Walter W. is a 6th grade student diagnosed with an Intellectual Disability. Walter’s diagnosis of Intellectual Disability impacts his comprehension of grade-level content and the pace at which he acquires new information.

Walter scored in the below average range on the Woodcock Johnson in the area of Broad Reading when assessed in September 2016. Walter was also assessed using the adaptive iReady Assessment on October 1st, 2016, and was identified as having a Significant Reading Deficiency.

● Fluency / Phonics:
Walter was able to recognize all of the letters and phonemes but had difficulty with decoding multi-syllable words, prefixes, suffixes, digraphs and diphthongs on the assessment, and is decoding at the 2nd grade level. Improving sight-word fluency has been an instructional focus; after frequent practice with immediate feedback, he can now read 225 of the top 250 Dolch high-frequency words in isolation and in text (third-grade level). Walter’s decoding skills significantly impact both reading accuracy and speed (fluency). Walter does not like to read out loud in front of his peers, and will become easily frustrated if teachers who are not aware of his unique learning needs push him to do so.

● Vocabulary:
Walter’s vocabulary is at the 3rd grade level as measured on the iReady assessment. He struggles with academic vocabulary, informational texts, word relationships, prefixes, suffixes and comprehending word roots. Given multiple repetitions and opportunities to practice skills in multiple settings, he is increasing his recognition of new vocabulary words. Utilizing the interventions developed based upon the formative assessments in iReady, Walter increased his vocabulary by 2 grade-levels last academic year.

● Comprehension:
Per teacher report, and intervention results, when listening to text at grade level read aloud, Walter answers comprehension questions up to the 4rd grade level. He can identify the main idea of a story at the 4th grade level, but struggles to understand cause/effect relationships and draw conclusions in both literary and informational texts. Walter also has a very difficult time organizing evidence from text in order to summarize and inform an answer.

Walter’s writing was assessed using teacher-made, standards-aligned rubrics. Walter struggles to generate organize and write his ideas. In the area of writing, as measured by a district writing survey administered by his teacher, as well as analysis of multiple student work samples, Walter is writing at the 1st grade level. Walter struggles with the conventions of writing such as capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. He also requires significant adult and visual support to organize his thinking.

Utilizing the iReady assessment in math, results show that Walter has basic number sense, computation and can add and subtract 2-digit numbers independently. He is able to multiply and divide 2-digit numbers with visual support. He is not yet solving problems with fractions, ratios, and/or integers. He struggles with reading and comprehending word problems in order to solve math concepts. Per his math teacher, if the problem is read aloud to him, he is able to select the correct operation to solve the problem, and perform the operations using a graphic organizer, manipulatives, extra processing time and a calculator.

Walter’s father is very concerned about Walter’s ability to read. He expressed that he is upset that Walter seems to be receiving the same work over, and over. He has been given books that are supposedly “at Walter’s age level”, but they consist primarily of pictures and he has not learned any new vocabulary. He has been told that this is important because Walter is in an inclusive setting, and the teacher wants him to have access to the same types of books that the other students are reading. Walter’s father does not understand this approach and does not feel that this is helping Walter improve his vocabulary acquisition, reading comprehension or writing skills.

Walter shared that he loves collecting small toy cars, music, and cooking. He is very interested in learning to work in a restaurant. He enjoys attending school sporting events and dances. He also enjoys playing video games.

Because of his intellectual disability, Walter requires extensive repetition and practice to learn new skills and information. He has difficulty drawing inferences, so he needs assistance, including visual supports and explicit instruction, to make connections between new and previously learned information and organizing ideas. Given consistent use of multiple repetitions, targeted interventions, discrete trials for new vocabulary words, reading instructional level text aloud, manipulatives, graphic organizers and practicing skills in multiple settings Walter continues to make progress in both language arts and math.

Walter W. is a 6th grade student diagnosed with an Intellectual Disability. Walter’s diagnosis of Intellectual Disability impacts his comprehension of grade-level content and the pace at which he acquires new information.

Walter scored in the below average range on the Woodcock Johnson in the area of Broad Reading when assessed in September 2016. Walter was also assessed using the adaptive iReady Assessment on October 1st, 2016, and was identified as having a Significant Reading Deficiency.

● Fluency / Phonics:
Walter was able to recognize all of the letters and phonemes but had difficulty with decoding multi-syllable words, prefixes, suffixes, digraphs and diphthongs on the assessment, and is decoding at the 2nd grade level. Improving sight-word fluency has been an instructional focus; after frequent practice with immediate feedback, he can now read 225 of the top 250 Dolch high-frequency words in isolation and in text (third-grade level). Walter’s decoding skills significantly impact both reading accuracy and speed (fluency). Walter does not like to read out loud in front of his peers, and will become easily frustrated if teachers who are not aware of his unique learning needs push him to do so.

● Vocabulary:
Walter’s vocabulary is at the 3rd grade level as measured on the iReady assessment He struggles with academic vocabulary, informational texts, word relationships, prefixes, suffixes and comprehending word roots. Given multiple repetitions and opportunities to practice skills in multiple settings, he is increasing his recognition of new vocabulary words. Utilizing the interventions developed based upon the formative assessments in iReady, Walter increased his vocabulary by 2 grade-levels last academic year.

● Comprehension:
Per teacher report and intervention results, when listening to text at grade level read aloud, Walter answers comprehension questions up to the 4rd grade level He can identify the main idea of a story at the 4th grade level, but struggles to understand cause/effect relationships and draw conclusions in both literary and informational texts. Walter also has a very difficult time organizing evidence from text in order to summarize and inform an answer.

Walter’s writing was assessed using teacher-made, standards-aligned rubrics. Walter struggles to generate organize and write his ideas. In the area of writing, as measured by a district writing survey administered by his teacher, as well as analysis of multiple student work samples, Walter is writing at the 1st grade level. Walter struggles with the conventions of writing such as capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. He also requires significant adult and visual support to organize his thinking.

Utilizing the iReady assessment in math, results show that Walter has basic number sense, computation and can add and subtract 2-digit numbers independently. He is able to multiply and divide 2-digit numbers with visual support. He is not yet solving problems with fractions, ratios, and/or integers. He struggles with reading and comprehending word problems in order to solve math concepts. Per his math teacher, if the problem is read aloud to him, he is able to select the correct operation to solve the problem, and perform the operations using a graphic organizer, manipulatives, extra processing time and a calculator.

Walter’s father is very concerned about Walter’s ability to read. He expressed that he is upset that Walter seems to be receiving the same work over, and over. He has been given books that are supposedly “at Walter’s age level”, but they consist primarily of pictures and he has not learned any new vocabulary. He has been told that this is important because Walter is in an inclusive setting, and the teacher wants him to have access to the same types of books that the other students are reading. Walter’s father does not understand this approach and does not feel that this is helping Walter improve his vocabulary acquisition, reading comprehension or writing skills.

Walter shared that he loves collecting small toy cars, music, and cooking. He is very interested in learning to work in a restaurant. He enjoys attending school sporting events and dances. He also enjoys playing video games.

Because of his intellectual disability, Walter requires extensive repetition and practice to learn new skills and information. He has difficulty drawing inferences, so he needs assistance, including visual supports and explicit instruction, to make connections between new and previously learned information and organizing ideas. Given consistent use of multiple repetitions, targeted interventions, discrete trials for new vocabulary words, reading instructional level text aloud, manipulatives, graphic organizers and practicing skills in multiple settings Walter continues to make progress in both language arts and math.