Case Study #1 This case study was conducted on a second grade student.

This student was an eight year old female. She was developmentally low in all subject areas and also had a few social issues because of cognitive problems. This student comes from a two-home family. Her parents are separated and father is remarried. Case Study Student lives with her mother most of the time and has a sister approximately two years older. Her socioeconomic status is middle-low. Because of this, appearances are very important to this student and can be highly distracting in an academic environment. Case study Student requires extra teacher help in every subject area and is at a low reading level. When I started my student teaching, Case Study Student was not receiving any special services outside of the classroom, expect a reading club that met each morning for about 20 minutes. Case Study Student frequently showed signs of confusion and lack of interest in her academics. Instructions always needed to be given twice at a one-on-one level. It was not uncommon for her to need to be guided through worksheets that the rest of her classmates were able to complete individually. It was unclear as to whether or not Case Study Student just lacked an interest and only cared about appearances or if there was an underlying issue that needed to be determined. Her teacher did not feel that she had ADHD and decided to refer her for special education services. Case Study Student underwent tedious testing which determined that she placed low in all subject areas, but not quite low enough to qualify for services. It was determined that Case Study Student could, however, qualify for an IEP under an other health impairment status. This was due to her problems with attention.

It was also determined that Case Study Student qualified for assistance with speech and language. She has problems with receptive language and speech, which is why she was unable to repeat any directions that were given to her and struggled with understanding instruction. Case Study Student can speak efficiently in social situations, but not with academics. In the classroom, she has friends, but struggles with maintaining friendships outside of the classroom due to her lack of understanding social cues based on language of other students. When I noticed Case Study Students social struggles, I became very concerned. I made numerous attempts to aid her in maintaining her friendships while I was on recess duty. She did not understand that her peers would not always ask her to play with them. I explained that sometimes she would need to just join in and it did not mean that her peers did not want to play with her. After a few explanations, she seemed to understand. The American Accreditation Healthcare Commission suggests that treatment should be as follows: Speech and language therapy is the best approach to treating this type of language disorder. Psychological therapy (psychotherapy, counseling, or cognitive behavioral therapy) is also recommended because of the possibility of related emotional or behavioral problems. Case Study Student now receives multiple services. She goes to speech therapy, reading tutoring, math tutoring, and also had an aid come in during math time in the classroom. It is my personal feeling that she should also receive some sort of

counseling services from the school counselor. I believe that this would greatly help with the social aspect of her disorder. Case Study Student, luckily, shows confidence in herself and does not seem fully aware that there is a difference between her and anyone else.

Source American Accreditation Healthcare Commission. (12 June, 2012). Language disorder children. Medline Plus. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001545.htm