While testing, Alyssa was relaxed and read at a normal pace. When reaching the third grade level, she seemed to struggle with some words but remained focused on the words and self-corrected herself.  When Alyssa reached the fifth grade reading level for this time, Alyssa began halting and pausing for short periods of time, and also started asking the words rather than reading them.  Alyssa’s independent level was not distinguishable, while her instructional level was grade four, and her frustration level was grade five.  

Independent Reading Level | Not distinguished during testing
Instructional Reading Level | Grade 4
Frustration Reading Level | Grade 5

Ekwall-Shanker Reading Passages Test, 5th Edition
This informal reading inventory assesses oral reading, silent reading and listening comprehension.  Performance indicates independent, instructional and frustration reading levels.  During this test, Alyssa was asked to read leveled passages aloud or silently, and then respond to questions that were factual, inferential, or vocabulary-based.  Alyssa had many hesitations as the reading passages became more difficult.  Many times, she would express that she didn’t like reading and knew that she wasn’t a good reader.  The test administrator assured Alyssa that she was doing all right and that they would work together to improve any problems.  Alyssa was still cooperative, but seemed to use comments such as, “I’m just not a good reader.  I don’t know about reading this,” as distractions. Her oral reading fluency also decreased dramatically as the level of the tests increased.  Alyssa’s listening comprehension was not tested during this administration as she became agitated towards the conclusion of the silent and oral reading administrations.  When responding to the comprehension questions after each passage, Alyssa struggled to respond to questions, even at the lower reading levels.  As the levels became more difficult, Alyssa had increasing difficulty responding to vocabulary and factual questions (particularly) and stated that she wasn’t sure when she responded—her responses were phrased as if they were questions and were only given after long pauses.  
Oral Reading Levels |
Independent  Oral Reading Level | Not determined
Instructional Oral Reading Level | Grade 3
Frustration Oral Reading Level | Grade 4
Silent Reading Levels |
Independent Silent Reading Level | Not determined
Instructional Silent Reading Level | Grade 2
Frustration Silent Reading Level | Grade 4
Listening Comprehension Level | Not determined

Ekwall/Shanker Reading Inventory (ESRI) Test 5:  Phonics
The Phonics Test is used to determine whether the student has mastered letter-sound associations (phonics) at three levels, with both auditory and visual stimulus.  There are nine subtests in the Phonics test that evaluate student knowledge of initial consonant sounds,  initial blends and digraphs, ending sounds, vowels, phonograms, blending ability, phonic substitution, and vowel digraphs.  Alyssa’s results indicate overallmastery of phonics.
Sub-Test | Score
Application in Context | 72/73
Initial Consonants | 10/10
Initial Blends and Digraphs | 10/10
Ending Sounds | 7/10
Vowels | 10/10
Phonograms | 9/10
Blending | 9/10
Substitution | 25/25
Vowel Pronunciation | 14/15

Ekwall/Shanker Reading Inventory (ESRI) Test 7:  Structural Analysis
The purpose of this test is to determine whether the student can use structural analysis skills (syllabication, affixes, compound words, and multi-syllabic words) to aid in decoding unknown words.  Alyssa's results indicate a mastery of prefixes and suffixes, as well as compound words and syllabication.  Scores show that Alyssa has not yet mastered hearing word parts, inflectional endings, or affixes.  She also shows a need to apply all structural skills while reading.
Application in Context | 27/53
Hearing Word Parts | 2/5
Inflectional Endings | 8/10
Prefixes | 19/20
Suffixes | 10/10
Compound Words | 5/5
Affixes | 8/10
Syllabication | 10/10

INTERPRETATION OF TEST RESULTS
Alyssa was consistently cooperative and easy to motivate.  She tried her best to stay focused on the testing matter.  Results show that Alyssa is able to pronounce and read consonant blends and digraphs(such as bl, fl, spr, st, and gr), as well as vowels.  She has knowledge of compound words and multi-syllabic words, and can identify prefixes and suffixes in words.  
Alyssa struggles with word structure, as demonstrated by performance on the Structural Analysis Test.  Performance on this instrument reveals that she has not mastered applying word structures while reading in context.   While Alyssa does show knowledge of prefixes and suffixes, as well as syllables and compound words, she does not attend to these skills while she is reading passages. 

Alyssa's reading vocabulary, as measured by the San Diego Graded Word List, is lower than the range expected of a fifth grade student.  Performance on the Silent and Oral Reading Passages of the Ekwall/Shanker inventory shows that instructional reading levels are stronger for oral reading than for silent reading.  Lower silent reading levels are a consequence of reading miscues that go undetected during silent reading.  Alyssa read passages slower than expected for her age group, according to the oral and silent reading passages on the Ekwall/Shanker inventory. 

