RDG 596
CENTRAL CONNECTICUT STATE UNIVERSITY
TOPIC: CASE STUDY
Student #:
Student Name:
Course:
Professor: Dr. Elene S. Demos
Date:
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RDG 596
Demographics:
Name: Elene O
Age: 7 years, 3 months
Grade: 2
Sex: Female
Address: 112 Tyron Street
City: Suburban
Phone Number: 860 659 8139
School: Suburban Elementary School
Suburban , CT 06073
Teacher: Mrs. Carol
Clinician: Mrs. Thomas
Dates of Assessment: 9/14/09 – 11/23/09
Assessment Instruments Used: Basic Reading Inventory (Johns, 2005),
Elementary Attitude Survey (Johns, 2005), Primary Spelling Inventory (Bear,
Invernizzi, Templeton & Johnston, 2008).
Reason for Referral:
Elene was referred to the Literacy Center at Central Connecticut State
University based on the results of her 1st grade instructional reading level.
Suburban schools use the Rigby Benchmark Assessments that state she should
be at a level of 17 (beginning of 2nd grade) and upon leaving 1st grade, Elene was
tested at a level 11 (1st grade, 5th month).
Student Interview:
Elene is 7 years old and in the second grade at Suburban Elementary
School in Suburban. She has one sister who is 9 years old. Elene likes to play at
home with her family, her dog and her dollhouses. She is a lover of things of
nature such as butterflies and caterpillars. The best books she ever read were
about these things and she enjoys talking about what she learned from them.
She has lots of books in her home and she reads aloud to her Mom who also
reads to her. Elene does not like spiders. Elene loves reading and her favorite
subject in school is Math where she is learning to skip count by 2’s and 10’s.
Elementary Reading Attitude Survey:
The results of the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey show that Elene is
equally enthusiastic in her recreational reading as she is in her academic
reading. When asked about her feelings regarding reading a book in school
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RDG 596
during free time, she jumped out of her chair and circled the happiest Garfield
twice and said, “Double that!” When asked how she felt about using a dictionary,
she circled the happiest Garfield about 10 times and told me she loves to keep
her secrets in it. It was made clear to me that she confused a dictionary with a
diary. When we discussed the difference, she informed me that they have two at
home and visually showed me the difference in how thick they were before
moving onto the next question. Some of her responses that earned a not so
happy Garfield were related to reading out loud in class, answering questions
posed by the teacher about what was read, reading for fun at home and choosing
to read a book on a rainy Saturday. Overall, Elene is a very enthusiastic reader
both for pleasure and for academics.
Parent Interview:
Elene’s mother describes her as a friendly, outgoing 2nd grader who loves
anything to do with nature and Derek Jeter. Mrs. O explained that Elene has a
504 plan in place at Suburban Elementary School due to delayed growth. Elene
has some sensory complications and has difficulty focusing in school ~ “Elene is
easily distracted and often times will rock back and forth in school and home.”
Mrs. O also stated that Elene reads at home and seems to enjoy it more since
attending CCSU’s Reading Clinic this past summer. She is currently reading
Puppy Pals and is very excited to be returning to the Reading Clinic.
Mrs. O informed the clinician that Elene was taking medication for ADD
but it had an adverse effect on Elene and she is no longer taking it.
School History:
According to Elene’s 1st grade teacher, Mrs. A., Elene grew as a reader
from the beginning of the school year to the end. In June, Elene had entered
early fluency and was able to comprehend at a high level as well as make
predictions and inferences throughout her reading.
Interview Insights:
Based on the triangulation of data collected from Elene’s parents, Elene
herself and her current classroom teacher, Elene is an enthusiastic reader and
social young lady. While Elene does have some issue with sitting still for long
periods of time, she has high levels of comprehension but struggles with fluency.
The following pages show Elene’s results for pre-test assessments. The Basic
Reading Inventory was administered for comprehension, fluency, and Graded
Word Lists.
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RDG 596
Basic Reading Inventory
Assessment Data Charts
Pre – Testing Results
Word Identification
Grade Level
Pre-Primer
Primer
Sight
85%
90%
Total
85%
90%
Level
Instructional
Instructional
Grade 1
Grade 2
75%
60%
75%
60%
Instructional/Frustration
Frustration
Miscue Analysis (Oral Reading)
Passage
Level
Type
Narrative
Total
Miscues
8
Walk in the
Fall
The First
Snow
Pre-Primer
Primer
Level
Frustration
Narrative
14
Frustration
Comprehension
Passage
Walk in the Fall
Level
Pre-Primer
Birds
Pre-Primer
The First Snow
Primer
Type
Narrative
(Oral)
Narrative
(Listening)
Narrative
(Oral)
% Correct
80%
90%
Level
Independent/
Instruction
Independent
85%
Ind./Inst.
