READING COMPREHENSION
Student does not comprehend written text.
Attention-lacks sufficient mental energy to read lengthy
paragraphs. He currently demonstrates comprehension of
passages of no longer than one paragraph.
Goal: In one year, given strategies such as previewing organizers,
previewing passages, chunking of passages, frequent
comprehension checks, “jumpstarting” by adult reading first part
of text to student and use of motivational topic texts, student will
correctly answer comprehension questions on passages of at least
five paragraphs in length with 90% accuracy on five consecutive
weekly assessments.
Processing control: lacks ability to determine relevance in order
to retain information that is central to comprehension
Goal: In one year, given strategies such as: outlines to help focus
on important information, reading guided questions before reading
the text, summarizing and paraphrasing during reading, previewing
vocabulary and important concepts, prioritizing specific
information student will correctly answer nine out of ten
comprehension questions on reading passages on five consecutive
weekly assessments.
Production Control: lacks ability to preview, self-monitor and
pace. Student is unable to make connections between text and
prior knowledge. Short-term memory problems are also a factor.
Goal: In one year, given strategies such as guiding questions, selfquestioning techniques (i.e. “Does this make sense? This is similar
to…. This reminds me of….”), post-it notes to record main idea,
predict passage elements and evaluate predictions and graphic
organizers student will correctly answer comprehension questions
on five consecutive weekly assessments with 90% accuracy.
Active working memory: Student lacks ability to hold what she
has read in her mind e.g., she forgets the beginning of a passage
by the time she gets to the end.
Goal: In one year, given strategies such as creating semantic maps
to organize and consolidate idea, drawing sequence pictures,
highlighting/underlining as she reads, associating pictures with
text, taking notes, verbal paraphrasing and summarizing, student
will correctly answer comprehension questions on five consecutive
weekly assessments with 90% accuracy.
Higher Order Cognition: Student is unable to make inferences,
compare concepts and think critically and analytically
Goal: In one year, given strategies such as modeling of thought
processes, use of brainstorming and comparing and contrasting,
and specific teaching of visualization and questioning techniques,
student will respond to reading passages by answering inferential
questions (i.e. compare/contrast, identify main ideas and
supporting details, distinguish fact from opinion, predict, draw
conclusions) with justification with 80% accuracy on five
consecutive weekly assessments.
Vocabulary Development: Student demonstrates poor vocabulary
development which affects ability to understand reading passages.
Goal: In one year, given strategies such as classifying activities,
concept maps, Venn diagrams, explicit instruction in prefixes,
suffixes, root words, synonyms, homonyms and antonyms to
specifically teach vocabulary, student will demonstrate
understanding of target vocabulary by achieving 90% correct on
five consecutive weekly vocabulary quizzes.
DECODING
Student lacks automaticity in decoding words, reducing
comprehension of text.
Goal: In one year, given strategies such as VAKT
(visual/auditory/kinesthetic/tactile association, student [will
associate specific letters (all consonants and short vowels) and
sounds and blend those letter sounds to fluently read CVC words
in controlled text] with 90% accuracy in five consecutive trials
over a two-week period.
Goal: In one year, given strategies such as (VAKT )
visual/auditory/kinesthetic/tactile association, student will fluently
decode syllable types: closed, open, vowel-consonant-e, rcontrolled, consonant-le, vowel teams, in controlled text with 90%
accuracy in five consecutive trials over a two-week period.
Goal: In one year, given strategies such as flash cards, multiple
repetitions, choral chanting, music/rhythm student will read target
sight words with 90% accuracy in five consecutive trials over a
two-week period.
ORGANIZATION
Student lacks ability to organize academic materials for classes
and homework. He appears unable to keep track of due dates,
class and homework assignments, tests and projects. He loses
papers easily and arrives in class and at home without the
materials and directions necessary to complete assignments.
Goal: In one year, given explicit sequential instruction in
organizational strategies such as using an assignment pad,
calendar, checklist system and color-coded folders, student will
independently keep track of and complete weekly assignments as
measured over five consecutive weeks with 100% accuracy.
WRITING
Language processing deficits interfere with the student’s ability to
produce written compositions with complete sentences, proper
grammar and proper punctuation. He appears unable to organize
ideas to produce expository writing that effectively communicates
ideas. He has difficulty with consistency in using future (will ___)
, present (-s, -es) and simple past tense (-ed) indicators with
regular verbs.
Goal: In one year, given explicit sequential instruction and
subject-verb agreement activities, a rubric and repeated practice
with number (is/are), and using a paragraph frame, student will
write a paragraph containing sentences using correct subject-verb
agreement (including common irregular verbs) as assessed by
achievement of 90% accuracy in ten consecutive writing
assignments.
