Reading comprehension and reading strategies are the keys to success in reading. Early diagnosis of learning disabilities is crucial to helping with the skills of reading. Here's a checklist to determine if your child/student is at an expected level of development.
1. ____ The child enjoys being read to and has expressed an interest in favorite books.
2. ____ The child is able to sit a listen to stories being read to him/her and takes an interest in the illustrations.
3. ____ The child pretends to read by holding the book correctly, turns the pages and makes reference to the story from memory and from the pictures.
4. ____ The child recognizes his/her own name and knows some of the letters of the alphabet.
5. ____ When prompted, the child recalls events in the story.
6. ____ The child enjoys participating in songs, chimes, chants, poems and storybook times.
7. ____ The child chimes in on familiar or predictable stories.
8. ____ When prompted the child can distinguish the beginning, middle and end of the story.
9. ____ Some children will have sound-symbol correspondence, they'll know that the 'B' is what the word ball begins with.
10.____ Is beginning to recognize similarities and differences between stories or characters.
If you've checked most of the boxes, there's nothing to worry about.
I checked most of the boxes listed, so I feel that my subject is on the right track to begin reading.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Test # 5/ Chapter Notes
The QRI Test was administered this week and some sections were modified ,since the child cannot read.The story was read to him. On the first test he scored 8/9- 88%. He was asked, “ what does it mean when something is lost?” He said, “you cannot find it.” He had me draw happy faces and sad faces beside his responses. He retold the story very well.
For the retelling part of the test he scored 70%. He did not tell all the details of the story. He only told about half of the events and then he said, “he found his toy,” which was not mentioned in the story.The last part of the test was the question section and he scored 100%. He got all the questions right.
The Circle Test was administered also as a Curriculum Based Test. On this test the child was tested on these things:
Rapid Letter Naming- Score=17= Proficient
Rapid Vocabulary Naming=Score-18 Below Proficient
Phonological Awareness-Score-35= Proficient
Listening-Score-5=Proficient
Rhyming I-Score-8=Proficient
Rhyming II-Score- 3= Proficient
Alliteration-Score- 6=Proficient
Words in a sentence-Score-3= Below Proficient
Syllabication-Score-6=Proficient
Onset rime-Score-4=Proficient
Book and print awareness- Score-7=Occasional or (in the middle).
Social Skills were tested and for the area of regulation of Behavior he scored -occasional , (in the middle).
Math was also tested and he scored proficient in all areas such as rote counting, number discrimination and number naming, Shape discrimination, shape discrimination triangle, shape discrimination square, set counting, and operations.
Summary and Recommendation
Based on observation of the child, the conclusion of this case study is that the child is in the emergent stage of reading. Early Emergent Readers (Levels aa-C)
Aspiring readers are just beginning to grasp the basic concepts of book and print. They are acquiring a command of the alphabet with the ability to recognize and name upper- and lowercase letters. They are also developing many phonological awareness skills, such as recognizing phonemes, syllables, and rhyme.( Reading A-Z, 2010)
His strengths include phonological awareness, syllabication, and basic concepts for reading. He needs work on word recognition, recognizing words in a sentence, and he needs to develop his fine motor skills. He has some difficulty writing his letters and making them clear. The child scored proficient in all areas of math. His mother was given 2 home surveys that were online and these tests matched the results of “The Circle Test.” (Alphin, 2007).
Since he was a premature baby, perhaps in 6 more months he should be reading. When preemies are babies, parents and pediatricians often use gestational age, instead of chronological age, to determine whether they are meeting developmental milestones on time. Most parents abandon that practice when their children “catch up” to their full-term peers. Some babies are using chronological age well before they can walk; others, because they were very premature or very sick during infancy, take longer.
Signs of School Readiness
Experts generally agree that signs of school readiness are more important than age when deciding whether a child is ready for school. Signs that a child is ready for kindergarten include:
Physical readiness: Children are physically ready for school if they are in good health and fully potty-trained. They should be able to run, jump, and play outdoors, should be up to date on their immunizations, and should have begun regular dental care.
Social and emotional readiness: Children who are ready for school can communicate well and follow directions. They are curious and enjoy learning new things and playing with other children. They can share and can calm themselves when upset.
Academic readiness: Before beginning kindergarten, children should know that letters make words, and should be able to recognize some letters and the sounds they make. They should be able to count and sort, and should know shapes and colors.
(Morrissette, Cheryl, 2009)
In conclusion, even though he was a premature baby and had many setbacks, the child seems to have caught up on the developmental scale as compared to childen his age. However, he may have some insecurities from his past homelife experiences.
For the retelling part of the test he scored 70%. He did not tell all the details of the story. He only told about half of the events and then he said, “he found his toy,” which was not mentioned in the story.The last part of the test was the question section and he scored 100%. He got all the questions right.
The Circle Test was administered also as a Curriculum Based Test. On this test the child was tested on these things:
Rapid Letter Naming- Score=17= Proficient
Rapid Vocabulary Naming=Score-18 Below Proficient
Phonological Awareness-Score-35= Proficient
Listening-Score-5=Proficient
Rhyming I-Score-8=Proficient
Rhyming II-Score- 3= Proficient
Alliteration-Score- 6=Proficient
Words in a sentence-Score-3= Below Proficient
Syllabication-Score-6=Proficient
Onset rime-Score-4=Proficient
Book and print awareness- Score-7=Occasional or (in the middle).
Social Skills were tested and for the area of regulation of Behavior he scored -occasional , (in the middle).
Math was also tested and he scored proficient in all areas such as rote counting, number discrimination and number naming, Shape discrimination, shape discrimination triangle, shape discrimination square, set counting, and operations.
Summary and Recommendation
Based on observation of the child, the conclusion of this case study is that the child is in the emergent stage of reading. Early Emergent Readers (Levels aa-C)
Aspiring readers are just beginning to grasp the basic concepts of book and print. They are acquiring a command of the alphabet with the ability to recognize and name upper- and lowercase letters. They are also developing many phonological awareness skills, such as recognizing phonemes, syllables, and rhyme.( Reading A-Z, 2010)
His strengths include phonological awareness, syllabication, and basic concepts for reading. He needs work on word recognition, recognizing words in a sentence, and he needs to develop his fine motor skills. He has some difficulty writing his letters and making them clear. The child scored proficient in all areas of math. His mother was given 2 home surveys that were online and these tests matched the results of “The Circle Test.” (Alphin, 2007).
Since he was a premature baby, perhaps in 6 more months he should be reading. When preemies are babies, parents and pediatricians often use gestational age, instead of chronological age, to determine whether they are meeting developmental milestones on time. Most parents abandon that practice when their children “catch up” to their full-term peers. Some babies are using chronological age well before they can walk; others, because they were very premature or very sick during infancy, take longer.
Signs of School Readiness
Experts generally agree that signs of school readiness are more important than age when deciding whether a child is ready for school. Signs that a child is ready for kindergarten include:
Physical readiness: Children are physically ready for school if they are in good health and fully potty-trained. They should be able to run, jump, and play outdoors, should be up to date on their immunizations, and should have begun regular dental care.
Social and emotional readiness: Children who are ready for school can communicate well and follow directions. They are curious and enjoy learning new things and playing with other children. They can share and can calm themselves when upset.
Academic readiness: Before beginning kindergarten, children should know that letters make words, and should be able to recognize some letters and the sounds they make. They should be able to count and sort, and should know shapes and colors.
(Morrissette, Cheryl, 2009)
In conclusion, even though he was a premature baby and had many setbacks, the child seems to have caught up on the developmental scale as compared to childen his age. However, he may have some insecurities from his past homelife experiences.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Literature Review
Background Information
The purpose of this case study is to indicate reading readiness of a 5 year- old
male, who was born prematurely. The child is currently enrolled in pre-school. He recently was administered "The Circle Test," which is a standardized test for pre-
school students. Test results of this test are used to determine if the
child is ready for kindergarten.
Personal/Home Life
The subject was born January 18, 2005 and was a premature baby. He weighed 6 pounds at birth, so he was allowed to come home after his birth. Babies born after 26 weeks face an increased risk of learning disabilities and other problems, but the specific odds of these problems vary heavily on fact. Research states that babies born very prematurely can face high odds of having some level of learning disabilities or other developmental impairment, but the intensity of the disabilities or impairment can vary heavily.
