Ian Mc Donough

EDU 462
Nancy Walker

Case Study

The student that I have chosen for my Case Study is a six year
old kindergartener who is very energetic but posses some small
problems with reading academics. Two weaknesses I have found is
that my student have trouble with some sound blends and has a
problem with some short /u/ sounds as well as having some trouble
with the w sounds. A strength that my student posses is that he is
capable of making the comparisons of letter replacing and sound
replacing especially when it comes to rhyming words
The first weakness that I mention was that the student is having
trouble with pronouncing some blending sounds. Referring back to my
Reading List Check off Sheet is shows that the student is having
trouble with multiple words on this list. Such as pronouncing the /th/
blend in a word and with blending sounds like /bl/ in the words such as
black and blue. For the issue with the bl blend, I would grab
some color books such as Little Blue and Little Yellow. Emphasize on
the bl blending sounds. I would give him worksheets that have Elkin
Boxes with pictures of that have words that have bl blends. This will

help him understand the concept of bl blends and should help him
pronounce them better.
His next weakness is pronouncing short /u/ sounds. One example
is my Letter Sounds Packet which shows that he has a problem with
the short /u/ sound. My literature book I would use is the Mutt and
The Bug. This would help me show him how to pronounce the short
/u/ sounds with other kinds of words. A strategy I would use is a
spelling flipbook to help him understand the sounds even better. Start
off with three letter words with the U in the middle to help work on
simple words
One major strength is that my student has is being able to
pronounce some words and find out which are the corresponding
rhyming words. I had him work on a worksheet that is called Rhyme
Time which had him look at pictures and see which out of three
pictures is the right rhyming words. In order to improve on these
strengths, I would keep using some more Rhyme Time work sheet
but also incorporate flash cards that have words that he will need to
figure out corresponding rhyming words.
With the situations that have been going on with my student, I
think I would be able to help him with his issues regarding bl blends
and his short /u/ sounds. With the strategies that are incorporated into
his lessons, he will be able to work on his blending problems and his
short /u/ sounds. While being able to continue to work on his words

with other rhyming strategies, my student will be able to build on his

vocabulary as well as improve on his fluency skills to better help him in
his learning career. (492 word count)