Assessment Section

This semester I had the opportunity to work with a struggling reader. While working with this student I used many assessments to aide my intervention. When I began working with the student the first assessment I gave was a Dominie assessment. Using this assessment I was able to find out what reading level the student was at. Over the course of the semester I administered several assessments. I took running records while the student read aloud. Running records helped me examine the progress my student was making. Running records also helped me check to see if the texts were matched to the student's needs. I also used a dibels assessment to assess the student's reading rate. I also administered an alphabet knowledge assessment to find out which letters and letter sounds my struggling reader was having trouble with. There are many different assessments available for teachers to use. I used a variety of assessments on my struggling reader so the students would be assessed in numerous different ways.


Below is a summary of my experience of working with a struggling reader:

This semester I worked independently with a struggling reader. This student had trouble with blending, phoneme segmentation, and had a poor alphabet knowledge. The student also had a hard time staying focused. He was very easily distracted. This student did not have an IEP when I began working with him. After Christmas an IEP meeting was set up to help individualize his instruction. When I first met this students I took a reading interest survey. I learned more about the student’s interest and background information. The survey helped me choose materials based on the students interest. I also assessed the students reading level with a dominie assessment. From the dominie assessment,reading survey,and information from the classroom teacher I concluded the student was on a instructional reading level of 1.
After giving the reader an alphabet knowledge test, taken from the red book, I was able to assess which letters and letter sounds he needed to work on. The reader knew almost all letters and letter sounds. The reader knew how to properly hold a book and turn the pages. The reader was able to locate the cover page of a book. The student could locate the title and knew what an author and illustrator were. The students also read from right to left. The reader needed to work on blending and phoneme segmentation. The reader also needed additional practice with alphabet knowledge.
To help the student with letter knowledge I used letter magnets,alphabet cards, and alphabet charts to aide the student. I assessed the readers alphabet knowledge with sources from the red book three times when working with him. This helped me monitor his progress. To help the struggling reader with phoneme segmentation I used Elkonin boxes. The Elkonin boxes helped Terrance practice segmenting sounds. I also used a white dry erase board on which I wrote words and had Terrance break the sounds by first, middle, and ending sounds. I had Terrance identify and repeat phonemes in words I would say to him. To help Terrance with his sight words I used flash cards. I also had Terrance come up with sentences that used his sight words. I had Terrance use his finger or a pointer when reading to learn one to one correspondance.
I worked with Terrance almost everyday. The main focus of our lesson was blending and phoneme segmentation. I used materials from reading street and dibels. At the beginning of each lesson I would reveiew the letter of the week with Terrance. I would use alphabet cards to review the letter. I would also review the phonics and phonic awareness section of the reading street lesson. Next I would have Terrance blend words from the decodable reader. I would also review sight words with Terrance. I would help Terrance read decodable texts and complete cold reads with the student.
Terrance has improved so much. He can blend a lot more words now. If he can’t blend the entire word he can at least get the initial and ending sounds. Before I began working with Terrance he sometimes could not blend any sounds of a word. Terrance’s dibel scores have improved so much. He can read more words and recognizes most sight words. After Christmas Terrance had an IEP set up. He began being pulled from the classroom for idividualized instruction. .
From working with Terrance this smester I have learned that when working with students each child needs to be given instruction based on their needs. Students should be assessed many times and varied ways to find out where they are and where they need to be. When working with students you may need to differintiate instruction. Students may need induvidualized instruction and intervention.