In babies born before 26 weeks, only 20% will have no long-term problems. About 34% will have a mild disability, such as cognitive impairment or near-sightedness. Another 24% will have a moderate disability, such as visual/hearing impairment or cerebral palsy with the ability to walk. Finally, 22% will have a severe disability, such as cerebral palsy and no ability to walk, blindness or profound deafness. (Danielsson, 2008)
The subject's parents have been divorced for 2 years. During the first 3 years of his life, he was involved in domestic disputes. His father many times would take the child and leave with him and tell his Mom that she could not see him. Finally, he would let the mom see him after the child continuously cried for her. Both parents have moved as many as 6-8 times within the 5 years of his life. The last year has been the most stable for the child because he lived in the same house for a year. But last month the child moved again with his mom to an apartment. Now his Dad has visitation every other weekend or sometimes every weekend. His dad at one time moved to Alaska for 9 months and did not contact the child. During this time the child would cry for his dad and even say his dad died.
Children who have been abandoned may reject everything about the absent parent: In some cases, children who have been abandoned by one parent will make an effort to completely reject him or her.
They may idealize the absent parent: Some children may over-identify with the absent parent and develop a set of fantasies about him or her which - although they may provide temporary comfort - are not be based in reality.
They may develop poor self-esteem: Children who have experienced parental abandonment may also be prone to developing poor self-esteem and a sense of shame surrounding the parent's absence. They may even question whether they could have contributed to the absence, whether they somehow "deserved" to be abandoned, or whether the absent parent believes he or she is better off without the "burden" of a child.
They may have difficulty expressing their emotions: Children who have experienced parental abandonment may also have difficulty sharing their feelings. They tend to keep their emotions bottled up and lack the trust necessary to share their true selves with others. (Wolf, 2008)
His mom is currently providing a more stable life style for the child. The dad
provides a less stable environment for the child and this could lead to
insecurity that can effect the child in the future.
Other Information
While his mom was pregnant with him, she listened to music. Now, the child
loves music and sings many songs. He knows all the words to many songs.
Therefore, his learning style is as an auditory learner. Auditory learners often have musical talents. They can hear tones, rhythms, and individual notes with their strong auditory skills. ( Auditory Learners, 2010)
He loves books because his mom reads to him as much as possible. Both of his grandparents read to him also. He knows the alphabet and "The Alphabet Song." He also knows the syllables in most words. He recognizes words on signs and he
knows how to start the computer and play his games. Leapster2 is a
learning game he loves to play and he also has a SmartCycle that has
learning games. He will sit for hours and play these learning games.
Tests Administered:
Phonemic Awareness- Letter Identification (Clay, 2002)
Informal Classroom Based Assessment- Test of Print Concepts(Bell & McCallum,2008)
Development of word recognition- Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation (Bell & McCallum,2008)
Curriculum Based Assessment- The Circle Test (Idol,2007)
QRI- Level- Pre-Primer (Leslie & Caldwell, 2006)
Book Handling Knowledge Test (McKenna & Stahl)
Other Tests Administered
Kindergarten Readiness Test-(Michigan Dept. of Education, 2010)
Kindergarten Reading Readiness Test-(Williams, 2009)
Observation During Testing
During "The Letter Identification Test," the child would sing the alphabet song to help him remember the letters. At the beginning of the test he wrote the alphabet. During the test he missed some of the same letters he had trouble writing. The words he came up with were his friends names from pre-school.
He also came up with words from books his mom had read him, such as cranium. Other words he came up with were ace, hater, Chum Chum (cartoon character), bacon, faking, faith, whine ,x-ray, Auto-Zone. He missed the letters W,w,u,q,b,k,N,n,V. He was confused with the letters v and y. He also acted like he had never seen a lower case q. His score was 41/54, which is 75% recognition of the letters.
During "The Yopp Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation," the child scored 11/22, which is 50% on this test. While testing, he struggled with blending these letter sounds. He recognizes most of the letters in isolation but he is still struggling with blending the letters to make words. He seemed confused when he saw the letters close together in words. He just turned 5 in January. He also was a premature baby. At this time, he needs more exposure to consonant blends and phonics and word recognition.
When administering "The Test of Print Concepts," he understood most of the concepts. He scored 16/17 which is 99 % on the modified test. He did not point to the bottom of the page when asked to point to it. He also did not turn to the lower line, instead he turned the page. While taking the test he remarked, "This is boring." He commented that he knew sign language. When he was asked to circle one word, he circled 2 words instead. He also circled the whole sentence and he did not circle individual letters. The modified test version was used because he does not know punctuation marks or some of the concepts in the longer version of the test.
Next, “The Book Handling Knowledge Guidelines Test,” was administered. He scored 14/21, which is 66%. He called a period a polka dot. He did not know what commas , quotation marks, or exclamation marks were. When he was asked to show me a lower case letter like a l. He pointed to an exclamation mark. When he was asked to point to two words. He only pointed to one. Therefore, he needs to work on lower case letters and punctuation and word and letter recognition.
The QRI Test was administered next and some sections were modified ,since the child cannot read.The story was read to him. On the first test he scored 8/9- 88%. He was asked, “ what does it mean when something is lost?” He said, “you cannot find it.” He had me draw happy faces and sad faces beside his responses. He retold the story very well.
For the retelling part of the test he scored 70%. He did not tell all the details of the story. He only told about half of the events and then he said, “he found his toy,” which was not mentioned in the story.The last part of the test was the question section and he scored 100%. He got all the questions right.
The Circle Test was administered as a Curriculum Based Test. On this test the child was tested on these things:
Rapid Letter Naming- Score=17= Proficient
Rapid Vocabulary Naming=Score-18 Below Proficient
Phonological Awareness-Score-35= Proficient
Listening-Score-5=Proficient
Rhyming I-Score-8=Proficient
Rhyming II-Score- 3= Proficient
Alliteration-Score- 6=Proficient
Words in a sentence-Score-3= Below Proficient
Syllabication-Score-6=Proficient
Onset rime-Score-4=Proficient
Book and print awareness- Score-7=Occasional or (in the middle).
Social Skills were tested and for the area of regulation of Behavior he scored -occasional , (in the middle).
Math was also tested and he scored proficient in all areas such as rote counting, number discrimination and number naming, Shape discrimination, shape discrimination triangle, shape discrimination square, set counting, and operations.
Summary and Recommendation
Based on observation of the child, the conclusion of this case study is that the child is in the emergent stage of reading. Early Emergent Readers (Levels aa-C)
Aspiring readers are just beginning to grasp the basic concepts of book and print. They are acquiring a command of the alphabet with the ability to recognize and name upper- and lowercase letters. They are also developing many phonological awareness skills, such as recognizing phonemes, syllables, and rhyme.( Reading A-Z, 2010)
His strengths include phonological awareness, syllabication, and basic concepts for reading. He needs work on word recognition, recognizing words in a sentence, and he needs to develop his fine motor skills. He has some difficulty writing his letters and making them clear. The child scored proficient in all areas of math. His mother was given 2 home surveys that were online and these tests matched the results of “The Circle Test.” (Alphin, 2007).
Since he was a premature baby, perhaps in 6 more months he should be reading. When preemies are babies, parents and pediatricians often use gestational age, instead of chronological age, to determine whether they are meeting developmental milestones on time. Most parents abandon that practice when their children “catch up” to their full-term peers. Some babies are using chronological age well before they can walk; others, because they were very premature or very sick during infancy, take longer.
Signs of School Readiness
Experts generally agree that signs of school readiness are more important than age when deciding whether a child is ready for school. Signs that a child is ready for kindergarten include:
Physical readiness: Children are physically ready for school if they are in good health and fully potty-trained. They should be able to run, jump, and play outdoors, should be up to date on their immunizations, and should have begun regular dental care.
Social and emotional readiness: Children who are ready for school can communicate well and follow directions. They are curious and enjoy learning new things and playing with other children. They can share and can calm themselves when upset.
Academic readiness: Before beginning kindergarten, children should know that letters make words, and should be able to recognize some letters and the sounds they make. They should be able to count and sort, and should know shapes and colors.
(Morrissette, Cheryl, 2009)
In conclusion, even though he was a premature baby and had many setbacks, the child seems to have caught up on the developmental scale as compared to childen his age. However, he may have some insecurities from his past homelife experiences.
Goals for Improvement:
1. The child needs continued exposure to Predictable books and read-alouds.
2. Focus needs to be on word-recognition while reading books. An activity the child can do is to help him with word recognition is to make his own book at home. He can gather things around the house and create a story about these things. An adult can write for the child and he can try to write the words.
