Kimberly Granato

EDR 317
R. Jagielo-Manion
Case Study

Background Information:
The child chosen for this case study is named Max. Max is a kindergartener at
Rose Tree Media Elementary. This is his first year attending Rose Tree Media
Elementary, prior to that he attended Katonton Early Learning Center. Max comes from
a family where he lives with both parents and is an only child. When he walks into the
classroom in the morning he is always very energetic and has a big smile on his face.
He greets everyone as he walks by on the carpet and he goes directly to his spot to
begin the usual morning routine. Max gets along well with his fellow classmates
whether it be his peers that sit at his table with him, or when all of the students are
together on the carpet. Everyone knows him by his first name which is shown during
morning meeting. There is not a set group of students that he hangs out with
exclusively, he is friendly with all of the students in the class. When the students are on
the playground Max plays with what he wants to and associates with the other students
that are there as well, rather then traveling around the playground with a group of
students.
It takes Max a bit longer to settle in in the morning based on the fact he cannot
focus solely on what he is doing in that moment. I was informed that Max was
diagnosed as having ADHD and because of that, he gets easily distracted by his
classmates around him and what they are doing, rather than focusing on himself to get
what he needs to do accomplished. This difficulty focusing is translated into his
performance during instructional time as well.
Max is generally one of the last students to finish his settle in classwork, if he
even finishes it. It is not the fact that he does not know the material, it is based on the
fact that he cannot sit and focus on what is in front of him. While observing him during
this time, I noticed that when the work was on the table in front of him, he would look at
the sheet for a few seconds and then his eyes would wander and look everywhere
except at what was in front of him. While discussing this observation with my mentor
teacher, she confirmed what I had noticed and said that he struggles with maintaining
eye contact which is associated with his struggle focusing. Because of this, Max is
given preferential seating on the carpet and in desk groups. He is placed towards the
front so he can see better and has a better chance of focusing rather than sitting in the

back where there is a greater chance of getting distracted. When addressing Max, it is
important to always use his name first so that he knows that he is being spoken to,
which will then in turn allow him to focus on who is speaking to him and what they are
saying.
In addition to preferential seating, Max is also receiving physical therapy and
occupational therapy at Rose Tree Media. While he was at Katonton, Max was
recommended for the Early Intervention Program, but he refused to participate in it. The
refusal to participate did not come from the parents, it was solely from Max not wanting
to be pulled from the classroom and away from his peers to do one on one work. He
preferred to stay in the classroom for the full day. The refusal to participate in Early
Intervention is what led him to receive PT and OT during kindergarten. Since Max was
evaluated at the beginning of the year and was said to be safe on the playground and
walking up and down steps, he is only receiving PT on consult bases. Just like PT, he is
receiving OT on a consult bases as well. Occasionally, the therapist will be present in
the room during morning work or the wheel to assist him with his handwriting and motor
skills.

Assessment and/or Literacy Strategies/Activities:

One of the first assessments that I did with Max was the Teacher Made
Assessments. At the beginning of the year, Max was evaluated in upper/lower case
letters, and writing upper case letters from memory. I assessed him for the upper/lower
case letter portion of this test where the student is given all twenty six letters and has to
say the name of each. I was not present for the writing by memory, but for that section
the teacher held it as a whole class assessment in which they did it together. For that
section, Max scored 100%. The assessment for upper/lower case letters was the same.
All twenty six letters were displayed in random order and the student would have to start
at the top, point to the letter and then say its name. Even though the letters were in
random order, they were in the same random order for the upper and lower case
sections. For knowing upper case letters, Max scored 100%, for knowing lower case
letters, he scored 96% because he had missed the letter L.
I administered this test in the very back corner of the classroom that has a
partition which somewhat secludes it from the rest of the class. For the majority of this
test, Max could not sit still. He would alternate from sitting on his bottom to sitting on
one leg or even standing at some points. He would also lean around the partition two to
three times to see what the rest of the class was doing. This behavior relates to him not
wanting to be separated from what the rest of the class is doing. After we would
complete a section of the test, he would stand up and say, Is that it? while starting to

