Case Study Analysis

Full Answer Section

      Individual factors:

• David's scores on the Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) showed that he was reading below grade level in all areas of reading. This suggests that he has a general difficulty with reading, rather than a specific problem with one area of reading, such as word recognition or comprehension.
• David's reluctance to read and his difficulty with oral reading suggest that he may have a problem with automaticity, which is the ability to read quickly and effortlessly.
• David's difficulty with oral reading and his tendency to make context-based substitutions suggest that he may have a problem with phonological awareness, which is the ability to hear and manipulate the individual sounds in words.

Question 2 Does David have a reading disability? Substantiate your answer. Yes, David is likely to have a reading disability. He meets the following criteria for a reading disability:

• He has a significant discrepancy between his reading achievement and his intelligence.
• His reading difficulties are not due to environmental factors such as lack of instruction or inadequate exposure to reading materials.
• His reading difficulties have persisted despite appropriate instruction.

Question 3 What seems to be David’s major area of reading disability? Substantiate your answer. David's major area of reading disability seems to be word recognition. This is supported by the following evidence:

• His word recognition scores on the IRI were two grade levels below his other reading scores.
• He had difficulty with oral reading, which is often a sign of a word recognition problem.
• He rarely tried to sound out unknown words, but instead supplied words in the text that made sense contextually. This suggests that he is relying on contextual clues to read, rather than using his knowledge of phonics and word structure.

Question 4 At what grade level do you think instruction should begin? Why? Instruction for David should begin at his instructional level, which is Grade 1 for word recognition, oral passage reading, and silent passage reading. This means that instruction should focus on teaching David the skills and knowledge that he needs to read at a Grade 1 level. Once David has mastered the skills and knowledge at the Grade 1 level, instruction can be moved up to the next grade level. It is important to note that David may need to spend more time at each grade level than other students in order to master the material. It is also important to provide David with instruction that is explicit, systematic, and multisensory. This type of instruction is designed to help students with reading disabilities develop the skills and knowledge they need to read effectively. In addition to providing David with explicit, systematic, and multisensory instruction, it is also important to create a positive and supportive learning environment for him. This means providing him with opportunities to experience success and to build his confidence in his reading abilities. Here are some specific examples of instruction that could be provided to David:

• Word recognition: David could be taught phonics and word structure skills. He could also be taught to use context clues to decode unfamiliar words.
• Oral passage reading: David could be given practice reading passages aloud. He could also be taught strategies for improving his fluency, such as phrasing and chunking.
• Silent passage reading: David could be given practice reading passages silently. He could also be taught strategies for improving his comprehension, such as making predictions, asking questions, and summarizing.

It is important to note that this is just a general overview of how to teach David to read. The specific instruction that he needs will vary depending on his individual strengths and weaknesses.  

Sample Solution

     

Both environmental and individual factors could be related to David's reading problem.

Environmental factors:

• David's parents reported that he had a vision problem when he was an infant, which could have affected his early development of visual processing skills.
• David's parents also reported that he had problems with depth perception and binocular vision, which could be affecting his ability to read accurately and fluently.
• David's fourth grade teacher reported that he had a bad attitude toward reading and attempted to avoid it. This could be due to his previous experiences with failure in reading, or it could be a sign of a deeper problem such as dyslexia.