3. The child needs more exposure to lower case letters and consonant blends.
4. The child can play a phoneme deletion word game. For example, he can say the word black, then an adult can say, what is the word without the b? (lack)
5. The child needs to cut out pictures with scissors in order to help develop his fine motor skills. This should help him in his writing of letters.
(Morrissette, 2009)
Works Cited:
1. Bell, S.M., & McCallum, R.S. (2008). Handbook of Reading Assessment. Boston: Pearson. Tests:
2. Idol, L. (2007). Models of curriculum-based assessment (4th ed.), Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
3. Leslie, L., & Caldwell, J. (2006). Qualitative Reading Inventory- 4. New York: Longman.
4. McKenna, M. C. , & Stahl, S. A. (2003). Assessment for reading instruction. New York: The Guilford Press.
5. Clay, M. (2002). An observation survey of early literacy achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
6. Retrieved March 28, 2010 from The World Wide Web: Michigan Dept. of Education, 2010 http//www.education.com/topic/ready-for-kindergarten/
7. Retrieved March 28, 2010 from The World Wide Web: Alphin, 2009 http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Readiness_Indicators/
8. Retrieved March 28, 2010 from The World Wide Web: Cook, 2009 http://www.education.com/reference/article/kindergarten-readiness/
9. Retrieved March 28, 2010 from The World Wide Web: Williams, 2009 http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Kindergarten_Reading_What_Happens/
10. Retrieved April 4, 2010 from the World Wide Web: Danielsson, 2008
http://miscarriage.about.com/od/pregnancyafterloss/a/prematurebirth.htm
11. Retrieved April 4, 2010 from the World Wide Web: Morrissette, 2009
US Department of Education. “Preparing Your Child for Kindergarten” Accessed April20,2007 from http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Preparing_Your_Child/.
12. Retrieved April 4, 2010 from the World Wide Web: Wolf, 2008 http://singleparents.about.com/od/parenting/a/abandonment.htm
13. Balcom, Dennis A. "Absent Fathers: Effects on Abandoned Sons." The Journal of Men's Studies 6.3 (1998): 283+. Questia. 31 Mar. 2008 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001348916].
14. Retrieved April 4, 2010 from the World Wide Web: Reading A-Z, 2010
http://www.readinga-z.com/guided/stages.html
15. Retrieved April 4, 2010 from the World Wide Web
http://www2.yk.psu.edu/learncenter/acskills/auditory.html
The purpose of this case study is to indicate reading readiness of a 5 year- old
male, who was born prematurely. The child is currently enrolled in pre-school. He recently was administered "The Circle Test," which is a standardized test for pre-
school students. Test results of this test are used to determine if the
child is ready for kindergarten.
Personal/Home Life
The subject was born January 18, 2005 and was a premature baby. He weighed 6 pounds at birth, so he was allowed to come home after his birth. Babies born after 26 weeks face an increased risk of learning disabilities and other problems, but the specific odds of these problems vary heavily on fact. Research states that babies born very prematurely can face high odds of having some level of learning disabilities or other developmental impairment, but the intensity of the disabilities or impairment can vary heavily.
In babies born before 26 weeks, only 20% will have no long-term problems. About 34% will have a mild disability, such as cognitive impairment or near-sightedness. Another 24% will have a moderate disability, such as visual/hearing impairment or cerebral palsy with the ability to walk. Finally, 22% will have a severe disability, such as cerebral palsy and no ability to walk, blindness or profound deafness. (Danielsson, 2008)
The subject's parents have been divorced for 2 years. During the first 3 years of his life, he was involved in domestic disputes. His father many times would take the child and leave with him and tell his Mom that she could not see him. Finally, he would let the mom see him after the child continuously cried for her. Both parents have moved as many as 6-8 times within the 5 years of his life. The last year has been the most stable for the child because he lived in the same house for a year. But last month the child moved again with his mom to an apartment. Now his Dad has visitation every other weekend or sometimes every weekend. His dad at one time moved to Alaska for 9 months and did not contact the child. During this time the child would cry for his dad and even say his dad died.
Children who have been abandoned may reject everything about the absent parent: In some cases, children who have been abandoned by one parent will make an effort to completely reject him or her.
They may idealize the absent parent: Some children may over-identify with the absent parent and develop a set of fantasies about him or her which - although they may provide temporary comfort - are not be based in reality.
They may develop poor self-esteem: Children who have experienced parental abandonment may also be prone to developing poor self-esteem and a sense of shame surrounding the parent's absence. They may even question whether they could have contributed to the absence, whether they somehow "deserved" to be abandoned, or whether the absent parent believes he or she is better off without the "burden" of a child.
They may have difficulty expressing their emotions: Children who have experienced parental abandonment may also have difficulty sharing their feelings. They tend to keep their emotions bottled up and lack the trust necessary to share their true selves with others. (Wolf, 2008)
His mom is currently providing a more stable life style for the child. The dad
provides a less stable environment for the child and this could lead to
insecurity that can effect the child in the future.
Other Information
While his mom was pregnant with him, she listened to music. Now, the child
loves music and sings many songs. He knows all the words to many songs.
Therefore, his learning style is as an auditory learner. Auditory learners often have musical talents. They can hear tones, rhythms, and individual notes with their strong auditory skills. ( Auditory Learners, 2010)
He loves books because his mom reads to him as much as possible. Both of his grandparents read to him also. He knows the alphabet and "The Alphabet Song." He also knows the syllables in most words. He recognizes words on signs and he
knows how to start the computer and play his games. Leapster2 is a
learning game he loves to play and he also has a SmartCycle that has
learning games. He will sit for hours and play these learning games.
Tests Administered:
Phonemic Awareness- Letter Identification (Clay, 2002)
Informal Classroom Based Assessment- Test of Print Concepts(Bell & McCallum,2008)
Development of word recognition- Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation (Bell & McCallum,2008)
Curriculum Based Assessment- The Circle Test (Idol,2007)
QRI- Level- Pre-Primer (Leslie & Caldwell, 2006)
Book Handling Knowledge Test (McKenna & Stahl)
Other Tests Administered
Kindergarten Readiness Test-(Michigan Dept. of Education, 2010)
Kindergarten Reading Readiness Test-(Williams, 2009)
Observation During Testing
During "The Letter Identification Test," the child would sing the alphabet song to help him remember the letters. At the beginning of the test he wrote the alphabet. During the test he missed some of the same letters he had trouble writing. The words he came up with were his friends names from pre-school.
He also came up with words from books his mom had read him, such as cranium. Other words he came up with were ace, hater, Chum Chum (cartoon character), bacon, faking, faith, whine ,x-ray, Auto-Zone. He missed the letters W,w,u,q,b,k,N,n,V. He was confused with the letters v and y. He also acted like he had never seen a lower case q. His score was 41/54, which is 75% recognition of the letters.
During "The Yopp Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation," the child scored 11/22, which is 50% on this test. While testing, he struggled with blending these letter sounds. He recognizes most of the letters in isolation but he is still struggling with blending the letters to make words. He seemed confused when he saw the letters close together in words. He just turned 5 in January. He also was a premature baby. At this time, he needs more exposure to consonant blends and phonics and word recognition.
When administering "The Test of Print Concepts," he understood most of the concepts. He scored 16/17 which is 99 % on the modified test. He did not point to the bottom of the page when asked to point to it. He also did not turn to the lower line, instead he turned the page. While taking the test he remarked, "This is boring." He commented that he knew sign language. When he was asked to circle one word, he circled 2 words instead. He also circled the whole sentence and he did not circle individual letters. The modified test version was used because he does not know punctuation marks or some of the concepts in the longer version of the test.
Next, “The Book Handling Knowledge Guidelines Test,” was administered. He scored 14/21, which is 66%. He called a period a polka dot. He did not know what commas , quotation marks, or exclamation marks were. When he was asked to show me a lower case letter like a l. He pointed to an exclamation mark. When he was asked to point to two words. He only pointed to one. Therefore, he needs to work on lower case letters and punctuation and word and letter recognition.
The QRI Test was administered next and some sections were modified ,since the child cannot read.The story was read to him. On the first test he scored 8/9- 88%. He was asked, “ what does it mean when something is lost?” He said, “you cannot find it.” He had me draw happy faces and sad faces beside his responses. He retold the story very well.
