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Learning Disability Summary

Student: Brad

SERP 405

Emily Dalton

Eryn Fricks

University of Arizona
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Abstract

This paper will describe a nine-year-old Elvira Elementary School student, Brad,

and explain his strengths and challenges. Brad is currently in Ms. T’s resource room

and receiving special education services under the IDEA because he has a learning

disability. He is currently performing around a second or third grade level, and needs

help with basic reading skills, reading comprehension, and listening comprehension.

The goal of this paper is to address his specific difficulties, both academic and

behavioral, and make accommodations as needed. This summary will analyze Brad’s

reading, writing, math skills, his functional performance in the classroom, and a

summary of his educational needs. Brad’s strengths in reading and writing will be noted

and his weaknesses will be addressed. In all, this summary will give the reader a

glimpse into working with Brad.

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Student Description

Brad is a fourth grader at Elvira Elementary school in the Sunnyside School

District in Tucson, Arizona. He is currently receiving special education services under

IDEA for a learning disability (LD). His strength is math, he knows his math facts and

understands why math exist. The one time he has difficulties in math is with word

problems, sometimes he doesn't understand the questions and what they are trying to

ask of him. Brad has a lot of difficulties in reading comprehension, basic reading skills

and listening comprehension. Although, he is a very intelligent kid his learning is

impaired because of his behavior.

Brad is often corrected in class and has a tendency to talk back. He is the type of

student that always has to be right and needs to constantly have a say in the daily

schedule. He is constantly moving one part of his body. The ten weeks he was

observed by one of us he was constantly playing with something, whether it was his

shoelace or the bottom of his shoe. Brad is a fast-paced student and often has trouble

working with others who work slower than him. When paired with others he often will

work ahead and/or he won’t even acknowledge his peer. There were a few moments

where Brad patiently was waiting, but that often resulted in a odd behavior later. This

behavior consisted of wanting a reward for his patience and talking back when his

request was denied.

Some of these behavioral problems can be adjusted with the right plan, and

support from his teachers, as well as his parents. Part of these behaviors are a result

from difficulties at home. He is one of many siblings, not a lot of attention is on him at

home. Brad is very hyperactive, but his mother refuses to have him tested for
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ADHD/ADD. His teachers feel that if he was tested, they could assess more accurately

knowing the definite yes or no. They do not want that to define him, but they want to

have a starting point. His teachers are looking for a behavior plan, or a motivation that

will help with his reading/writing. At this point, he does not have any confidence in his

reading skills or comprehension.

Reading

In regard to reading, Brad can say all the sounds of the alphabet, read 304 sight

words, and he is able to read his sight word sentences with repetition. He performs well

on weekly sight word tests where he has to identify the correct words from a group.

Brad is able to write the 44 phonograms of the English language when dictated with a

word. The phonograms (ay, oi, oy, tion, igh, ou, ow, and silent e. Also, the r-controlled

sounds such as (or, er, ur, ir, and ar). He has shown improvement with reading fluency.

At the beginning of the school year Brad could not read fluently because he had to stop

and sound out the words in the passage he was reading. In the area of comprehension,

he is able to identify the settings and characters of a story. He is also able to identify

the problem and solution in the story. Brad can retell stories in the order of events in

which they happened in a short story. Currently, Brad is reading at a late first grade

level. He is better at verbal responses rather than written expressions. Brad needs to

read orally from books every night that are at his ability level so that he can become

more fluent, He needs to start reading beginning second grade books. He continues to

have difficulty with the higher order thinking and comprehension skills of compare/effect,

main idea and details, drawing conclusions and inferencing. He has a hard time writing

responses to comprehension as well as his decoding skills.

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Writing

In writing, Brad can write multiple sentences using phonetic spelling. He is still

not able to transfer his phonogram knowledge to his spelling unless the teacher is sitting

with him one to one. However, his writing is at a stage where the reader will be able to

get meaning from his writing. He can write a paragraph using the anchor chart and

sentence stems for an informational paragraph. He has more difficulty organizing an

opinion paragraph and giving examples for his details. Brad is still unable to transfer his

phonogram knowledge to his spelling unless he gets assistance from his teacher.

Additionally, he does not transfer the sight word knowledge to his spelling. He does not

try and sound out the words before asking how to spell them. A spelling dictionary

would greatly benefit Brad. Brad often gets upset and gives up on writing if the attention

is not on him. To better assist Brad, there are many free keyboarding programs to help

establish more fluency in this writing.

