Maggie-Page 1 Case Study

ED 352-01
Rachel Lundstrom
1

Student name and all information in Italics are changed to protect privacy. However, this case study was
completed on an actual middle school student.
Bettag Public Schools
Bettag, USA

Case Study

Identifying Information:
Name: Maggie School: Bettag School
Date of Birth: May 23
rd
Special Education Teacher: Sarah
Age: 11-7 Grade: 6.8
Address: Dates of Evaluation: February-April 2014
Bettag, USA Date of Report: April 23
rd
, 2014
Examiner: Rachel Lundstrom

Reason for Referral:
Maggie transferred to Bettag School in January of 2014. She qualifies for special education under the area
of Specific Learning Disability in the areas of oral and written expression and reading fluency and
comprehension. She is a very strong listener, and succeeds in the classroom when books, tests, etc., are
read aloud to her; either by computer or by a teacher. She enjoys school, and is skilled in mathematics. In
reading comprehension, she is much more successful when reading aloud. Her fluency is choppy and
staggered, and she gets flustered when reading aloud. Her written expression skills, including spelling and
handwriting, are at a lower elementary level and take a lot of labor. Assessments were given to discuss
Maggies discrepancies between listening comprehension and reading comprehension, and check in on
her mathematics abilities.

Background Information:
Maggie currently lives with her parents and two brothers. She also falls under Hispanic/Latino
qualification, but her familys first language is English. She has moved around frequently in and out of
the Bettag Public School District. Maggie attended Evergreen Elementary (Schulz Public Schools) for
preschool. She transferred to Woodbridge Early Childhood Center (Bettag Public Schools) for three
months of Kindergarten. Then, she went back to Evergreen for Kindergarten-1
st
grade. She attended
Wilson School (Bettag Public Schools) for 1
st
-6
th
grade. In January, she transferred once again to Bettag
for the second half of 6
th
grade. These school switches were due to parental job switches and new houses,
which caused mid-year moves in many of these cases.
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Maggie was initially evaluated for special education services in 2007 under the area of Speech/Language
Impairment. Maggie received services in the speech program for articulation, syntax, and semantics.
While in this program, she received services from the Occupational Therapist 2-3 times per month. She
was exited from special education in 2008. In 2010 (5
th
grade), Maggie was reevaluated for special
education based on her Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (KTEA) assessment scores. On the
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV), Maggie scored average in math and below average
in reading and writing. She qualified as eligible with a Learning Disability in the areas of written
expression, basic reading skills, and reading comprehension. In elementary school, Maggie worked with
the social worker 2-5 times per month for 15-30 minutes, and spent 60-120 minutes in the elementary
resource room per day.
On her most recent state assessment (MEAP) in 5
th
grade, Maggie scored Not Proficient on all three areas
(reading, math, and science). She enjoys school, but struggles with her reading and writing skills. When
Maggie takes in class assessments, she struggles with reading her tests. When they are read aloud, she is
able to get As and Bs on her tests. She likes to talk and work with others, but can be timid in her verbal
responses. Maggie takes extra time to process things, which can be a struggle in the general education
classroom. She enjoys math, and when she gains confidence, she is happy and willing to complete the
work.

Assessment Tools:
KeyMath 3
Slosson Oral Reading Test (SORT-R3)
Test of Language Development-Intermediate (TOLD-I: 4)
Running Record

Assessment Descriptions and Results:
Maggie was excited to be tested and work on this project throughout the semester. She did not have very
many relationships built in the building when assessing began, so working on a one-on-one basis allowed
her to build a strong student/teacher relationship from her first days at Bettag. Maggie was committed to
answering each assessment question, and was uplifted by positive responses and positive feedback. Tests
were given in one of two conference rooms, which allowed for a quiet space to work.