Goal: In one year, given explicit sequential instruction in
expanding sentences to include transition words such as because,
although, but, so and therefore, student will write complex
sentences using sentence starters on nine of ten examples in five
assessments over a two -week period.
Goal: In one year, given explicit sequential instruction in
expanding sentences and activities such as expanding simple
sentences by answering individual question words and using
pictures, student will identify words in an expanded sentence that
tell who, what, where, when, why and how (ex: Yesterday, Sally
ran quickly to the school. when, how, where) as measured by 90%
accuracy on five consecutive trials over a two-week period.
Goal: In one year, given explicit sequential instruction in use of
future (will ___) , present (-s, -es) and simple past tense (-ed)
indicators with regular verbs in sentences and use of visual aids
such as a paragraph frame, picture cues and highlighting, student
will write a six-sentence paragraph using matching tense markers
as measured by 90% accuracy on five consecutive assessments
over a two-week period.
Goal: In one year, given explicit sequential instruction in
constructing an organized paragraph, use of visual aids and a
specific paragraph frame and color-coding, student will write a
paragraph, consisting of a topic sentence, 3 supporting statements
and a summarizing sentence as measured by 90% accuracy on five
consecutive paragraph assignments over a two-week period.
VISUAL PROCESSING
Visual Memory and Visual Sequential Memory: Student cannot
copy from a board or book accurately. Student cannot remember
math facts/equations. She has poor memory for sight words. Slow
processing of visual stimulus. She has difficulty with pairing
sounds and written symbols (letters). She has difficulty with
remembering words, pictures, symbols, forms, numbers, equations
and their orientation when they are removed from sight.
Goal: In one year, given visual sequencing games and “what is
different?” exercises with tactile/kinesthetic and auditory cues,
visualizing strategies, “air writing” and concentration games to
improve visual sequence memory, student will correctly order the
elements (picture/text) of an eight-element narrative from memory
when the correct model is removed from sight, as measured by
90% accuracy in 10 consecutive trials over a two-week period.
Goal: In one year, given visual sequencing games and “what is
different?” exercises with tactile/kinesthetic and auditory cues,
including math songs, visualizing strategies, “air writing” and
concentration games to improve visual sequence memory, student
will correctly write multiplication tables as measured by 90%
accuracy in 5 consecutive weekly quizzes.
Goal: In one year, given visual sequencing games and “what is
different?” exercises with tactile/kinesthetic and auditory cues,
visualizing strategies, “air writing” and concentration games to
improve visual sequence memory, student will correctly draw
sequences of geometric shapes and target equations with correct
orientation from memory when visual model is removed from
sight, as measured by 90% accuracy in 5 consecutive weekly
quizzes.
AUDITORY PROCESSING
Auditory Memory: Student has difficulty retrieving letters, words
and numbers. He has difficulty retrieving his address and phone
number. He fails to recognize the sound-symbol relationship
because he cannot remember the sounds . He cannot follow multistep oral directions.
Goal: In one year, given VAKT (visual/auditory/tactile/kinesthetic)
strategies, auditory memory games with in- and out-of-category
memory sequences and focused listening exercises with frequent
practice, student will correctly follow three-step oral directions with
90% accuracy over 10 consecutive trials within a two week period.
Goal: In one year, given VAKT (visual/auditory/tactile/kinesthetic)
strategies, auditory memory games and focused listening exercises
with frequent practice, student will correctly produce the letter sounds
of the consonants and short vowels with 90% accuracy over 10
consecutive trials within a two week period.
Goal: In one year, given VAKT (visual/auditory/tactile/kinesthetic)
strategies, auditory memory games and focused listening exercises
with frequent practice, including number songs and other musical
strategies, student will correctly recite multiplication tables with
100% accuracy over 10 consecutive trials within a two week period.
Auditory Discrimination: Student cannot recognize same/different in
sounds in words orally presented in initial, medial, or final positions
in words, inhibiting his ability to manipulate phonemes to create new
words.
Goal: In one year, given VAKT (visual/auditory/tactile/kinesthetic)
strategies, recognition of rhyming, and focused listening exercises,
including different colored tokens to represent phoneme sounds, to
identify same/different in sounds, beginning with sounds in isolation,
then syllables and words, with frequent practice, student will
correctly manipulate phonemes in all positions in CVC words to
create new words with 90% accuracy over 10 consecutive trials
within a two week period.
Auditory Comprehension/Cohesion: Student has difficulty taking
notes from orally-presented material.
