Case ReportTutor: 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’s Spelling 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 .3 and . 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 of story syntax scale below.

E Book language grammar, usage, and vocabulary honored

D 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 information

D 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 clinic was 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.

Word Study

Based on Josh’s spelling, I started his word sorts with contrasting short vowels. Josh’s spelling

demonstrated that he had mastered beginning and ending consonants and was using correct short

vowels or logical vowel substitutions in one syllable words.

Each of the following sorts was mastered by Josh. Josh was able to correctly sort and spell all the words

in the sorts after about three days with each. Josh was able to sort about one word every three seconds

after the third day.

A E I

Bat Shell Fin

Ran Get Kin

Sack Net Hit

Jam (P) Red Pig (P)

Hat (P) Well Wig

Can Sled Brick

Nap Bell (P) Kick

Bat (P) Tent (P) Dish (P)

Cap

U O I

Nut Dog (P) Dish (P)

Luck Doll (P) Hit

Shut Clock (P) Wig

Fun Hot Kid

Must Job Kick

Bus (P) Rock With

Bug (P) Stop Pig (P)

After Josh mastered contrasting short vowel sort, I continued to bring them back to sort for speed, but I

also introduced these new sorts:

W Wh H

Wag Whip Hip

Win whiz Hat (P)

Wet (P) When Hen

Won Which Hot

Wish Where Hill (P)

Wall (P) Him

Was

Wimp

This sort was used to help Josh clarify the difference between wh and w words. This was a bit difficult

for Josh because he could not consciously discern the difference in sound, however he was able to

remember most of the spellings and after two days could accurately sort and spell most words. He still

mixed up wish and which.

At this point Josh seemed to be ready for an introduction to long vowel with a silent e contrasted with

short vowel. I started this sort with short a vs. long a and a ? column.

a aCe ?

Bat (P) Made Was

Sack Lake Have

Cat Same Saw

Ran Rake (P) Want

Nap Name

Jam Cake(P)

Had Chase

Can Shake

Hat (P)

Josh was successful with this sort and was able to do a blind sort of these words on the second day. He

was also able to spell most of the words successfully. He seemed familiar to the concept of long vowels

with silent e. I introduced a short vs. long o sort next.

o oCe ?

Dog Close ?

Clock (P) Bone (P) Told

Stop Spoke Cold

Job Rope (P)

Hot Nose (P)

Mom Note

Doll (P) Hole

Rock Hope

Josh was able to do this sort successfully. He was accurate and able to sort about one word per three

seconds after the second day with this sort. His spelling demonstrates a beginning knowledge of the use

of silent e. Josh uses it correctly most of the time, but is confusing it and using it on some short vowel

words that he previously spelled correctly. This shows that Josh is beginning to learn the use of silent e,

but he still needs to work with it until he gets it completely solid in is mind.

I recommend that Josh spend twenty percent of his Reading/Language Arts time in word study. I

recommend that he continues with contrasting short and long vowels and works on pre-consonant nasal

words in a sort.

Read to

I begin reading to Josh out of 3rd grade level short chapter books. Although Josh could understand these

books and make logical guesses about what would happen, he seemed bored by them and lost interest

quickly. After a few days of making changes I believe this disinterest was due to the lack of pictures. He

really liked to see the pictures when I was reading to him. Josh also really enjoyed having non-fiction

informational books read to him. As I read aloud to Josh I did a Directed Listening Thinking Activity

(DLTA). In a DLTA I would select stopping points in the story and ask Josh three questions at each

stopping point. What do you think is going to happen? Why do you think that? What did I read that

made you think that? Josh was successful at making logical guesses and supporting them at late second

and early third grade level. I read a number of books to him throughout the summer, they included:

Big Mose Hero FiremanThe Story of FerdinandOwen and MzeeBlabber MouseCurios George Goes to SchoolTiger Tales and Big Cat Stories

I also read part of Silver and Fantastic Mr. Fox, but these were example of chapter books without

pictures that Josh lost interest in after two days.

I recommend that Josh is read to at the third grade level and asked the DLTA questions at points of high

anticipation throughout the story. I recommend that Josh is read to ten percent of his

Reading/Language Arts time.

It is recommended that Josh continue to receive extra help in reading. He has been worked hard this

summer and made good progress. I have enjoyed working wither him. If you have any questions, please

feel free to contact Dr. Tom Gill, the ASU summer reading clinic director, at gilljt@appstate.edu or 828-

406-7794.

Shannon KnoppASU Graduate Reading Clinician

Tom Gill, EdDASU Associate Professor