KeyMath 3
KeyMath 3 is a math assessment that covers a wide range of mathematics. Subtests fall into the areas of
Basic Concepts, Operations, or Applications. In each subtest, students are either asked verbal questions to
solve mentally or given a packet of questions to solve by hand. Questions are shown on a flip-book, with
one question per page. Maggie completed all of the subtests in the Basic Concepts test. Her results were
as follows:


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Test Grade Equivalent Percentile
Numeration 4.5
Algebra 5.2
Geometry 4.0
Measurement 3.9
Data Analysis and Probability 4.7
Basic Concepts:
Overall Score
4.4 14
th
Percentile
Maggies scores were all in the 4
th
-5
th
grade range, which is slightly lower than average. Having to
compute the problems mentally was a struggle for her, and she only succeeded when she truly committed
to counting out (by 3s, for example, instead of just knowing how to multiply by 3) each fact. Estimation
and money were also difficult, because she once again had to visualize the concepts without being able to
take notes or solve further.

SORT-R3
The Slosson Oral Reading Test asks students to read individual words aloud. Words are categorized into
grade level lists, and students continue reading until they know none of the 20 words on a list. Maggies
results were as follows:
Test Grade Equivalent Percentile
SORT-R3 2.7 1
st
Percentile
Maggie was not initially confident in this test. She does not like words, and so she could already tell this
would be a struggle for her. Maggie wanted to give up after the 4
th
grade list, but was able to get at least
one word from each list after list 4. She chose to struggle through each word and attempt each one instead
of skipping ones she did not know until the high school list. Maggie achieved an upper 2
nd
grade score,
which is extremely low for her current grade. This was likely due to sounding out words incorrectly,
especially when blends or digraphs are abnormal.

TOLD-I : 4
The Test of Language Development is a verbal language assessment. The student is given words,
sentences, and phrases and is asked to combine them in various ways. There is also a visual assessment
where students must link phrases to one of six pictures. This assessment shows student ability in
vocabulary, word ordering, sentence comprehension, and word meanings. The subtest results were as
follows:
Test Age Equivalent Percentile Description
Sentence Combining 13-9 63
rd
Percentile Average
Picture Vocabulary 9-0 16
th
Percentile Below Average
Word Ordering 8-3 9
th
Percentile Below Average
Relational Vocabulary 11-3 50
th
Percentile Average
Morphological
Comprehension
Less than 8 9
th
Percentile Below Average
Multiple Meanings 12-0 50
th
Percentile Average

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Subtest scores have been combined to give overall composite performance scores. Maggies performance
scores were as follows:
Test Percentile Rank Description
Listening 10
th
Percentile Below Average
Organizing 23
rd
Percentile Below Average
Speaking 58
th
Percentile Average
Grammar 18
th
Percentile Below Average
Semantics 35
th
Percentile Average
Spoken Language 21
st
Percentile Below Average
Maggie had much more confidence for this test than she did for the SORT. She was able to understand the
depth of vocabulary when it was presented orally, which was a strength as compared to the SORT. She
was able to articulate her thoughts, especially when combining sentences and coming up with multiple
meanings for a word (such as right/rite/write or heal/heel). Maggie struggled when given a jumble of
words to make a sentence, especially when there were more than four words. Maggies confidence was
high because this was a completely verbal test, so she didnt have to read anything, and also was not
expected to write anything after coming up with an answer.

