Case Study Evaluation
Instruction Sheet
Class members will work in groups to prepare an evaluation of a case study in mild disabilities.
Information about a specific student in each of the disability categories covered in the course
will be presented, based on information provided by the instructor. A summary of the student’s
background will be required, along with key characteristics, diagnostic justification, instructional
recommendations and suggestions for intervention. There will be an individual and group
component to the case study evaluation. The rubric for this assignment provides more detail for
each element of the assignment.
The case study evaluation has several components, and the following guidelines will
facilitate your completion of the group and written work.
Part I: Defining Your Group
At the beginning of the semester, you will sign up to be in a group for the purpose of
completing the case study assignment. During the course of the semester, there will be
time allotted in class to work on the case study evaluation. While the student outlined in
your case study may have a disability that we have not discussed in class yet, there are
elements of the case study that you are able to work through throughout the term.
Please note the following before you get started:
1.
When you sign up for your group, please note who else is in your group, and get
to know one another, if you don’t already. This will help in establishing a solid,
collaborative unit.
2.
It is recommended that each member of the group take a “role” that is specific to
one aspect of the process and the product. In other words, group members may choose
to be in charge of organizing meetings, taking notes, doing research, etc. Similarly,
group members may choose to take responsibility for individual parts of the written
evaluation. Be sure, however, that you each read the others’ work before putting the
final product together. This will help to minimize redundancy.
3.
Take good notes and keep good records of when you meet and what you do at
each meeting, including group process time in class. This will go into your individual
reflection at the end of the project (see grading rubric).
When you meet, note both what other group members did, as well as your own
contributions. I am mostly interested in what you perceived YOU contributed to the
process and the product.
Part II: Identifying Key Characteristics
To begin the process of completing the evaluation, you will want to understand your
student. Read the case study thoroughly, and note any key information that you believe
is relevant to the case study. Just as with math word problems, there is information in
the case study that may be irrelevant to your analysis of the student. Then, write these
characteristics/demographics in a short narrative to introduce your case evaluation.
1.
Note the key information about the student that is relevant to your case
evaluation. Once you begin writing it up, you may decide that some information that was
initially thought to be important is not, and some that you initially thought was irrelevant
now is important. Keep these concepts in mind.
2.
Keep this section relatively brief. It should not duplicate the “Strengths and
Needs” section of your paper.
Part III: Strengths and Needs
The foundation for most IEP’s is a clear statement of the “present level of educational
performance (PLEP).” This section of your analysis will state the student’s strengths and
needs in both academic and behavioral contexts.
1.
Identify all relevant strengths and needs in the three primary content areas,
writing, reading, and math.
2.
give all supporting detail that is available in the case study evaluation, such as
scores, grade equivalents, teacher or parent observations, etc.
3.
List and describe other academic strengths and needs, as appropriate, such as
those related to other content areas (e.g. social studies, science, health, art, etc.).
4.
List all social, emotional, and behavioral strengths and needs identified in the
case study. Again, give any appropriate supporting detail to describe or explain these
strengths and needs.
5.
Be sure to list needs AND strengths.
Part IV: Eligibility
This section is the core of your written evaluation. Most of the remainder of the written
assignment revolves around what you determine here. You will use the information
provided in the case study, including the information identified in the Student
Demographics and Strengths and Needs sections, to help you establish a diagnostic
classification for your student. This “diagnosis” must be well-founded and justified, using
qualification criteria discussed in the text and in class. You must be thorough and critical
in your evaluation of the student’s eligibility for special education services. All students
qualify, and it is just your task to develop an argument for their classification.
1.
Carefully review your student’s strengths, needs, characteristics, and any other
relevant information, to find connections with IDEA qualification criteria.
2.
narrow your diagnosis to one or two possibilities, based on this review.
3.
Carefully and completely list the qualification criteria, as discussed in class and in
the text.
4.
Identify specific information from the case study that supports your diagnostic
choice. For example, if a criteria is that the student must demonstrate deficits in at least
two adaptive behaviors to qualify for a classification of mental retardation (intellectual
and developmental disability), what evidence is presented in the case study to support
this aspect of your diagnosis? Note that not all evidence needs to come from a
standardized assessment. You may make professional judgments, based on
information presented in the case.