For the retelling part of the test he scored 70%. He did not tell all the details of the story. He only told about half of the events and then he said, “he found his toy,” which was not mentioned in the story.The last part of the test was the question section and he scored 100%. He got all the questions right.
The Circle Test was administered as a Curriculum Based Test. On this test the child was tested on these things:
Rapid Letter Naming- Score=17= Proficient
Rapid Vocabulary Naming=Score-18 Below Proficient
Phonological Awareness-Score-35= Proficient
Listening-Score-5=Proficient
Rhyming I-Score-8=Proficient
Rhyming II-Score- 3= Proficient
Alliteration-Score- 6=Proficient
Words in a sentence-Score-3= Below Proficient
Syllabication-Score-6=Proficient
Onset rime-Score-4=Proficient
Book and print awareness- Score-7=Occasional or (in the middle).
Social Skills were tested and for the area of regulation of Behavior he scored -occasional , (in the middle).
Math was also tested and he scored proficient in all areas such as rote counting, number discrimination and number naming, Shape discrimination, shape discrimination triangle, shape discrimination square, set counting, and operations.
Summary and Recommendation
Based on observation of the child, the conclusion of this case study is that the child is in the emergent stage of reading. Early Emergent Readers (Levels aa-C)
Aspiring readers are just beginning to grasp the basic concepts of book and print. They are acquiring a command of the alphabet with the ability to recognize and name upper- and lowercase letters. They are also developing many phonological awareness skills, such as recognizing phonemes, syllables, and rhyme.( Reading A-Z, 2010)
His strengths include phonological awareness, syllabication, and basic concepts for reading. He needs work on word recognition, recognizing words in a sentence, and he needs to develop his fine motor skills. He has some difficulty writing his letters and making them clear. The child scored proficient in all areas of math. His mother was given 2 home surveys that were online and these tests matched the results of “The Circle Test.” (Alphin, 2007).
Since he was a premature baby, perhaps in 6 more months he should be reading. When preemies are babies, parents and pediatricians often use gestational age, instead of chronological age, to determine whether they are meeting developmental milestones on time. Most parents abandon that practice when their children “catch up” to their full-term peers. Some babies are using chronological age well before they can walk; others, because they were very premature or very sick during infancy, take longer.
Signs of School Readiness
Experts generally agree that signs of school readiness are more important than age when deciding whether a child is ready for school. Signs that a child is ready for kindergarten include:
Physical readiness: Children are physically ready for school if they are in good health and fully potty-trained. They should be able to run, jump, and play outdoors, should be up to date on their immunizations, and should have begun regular dental care.
Social and emotional readiness: Children who are ready for school can communicate well and follow directions. They are curious and enjoy learning new things and playing with other children. They can share and can calm themselves when upset.
Academic readiness: Before beginning kindergarten, children should know that letters make words, and should be able to recognize some letters and the sounds they make. They should be able to count and sort, and should know shapes and colors.
(Morrissette, Cheryl, 2009)
In conclusion, even though he was a premature baby and had many setbacks, the child seems to have caught up on the developmental scale as compared to childen his age. However, he may have some insecurities from his past homelife experiences.
Goals for Improvement:
1. The child needs continued exposure to Predictable books and read-alouds.
2. Focus needs to be on word-recognition while reading books. An activity the child can do is to help him with word recognition is to make his own book at home. He can gather things around the house and create a story about these things. An adult can write for the child and he can try to write the words.
3. The child needs more exposure to lower case letters and consonant blends.
4. The child can play a phoneme deletion word game. For example, he can say the word black, then an adult can say, what is the word without the b? (lack)
5. The child needs to cut out pictures with scissors in order to help develop his fine motor skills. This should help him in his writing of letters.
(Morrissette, 2009)
Works Cited:
1. Bell, S.M., & McCallum, R.S. (2008). Handbook of Reading Assessment. Boston: Pearson. Tests:
2. Idol, L. (2007). Models of curriculum-based assessment (4th ed.), Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
3. Leslie, L., & Caldwell, J. (2006). Qualitative Reading Inventory- 4. New York: Longman.
4. McKenna, M. C. , & Stahl, S. A. (2003). Assessment for reading instruction. New York: The Guilford Press.
5. Clay, M. (2002). An observation survey of early literacy achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
6. Retrieved March 28, 2010 from The World Wide Web: Michigan Dept. of Education, 2010 http//www.education.com/topic/ready-for-kindergarten/
7. Retrieved March 28, 2010 from The World Wide Web: Alphin, 2009 http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Readiness_Indicators/
8. Retrieved March 28, 2010 from The World Wide Web: Cook, 2009 http://www.education.com/reference/article/kindergarten-readiness/
9. Retrieved March 28, 2010 from The World Wide Web: Williams, 2009 http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Kindergarten_Reading_What_Happens/
10. Retrieved April 4, 2010 from the World Wide Web: Danielsson, 2008
http://miscarriage.about.com/od/pregnancyafterloss/a/prematurebirth.htm
11. Retrieved April 4, 2010 from the World Wide Web: Morrissette, 2009
US Department of Education. “Preparing Your Child for Kindergarten” Accessed April20,2007 from http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Preparing_Your_Child/.
12. Retrieved April 4, 2010 from the World Wide Web: Wolf, 2008 http://singleparents.about.com/od/parenting/a/abandonment.htm
13. Balcom, Dennis A. "Absent Fathers: Effects on Abandoned Sons." The Journal of Men's Studies 6.3 (1998): 283+. Questia. 31 Mar. 2008 [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001348916].
14. Retrieved April 4, 2010 from the World Wide Web: Reading A-Z, 2010
http://www.readinga-z.com/guided/stages.html
15. Retrieved April 4, 2010 from the World Wide Web
http://www2.yk.psu.edu/learncenter/acskills/auditory.html
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Reflection Journal/ Reading Readiness
This week we discussed our Literature Review and the proper format for the review.
Reflection Journal Chapter Notes:
Understanding Text:
At this stage the child: pretends to be a reader; holds books the right way; turns pages at appropriate times; can discuss what is happening and relate it to their own experiences; knows that the reader is focusing on the print and that it is conveying the message; makes inferences on both what is read and the pictures; enjoys stories being re-read and chimes in regularly; likes to turn the pages and knows when to and will make attempts to re-read the story from memory and picture cues.
Using the Context of the Story:
The child can determine meaning from context by saying things like: 'I like dogs too' and will bring their own experience as it relates to what is being read. Relating their experiences to strories, television shows, or even ads becomes a popular behavior when the child uses context to make sense.
Word Meanings:
Although the child isn't yet reading, they recognize their own name, brands (McDonald's 'M', Stop Signs etc.) Recognizes the sounds of letters and makes references like, 'that ones starts the same as my name, or snakes start with the same letter that Stop Signs do.
Reading and Print Attitudes:
The child starts to demonstrate an interest in printing and will pretend to print or write. They will ask more questions like 'What does that say?' They like to chime in when familiar stories are being read. They like to take part in daily reading and never want to miss their bed time story or story time. They show a greater interest in books and will enjoy looking at them more frequently even though it may seem that they're looking mainly at the pictures.
Summary:
When a child displays the attitudes described above, they are most likely at the stage where they are ready to learn how to read. The child will benefit from many alphabet activities, exploring with the sounds that letter make and reading early stage books. These children will also benefit from making books like 'A is for Apple and Ate. B is for black bugs. C is for Cinderella and Candy.
The idea behind this type of book is that the children are encouraged to use the sounds that letters make (long and short sounds, 'r' controlled sounds - a as in car, and hard and soft sounds as in Cindy and Candy. When children are encouraged to make these books, they can read them on their own as they have made the pictures to help them.
Pattern books are another great early writing and reading activity. Again, children draw the pictures and use patterns like: Blue is for the Sky. Blue is for the Bluejay. Blue is for blueberries. Or I like books: I like to run. I like to jump. I like to play.
Lots of praise at this stage will encourage the young reader to develop confidence and will move foward in their ability to read.
My subject is in this stage of reading and can benefit from these suggestions.
Reflection Journal Chapter Notes:
Understanding Text:
At this stage the child: pretends to be a reader; holds books the right way; turns pages at appropriate times; can discuss what is happening and relate it to their own experiences; knows that the reader is focusing on the print and that it is conveying the message; makes inferences on both what is read and the pictures; enjoys stories being re-read and chimes in regularly; likes to turn the pages and knows when to and will make attempts to re-read the story from memory and picture cues.
