Lydia
Age: 9 Gender: Female Grade: 4th School: Regular District Public School
Placement: Inclusion with accommodations/modifications as needed
Current use of technology: Skills consistent with the peers in her class.
Current classroom technology: 4 classroom desktop PC computers with office type software, reference cd-roms, Internet access, networked educational programs for reading, language arts and math appropriate for 6th grade students.
AT: Reading assignments are scanned into the computer. Text-to-speech software is used to support reading. Word processing is used in combination with text-to-speech software for written assignments.
Physical, cognitive or sensory issues that interfere with academic success or access: learning disability (reading-decoding/word attack)
Teachers in setting: Regular education teacher, Special Education Teacher (1 hour per day in inclusion setting– Language Arts), Paraprofessional (1 hour per day as assigned in inclusion setting)
Other Comments: Lydia's family has a computer at home with Internet connectivity
Lydia is a 4th grade student who participates in sports for basketball and track. She is shy around new people, but has formed close bonds with a few friends from the team and from her community church. She loves to draw and paint.
Lydia has a learning disability in the area of reading. She can memorize sight words, definitions, and concepts, but is unable to sound out new words or read passages that contain new vocabulary. She usually depends on a peer or teacher to read new words to her for any subject area involving reading. For homework, she must wait for her mom to complete cooking and cleaning for reading assistance. Once someone tells her a new word, she usually retains it. Her comprehension skills are adequate. Lydia has on-level skills for completing math computation and problem solving. However, she has difficulty reading word problems. Her accommodations include having reading assignments and math word problems read aloud upon her request.
Michael
Age: 10 Gender: Male Grade: 4th School: Regular District Public School
Placement: Resource – Language Arts and Math
Current use of technology: He can access an adapted keyboard and uses a joystick for video games
Current classroom technology:
Regular Class: 4 classroom desktop PC computers with office type software, reference cd-roms, Internet access, networked educational programs for reading, language arts and math appropriate for 4th grade students. Some digital story cd-roms, Primary level word processing program (no speech support). Primary level drawing-presentation program (Kid Pix). All computers are located in the rear of the classroom on standard computer tables. To face the monitors, students' backs are to the rest of the class/teacher.
Resource room: Same as above with the following exceptions: Number of computers is 2. Computers are located on a side wall near a reading table. Additional software includes some primary reading programs (Reader Rabbit), early childhood type story/interactive cd-roms, one adapted keyboard with software to create custom overlays (typically not used) and a touch screen on one computer.
AT: Augmentative Communication Device – Dynamic display and interactive buttons; Adapted keyboard
Physical, cognitive or sensory issues that interfere with academic success or access: learning disability (reading, math, physical delays)
Teachers in setting: Regular education teacher and paraprofessional in regular setting, Special Education Teacher in resource setting
Other Comments: Michael's family has a computer at home with Internet connectivity. It is mainly used by his parents and older brother. His family is interested in purchasing a computer specifically for Michael's use.
Michael is a 4th grade student who enjoys video games and watching cartoons. He is popular with his peers in his regular class who want to sit next to him at lunch or in group activities. He spends part of his day in a resource room for support in language arts and math. Michael uses a wheelchair for mobility and supported seating. He demonstrates reading skills on a 1st grade level and math skills on a 2nd grade level. He participates in regular class for all other subject areas, except P.E. He receives adapted PE services, occupational therapy and physical therapy. His verbal communication skills are limited to 1 word responses that are difficult to interpret and tedious for Michael to generate. His receptive skills are on-level. He uses an augmentative communication device with dynamic display and interactive buttons. His core vocabulary page consists of 20 cells at 1-inch in size. He is able to navigate from the home screen menu to core and activity pages. His system is designed so that he usually does not need to press more than two buttons to get to the needed screen or pop up because his speed is slow. Michael uses a combination of words (common word) and graphics (new vocabulary). The graphics are black and white. The cell backgrounds are colored coded to indicate action words, nouns, social words, prepositions, etc. Michael rarely initiates communication unless he needs physical help. He has normal vision and hearing. He demonstrates low strength and flexibility in his arms and legs. He is unable to write with a pen or use a standard keyboard. However he is able to use a mouse and activate an adapted keyboard with enlarged cell size arranged in a simplified array. Michael is dependant on caregivers for physical assistance to transfer from his wheelchair and self-care.