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RDG 596
Basic Reading Inventory
Assessment Data Charts
Pre-Test Results
Miscue Analysis Worksheets
Walk in the Fall (Level Pre-Primer):
Miscue
Text
looked
They
walked for
a long time.
They saw
same
saw
liked
some
was
Graphic
Similar
Initial
X
X
Graphic Omission/
Similar Insertion
Final
X
Omission
X
Self-Corrected
X
X
X
The First Snow (Level Primer):
Miscue
Text
walked up
Do
Opening
Snowy
The
Snowing
Let’s
Jack said
Last night
woke up
Did
Open
Snowed
That
Snowed
NA
NA
NA
Graphic
Similar
Initial
X
X
X
X
X
X
Graphic
Similar
Final
Omission/
Insertion
Self-Corrected
X
X
X
Insertion
Insertion
Omission
The following remediation plan is based on pre-testing data and was created
using Jerry Johns Improving Reading Strategies and Resources (2005).
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RDG 596
Initial Remediation Plan
Critical Focus Area
Sight word recognition
Comprehension Skills
Fluency Skills
Objective
Elene will
recognize grade
level sight words
automatically



Elene will
determine the
who, what,
where, when, and
why of a story


Elene will read
more fluently









Activity
Flash cards
Student created
stories
Sight words
games such as
Bingo
5 W’s strategy
Repeated
readings
Retelling
Chunking of text
Beginning,
middle and end
chart
Repeated
readings
Chunking
sections of story
Student created
stories
Echo and choral
reading
Read to family
members and
friends
Pattern books
The following pages show Elene’s results for post-test assessments. The Basic
Reading Inventory was administered for comprehension, fluency, and Graded
Word Lists.
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RDG 596
Basic Reading Inventory
Assessment Data Charts
Post – Testing Results
Word Identification
Grade Level
Pre-Primer
Primer
Grade 1
Grade 2
Sight
95%
85%
80%
65%
Total
95%
85%
80%
65%
Level
Independent
Instructional
Instructional
Frustration
Miscue Analysis (Oral)
Passage
Level
Type
Total
Miscues
Fun
PrePrimer
Primer
Narrative
1
Total
Miscues
(Significant)
0
Narrative
6
0
Narrative
7
2
Narrative
16
5
Food for
Birds
Fun with
Leaves
Zoo Work
Grade
1
Grade
2
Level
Independent/
Instruction
Instruction/
Frustration
Instruction/
Frustration
Frustration
Comprehension (Oral and Listening)
Passage
Fun
Level
Pre-Primer
Pete’s Red
Ball
Food for Birds
Pre-Primer
Jill’s Egg
Primer
Fun with
Leaves
At the Zoo
Grade 1
Zoo Work
Grade 2
A Spider
Friends
Grade 2
Primer
Grade 1
Type
Narrative
(Oral)
Narrative
(Listening)
Narrative
(Oral)
Narrative
(Listening)
Narrative
(Oral)
Narrative
(Listening)
Narrative
(Oral)
Narrative
(Listening)
% Correct
80%
100%
85%
60%
95%
70%
Level
Independent/
Instruction
Independent
Independent/
Instruction
Instruction/
Frustration
Independent
50%
Instruction/
Frustration
Frustration
50%
Frustration
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RDG 596
Miscue Analysis Worksheets
Food for Birds (Level Primer)
Miscue
is
bread
Mom
give
we
Jim
said
Text
Graphic
Similar
Initial
in
X
bird
X
Mother
X
gave
they
said
Jim
Graphic
Similar
Final
Omission/
Insertion
Self Corrected
X
X
Fun with Leaves (Grade 1)
Miscue
Text
that
was
and
throwing
your
were
a
what
they
threw
our
where
Graphic
Similar
Initial
Graphic
Similar
Final
X
Omission/
Insertion
Self Corrected
Insertion
Insertion
X
X
X
Insertion
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RDG 596
Zoo Work (Grade 2)
Miscue
Text
bought
brought
raw
meat
fresh
seals
washes
cages
mite
the
cell
cage
and
get
walked
when
well
Bob
keeps
the zoo
keys.