Goal: In one year, given strategies to improve auditory cohesion,
such as drawing pictures to illustrate orally-presented material,
picking key words out of sentences and selected key concepts from
orally-presented paragraphs, summarizing exercises and comparison
of note-taking efforts with prepared notes, and using color-coding and
graphic organizers to guide note-taking, student will take appropriate
notes on an orally-presented narrative to include characters, time/
locale, main issue and outcome, as measured by 90% completeness of
notes on five consecutive weekly note-taking assessments.
MATH: DYSCALCULIA
Student lacks development in critical factors that affect math
meaning. These factors include ability to connect a new concept with
prior experience, ability to form models or examples from concrete
material and to illustrate that model in a drawing, use of number
symbols, operational signs, formula and equations, concept
application to word problems and ability to communicate the
processes used, as if in teaching the concept to others.
Verbal Dyscalculia: Student has difficulty retrieving and naming
math symbols, math terms, operations and associating numbers to
amounts of things. He has difficulty naming amounts of objects. He
has difficulty writing numbers when they are presented orally.
Goal: In one year, using (visual/auditory/tactile/kinesthetic)
strategies for explicit sequential teaching of discrete steps, color
coding, mnemonic devices, manipulatives, and math games such as
War and Concentration, and with frequent practice, student will
perform calculations using the appropriate operations (addition,
subtraction, multiplication and division) with triple digit numbers
with 80% accuracy on five consecutive weekly quizzes.
Practical Skills Dyscalculia: Student has difficulty in visualizing
math concepts. He has difficulty manipulating items in math tasks
and with adding comparing and estimating pictured objects. He has
difficulty with rote counting. He does not understand part/whole
relationships, spatial details, shapes and size.
Goal: In one year, using (visual/auditory/tactile/kinesthetic)
strategies for explicit teaching of practical skills, including color
coding, number frames and other spatial graphic organizers, counting
drills, rhythmic activities and songs, student will match pictured
objects with correct numbers and use manipulatives to perform
written addition and subtraction with 90% accuracy in ten
assessments over a two-week period.
Goal: In one year, using (visual/auditory/tactile/kinesthetic)
strategies for explicit teaching of practical skills, sorting tasks, use of
color coding, number frames and other spatial graphic organizers,
counting drills, rhythmic activities and songs, student will describe
comparative attributes of size, shape, and part/whole relationship
regarding pairs of objects and pictures with 90% accuracy in ten
consecutive assessments over a two-week period.
Lexical Dyscalculia: Student has difficulty with recognizing
numbers/digits, operational signs, place value, fractions, squares,
roots and the general language of math. He has some directional
confusion, and he inappropriately inserts or omits digits, words and
signs. He sometimes interchanges similar digits inappropriately.
These difficulties interfere with his ability to solve word problems in
math.
Goal: In one year, given VAKT (visual/auditory/tactile/kinesthetic)
strategies to improve directional confusion and concept
understanding, sequentially increasing language complexity, graphic
organizers that sort a) known information, b) unneeded information,
c) what the problem asks and d) strategies to solve the problem,
rubrics for checking and rechecking, student will solve math word
problems with two embedded operations with 90% accuracy on five
consecutive weekly quizzes.
ACTIVE WORKING MEMORY: MATH
Lani, a 7th grader, has difficulty following multi-step processes.
Although she can solve basic problems requiring one operation,
when given multi-step equations she is unable to recall and follow
the steps needed to solve the problem.
Goal: In one year, given sequencing strategies (such as:
verbalization of steps, following models and picture cues for
required steps) Lani will correctly solve 10 of 10 quadratic
equations which include use of multiple operations and steps. She
will correctly solve the problems on five consecutive weekly
assignments.
HIGHER ORDER COGNITION: MATH
Lani, a 10th grader, is not able to classify objects by more than one
or two attributes at a time. She is unable to identify shapes that
are similar or congruent and cannot graph shapes and
transformations.
Goal: In one year, given strategies such as modeling and pick-lists
of formulas and problem solving steps, complete graphs of shape
transformations (translations, reflections and rotations). With no
more than one teacher cue, she will correctly complete 18 of 20
graphs over a three-week period.
TEMPORAL-SEQUENTIAL ORDERING: MATH
Lani, a 6th grader, is able to compute Math facts correctly. She
often appears confused about the order in which to perform
operations and is unable to repeat and solve problems involving
multi-step sequences.
Goal: In one year, given strategies such as mnemonics, checklist
of formula steps and games Lani will correctly solve multi-step
problems (with up to 5 steps). With up to three teacher cues and
process charts showing sequence of steps to be followed , she will
solve problems (i.e. involving ratio and proportion, percents,
fractions) with 80% accuracy in 5 consecutive assignments over a
two-week period.