Using the Context of the Story:
The child can determine meaning from context by saying things like: 'I like dogs too' and will bring their own experience as it relates to what is being read. Relating their experiences to strories, television shows, or even ads becomes a popular behavior when the child uses context to make sense.
Word Meanings:
Although the child isn't yet reading, they recognize their own name, brands (McDonald's 'M', Stop Signs etc.) Recognizes the sounds of letters and makes references like, 'that ones starts the same as my name, or snakes start with the same letter that Stop Signs do.
Reading and Print Attitudes:
The child starts to demonstrate an interest in printing and will pretend to print or write. They will ask more questions like 'What does that say?' They like to chime in when familiar stories are being read. They like to take part in daily reading and never want to miss their bed time story or story time. They show a greater interest in books and will enjoy looking at them more frequently even though it may seem that they're looking mainly at the pictures.
Summary:
When a child displays the attitudes described above, they are most likely at the stage where they are ready to learn how to read. The child will benefit from many alphabet activities, exploring with the sounds that letter make and reading early stage books. These children will also benefit from making books like 'A is for Apple and Ate. B is for black bugs. C is for Cinderella and Candy.
The idea behind this type of book is that the children are encouraged to use the sounds that letters make (long and short sounds, 'r' controlled sounds - a as in car, and hard and soft sounds as in Cindy and Candy. When children are encouraged to make these books, they can read them on their own as they have made the pictures to help them.
Pattern books are another great early writing and reading activity. Again, children draw the pictures and use patterns like: Blue is for the Sky. Blue is for the Bluejay. Blue is for blueberries. Or I like books: I like to run. I like to jump. I like to play.
Lots of praise at this stage will encourage the young reader to develop confidence and will move foward in their ability to read.
My subject is in this stage of reading and can benefit from these suggestions.
Test # 4
“The Book Handling Knowledge Guidelines Test,” was administered. He scored 14/21, which is 66%. He called a period a polka dot. He did not know what commas, quotation marks, or exclamation marks were. He did know what a question mark was. When asked to show me a lower case letter like a l. He pointed to an exclamation mark. When asked to point to two words. He only pointed to one. He also asked me some questions while I was conducting the test. When I was writing comments that he said, he asked me to tell him what I was writing. He also turned every page in the book to show me that he knew how to turn each page. He was very eager to know what the words on the page said and would ask me to tell him what the words said. He also would add more details to the story to make it silly.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Literature Review
Background Information
The purpose of this case study is to indicate reading readiness of a 5 year-
old male, who was born prematurely. The child is currently enrolled in pre-school. He recently was administered "The Circle Test," which is a standardized test for pre-
school students. Test results of this test are used to determine if the
child is ready for kindergarten.
Personal/Home Life
The subject was born January 18, 2005 and was a premature baby. He
weighed 6 pounds at birth, so he was allowed to come home after his birth.
His parents have been divorced for 2 years. During the first 3 years of his life, he was involved in domestic disputes. The child was caught in the middle of his parents' disputes. His father many times would take the child and leave with him and tell his Mom that she could not see him. Finally, he would let the mom see him after the child continuously cried for her. Both parents have moved as many as 6-8 times within the 5 years of his life. The last year has been the most stable for the child because he lived in the same house for a year. But last month the child moved again with his mom to an apartment. Now his Dad has visitation every other
weekend or sometimes every weekend. His dad at one time moved to Alaska
for 9 months and did not contact the child. During this time the child
would cry for his dad and even say his dad died.
His mom is currently providing a more stable life style for the child. The dad
provides a less stable environment for the child and this could lead to
insecurity that can effect the child in the future.
Other Information
While his mom was pregnant with him, she listened to music. Now, the child
loves music and sings many songs. He knows all the words to many songs.
Therefore, his learning style is as an auditory learner. He loves books
because his mom reads to him as much as possible. Both of his grandparents
read to him also. He knows the alphabet and "The Alphabet Song." He also
knows the syllables in most words. He recognizes words on signs and he
knows how to start the computer and play his games. Leapster2 is a
learning game he loves to play and he also has a SmartCycle that has
learning games. He will sit for hours and play these learning games.
Tests Administered:
Phonemic Awareness- Letter Identification (Clay, 2002)
Informal Classroom Based Assessment- Test of Print Concepts(Bell & McCallum,2008)
Development of word recognition- Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation (Bell & McCallum,2008)
Curriculum Based Assessment- The Circle Test (Idol,2007)
QRI- Level- Pre-Primer (Leslie & Caldwell, 2006)
Book Handling Knowledge Test (McKenna & Stahl)
Other Tests Administered
Kindergarten Readiness Test-(Michigan Dept. of Education, 2010)
Kindergarten Reading Readiness Test-(Williams, 2009)
Observation During Testing
During "The Letter Identification Test," the child would sing the alphabet song to help him remember the letters. At the beginning of the test he wrote the alphabet. During the test he missed some of the same letters he had trouble writing. The words he came up with were his friends names from pre-school.
He also came up with words from books his mom had read him, such as cranium. Other words he came up with were ace, hater, Chum Chum (cartoon character), bacon, faking, faith, whine ,x-ray, Auto-Zone. He missed the letters W,w,u,q,b,k,N,n,V. He was confused with the letters v and y. He also acted like he had never seen a lower case q. His score was 41/54, which is 75% recognition of the letters.
During "The Yopp Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation," the child scored 11/22, which is 50% on this test. While testing, he struggled with blending these letter sounds. He recognizes most of the letters in isolation but he is still struggling with blending the letters to make words. He seemed confused when he saw the letters close together in words. He just turned 5 in January. He also was a premature baby. At this time, he needs more exposure to consonant blends and phonics and word recognition.
When administering "The Test of Print Concepts," he understood most of the concepts. He scored 16/17 which is 99 % on the modified test. He did not point to the bottom of the page when asked to point to it. He also did not turn to the lower line, instead he turned the page. While taking the test he remarked, "This is boring." He commented that he knew sign language. When he was asked to circle one word, he circled 2 words instead. He also circled the whole sentence and he did not circle individual letters. The modified test version was used because he does not know punctuation marks or some of the concepts in the longer version of the test.
Next, “The Book Handling Knowledge Guidelines Test,” was administered. He scored 14/21, which is 66%. He called a period a polka dot. He did not know what commas , quotation marks, or exclamation marks were. When he was asked to show me a lower case letter like a l. He pointed to an exclamation mark. When he was asked to point to two words. He only pointed to one. Therefore, he needs to work on lower case letters and punctuation and word and letter recognition.
The QRI Test was administered next and some sections were modified ,since the child cannot read.The story was read to him. On the first test he scored 8/9- 88%. He was asked, “ what does it mean when something is lost?” He said, “you cannot find it.” He had me draw happy faces and sad faces beside his responses. He retold the story very well.
For the retelling part of the test he scored 70%. He did not tell all the details of the story. He only told about half of the events and then he said, “he found his toy,” which was not mentioned in the story.The last part of the test was the question section and he scored 100%. He got all the questions right.
The Circle Test was administered as a Curriculum Based Test. On this test the child was tested on these things:
Rapid Letter Naming- Score=17= Proficient
Rapid Vocabulary Naming=Score-18 Below Proficient
Phonological Awareness-Score-35= Proficient
Listening-Score-5=Proficient
Rhyming I-Score-8=Proficient
Rhyming II-Score- 3= Proficient
Alliteration-Score- 6=Proficient
Words in a sentence-Score-3= Below Proficient
Syllabication-Score-6=Proficient
Onset rime-Score-4=Proficient
Book and print awareness- Score-7=Occasional or (in the middle).
Social Skills were tested and for the area of regulation of Behavior he scored -occasional , (in the middle).
Math was also tested and he scored proficient in all areas such as rote counting, number discrimination and number naming, Shape discrimination, shape discrimination triangle, shape discrimination square, set counting, and operations.
Summary and Recommendation
Based on observation of the child, the conclusion of this case study is that the child is in the emergent stage of reading. His strengths include phonological awareness, syllabication, and basic concepts for reading. He needs work on word recognition, recognizing words in a sentence, and he needs to develop his fine motor skills. He has some difficulty writing his letters and making them clear. The child scored proficient in all areas of math. His mother was given 2 home surveys that were online and these tests matched the results of “The Circle Test.” (Alphin, 2007). Since he was a premature baby, perhaps in 6 more months he should be reading.