walk away from me. To keep him focused on the test I would have to say, Two more
minutes, and then you can go back to the class. While he was taking the test, I noticed
that he would say the letter names faster then he would point to them. At one point, he
was saying letters that were two ahead of the ones he was pointing to. He would then
realize his mistake, and either jump back to the letter where his finger was pointing to
and start over there, or jump ahead to where he left off verbally and point to that letter.
Even though he had to either catch up or slow down with himself, he did not say an
incorrect letter name. The only incorrect letter he had was the lower case L due to him
saying it was the letter I. When this occurred, he was pointing to that letter as well.
Following up the first round of the Teacher Made Assessment a few weeks later, I
got to administer the next portion of it which is called the first trimester. Just like the first
section of this test, the students still have to name all of the upper and lower case
letters. What is new this time is that the students are required to say the sound of each
letter and complete two rhyming activities. For the letter sound portion, the letters are
displayed in a similar manner to the upper and lower case portion except the letter pairs
are together in the chart. The student then has to go through and point to each letter
and say their sound. Max was able to say the letter sounds, but occasionally he would
switch to saying just the letter name or he would not clip the sound and add in an extra
letter. At one point he started saying a word for each of the letters as well. For the
rhyming portion the students were first given five sets of three words. Out of those three
words, two of them rhymed. When the three words were said to him out loud, he was
able to correctly identify all of the rhyming pairs for that section. The next section
provided the students with two columns of pictures. Out of those two columns the
students would have to identify the pictures, and then draw a line connecting the two
pictures that rhyme. For the rhyming portion Max has scored a 100%.
Another activity done with Max was the Fly Swatter game that was used to
assess students letter recognition as well. This activity involved spreading twenty six
flowers, that each had a letter on them, across a table in front of the students. When it
was their turn they would have to find and swat (using a fly swatter) the letter that was
given to them. Due to having a set time frame and working with a small group, we were
only able to get through sixteen letters with three of them being a duplicate, for a total of
nineteen. Out of those nineteen, Max was asked 5 letters, all of which he had gotten
correct. During this activity, I struggled to keep his attention on the goal of the game
which was letter recognition. I noticed that during the activity, he struggled with focusing
on what was in front of him and would often times be looking towards the front of the
class or would be talking to the student who was next to him. When it would come to be
his turn, I would have to say his name at least two times to bring his attention back to

the game and away from what he was looking at. When it was not his turn, he tended to
answer the other students question or he would not be able to stay in his seat. For
example, he would get up and walk a circle around the table.
The DIBEL test was another assessment that was given to Max around the
beginning of the school year. Although I was not present for the administration of this
test, my mentor teacher did fill me in on the results of it and how he did throughout the
duration of the test. For this test, Max was given the results of First Sound Fluency and
Intensive due to the fact that he was saying four words per minute. My mentor teacher
had told me that during this test, he struggled to sit still and focus in order to get through
the test. She had also related his struggle with this, to him having been diagnosed with
ADHD.
While observing Max during the wheel, I noticed that his favorite part seemed to
be the handwriting portion. For handwriting, the students are required to first come up
with a story that they want to write about. Then, together with the teacher, lines are
drawn onto one side of the page to correspond with how many words are in their story.
The student then uses those lines to write out their story. Once it is written, they
conference with the teacher who then corrects any spelling or incorrect letters by writing
the corrections underneath of the students original word or letter. Once that is complete,
the student can then move onto illustrating their story. After working with Max a few
times during the wheel and observing his work, I noticed that he has the ability to form a
complete story or sentence prior to writing it out. Then when he goes to write out the
individual words, he first will sound out the entire word verbally before he will write it
down. He will then write down the first sound or letter of that word rather then the
complete word before he moves onto the next. This is shown in his work examples that
are provided below and is supported by him being first sound fluent.