5.
For each aspect of qualification criteria, be sure to include evidence that supports
it.
6.
Note where you found your qualification criteria. It may be useful to use APA intext citation formats for this.
Part V: IEP Goals
After you have established what the student’s strengths and needs are, you will identify three
academic goals for your student. These goals must be directly related to the Arizona academic
standards, and should state the student’s name, what behavior/task you expect them to
accomplish by the end of the year, and under what conditions, if appropriate.
Example:
By the end of the year, Mark will write a personal narrative in which content and details are
well-suited to audience and purpose. (Language Arts, Strand II, Concept 1, PO 2, 6th grade).
Your choice of goals must be clearly connected with the student’s identified needs, as discussed
in that section. Please provide a justification in the IEP goals section, rather than relying on
evidence presented earlier in the paper. This will facilitate the reader’s connection.
1.
Use the needs identified in your evaluation to form a foundation for identifying
appropriate goals.
2.
Review the Arizona K-12 Academic Standards to find relevant standards to address the
student’s needs. A link is provided in the Vista shell to access these.
3.
Identify at least one academic goal for each relevant area of need. Write your goals in the
format suggested above, including a clear reference to the standard.
4.
Provide a clear and concise explanation for why you chose this goal, citing information
about the student that led you to pick this performance objective, in particular. In other words,
why is this goal more appropriate than another skill from Strand II, Concept 1?
5.
If appropriate, you may also choose to identify a behavioral goal. I recommend searching
in the Workplace Skills standards for relevant strands on which to base your IEP goal.
Part VI: Interventions
You will identify interventions designed to support the student to success, given his or her
strengths, needs, identified goals, and personal characteristics. You may choose two different
approaches to accomplishing this. The first is to identify strategies to universally-design the
classroom or school environment to enable the student’s success. This approach must
demonstrate a solid understanding of universal design, and should directly address the needs and
goals identified in your evaluation. The other approach, which is just as valid, is to identify
accommodations appropriate to the student’s needs and goals. Accommodations, as discussed in
class, are changes to the way the student accesses the curriculum, not how the curriculum is
changed. In either case, you will also need to provide justification for why you believe your
universal design adaptations or accommodations will accomplish your intended outcomes. You
must address both academic and behavioral barriers with your intervention strategies. Five
academic interventions are required, and three behavioral. You will note that all students have
identifiable behavioral challenges, even if they do not have an identifiable emotional or
behavioral disorder.
Universal Design Option
1.
Identify what issues or barriers are inherent in the environment that might impede the
student’s progress, given what you know about the student’s strengths and needs, the goals you
have chosen, and the student’s characteristics.
2.
Formulate strategies for how you can adapt the environment to alleviate these barriers,
for the student and for other students.
3.
Justify why you believe these strategies will help the student, and how they relate to the
identified needs, goals, and characteristics.
Accommodation Option
1.
Identify what the student’s specific needs are, and how they may impact the student’s
progress toward the identified goals.
2.
Identify appropriate accommodations to help the student overcome the needs or expected
challenges. Be aware of the difference between accommodations and related services. For
example, a one-on-one aide is not an accommodation, she is a related service.
3.
Give a rationale for why you believe your chosen accommodations will work.
Part VII: Additional Observations
While this is not necessarily a separate section of your paper, I am looking for you to
demonstrate some critical thought and insight with regard to the case study. Each case has
information that may be interpreted in different ways. For example, is there anything that you
might consider as potential implications of a student with recurring headaches? The depth of
your insight into such information will determine the strength of this element of your case study.
1.
As you evaluate the case study, explore information that may have multiple
interpretations or implications. This is not to suggest that you should have multiple diagnoses for
your student. Rather, look for potentially meaningful details that could help you to gain a better
understanding of your student, as a whole.
2.
As a group, hypothesize some thoughtful estimations for the meaning of such details.
Please note that not every single detail is necessarily relevant for this element of your case study
evaluation.
3.
Provide some well-founded supports for your hypotheses, giving logical and wellrounded arguments to support them.
4.
Again, this is not necessarily about quantity of hypotheses, but rather about the quality
and depth of your insights.