Ethan Smith Case Study: Weaknesses

Ethan Smith Case Study Author Name Institution Affiliation What are the student’s weaknesses in reading, as identified from the case study? According to Ethan Smith’s mother (Mrs. Smith), he is unable to read properly. She seems to be concerned in this regard and has explained that her child does not show an interest in reading books or novels. Once she claimed that if Ethan Smith had to read two pages and answer certain questions based on what he had read, it would take him many hours to complete the task. In addition, the student is unable to hear the initial and ending sounds of a word. For instance, the mother tried to help him see some parts of a word, but Ethan Smith struggled greatly and ended up losing his interest in what she was trying to say or show to him. What are the student’s weaknesses in reading, as identified from the graph? Ms. Clark, who is Ethan Smith’s teacher, has provided a goal using universal screeners, and for this purpose, she collected sufficient data. The graph she has drawn shows that the performance of this student is not satisfactory. In the first graph, we can see no consistency, as the reading capability sometimes reaches 68 WCPM. This is below the goal line set by Ms. Clark. The very next day, Ethan Smith begins reading quickly and efficiently, and thus, the reading capability reaches 83 WCPM. On the third day, it is 80 WCPM, which is again below the goal line. These fluctuations make it clear that Ethan Smith is not fluent in reading. In some situations, he is unable to identify and read words and this makes him feel bad. The frustration level of the student is high when Ethan Smith is unable to recognize up to 85 percent of the words. How do these data correlate? The data indicates that the accuracy and speed of reading something are low. It means the expected grades cannot be obtained if the problem is not solved on an immediate basis. The total number of errors is more than expected. Ethan Smith has substituted and mispronounced a number of words, and there are a total of six errors that put him in trouble and at the frustration level, not at the instructional level. The median score of this student is 80. It is very unfortunate that Ethan Smith has never scored more than 95 on any of the charts prepared by his teacher. What interventions in reading could be used based on the data? Repeated reading, retelling, and writing are the core interventions that allow students like Ethan Smith to read the same passage several times (Allington, 2011). Then they are encouraged to retell the same s...