Case Studies - Child 1
Name of Child:  Luke B.
Age:  6
Grade:  Kindergarten
School:  G.D. Watson Elementary


Description

Luke B. is a Kindergartner. He is a very shy and soft spoken boy who suffers from asthma. He is a first child, and he has a younger sister (2 years old). His mother works most evenings as a nurse. Both of his parents show a great interest in his school performance, although they do not have time to participate in school activities. Luke has only one friend from his preschool, and he is hesitant about breaking into other formed groups or taking initiatives in his social life. Luke likes school and seems well adjusted. He is very well behaved, very organized in his school work, follows orders, and is eager to learn. He learned the letters of the alphabet very easily and appears to perform well in reading and reading-related activities. He enjoys looking at story books on his own in the library corner and writing letters using his own invented spellings. At the end of the day, he brings home all the letters that he has written to show to his mother. His teacher's only concern is with his articulation because he experiences some difficulty pronouncing a few sounds. For this reason he was referred for evaluation by a speech pathologist.
Score Interpretation
According to the results of the TPRI screen, Luke seems to need assistance by setting instructional objectives. However, his scores on the inventory section contradict this hypothesis by showing a student without difficulties in phonological processing and also with adequate confidence in manipulating letters for representing sounds. According to the inventory tasks, Luke's phonological processing skills seem to be sufficiently developed. He had difficulties identifying the letter sounds at the initial screening task and was weak at blending phonemes. However, his performance in the inventory was satisfactory, leading to the conclusion that Luke may have needed some warm-up time. Another explanation for his poor performance in the screening may be related to his poor articulation and examiner error. Overall, his scores are consistent with a "false positive" student profile (i.e., suggesting that he is at-risk but ending up without problems in learning to read).

Instructional Implications

Luke's scores are contradictory and require a close observation period. His performance on the inventory section does not justify extra assistance. However, his poor performance on the screening prompted his teacher to watch his daily work very closely and reevaluate him whenever inconsistencies were observed.
Now, look at his TPRI test results or go to other Case Studies


TPRI SCORES
Screening 1 (Beginning of the Year Evaluation)
Letter Sound Task 3 of 5 Still Developing
Blending Onset-Rimes and Phonemes 4 of 5 Still Developing
Inventory (Middle of the Year Evaluation)
Book and Print Awareness (Optional Warm Up Activity) 5 of 5 Developed
Phonemic Awareness Task 1 (Rhyming) 5 of 5 Developed
Phonemic Awareness Task 2 (Blending word parts) 5 of 5 Developed
Phonemic Awareness Task 3 (Blending phonemes) 4 of 5 Developed
Phonemic Awareness Task 4 (Detecting Initial Sounds) 4 of 5 Developed
Phonemic Awareness Task 5 (Detecting Final Sounds) 3 of 5 Still Developing
Graphophonemic Knowledge Task 1 (Letter Name Identification) 26 of 26 Developed
Graphophonemic Knowledge Task 2 (Letter to Sound Linking) 9 of 10 Developed
Listening Comprehension 5 of 5 Developed
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