Goals for Improvement:
1. The child needs continued exposure to Predictable books and read-alouds.
2. Focus needs to be on word-recognition while reading books. An activity the child can do is to help him with word recognition is to make his own book at home. He can gather things around the house and create a story about these things. An adult can write for the child and he can try to write the words.
3. The child needs more exposure to lower case letters and consonant blends.
4. The child can play a phoneme deletion word game. For example, he can say the word black, then an adult can say, what is the word without the b? (lack)
5. The child needs to cut out pictures with scissors in order to help develop his fine motor skills. This should help him in his writing of letters.
Works Cited:
1. Bell, S.M., & McCallum, R.S. (2008). Handbook of Reading Assessment. Boston: Pearson. Tests:
2. Idol, L. (2007). Models of curriculum-based assessment (4th ed.), Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
3. Leslie, L., & Caldwell, J. (2006). Qualitative Reading Inventory- 4. New York: Longman.
4. McKenna, M. C. , & Stahl, S. A. (2003). Assessment for reading instruction. New York: The Guilford Press.
5. Clay, M. (2002). An observation survey of early literacy achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
6. Retrieved March 28, 2009 from The World Wide Web: Michigan Dept. of Education, 2010 http//www.education.com/topic/ready-for-kindergarten/
7. Retrieved March 28, 2009 from The World Wide Web: Alphin, 2009 http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Readiness_Indicators/
8. Retrieved March 28, 2009 from The World Wide Web: Cook, 2009 http://www.education.com/reference/article/kindergarten-readiness/
9. Retrieved March 28, 2009 from The World Wide Web: Williams, 2009 http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Kindergarten_Reading_What_Happens/
The purpose of this case study is to indicate reading readiness of a 5 year-
old male, who was born prematurely. The child is currently enrolled in pre-school. He recently was administered "The Circle Test," which is a standardized test for pre-
school students. Test results of this test are used to determine if the
child is ready for kindergarten.
Personal/Home Life
The subject was born January 18, 2005 and was a premature baby. He
weighed 6 pounds at birth, so he was allowed to come home after his birth.
His parents have been divorced for 2 years. During the first 3 years of his life, he was involved in domestic disputes. The child was caught in the middle of his parents' disputes. His father many times would take the child and leave with him and tell his Mom that she could not see him. Finally, he would let the mom see him after the child continuously cried for her. Both parents have moved as many as 6-8 times within the 5 years of his life. The last year has been the most stable for the child because he lived in the same house for a year. But last month the child moved again with his mom to an apartment. Now his Dad has visitation every other
weekend or sometimes every weekend. His dad at one time moved to Alaska
for 9 months and did not contact the child. During this time the child
would cry for his dad and even say his dad died.
His mom is currently providing a more stable life style for the child. The dad
provides a less stable environment for the child and this could lead to
insecurity that can effect the child in the future.
Other Information
While his mom was pregnant with him, she listened to music. Now, the child
loves music and sings many songs. He knows all the words to many songs.
Therefore, his learning style is as an auditory learner. He loves books
because his mom reads to him as much as possible. Both of his grandparents
read to him also. He knows the alphabet and "The Alphabet Song." He also
knows the syllables in most words. He recognizes words on signs and he
knows how to start the computer and play his games. Leapster2 is a
learning game he loves to play and he also has a SmartCycle that has
learning games. He will sit for hours and play these learning games.
Tests Administered:
Phonemic Awareness- Letter Identification (Clay, 2002)
Informal Classroom Based Assessment- Test of Print Concepts(Bell & McCallum,2008)
Development of word recognition- Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation (Bell & McCallum,2008)
Curriculum Based Assessment- The Circle Test (Idol,2007)
QRI- Level- Pre-Primer (Leslie & Caldwell, 2006)
Book Handling Knowledge Test (McKenna & Stahl)
Other Tests Administered
Kindergarten Readiness Test-(Michigan Dept. of Education, 2010)
Kindergarten Reading Readiness Test-(Williams, 2009)
Observation During Testing
During "The Letter Identification Test," the child would sing the alphabet song to help him remember the letters. At the beginning of the test he wrote the alphabet. During the test he missed some of the same letters he had trouble writing. The words he came up with were his friends names from pre-school.
He also came up with words from books his mom had read him, such as cranium. Other words he came up with were ace, hater, Chum Chum (cartoon character), bacon, faking, faith, whine ,x-ray, Auto-Zone. He missed the letters W,w,u,q,b,k,N,n,V. He was confused with the letters v and y. He also acted like he had never seen a lower case q. His score was 41/54, which is 75% recognition of the letters.
During "The Yopp Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation," the child scored 11/22, which is 50% on this test. While testing, he struggled with blending these letter sounds. He recognizes most of the letters in isolation but he is still struggling with blending the letters to make words. He seemed confused when he saw the letters close together in words. He just turned 5 in January. He also was a premature baby. At this time, he needs more exposure to consonant blends and phonics and word recognition.
When administering "The Test of Print Concepts," he understood most of the concepts. He scored 16/17 which is 99 % on the modified test. He did not point to the bottom of the page when asked to point to it. He also did not turn to the lower line, instead he turned the page. While taking the test he remarked, "This is boring." He commented that he knew sign language. When he was asked to circle one word, he circled 2 words instead. He also circled the whole sentence and he did not circle individual letters. The modified test version was used because he does not know punctuation marks or some of the concepts in the longer version of the test.
Next, “The Book Handling Knowledge Guidelines Test,” was administered. He scored 14/21, which is 66%. He called a period a polka dot. He did not know what commas , quotation marks, or exclamation marks were. When he was asked to show me a lower case letter like a l. He pointed to an exclamation mark. When he was asked to point to two words. He only pointed to one. Therefore, he needs to work on lower case letters and punctuation and word and letter recognition.
The QRI Test was administered next and some sections were modified ,since the child cannot read.The story was read to him. On the first test he scored 8/9- 88%. He was asked, “ what does it mean when something is lost?” He said, “you cannot find it.” He had me draw happy faces and sad faces beside his responses. He retold the story very well.
For the retelling part of the test he scored 70%. He did not tell all the details of the story. He only told about half of the events and then he said, “he found his toy,” which was not mentioned in the story.The last part of the test was the question section and he scored 100%. He got all the questions right.
The Circle Test was administered as a Curriculum Based Test. On this test the child was tested on these things:
Rapid Letter Naming- Score=17= Proficient
Rapid Vocabulary Naming=Score-18 Below Proficient
Phonological Awareness-Score-35= Proficient
Listening-Score-5=Proficient
Rhyming I-Score-8=Proficient
Rhyming II-Score- 3= Proficient
Alliteration-Score- 6=Proficient
Words in a sentence-Score-3= Below Proficient
Syllabication-Score-6=Proficient
Onset rime-Score-4=Proficient
Book and print awareness- Score-7=Occasional or (in the middle).
Social Skills were tested and for the area of regulation of Behavior he scored -occasional , (in the middle).
Math was also tested and he scored proficient in all areas such as rote counting, number discrimination and number naming, Shape discrimination, shape discrimination triangle, shape discrimination square, set counting, and operations.
Summary and Recommendation
Based on observation of the child, the conclusion of this case study is that the child is in the emergent stage of reading. His strengths include phonological awareness, syllabication, and basic concepts for reading. He needs work on word recognition, recognizing words in a sentence, and he needs to develop his fine motor skills. He has some difficulty writing his letters and making them clear. The child scored proficient in all areas of math. His mother was given 2 home surveys that were online and these tests matched the results of “The Circle Test.” (Alphin, 2007). Since he was a premature baby, perhaps in 6 more months he should be reading.
Goals for Improvement:
1. The child needs continued exposure to Predictable books and read-alouds.
2. Focus needs to be on word-recognition while reading books. An activity the child can do is to help him with word recognition is to make his own book at home. He can gather things around the house and create a story about these things. An adult can write for the child and he can try to write the words.
3. The child needs more exposure to lower case letters and consonant blends.
4. The child can play a phoneme deletion word game. For example, he can say the word black, then an adult can say, what is the word without the b? (lack)
5. The child needs to cut out pictures with scissors in order to help develop his fine motor skills. This should help him in his writing of letters.