When
the
go
locks
Graphic
Similar
Initial
Graphic
Similar
Final
X
Omission/
Insertion
Self Corrected
X
Omission
X
X
Omission
X
Insertions
Omission
Omission
Omission
X
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Diagnosis
Word List out of context:
Pre-testing
Looking at Elene’s results from the Word Identification section of the Basic
Reading Inventory, Elene scored instructional at the pre-primer level.
Instructional level is defined as the level at which Elene can read with support.
There was no independent level, the level at which Elene can read by herself,
determined. Some examples of words Elene had some difficulty recognizing
immediately are tree which she read as there, go which she read as to, and went
which she read as what. Elene was able to self correct some of the words. This
means that she was able to recognize that she pronounced the word incorrectly.
She was able to correct take and friend. As the levels increased, her errors also
rose. For example, on the 1st grade list, she read said for saw, picnic for pocket,
give for gave and away for way. She skipped aunt and was able to tell me she
wanted to skip it. This also gives insight into how comfortable Elene is with what
she knows. Elene reached a Frustration level (that which she cannot read even
with assistance) at the 2nd grade level. There were many words she skipped
including poor, fight, different, such and chase. She self-corrected jokes for joke
and was able to recognize words such as because, sister, teacher and thought.
Some of the words she attempted to recognize immediately were quiet (in which
she read quiz) and seed (in which she read said). This tells us that Elene is
looking at the beginning sounds of the words and may have difficulty with looking
carefully at the whole word. This pattern was evident in various places
throughout the assessment.
Post Testing
Elene’s post testing results indicates an increase in her word recognition.
In the pre-testing, Elene was unable to reach an independent level in word
identification. In post-testing, Elene was able to reach an independent level with
the pre-primer list. She also showed growth in Grade 1 and Grade 2 word lists.
For her post-testing, Elene misidentified yard for year, read for red, care
for cake, say for said, first for fast, and really for ready. Elene remained at the
instructional level for primer level words but was able to move from an
instructional/frustration level on Grade 1 words to instructional on Grade 1 in
post-testing. Elene again reached frustration on the Grade 2 lists. However,
during pre-testing, Elene misidentified 8 words (skipping 5) and in post-testing,
Elene misidentified 7 words and only skipped 4. Overall, her ability to recognize
words immediately increased between pre-testing and post-testing.
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RDG 596
Oral Reading Miscue Analysis:
Pre-testing
Elene read a narrative selection at the primer level (The First Snow) and
reached the Frustration level on this story. Elene’s total miscue count was 14.
Within this passage, Elene had a large number of omissions (words in the text
but not read out loud), followed by substitutions (words read incorrectly) and
lastly insertions (words added to the original text). Within those miscues were
one self-correction and two repetitions. For example, instead of reading “What
did you say?” asked Tom, opening his eyes, Elene read “What do you say?”
asked Tom, open his eyes. Elene had some difficulty with the suffix in open and
recognizing did as do. Six of Elene’s miscues illustrated that she was looking at
the first letter but not the rest of the word, which is what we saw in the word list
as well. Some other examples include Elene reading snowy for snowed and
snowing for snow. Elene also added words and phrases to the story that count
towards her miscues. Elene was not able to recognize the words sleds or night
but was able to recognize words such as morning, window dressed and kitchen.
When checked for fluency and rate of reading, Elene read 43 words in a timed
minute. She should be reading, as a 2nd grader, 52-102 words per minute.
Elene’s reading is impacted by the amount of words she wasn’t able to recognize
within the selection.
Post testing
Elene showed great growth in her oral reading during post-testing. At the
beginning of clinic, Elene reached frustration with the first story read out loud
(The First Snow at the primer level and Walk in the Fall at the pre-primer level).
During post-testing, however, Elene showed immense growth. Elene did not
show a frustration level until she read Zoo Work on the Grade 2 level. At Grade 1
and 2, Elene tested at an instruction/frustration level. At the pre-primer level,
Elene tested at an independent/instruction level and at the primer level Elene
showed an instruction/frustration level. This shows that Elene was able to move
from a frustration level at the primer level during pre-testing to a frustration level
at the Grade 2 level in post-testing. Elene’s miscues, or incorrectly read words
and phrases, did not become a significant issue until the Grade 2 level when she
missed a whole line of text and was not able to notice that she missed it or notice
that the story failed to make sense. This is an ongoing concern while Elene is
reading longer text.
Elene’s miscues are generally inserting words that are not there and
substituting one word for another. An example is in Food for Birds; Elene read
The snow is deep as The snow in the deep. Another example is substituting Mom
for Mother and reading said Jim as Jim said. Her mistakes don’t affect the
meaning of the story until we get the Grade 2 story Zoo Work. This is where
Elene’s miscues really played an important role in her reading. Elene read meat
as mite and seal as cell. This is also the story where Elene missed a whole line
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RDG 596
of text. By not recognizing that the story on longer made sense, this was
considered a significant miscue and brought Elene to the frustration level.