SPATIAL ORDERING: MATH
Lani is a 4th grader. She seems to understand Math concepts, but
when asked to solve different types of word problems she has a
hard time knowing how to write down the necessary information in
a useful way. Information is often written all over the page. She
also has difficulty with problems involving shapes and graphs.
Goal: Within one year, given strategies such as using graph paper
to maintain columns and organize numbers, use of manipulatives
and samples of patterns and physical models, Lani will correctly
solve Math problems. She will be provided with assistance in
organizing needed tools and materials, assignments with no more
than two types of problems included and with a reduced amount of
information on the page. Lani will correctly solve nine of ten
problems on at least 8 consecutive assignments over a two-week
period.
SOCIAL -EMOTIONAL
Student often presents as withdrawn, especially in unstructured
settings (lunch room, schoolyard). She rarely initiates
conversations with peers. She tends to not seek out the company of
others. Her ability to participate in classroom group activities is
affected by her reluctance to initiate conversation.
Goal: In one year, in the lunch room, the schoolyard and during
group activities in the classroom, given appropriate phrases for
initiating conversation and a sequenced set of specific strategies for
maintaining verbal exchange and reducing communicative stress,
student will start conversations with two classmates per day, as
measured by the guidance counselor and/or classroom teacher, during
a two-week period.
Student demonstrates understanding of material presented in class,
but he does not volunteer to participate in class, due to poor selfimage and resulting lack of confidence. Additionally, he tends to
respond, “I don’t know” when called upon to contribute to class
discussions.
Goal: In one year, given a cueing system, frequent practice and a
gradually diminishing system of supports, such as prior notification
by teachers as to what he will respond to in class (a preparatory set,
provided privately), student will verbally participate in class
discussion by either answering a question or giving a personal view,
as appropriate to the class focus or aim, in 3 out of 4 occurrences, as
assessed by his ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies teachers over
two consecutive weeks of targeted observation.
Lani is 13 years old and is repeating the 6th grade. She exhibits
signs of low self-esteem. She spends a lot of time by herself. When
interacting with other students, she exaggerates details about
incidents that have happened. She often does not assume
responsibility for things she has done. When confronted, she
accuses others of fault or injustice.
SOCIAL AWARENESS
GOAL: In one year, given strategies such as modeling, roleplaying, self questioning techniques and explicit social skills
instruction Lani will sustain a social interaction for at least __
minutes. Given cues (to maximize chances of a positive outcome)
she will employ one of the taught strategies (i.e. how to give
another person a compliment, how to receive one, how to accept
consequences – positive and negative) to the conversation. She
will demonstrate appropriate conversations with a chosen student
at least five times per week for five consecutive weeks.
Crystal is a 15 year old 8th grader who has trouble working in
groups. She gets in physical altercations after complaining that
other students “look” at her. If a student walks by her table and
gets close to the chair or desk, Crystal will get up and physically
threaten the student or actually hit him/her.
GOAL: In one year, Crystal will avoid fights by employing cool
down strategies (i.e. taking deep breaths, counting to 10,
identifying, problems and planning and acting on appropriate
choices) in conflict situations. This will be measured by
implementing a 3-month contract in which she receives a check
each time she employs such strategies and avoids fights. Given up
to 2 reminders, Crystal will employ these strategies with 100%
accuracy.
TRANSITION
Student has stated that she wants to become an EKG technician like
her mother and work in a hospital. She needs to learn more about
how electrocardiograms are produced and the equipment that is used
and about the information that is captured in an EKG.
Goal: In one year, given advisory assistance from the transition
linkage coordinator, student will compile a monthly log of ten
literature responses to internet search articles about the human heart,
related biological issues and the EKG process and use, as measured
by appropriate 3-paragraph short essays that reflect the topic.
Progress will be measured by 100% completion of the ten essays.
Judy,17, is in 11th grade and has 19 credits. She wants to pursue a
career in nursing. Currently, Judy reads at a 3rd grade level, which
affects all areas of class work and homework. She is unable to
decode multi-syllabic words and reads very slowly which impacts
her ability to understand what she reads. Reading fluency currently
at just 60 words per minute is also a concern. Judy’s writing skills,
impeded by spelling issues, are at a third grade level. Judy is a
strong auditory learner and gets along well with peers and adults.
GOAL: In one year, given 30 non-fiction/news programs (related
to medical professions) to view on television/internet, Judy will
write 3 paragraph reports (using spell check/word prediction
software) on each program. Advisory teacher will examine the
report for content and writing skills.