Works Cited:
1. Bell, S.M., & McCallum, R.S. (2008). Handbook of Reading Assessment. Boston: Pearson. Tests:
2. Idol, L. (2007). Models of curriculum-based assessment (4th ed.), Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
3. Leslie, L., & Caldwell, J. (2006). Qualitative Reading Inventory- 4. New York: Longman.
4. McKenna, M. C. , & Stahl, S. A. (2003). Assessment for reading instruction. New York: The Guilford Press.
5. Clay, M. (2002). An observation survey of early literacy achievement. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
6. Retrieved March 28, 2009 from The World Wide Web: Michigan Dept. of Education, 2010 http//www.education.com/topic/ready-for-kindergarten/
7. Retrieved March 28, 2009 from The World Wide Web: Alphin, 2009 http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Readiness_Indicators/
8. Retrieved March 28, 2009 from The World Wide Web: Cook, 2009 http://www.education.com/reference/article/kindergarten-readiness/
9. Retrieved March 28, 2009 from The World Wide Web: Williams, 2009 http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Kindergarten_Reading_What_Happens/
Friday, March 26, 2010
Test Assessment #3 Notes
Since book handling is a very important part of learning to read, I chose to do a test of print concepts. Most concepts he understood. He did not point to the bottom of the page when I asked him to point to it. He also did not turn to the lower line, instead he turned the page. While taking the test he remarked, "This is boring." He commented that he knew sign language. When he was asked to circle one word, he circled 2 words instead. He also circled the whole sentence and he did not circle individual letters. I used the modified test version because he does not know punctuation marks or some of the concepts in the longer version of the test. Next, I administered “The Book Handling Knowledge Guidelines Test.” He scored 14/21, which is 66%. He called a period a polka dot. He did not know what commas , quotation marks, or exclamation marks were. When I asked him to show me a lower case letter like a l. He pointed to an exclamation mark. When I asked him to point to two words. He only pointed to one. Therefore, he needs to work on lower case letters and punctuation and word and letter recognition.
Chapter Notes/ Class Notes March 25, 2010
Teaching children in the emergant literacy stage involves providing experience with books and book handling as well as direct instruction in the skills needed for the next stage. It is important that children develop a foundation in print concept and book handling, because that foundation is the basis for learning how to read connected text. Although decoding instruction is important, placing too much emphasis on decoding early on will lead to confusion later. Instead programs for early readers should involve a balance between word work, text experience, and oral language development.
A typical program for children reading at the emergent level would involve experience with predictable books, general book handling, phonological awareness instruction, word-recognition work, and responding to a wide variety of teacher read-alouds. (McKenna&Stahl,2009)
The most important fact is to remember to provide a foundation for the child so later reading will be successful and at the same time prepare the child quickly for formal reading instruction.
Class Notes Journal
This week's discussion included a discussion of struggling readers. A way to help struggling readers is to examine siminal and pivotal moments in their life. Siminal moments are events that occured that planted a seed that led to a pivotal moment in their life. Pivotal moments are traumatic events such as the loss of a parent, or lack of self confidence because of negative experiences in school. These factors strongly effect the learning of a child. Many struggling readers' family background and personal experiences need to be considered when assessing a student and planning an intervention.
We also discussed our Diagnostic Report that is due for our next class. In our report we need to consider siminal and pivotal moments in our subject's life and include this in our report. We also need to have cited sources that will support our testing.
A typical program for children reading at the emergent level would involve experience with predictable books, general book handling, phonological awareness instruction, word-recognition work, and responding to a wide variety of teacher read-alouds. (McKenna&Stahl,2009)
The most important fact is to remember to provide a foundation for the child so later reading will be successful and at the same time prepare the child quickly for formal reading instruction.
Class Notes Journal
This week's discussion included a discussion of struggling readers. A way to help struggling readers is to examine siminal and pivotal moments in their life. Siminal moments are events that occured that planted a seed that led to a pivotal moment in their life. Pivotal moments are traumatic events such as the loss of a parent, or lack of self confidence because of negative experiences in school. These factors strongly effect the learning of a child. Many struggling readers' family background and personal experiences need to be considered when assessing a student and planning an intervention.
We also discussed our Diagnostic Report that is due for our next class. In our report we need to consider siminal and pivotal moments in our subject's life and include this in our report. We also need to have cited sources that will support our testing.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Testing - Reflection Journal
I chose to administer The Yopp-Singer Test of Phoneme Segmentation. He scored 50% on this test. While testing my subject, he struggled with blending these letter sounds. He recognizes most of the letters in isolation but he is still struggling with blending the letters to make words. He seems confused when he saw the letters close together in words. He just turned 5 in January. He also was a premature baby. I believe in a few more months he should be ready to read. At this time, he needs more exposure to consonant blends and phonics and word recognition.
Chapter Notes/Reflection Journal (Bell)
What are the Critical Areas of Reading?
In addition to labels applied by the NRP to five identified critical areas of reading. These include:phonemic awareness,phonics,fluency,vocabulary and comprehension. The NRP uses additional terms that will be of interest to teachers.
Alphabetics include both phonemic awareness and phonics. Armbrister and Osborn authored,"Put Reading First, The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read," 2001. They emphasized the importance of alphabetic principle. In order to master phonemic awareness and phonics skills.students must learn to use the alphabetic principle-the understanding that there are systematic and predictable rerlationships between written letters and spoken words. (Armbruster and Osborn,2001,12).
What are the recommended strategies for teaching phonemic awareness?
1. Phonemic isolation- requires recognizing individual sounds.
2. Phonemic Identity- requires recognizing the common sound in different words. (Such as tell me the sound that is the same as bike, etc.
3. Phonemic categorization- requires recognizing the word with the odd sound in a sequence of three or four words. Example: Which word does not belong? Bus, bun, rug.
4. Phoneme blending- requires listening to a sequence of separately spoken sounds and combining them to form a recognizable word. Example: What word is /s/k/u/l/? (School)
5. Phoneme segmentation- requires breaking a word into sounds by tapping out or counting the sounds, or by pronouncing and positioning a marker for each sound. Example: How many phonemes in ship?
6. Phoneme deletion- requires recognizing what word remains when a specified phoneme is removed. Example: What is smile without the /s/? (mile)
In addition to the 6 subtypes, onset-rime manipulation is also included. It requires isolation, identification, segmentation, blending, or deletion of onsets, (the single consonant or blend that precedes the vowel in a syllable) or rimes (the vowel and following consonants). For example:-j-ump, st-op, str-ong, bl-ock.
Since my subject is 5 years old, I plan to use this information while I am testing him. I will test him over these 6 components.
In addition to labels applied by the NRP to five identified critical areas of reading. These include:phonemic awareness,phonics,fluency,vocabulary and comprehension. The NRP uses additional terms that will be of interest to teachers.
Alphabetics include both phonemic awareness and phonics. Armbrister and Osborn authored,"Put Reading First, The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read," 2001. They emphasized the importance of alphabetic principle. In order to master phonemic awareness and phonics skills.students must learn to use the alphabetic principle-the understanding that there are systematic and predictable rerlationships between written letters and spoken words. (Armbruster and Osborn,2001,12).
What are the recommended strategies for teaching phonemic awareness?
1. Phonemic isolation- requires recognizing individual sounds.
2. Phonemic Identity- requires recognizing the common sound in different words. (Such as tell me the sound that is the same as bike, etc.
3. Phonemic categorization- requires recognizing the word with the odd sound in a sequence of three or four words. Example: Which word does not belong? Bus, bun, rug.
4. Phoneme blending- requires listening to a sequence of separately spoken sounds and combining them to form a recognizable word. Example: What word is /s/k/u/l/? (School)
5. Phoneme segmentation- requires breaking a word into sounds by tapping out or counting the sounds, or by pronouncing and positioning a marker for each sound. Example: How many phonemes in ship?
6. Phoneme deletion- requires recognizing what word remains when a specified phoneme is removed. Example: What is smile without the /s/? (mile)
In addition to the 6 subtypes, onset-rime manipulation is also included. It requires isolation, identification, segmentation, blending, or deletion of onsets, (the single consonant or blend that precedes the vowel in a syllable) or rimes (the vowel and following consonants). For example:-j-ump, st-op, str-ong, bl-ock.
Since my subject is 5 years old, I plan to use this information while I am testing him. I will test him over these 6 components.
Class Notes Journal
March 11, 2010
Today, we looked at Trish Garcia's blogsite and her student. Then we read Dr. Vowel's article on "The Historical Perspective on Cultural Needs of Diverse Students."
