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Case Study- FrankMac Roche

Background

New student (1st grade) at Rayberg Elementary school

Lives with parents and younger sister

Father is an engineer and isn't home often

Began kindergarten in Alabama Following summer moved to Kansas In October of that year he moved to Indiana February moved to a “southern state” where he is at now

Referred

Frank was referred by his first grade teacher for: High levels of distractibility and activity Short attention span Both were affecting his daily classroom performance

Seems to be happy, intellectually curious and very verbal

Difficulties

His short attention span affects both his comprehension of directions and reading skills. Frequent reversals of letters and numerals when writing Disorganized in his work habits

Easily distracted by his own thoughts

When frustrated and tired, he acts immaturely and throws temper tantrums Hits his head saying “It wont work”

Mother’s thoughts

Mother indicated that Frank has always struggled paying attention in school All of his teachers had concerns about his behaviors

Mother was under stress during pregnancy Prolonged labor On oxygen for the last 8 hours because decrease in

Frank’s heartbeat with every contraction

Doctor said he had normal neonatal health

Developmental Milestones

Frank met most developmental milestones within expected ranges

Began walking early at 9 months

Difficulties due to Physical Impairment?

Many teachers thought he might have difficulties due to hearing problem

Frank had extensive ear infections that required tubes in his ears at age 3

Recently checked his hearing and he was found to have normal hearing

Also passed both near and far vision screenings

Receives speech therapy for articulation problems.

Teaching Strategies

Modified instruction and use of multisensory literature-based reading program

Receives math instruction through an activity-based manipulative program

Supplementary texts and materials such as tapes, word cards, and dictated stories

Received praise for appropriate responses by his parents and teachers

All efforts resulted in improvements in Frank’s academic skills and behavioral responses

School based testing

Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test 4 Standard score: 115 Percentile: 84

WIAT-II Cluster scores

Oral language: 105 Reading: 97 Math: 114 Written Language: 97

Cont.

WIAT-II Subtest scores

Listening Comprehension: 115 Oral Expression: 95 Word Reading: 99 Pseudoword decoding: 95 Comprehension: 98 Spelling: 95 Math reasoning: 113 Numerical Operations: 116

School Psychologist

Performed complete psychological evaluation

He was attentive to individual activities Put forth good effort

Very bouncy and physically restless throughout

WISC-IV Full scale IQ: 118 Verbal Comprehension: 119 Perceptual Reasoning: 112 Working Memory: 98 Processing speed: 100

WISC-IV results

Overall abilities fall within average to high-average

Minor weaknesses in areas affected by attention and processing speed Underestimate his true potential because of his

physical restlessness and distractibility throughout

Additional assessment

Short term visual and auditory learning

Responses suggested strengths in immediate memory for auditory and visual cues

Reversed several numerals Formation and spacing of his numerals suggested

impulsivity in responses

WIAT-II results

Deficits in academic skills, which were reflected in his classroom performance Difficulty with basic phonetic skills affects his ID of less

familiar words

Some of his correct answers on the passage comprehension were achieved by guessing Used pictures as clues when he didn’t recognize a word

Written responses revealed week phonetic skills

Attention Deficit Disorder Behavior Rating Scale

Significant concerns about his: short attention span and impulsivity weak listening skills poor concentration high level of distractibility weak organizational skills tendency to interrupt or speak out of turn

Result

Frank is a student who would benefit greatly from a more detailed medical evaluation to further evaluate his activity and attention

His mother is all for it because of his current difficulty in school