Running Record
The Running Record is a benchmark reading assessment written by Fountas and Pinnell. This system
gives students books at an A-Z level to read aloud to the assessor. During this oral read, the assessor
scores the students accuracy, fluency, and self-corrections. After reading, students are asked to retell the
story and answer some comprehension questions. Finally, students are given five vocabulary words from
the text to define and explain. Maggie was given two running records, a Level N (lower 3
rd
grade), and a
Level Q (lower 4
th
grade) text.
Her results on the Level N text were as follows:
Test Area Score Descriptor
Errors in Oral Reading 25 Below 95% Accuracy
Self-Corrections in Oral Reading 6
Fluency 2/3
Reading Rate 79 words per minute
Comprehension 7/10 Satisfactory Comprehension
Vocabulary 7/15 Unsatisfactory
Her results on the Level Q text were as follows:
Test Area Score Descriptor
Errors in Oral Reading 45 Below 95% Accuracy
Self-Corrections in Oral Reading 3
Fluency 1/3
Reading Rate 38 words per minute
Comprehension 6/10 Limited Comprehension
Vocabulary 9/15 Satisfactory
Maggies scores on both texts were below an instructional level, or more than thirteen errors in oral
reading. She had multiple errors, and did not frequently self-correct on these trouble spots. Many errors
were simply similar sounding words, or words that looked similar to the correct word (such as drew/dress,
wore/wrote, and sip/spit). Oftentimes, Maggies replacement words still gave the accurate meaning to the
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text. Even though Maggie knew the level Q text was too difficult, she still persevered through the reading
and continued to sound out problem words. Maggies comprehension and vocabulary skills were quite
notable. Although she was lacking fluency, the comprehension of the texts was limited and satisfactory.
Maggie was able to pull out key ideas from the text in her retell, and understood what many of the grade-
level vocabulary words were.

Discussion:
Maggie is a sixth grade student whose math skills are slightly below average, and reading and written
language skills are below average. Maggies math skills are confident, and she is able to complete algebra
and probability equations successfully. She is average when given verbal questions and asked for a verbal
response. When Maggie is asked to read a question off of a paper or is asked to write her response down,
Maggie struggles with responding. Although she may not be able to read each word from a text, Maggie
still has high levels of comprehension from difficult texts. Maggie was enthusiastic and ready to learn for
each assessment, and was prepared to learn and succeed each day. She gave each test her best effort, and
was always ready to contribute answers, even if she knew they were incorrect. Maggies current diagnosis
of a learning disability is accurate, as there is a clear pattern of strengths and weaknesses between her oral
and written expression skills. Maggie should continue to receive special education services through co-
teaching and in the resource room.

Recommendations:
The following recommendations are made based on these evaluation results:
1. Maggie is much more successful when given verbal cues and asked to provide a verbal language
response. In classes such as Fusion (remedial English/Language Arts course) or Reading, teachers
could allow Maggie to dictate her responses. This would allow Maggie to verbally process her
response without having to think about spelling or handwriting.
2. In mathematics, Maggie struggled with using her memorized times tables to complete problems.
Using a multiplication chart, such as the one found in her academic planner, would allow Maggie
to focus on the higher-level operations instead of spending time to process multiplication facts.
3. Maggie may benefit from extra grammatical practice through verbal conversation. When
speaking or listening to others, Maggie does not always understand grammatical structure, which
could be worked on through a class starter or informal discussion. Using accurate grammar and
inflection could be worked on during this period, providing intentional time for structure and
depth in her vocabulary.
4. To improve her reading skills, a direct instruction model of reading could be applied in the
resource room. Exposing Maggie to a large variety (in ability level and type) of texts will allow
her to increase both her vocabulary and fluency. Following along when other students are reading
aloud as well as reading aloud to others will allow Maggie to become more successful in this
area. In the area of fluency, Maggie can continue to choose leveled texts with high interest rates
for silent reading opportunities in the classroom and at home.
5. Throughout the school day, it may be helpful to be very intentional about Maggies grammar
usage and skills with comparison words (such as these vs. those vs. them, is vs. are, dont vs.
doesnt). In conversation and in writing, it may be helpful to correct these errors and provide
consistent, uplifting feedback. If an error is consistent, a grammar-mini lesson during workshop
could provide tools and tips for Maggie to choose the correct word form.

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Summary Statement:
Maggie is a sixth grade student whose written expression, reading comprehension, and basic reading
skills appear to be below grade level expectancies. However, Maggie has high levels of verbal
comprehension of texts and oral expression. Her math skills are generally close to grade level. A number
of suggestions have been made for school settings. Additional evaluation is not recommended at this time,
but may be considered if Maggie fails to make adequate progress in the coming months.

Submitted by,

Miss Rachel Lundstrom
Teacher Candidate of Learning Disabilities