Some interesting statements from this study were "Who students are influences how they interact, respond, and learn in the classroom." This means that teachers must value each student and their uniqueness and include this in their classroom instruction. Another interesting statement was that the 5 year-old mind is not yet patterned, as a rule a 5 year old child is not boring. I think this means that a young child's mind is like a sponge. It is ready to learn. I thought of the statement, "Everything I learned for life- I learned in Kindergarten." I believe this statement is exactly right, because a child's first 5 years are the most important in determining how he will learn. Another statement, "In the infant room we still have identity." Again, this shows that even as an infant, children have their own uniqueness and identity. Those first 5 years of a child's life are crucial.
The article's main point was a message to educators, that we need to be inclusive of all students and consider all aspects of their life while teaching them.
Today, we looked at Trish Garcia's blogsite and her student. Then we read Dr. Vowel's article on "The Historical Perspective on Cultural Needs of Diverse Students."
Some interesting statements from this study were "Who students are influences how they interact, respond, and learn in the classroom." This means that teachers must value each student and their uniqueness and include this in their classroom instruction. Another interesting statement was that the 5 year-old mind is not yet patterned, as a rule a 5 year old child is not boring. I think this means that a young child's mind is like a sponge. It is ready to learn. I thought of the statement, "Everything I learned for life- I learned in Kindergarten." I believe this statement is exactly right, because a child's first 5 years are the most important in determining how he will learn. Another statement, "In the infant room we still have identity." Again, this shows that even as an infant, children have their own uniqueness and identity. Those first 5 years of a child's life are crucial.
The article's main point was a message to educators, that we need to be inclusive of all students and consider all aspects of their life while teaching them.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Class Notes Journal
3-5-2010
Class Notes-
Our discussion today was about reading theorists and types of testing. Louise Rosenblatt was discussed first. She first advanced the Reader-Response Theory in 1938. Currently this theory remains a dominant teaching approach with Rosenblatt's influence readily apparent in contempory research. We also discussed Lev Vygotsky and his contribution to child development and education. He worked for the Institute of Psychology (mid 1920's). His studies involved child development and education. They also included extensive study on cognitive development of children. We discussed their contributions to education and literature. We also looked at student blogs. Claudia's blog explained important steps to testing pre-school children. These were some important areas for testing as discussed in her blog:
1. Book and Print Awareness
2. Letter Naming
3. Letter Sound
4. Phonological Awareness Including Syllables
5. Phoneme, segmenting words into syllables
6. First Sound Identification
7. Decoding single word reading
8. Listening Comprehension
Then, we discussed Laura's Blog and how she used the book, "Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons."
Chapter 1 Notes (Bell)
What is the purpose of Assessment?
The ultimate goal of all assessment information should be to create the most effective learning environment for each student. These are 4 related assessment purposes that meet that goal:
Instructional Planning-this involves specific skills mastered and not mastered, and specific areas on which to focus instruction.
Progress Monitoring- this involves screening students into categories (proficient,at-risk,and below level),measuring discrete skills such as oral reading fluency, and determining the need for more intensive instruction.
Accountability- this involves relative ranking among peers to inform parents,teachers, administrators, state and federal departments of education,and the public of congress,determining progress of diseggregated groups, determining performance of intact classes/schools to track improvement over time,and teacher effectiveness over time by monitoring classroom performance.
Special Education Eligibility- this is to determine whether there is a disability, and the best curriculum goals through writing of an Individual Educational Program (IEP).
Another major point of Chapter 1 was that The NRP concluded that "teaching phonemic awareness helps many different students to learn to read, including preschoolers, kindergartners, and first graders who are just starting to learn to read." According to several researchers, knowledge of the alphabet and phonemic awareness are the two best predictors of how well children will learn to read during their first two years of reading instruction.(e.g.,Adams 1990; Christiansen 2000; Libermann1989).
For this reason I chose to test my subject on his knowledge of the alphabet and his phonemic awareness.
Class Notes-
Our discussion today was about reading theorists and types of testing. Louise Rosenblatt was discussed first. She first advanced the Reader-Response Theory in 1938. Currently this theory remains a dominant teaching approach with Rosenblatt's influence readily apparent in contempory research. We also discussed Lev Vygotsky and his contribution to child development and education. He worked for the Institute of Psychology (mid 1920's). His studies involved child development and education. They also included extensive study on cognitive development of children. We discussed their contributions to education and literature. We also looked at student blogs. Claudia's blog explained important steps to testing pre-school children. These were some important areas for testing as discussed in her blog:
1. Book and Print Awareness
2. Letter Naming
3. Letter Sound
4. Phonological Awareness Including Syllables
5. Phoneme, segmenting words into syllables
6. First Sound Identification
7. Decoding single word reading
8. Listening Comprehension
Then, we discussed Laura's Blog and how she used the book, "Teaching Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons."
Chapter 1 Notes (Bell)
What is the purpose of Assessment?
The ultimate goal of all assessment information should be to create the most effective learning environment for each student. These are 4 related assessment purposes that meet that goal:
Instructional Planning-this involves specific skills mastered and not mastered, and specific areas on which to focus instruction.
Progress Monitoring- this involves screening students into categories (proficient,at-risk,and below level),measuring discrete skills such as oral reading fluency, and determining the need for more intensive instruction.
Accountability- this involves relative ranking among peers to inform parents,teachers, administrators, state and federal departments of education,and the public of congress,determining progress of diseggregated groups, determining performance of intact classes/schools to track improvement over time,and teacher effectiveness over time by monitoring classroom performance.
Special Education Eligibility- this is to determine whether there is a disability, and the best curriculum goals through writing of an Individual Educational Program (IEP).
Another major point of Chapter 1 was that The NRP concluded that "teaching phonemic awareness helps many different students to learn to read, including preschoolers, kindergartners, and first graders who are just starting to learn to read." According to several researchers, knowledge of the alphabet and phonemic awareness are the two best predictors of how well children will learn to read during their first two years of reading instruction.(e.g.,Adams 1990; Christiansen 2000; Libermann1989).
For this reason I chose to test my subject on his knowledge of the alphabet and his phonemic awareness.
Testing Reflection Journal
Test I:
First my subject wrote a writing sample of the alphabet. While he was writing the alphabet he sang the alphabet song. Every time he wrote a letter he sang the song to remember the next letter.
Part II:
Then he was tested on Letter Identification from, "An Observation Survey," by Marie M. Clay. When administering this test, I showed the child a list of letters which are upper and lower case letters. The child pointed to the letters he knew first and then said the sound for the letter and he gave a word that began with the letter. The main objective of this test was to determine the child's depth of understanding of letters and their relationship to words. I noticed a pattern in his association with letters. Most of the words he came up with were from his friend's names at pre-school, cartoon character names (Chum Chum), places he had been (Auto Zone), from books his mom had read to him (Cranium), a book his mom had read to him about the skeletal system,and from movies he had seen, such as Tower of Terror by Goosebumps.
Another observation I noticed was he missed some of the lower case letters. I think he missed these letters because most of the time he is taught upper case letters. He scored high on the letters he was accustomed to working with (upper-case). He thought q was a p, but he gave the right sound for the p and he came up with the proper word for it. He missed these lower case letters: n,b,k,w,N,u,W. During the test, he said "This is boring." So I decided to administer it in 2 sessions. I noticed toward the end of the test he had trouble sitting still and he began to miss more of the letters. His Total Score=115; Stanine Group-2 (He just turned 5.); He also scored 41/54 for his alphabet letters. He recognized 75% of the alphabet letters.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Pre-Testing Observations
My subject ia a 5 year-old pre-school student. My main objective is to see if the child is ready to read. Some interesting things about this child is when his mother was pregnant with him she listened to music all the time. She went to a Gretchen Wilson Concert and during the concert the child kicked more than usual. She listened to the song "Redneck Woman," all the time during her pregnancy. We would laugh, but he would kick every time she listened to the song. Later, I baby sat the child and he was upset and would not stop crying. His mother said to play the song "Redneck Woman." I did and I could not believe it but he stopped crying. Now, at age 5 he loves music and he loves to sing. On his fifth birthday he was in a restaurant and he wanted to write down what he wanted to eat. He asked, "How do I spell salad?" Then he asked, "How do I spell pizza?' Then he asked,"how do I spell mozzarella?" After we spelled the words, he wrote them down and gave his order to the waiter. He currently can recognize signs, such as McDonald's, Walmart,etc. He also can tell how many syllables are in a word. He knows the letters of the alphabet and has begun to put letters together. I think he is about ready to begin reading. I will begin testing on him next week. Check back for my results!
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