Evaluation:
From my time observing Max I have noticed a few of his strengths, one being that
he is very strong with his letter recognition. He is able to point to a letter and confidently
say the letter name for both upper and lower case letters. This observation is backed up
by his scores in the Teacher Made Assessments. Another strength that Max has is that
he is able to recognize the first sounds in composing a word. He is able to associate
the sounds that he hears to the correct letters. From there he can write out the letters
based on the sounds that he hears. When writing words, so far he is only able to write
out the first sound of the word, which is shown in his Wheel Writing Workshop work.
The main roadblock that I have seen for Max is his struggle with focusing which
relates back to his ADHD. Being easily distracted has occasionally interfered with his

being able to complete his work on time with the rest of the class and has also interfered
with him correctly hearing instructions. When he is not able to complete his work on
time with the rest of the class, he occasionally will get concerned and try to rush through
the work to be able to put it in the bin with everyone elses. Wanting to complete his
work on time with the rest of the class relates back to him not wanting to be separated
from the class, just like how he would get when he was being pulled out for Early
Intervention. I have noticed that when Max does not hear the instructions, he will sit at
his desk and not start the work until someone goes over to him and checks that he
understands what is being asked of him. He will either just sit and look around the
classroom or he will be pointing out different aspects of the work, such as the colors or
animals that are on the paper.
When it comes to future instruction, I would recommend small group activities for
Max. Since he does not like being pulled one on one from the class and feeling
separated, the small group will be beneficial because it allows for more personal and
direct instruction which will help check for understanding. Small group instruction will
also allow for the teacher to hold Maxs focus and be able to bring him back in quickly, in
the chance that he goes off task, so he does not miss any important information. Hands
on activities will also benefit Max because it will give him something to focus on and
physically work with rather then just being given a worksheet to complete. This hands
on aspect will give him the ability to touch and work with the materials which will hold his
focus long enough to grasp the concept and meaning to the activity. Max also greatly
enjoys cars, so if it is possible to work cars into an activity, that would benefit him
because it will hold his focus. For example, incorporating stories that are about cars or
involve cars in them would most likely hold his attention. Even having the worksheets
designed like a car, that way he could color them in and design them after it is
completed.
One technique that I have picked up on with Max, is always saying his name
before addressing him. By saying his name first, it pulls his attention away from
whatever he is doing and puts it on who is addressing him. In the chance that Max is off
task, by saying his name first, it will pull him away from the off task behavior and allow
you to prompt him back to the task at hand. It is also important to double check for
understanding of requirements and directions from Max. Because he does struggle with
focusing, he tends to miss what is being asked of him when the instructions are read out
loud. If he does miss this, he will generally sit at his desk and look around the room or
play with the paper rather then completing the work. It is important to check that he
understands the task because it will help him with completing it on time with the rest of
the class rather then wasting time sitting at his desk.

Goals:
By the end of the year, Max will be able to accurately read an entire level B
appropriate book with minimal mistakes.
By the end of they year, Max will be able to point to a letter, upper or lower case, and
correctly say the sound of that letter.
By the end of the year, Max will be able to complete a class worksheet in a timely
manner without having to be prompted on instructions or brought back to focus.

Book Recommendations:
Car Parts by Russ Buyok
Leveled Book: A
Reading A-Z
https://www.readinga-z.com/books/leveled-books/book/?id=1891
Going Places by Chuck Garofano
Leveled Book: A
Reading A-Z
https://www.readinga-z.com/books/leveled-books/book/?id=25
He Runs by Ned Jensen Illustrated by Darcy Tom
Leveled Book: A
Reading A-Z
https://www.readinga-z.com/books/leveled-books/book/?id=17
All of these books were chosen based on the fact that they involve cars and ways of
transportation of some sorts. I believe these books will hold his interest and focus so
that he can complete the story and be engaged fully through out the lesson.