Comprehension:
Pre-testing
Elene’s comprehension level on the primer story, The First Snow, tested
out at an Independent/Instructional level. She answered 85% of the questions
correctly. Elene was able to answer the questions based on fact from the story
with a score of 6 out of 7. Elene was also able to inference (use information in
the story to answer a question whose answer is not in the text) at 100%. She was
able to expand her thinking outside of the story and answer 100% of this type of
question. The vocabulary question asked gave her a bit of difficulty. When asked
what the word ground meant, Elene responded with by pointing to the floor and
then telling me outside on the floor down there while pointing out the window.
Elene’s retelling of the story The First Snow started out strong but she did not
mention the father in the story who was getting the children’s sleds so they can
go outside. Elene’s higher rate of comprehension but lower rate of reading is an
interesting situation as she remembered what she read but had a very difficult
time reading it. I wanted to see what she could do while just listening to a story
so I administered a listening comprehension assessment. I went down one level
and Elene was able to answer 100% of the questions correctly. Based on these
results, comprehension does not seem to be the major concern for Elene.
Post testing
During our pre-testing, Elene showed an independent level of
comprehension at the pre-primer level while listening to the text and answering
questions after the story was over. At the primer level, Elene scored at an
independent/instruction level after reading the story out loud and then answering
the questions. No frustration level was determined. During post-testing, Elene
scored independent for listening at the pre-primer level and
independent/instruction level for pre-primer oral comprehension. Elene continued
through 1st Grade oral and listening comprehension scoring independent during
oral and instruction/frustration during listening. For Elene’s 2nd Grade
performance, she scored frustration at both oral and listening levels. The most
frequent concern was Elene’s ability to define a word without using the word in
the definition. When asked what the word fat meant, Elene’s reply was really fat
like having a baby or something. Elene was also unable to define raw in the
phrase “raw meat”. One of Elene’s strengths is her ability to answer fact based
questions as well as questions based on evaluation of the story which include the
why and how of a character.
Elene’s retelling skills shows that she is quick to tell what she remembers
as fast as she can before, I believe, she forgets things. This works to her
advantage to remember the beginning of the story but she often loses her focus
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RDG 596
as her retelling moves on. She will at times, focus on a certain phrase that she
heard in the story that she finds amusing. An example of this is while reading a
story about feeding hungry birds, the phrase they are fat and happy ended the
story and that is what she chose to remember above other important details from
the story.
Summary
Elene is a 2nd grade student who struggles with word recognition and
phonemic awareness. Elene should be instructed in reading at a 1st grade level
and reading independently at a primer and/or pre-primer level.
Elene has shown growth at reading sight words independently and using
them in a sentence of her own. Based on her post-assessment data, she has
also shown an increase in her comprehension skills and oral reading skills.
Elene’s needs are in word recognition, sight word recognition and fluency.
These are the three areas Elene’s remediation plan will focus on. Elene’s
remediation plan follows on the next page.
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RDG 596
The following plan was based on data analyzed using pre and posttest
information. Each activity and strategy may be found in Improving Reading:
Strategies and Resources (Johns, 2005). Information about each activity can be
found in the Appendix.
Remediation Plan for Elene O
Critical Focus
Area
Word
Identification:
Word
Patterns and
Word
Building
Word
Identification:
Basic Sight
Words
Objectives
Activities
Elene will be able to
identify unfamiliar words
by using common word
patterns.





Making Words
Making your own words
Rhyming game
Matching game
www.starfall.com
Elene will be able to
identify basic sight words
without hesitation.




Sight word Bingo
Mind Reader
Easy Rhyming
Student created stories
and sentences
Dolch Sight word activities
Word
Identification:
Sight Vocabulary
Elene will increase her
sight word
vocabulary
Fluency:
Attempting
unknown words
independently
Elene will use
appropriate strategies to
decode unknown words












www.hubbardscupboard.org
Repeated readings
Shared reading
Word sorts
Dolch Sight word activities
(can be modified)
Wait time ~ wait 10 seconds for
student to try before moving on
Check surrounding words for
clues
Cloze activities
Audio books that student can
follow along with using a print
version of same book
Short poems
www.childrenslibrary.org
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RDG 596
APPENDIX
A: Lesson Plans
B: Newsletters
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