PLAAFP/Case Study For Elli Smith
Student’s Strengths, Preferences, and Interests
Elli Smith is a cheerful 8-year-old girl currently entering the 2nd grade. Elli was found eligible for service for Specific Learning Disability.
Elli loves school, her friends, enjoys art and anything craft related. She works hard and always seems ready for a challenge.
Elli also has asthma and needs access to her inhaler, as well as regular check-ins with the school nurse.
According to the psychological evaluation, Elli demonstrates an overall ability in the average range. She demonstrates substantially less developed long-term retrieval associative memory and auditory processing, specifically phonemic awareness. These relative weaknesses coupled with difficulties in the aspect of auditory processing, such as phonemic awareness, which is the understanding of the smallest units of sound (phonemes), might make the acquisition of reading difficult. Also, the spelling of unfamiliar words might also prove to be a challenging task. Elli’s social functioning, as assessed through rating scales, teacher interviews, and direct observation appears to be a challenging at times, but not a major concern. According to achievement assessment, Elli demonstrates average oral language skills, mathematics and written expression in the low average range with significant deficient range. Teacher reports indicate that Elli demonstrates an independent reading level of pre-primer 1. Her auditory comprehension is very good, but her word attack is very poor. She has received PALS remediation and Title I supports for reading for a period of 6 months and has made very minimal progress despite supplemental instruction interventions targeting her identified areas of deficit.
Student’s Areas of Need (Deficits that Require Supports)
Elli’s areas of need resulting from her disability related deficits include:
Decoding
Reading
Spelling
Written language
Prolonged or moderate/heavy physical activity (Asthma) Medical aspect, not related to the SLD category.
Effect of Disability on Student
Elli demonstrates substantially less developed long-term retrieval, associative memory, and auditory processing, specifically phonemic awareness. These relative weaknesses coupled with difficulties in aspects of auditory processing, such as phonemic awareness, which is the understanding of the smallest units of sound (phonemes), makes the acquisition of reading difficult as well as the spelling of unfamiliar words.
Academic Performance
Wechsler Individual Achievement Test – Third Edition (WIAT–III)
Subtests with age-based scores:
Listening Comprehension 90, Early Reading Skills 92, Reading Comprehension 79
Math Problem Solving 80, Alphabet Writing Fluency 96, Sentence Composition 90
Word Reading 72, Pseudoword Decoding 77, Numerical Operations 93
Oral Expression 95, Oral Reading Fluency 63, Spelling 80, Math Fluency – Addition 83, Math Fluency – Subtraction 89, Oral Reading Accuracy 61
Oral Reading Rate 78,
Listening Comprehension
Receptive Vocabulary 81 Below Average
Oral Discourse Comprehension 103 Average
Sentence Composition
Sentence Combing 98 Average, Sentence Building 84 Below Average
Oral Expression
Expressive Vocabulary 85 Average, Oral Word Fluency 107 Average
Sentence Repetition 97 Average, Oral Language 91 Average
Total Reading 69 Low, Basic Reading 75 Below Average
Written Expression 85 Average
Mathematics 85 Average, Math Fluency 86 Average
Total Achievement 82 Below Average
Teacher Educational Information
Reading instructional level (1st); independent level (Readiness); Elli’s comprehension is good as long as it is tested orally. She can recall story elements and information when the story is read to her. Her word attack skills are extremely limited. She knows sounds when they are isolated but has difficulty putting the sounds together. Her retention of words (sight words) is very weak. She is currently receiving Title 1 and Pals Remediation, but she has made very little growth. Language instructional level (below grade level); She has memorized certain sentence structures and adapts it to the current topic. Elli is an excellent speller, but she cannot read the words she is spelling. She memorizes the spelling features. Math: She is very good at adding and subtracting and has caught on well to the strategies she has been taught. She does a great job deciding which operation should be used and then working out a word problem. Social Studies and Science: Elli does very well in both classes. Movement Ed.: She follows directions and does all activities; seems to get along with everyone during class and seems to enjoy PE. She does need access to her inhaler during PE and recess, as well as regular check-ins with the school nurse. She appears to love Art and Library and works well with other students.