William
Age: 10 Gender: Male Grade: 4th School: Regular District Public School
Placement: Resource
Current use of technology: He attempts some classroom computer activities, but has difficulty viewing the monitor, keyboard and cursor
Current classroom technology: Regular class: 4 classroom desktop PC computers (17 inch monitors) with office type software, reference cd-roms, Internet access, networked educational programs for reading, language arts and math appropriate for 2nd grade students. Some digital story cd-roms, Primary level word processing program (no speech support). Primary level drawing-presentation program (Kid Pix). All computers are located in the rear of the classroom on standard computer tables. To face the monitors, students' backs are to the rest of the class/teacher.
Resource room: Same as above with the following exceptions: Number of computers is 2. Computers are located on a side wall near a reading table. Additional software includes some early childhood type story/game cd-roms, one adapted keyboard with software to create custom overlays (typically not used) and a touch screen on one computer.
AT: Augmentative Communication: Manual Communication Binder, 32 location, static display device (Typically uses 15 to 20 1-inch cells per overlay); Computer access: Adapted keyboard, Word Processing software with picture-to-text and text-to-speech feature, Slide show software with interactive buttons.
Physical, cognitive or sensory issues that interfere with academic success or access: moderate cognitive, communication and motor delays
Teachers in setting: Regular education teacher and paraprofessional in regular setting, Special Education Teacher in resource setting
Other Comments: William lives with his mother and brother age 17. William looks up to his brother and often mimics his brother's behaviors, including aggressive behaviors.
William is a 4th grade student who enjoys playing with blocks and swinging on swings. He is usually friendly with his peers, but has demonstrated aggressive behaviors on occasion such as pushing, cursing and biting. William has been diagnosed with Down’s syndrome and demonstrates moderate delays in all academic areas, social and adaptive behavior skills. He has delays in self-care skills for toileting and dressing himself. His reading skills are at a pre-K level. He knows most of his lower case letters, but is inconsistent on recognition tests for some upper case letters. He can recognize his name in print but is unable to read any other words with consistency. He can identify basic colors, shapes (triangle, circle and square), and numbers 1 – 10. He is able to rote count to 20, but has difficulty with one-to-one correspondence. He enjoys listening to stories read from simple children’s books and pointing to objects on the page. He is unable to retell a story, identify story characters or describe the theme of a story. He has a short attention span and will demonstrate off-task behaviors when listening to long stories or assigned to independent, seat-work tasks such as coloring, tracing letters or silent reading. He enjoys participating in group activities that involve movement, song, art or computer tasks. He usually does not talk to his peers during activities/free time, but is able to verbally communicate with very basic two to four word sentences. He seldom initiates conversation. He typically answers direct questions with one or two word responses, yes/no or a gesture/pointing. Some of his comments are inappropriate or off-topic. He uses a picture schedule and is able to identify up to 100 picture-words in his picture dictionary. William participates in regular class for social studies, lunch, homeroom, recess and art/PE/music.
Antonio
Age: 9 Gender: Male Grade: 4th School: Regular District Public School
Placement: Regular Education
Current use of technology: His computer skills are consistent with his peers. He has basic knowledge of word processing, presentation software and Internet search skills.
Current classroom technology: Regular class for all subjects. Most classrooms have at least one to four desktop computers with typical office software and Internet access. Teachers can book a computer lab (2) as needed. Computers are located in the library.
Physical, cognitive or sensory issues that interfere with academic success or access: Antonio has difficulty with reading fluency, decoding and comprehension.
Teachers in setting: 6 Regular education teachers
Antonio is a 4th grade student who enjoys singing in his church choir and performing in the community drama club. He likes to ride his bike and "hangout" outdoors with his friends. He doesn’t like school and has had repeated significant behavior issues including fighting, refusal to complete work, showing disrespect to teachers and refusal to follow directions/rules. Antonio is a student in regular education programs fbut demonstrates difficulty in reading across all subject areas.. He demonstrates a difficulty in decoding and comprehension skills. He has poor word strategy skills for identifying new words and difficulty identifying main ideas. His writing skills are affected by his reading delays. He does not like to write and will often restrict his written expressions to very basic 3 to 6 word sentences using primary vocabulary because it is easier for him to spell those words. Orally, he can tell a very complex story/report with detail using age appropriate vocabulary. He can memorize lines of a script/play and retell a story in correct sequence. He can describe pictures in great detail and will often depend on a graphic, drawing or photo for understanding the content of a chapter or reading assignment. His math computation and problem solving skills are adequate except for problems involving reading such as word problems and labels on charts. He can orally identify parts of a diagram, map, and picture. Antonio is embarrassed when he is asked to read in front of others. At home, his older sister reads most of his assignments to him because his parents cannot read English.