According to the Ekwall/Shanker inventory, Alyssa showed comprehension with factual, vocabulary, and inference questions at her instructional levels.  However, as the reading levels increased in difficulty, Alyssa’s vocabulary comprehension became weaker, as well as her inference abilities.  Inferencing is critical when reading because it allows you to assume what isn't written by the author.  Alyssa’s factual recall, or remembrance of facts stated specifically in the text, was her lowest comprehension category in both oral and reading comprehension.  A lower factual recall can mean that the student is missing the key details in favor of trying to find the main idea. In Alyssa’s assessment, this seems to be the case; however, she will need to attend to those key details to help recognize and support the main idea of a passage.

STRENGTHS AND PROBLEM AREAS
Strengths | Areas for Improvement
Phonics and Phonemic Awareness | Increasing Reading Opportunity
Word structure independent of context | Main Idea and Supporting Details (Comprehension)

INSTRUCTIONAL IMPLICATIONS
Comprehension
It is also important to further develop comprehension strategies. Comprehension strategies such as making predictions, setting purposes, identifying the main idea and self-monitoring will help Alyssa better understand narrative and expository text.  Techniques for analyzing questions like QAR, and self-monitoring cue cards will help her improve the ability to read for meaning.  Focused, targeted, direct instruction in the application of specific abilities followed by generalization to extended text is recommended.  Asking Alyssa questions like “How do you know?” is recommended to help her develop greater metacognitive awareness of her use of comprehension strategies and provide practice verifying information.  

Increasing Exposure to Text
As Alyssa stated in her reading survey, a good reader reads a lot.  Alyssa would benefit from increased opportunities to read grade-appropriate texts with support.  Giving her the opportunity to select text from a vast library that represents a wide range of interests, Alyssa will benefit from learning techniques to help her select books of an appropriate level when she is reading independently.  

Alyssa may also benefit from the use of social opportunities in connection to reading.  One technique that might be helpful is literature circles or even book clubs. Doing this would enable Alyssa to read longer texts with a social purpose.  She would benefit particular from having members in her group who are of a mixed ability.   

Finally, Alyssa will need to find a way to read longer texts attentively.  Teaching her to use mind maps and other graphic organizers can only help Alyssa learn to focus her attention to longer texts and help her to bridge shorter chunks of reading together.

Word Study and Recognition
While Alyssa revealed mastery with multi-syllabic words and structural analysis, one skill that she did not master was structural analysis within a text.  This meant that when the word was standing by itself, she was applying all of her learned strategies and techniques to build the word.  However, when words were placed into a passage she did not show the same skills.  To assist Alyssa in mastering this reading habit, she will benefit from word study instruction within the contexts of longer, grade-appropriate passages.  Alyssa may need to use graphic organizers and diagrams to help reveal which strategies are appropriate for use with specific types of words.  When she is reading instructional level text, she should have opportunities to explain how she figured out the meaning and pronunciation of words—using a table to track these techniques would help Alyssa to see that word level strategies can apply to full text strategies.

CREATING A LITERATE ENVIRONMENT
Alyssa will be reading non-fiction text about the American Revolution in her social studies class, but will also be reading a highly-interactive text in the Title I classroom, "George vs. George," which encounters the American Revolution from the viewpoints of the British and the colonists.  To further engage Alyssa, she will be participating in a reenactment of the Continental Congress during social studies, which will be integrated into her reading and writing instruction through simulation writings and collaborative mini-projects.  During the Title I class time, Alyssa will be extending the interactive learning experience started in her social studies classroom through collaborative journal writing and simulations that use primary documents from the Revolutionary period.  

SUGGESTIONS FOR HELPING ALYSSA AT HOME
Wide reading can be an effective vocabulary learning tool.  It would be beneficial for Alyssa to read independent- and instructional-level text regularly at home.  Encourage her to read high-interest materials for twenty minutes at least four times weekly.  Books about animals, mysteries, and ancient worlds may appeal to Alyssa.  The Jigsaw Jones series may be a series that would captivate her.  To motivate her to improve her reading skills, so she may enjoy keeping a log of the name of the text and number of minutes she reads each day. Setting goals and providing small incentives for Alyssa would be appropriate to encourage her to read.  Discussing what she has read can only support and motivate Alyssa to read more.  Reading with an adult will be beneficial to her as well.

____________________________________		March 04, 2012____
Sarah Nehmer						Date