Math

Math is one of Brad’s strongest subjects. He can retain and obtain his math facts

quickly. In the ten weeks of observation Brad, mastered his 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, 5’s, 6’s, 7’s, 8’s

9’s and 12’s in multiplication. Most of them were done in one day. Brad often finishes

his math problems within seconds, and often is looking for something to do, which can

lead to an unwanted behavior. These behaviors include cleaning up before its ti and

micromanaging Ms. T’s actions and class. Brad does lack some knowledge in math

vocabulary but that is often a result from his low reading comprehension. The only time

Brad shows difficulty in math is when he encounters a word problem or abstract

numbers like time. As shown in Appendix A, Brad has a hard time trying word problems.
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He often skips over them because he lacks confidence (see Appendix A for math

sample). Brad doesn’t want to spend so much time on a math problem when he knows

he is good at math. He also lacks math vocabulary as you can see in Appendix A. Once

his reading skills improve, Brad will be able to demonstrate his math skills in all types of

numbers. According to his IEP, Brad does not need to be pulled for math. In fact, Ms. T

decided in November that she was no longer going to pull him for math. He understands

the concepts and knows his math facts, Brad needs to stay in the general education

class where math is meeting his skills or vice versa. His teachers believe that his

behavior should change because he will no longer have that down time throughout the

day in his resource math class. He needs that extra challenge to help improve his

vocabulary and understanding of abstract numbers.

Behavior

Regarding Brad’s social and emotional behavior, when Brad is on task and

focused, he is proud of himself. When he is rewarded for his successes, he tries harder

the next time. He needs positive reinforcement when he is doing what is expected of

him. Brad does not work up to his potential most of the time. He tends to continue to ask

for help even when he has numerous examples that have been given by the teacher.

Behavior does significantly and adversely impact the progress in the general curriculum.

Last year the check in check out system was implemented and should remain in place.

He is sometimes disrespectful to his teachers and is often sent back to class. With the

check in check out system, the behaviorist and him discuss his behavior daily and each

of the teachers he comes in contact with checks whether his behavior is appropriate or
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not. At the end of the day if he was well behaved, he gets his previously discussed

reward.

Communication and Thinking

According to one of Brad’s general education teachers, Brad communicates well

in class and has a different type of thinking. However, he does not volunteer very often

due to lack of attention. Many people believe that Brad does not volunteer in general

education classes because they are challenging him and the larger group of people.

Brad has a hard time paying attention in his general education classes, so much

happening he can’t focus on just the teacher. Brad can have a hard time summarizing,

restating and applying the topics he is learning. This especially happens in subjects like

reading and writing, math has a whole different attitude, a more positive one in fact.

Brad is different from the rest of his peers, he is always thinking aloud when no one else

does. He does his best to reread sentences aloud to see if he has a better

understanding of it. Although, it is great to think aloud and be able to work through his

confusion verbally, it can affect his peers negatively. In his math resource class, he

would work through the problems verbally. He would be on step five of the problem

while his table mate was on step one. His peer would just listen and copy the

work/answer.

Accommodations/Modifications

Brad has accommodations/modifications to help improve his reading skills and

focus better in class. He is allowed extra time and smaller groups in resource

classrooms. Brad can have a quieter space in order to remain focused. An interesting

accommodation, Brad is offered text-to-speech for text content when it comes to

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reading or math test. Which can be controversial since he has difficulties in both reading

and listening comprehension. These accommodations are allowed in both state and

district assessments. Brad can have the level of questioning adjusted if needed, in order

to enhance understanding. He is, also, allowed ample response time. Sometimes it can

take a while for him to process what is being asked of him, so having that extra time

builds confidence and he feels the support from his teachers. One thing to keep in mind

with Brad is he can feel when others have low expectations of him. So, another

accommodation, is to keep expectations consistent with ability level. His teachers are

sure that when he was told that he doesn’t have to be pulled for math anymore it made

him feel proud. Some adjusted accommodations that could benefit his behavior is to sit

him close to the teacher. This will help Brad stay on track. Also, sit Brad near others

within the same performance level until confidence grows. He will shut down with others

who have a higher level and he will not help his peers who have a lower level. Brad

would benefit from notes being printed on slides for him and graphic organizers to

complete through his reading. Implementing a reward system for when Brad reaches a

reading/writing goal would motivate him to learn.

References:

Arizona Department of Education. (2012). Arizona’s Common Core Standards.

Retrieved from https://www.azed.gov/standards-practices/

Sunnyside Unified School District. (2017). Brad Phillips.(4th grade). Individualized

Education Plan (IEP). Tucson, AZ

Sunnyside Unified School District. (2017). Brad Phillips.(4th grade). Student Work.
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Appendix A. Tucson, AZ
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Appendix A