Case Study 2 - Mark, aged 14, was in the eighth grade

CASE STUDY 2: Mark

Mark, aged 14, was in the eighth grade when he was referred to the school reading specialist by the school guidance counselor. She was concerned both about Mark’s reading and about the reports received from his classroom teacher. According to the cumulative school records, Mark’s progress had been normal until the fourth grade, when he started to fall behind.

When the reading specialist interviewed Mark’s mother, his Mother reported that his physical and developmental histories were normal. When Mark was younger, both parents had spent much time with him and encouraged him to read. However, a number of changes in the family situation had occurred in the past two years which limited the amount of time the parents could devote to Mark. Mark’s mother had gone to work, and his father had accepted a job in a different city and was able to get home only occasionally. Mark’s teacher reported that he was popular in school, but he seemed to lack motivation for schoolwork. His classroom teacher said that assignments required the reading of entire chapters in the text. Since Mark rarely completed his assignments, he was having difficulty in the course. The teacher expressed the opinion that Mark lacked an adequate background for the course.

In an interview, Mark said he disliked reading and thought it was too hard. He never read for pleasure and could not image why anyone would do so. His only area of interest was baseball. He said he was a good shortstop and said he followed professional baseball closely. He had memorized many facts and records and seemed to have a keen interest in the strategy behind the game.

The results of tests administered are presented below:

Informal Reading Inventory

Word Recognition List

Independent                                Level Grade 8

Instructional                               Level Grade 8

Oral Reading Passages

Independent                              Level Grade 4

Instructional                             Level Grade 5

Silent Reading Passages

Independent                              Level Grade 5

Instructional                              Level Grade 6

Listening                                  Level Grade 5

Mark was able to read through the eighth grade passage. His word recognition was almost perfect through all levels, but he exhibited severe problems with comprehension.

Although his comprehension of facts was adequate, his performance in all other areas of comprehension was poor Mark was asked to bring in his social studies textbook and show how he studied it. He began with the first page of the chapter and continued to laboriously read the rest of the chapter. He employed no study strategies.

When questioned on the chapter, he remembered little of it and was unable to distinguish between important and unimportant information. When asked to reread a paragraph, he could not identify the main idea. He seemed to have little grasp of the concepts presented in the chapter.

Although Mark cooperated with the reading specialist, he was unenthusiastic about the diagnosis. He seemed to be “going through the motions,” often watching the clock.

Questions for Case Study 2: Mark

Question 1   With which aspects of comprehension does Mark need help?

Question 2  Which strategies would you use to help Mark with his comprehension abilities? Would these focus on narrative or expository text?

Question 3  How would you plan to help Mark with his social studies course? Give suggestions for both the reading specialist and the content area teacher.

Question 4  Which strategies would you use to help Mark with his comprehension of narrative text?

Question 5  If you were Mark’s teacher what would you do different to help him in his reading?