So What’s The Problem?

Selecting skills to target for intervention

He has trouble with reading…

Because… he doesn’t have phonemic awareness, isn’t using phonics skills doesn’t read with fluency has poor vocabulary isn’t comprehending what he reads

…or what exactly?

How would you describe a student’s comprehension problem? He gets specifics but can’t answer higher order

questions about the story He does poorly on multiple choice questions about the

story He can’t retell a story orally He can’t answer questions orally in class about what we

are reading He can’t summarize or write out thoughts about a story All of the above!

Let’s consider each type of problem

He doesn’t get higher order questions. Why? Is he able to do so on topics of interest e.g.

science class discussions/projects? (and thus maybe it is a reading comprehension problem)

Is he rarely able to “get” more abstract concepts (and thus maybe has an ability problem)? CogAt can provide a clue.

He scores poorly on multiple choice questions about the text But does he do better if the test is read aloud?

(thus maybe it’s a more basic reading problem) Does he get more concrete questions but miss

the more abstract (maybe we are back to basic ability?)

Do his answers suggest a vocabulary problem? (he misses questions that require vocabulary knowledge)

He can answer questions in class but not on a test! So maybe he understood the story when it was

discussed but couldn’t read it well enough himself to gain understanding? (reading problem)

He can’t retell a story or tell me key features of it, even after discussion (ability? Memory?)

He does better in history tests than on reading tests. (memory for facts, higher interest items, less abstraction in non-fiction vs fiction?)

He can do multiple choice but can’t write a summary Does the summary have good content but

poor mechanics? (writing problem) Can he talk about but not write about the

story (written expression problem?) Perhaps he is better at recognition

(multiple choice) than recall (essay)

But he has trouble with all levels of comprehension and all modes of testing! So then let’s look at fluency and vocabulary next Is his speaking vocabulary similar to that of other

students in his grade? Does he have trouble with synonyms and antonyms (and

thus doesn’t recognize them when reading) How does he do on vocabulary tests? If he reads fluently but isn’t sure of word meanings that

may be impacting his comprehension, especially on higher order questions

Vocabulary seems OK? Then let’s look at fluency Words Per Minute (WPM) WPM gives you a fluency score but the

important part is determining why a child is not fluent!

Few but accurate WPM suggests slow decoding, thus loss of sentence meaning. Try to build fluency.

Many and accurate WPM but poor expression suggests focus on words and a loss of meaning. Work on expression.

Fluency

Low WPM with numerous errors suggests a basic reading (decoding) problem. Assess word reading.

High WPM with errors, substitutions, omissions, losing place, etc. suggests a reading disability of various kinds. Analyze word reading errors to figure out what kind.

Some examples

Tiffany Colin Robbie Susie 4th grader in ATeam

OK, we’ve got lots of errors on the fluency passage, now what? Hmmm, starting to look more like a

decoding problem, reading disability, visual or auditory processing??

Let’s try word lists rather than passages and analyze the errors.

Error Analysis of Misread Words

Was/saw, bib/dig, ton/not, black/block, etc. may suggest visual processing and are “LDish”

Pencil/pesnil, aluminum/aminilum, simpson/smispin etc. may suggest auditory sequential processing and are “LDish”

Missing phonics rules are usually apparent and could be just missed instruction (e.g. never did get those long vowel rules)

And if the problem is more than that? Does the child show an understanding of

letter/sound relationships? What is his level of phonetic understanding? CVC but not CVCe?

Does he show phonemic awareness? Is he hearing and identifying sounds?

Does he recognize all of his letters?

Why isn’t she learning her letters and sounds? Ability? Memory? Processing?

Attention? Readiness? Ability? Does she seem to have the same

level of understanding on general topics as other students her age?

She knows it today but not tomorrow! Memory?

Letters and Numbers

Processing. Doesn’t seem to get symbols of language

Attention Can she attend to high interest activities? Is she responding to expectations to attend?

Readiness What is her prior experience? Maturity level compared to peers?

Symbols of language

b d p q h j c o e s z l t i f k m n v w x y Oh, and each one represents a sound? And

if you put some together they might make a different sound?

How does anyone learn to read?!

It’s math but is it calculation, problem solving, or reading, no, maybe memory??

Math difficulties come in many forms! Solving a math problem involves:

Reading it correctlyKnowing how to solve itKeeping all the information in mindApplying the right calculation processCalculating it correctly

How much of this is a reading or memory problem? Doing better with read aloud is one clue but… Students with working memory difficulties can’t

remember what you just read to them Some students also have trouble retaining both numbers

and language (Did Susie have more or was it Sarah? Susie had 12 but I forget how many that other girl had!)

If the child can do the calculation after you step him through the process, it’s more of a process problem

Having the student read aloud a problem to you and discuss it may help answer these questions

Math Disabilities are often Working Memory Disabilities Can the student hold 2- 3-step directions

in mind long enough to follow them? When questioned can he recall both

names and numbers in a problem? Has the student committed math facts and

formulas to memory? If not, the student is using up working memory on facts and there’s not much left for problem solving!

What do you think the problem is here? Mary’s car get 23 mpg. How far can she

drive on five gallons? OK, that’s 23 x 5, hmmm, that’s 105, I got it! Yep, regrouping. She knew what to do, and

probably knew that 3 x 5 is 15, but didn’t correctly regroup the 1 to the tens place.

But what about this student?

Bob’s car gets 30 mpg. How far can he drive on 5 gallons?

Hmmm, oh, yeah, 35! Oops, he doesn’t understand the problem

although he can add pretty well!

What is this 4th grade child’s problem? Four people each have 30 dollars. How

much do they have together? OK, 30 + 30 + 30 + 30. That’s …0, 123, 456,

789, 10,11,12. OK, 120. Yep, two things: he doesn’t get the

relationship between adding and multiplying; and he does not have a fluent use of math facts.

And here?

If you buy a ball for 45 cents and a pencil for 28 cents how much change would you get back from $1?

Susie: 73 cents! Joe: 26 cents! Rebecca: 17 cents! Sam: How much was the pencil? Stan: Where can you get a ball for 45 cents?

What do you mean, “LDish”?

Impulsive mispronounces words in reading either from

visual or auditory processing problems Can’t keep things in memory or remembers

them out of order Particular types of spelling/writing errors (not just

wen for when but presnet for present)

LDishness

Mispronounces, substitutes, omits, loses place in reading

Does not notice that her written work does not match a model

Doesn’t notice spacing, frequent erasures For example, an upbeat, talkative, 4th grader

who thought she had done this assignment well

Finding the problem… can be a problem.

But it drives interventions and Allows rebuilding skills from where they

were missed It’s all a process and we’re all here to help!