2015-07-07

Case Study

Student Name: Ally

Date of Birth: December 22, 2005
Chronological Age: 12-8
Grade: 7
School : Sun Elementary
Date of Assessment : May 27, May 28, and May 29 2015

Background
Family
* Ally lives in Delta with her foster parents and
biological brother. She has been living with her foster
parents since August 2012. Her current social worker K
is her legal guardian at this time. Ally does see her
biological father but has no contact with her
biological mother.

Background
School/Education
* Ally was diagnosed with diabetes in 2009, which requires daily
monitoring of her glucose level at school. Due to her medical
diagnosis, Ally presently has a special needs designation in
Ministry of Education Category D (Chronic Health Impairment).
She is supported at school by a Mainstream Support Teacher and
an Educational Assistant (EA) on an adapted educational
program outlined in an Individual Education Plan (IEP).
* School records indicate that Ally has attended four dierent
schools since kindergarten.

Reason For Referral

* Ally was referred for an educational assessment to

help determine her academic skills, her learning
abilities and her support needs before she moves to
the secondary level.

Background
Birth
* Ally was born at 40 weeks
* Normal Pregnancy
* Healthy birth rate
* All milestones were on time
* There is a question of FASD and drug use?

School
* KG Lena Shaw Elementary in Surrey
* 1-3 Creekside Elementary in Surrey
From grade 2 records show that Ally required behaviour
support and therefore received a Ministry of Education
special needs designation in Category R (Student In
Need of Moderate Behaviour Support). She was also
receiving weekly sessions with the school counselor and
a Youth & Child Care Worker.
Report cards indicated that Ally required ongoing
academic support from the learning support teacher
(LST). There were a lot of absences during this time.

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School
* In grade 4 Ally moved to Simon Cunningham Elementary in
Surrey. Report cards indicate that Ally needed a lot of support in
math and written output. She was receiving support from a LST
and was on an Individual Education Plan (IEP). School records
show a lot of late and absent days.
* In grade 5 Ally was placed with her foster family in Delta. She
attended Sun Elementary in Delta where she continued with her
special needs designation in Category D. Attendance was good
and report cards indicate mostly Bs and Cs, however, she still
required ongoing support from LST. Presently Ally is in grade 7
at Sun Traditional Elementary. Attendance is good; she receives
LST support for math and is working on the goals that are
outlined on her IEP. Her teachers are concerned that Ally has
diculties staying focused, staying organized and with making
careless errors. She sees the Elementary Counselor on a regular
basis.

Teacher Interview
* Diculties with Language Art skills
* Written language
* Math
* Inattention
* Poor Organizational skills
* Lack of social skills
* Easily distracted
* Forgets daily activities

Parent Interview

* Sleeps 8-9 hours a day

* Spends most of her time with other foster children
* Has a small group of friends
* Not much exercise
* Does not eat breakfast
* Homework is a challenge
* Hearing and eyes test came back normal (Jan 2014)

WISC-IV
Verbal Comprehension

Scaled Score
Similarities

Vocabulary

Comprehension

Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI)

Composite S.S. 91 (86-98) at 27th%

Examiner Comments

* Assessment occurred in a quiet room that was

relatively free from distractions
* Assessment took place 3 days
* Ally was cooperative and asked many questions
* Attention diculties were present on some activities
* Appeared to be trying her best
* Need to get up often

Perceptual Reasoning
Perceptual Reasoning Subtests:

Scaled Score

Block Design

Picture Concepts

13

Matrix Reasoning

Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI)

Composite S.S. 97 (90-104) at 42th%

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Working Memory

Processing Speed
Processing Speed Subtest:

Scaled Scores (average 8-12)

Scaled Score ( 8-12

average)

Coding

Symbol Search

Digit Span

Processing Speed Index (PSI)

Letter-Number Sequencing

11

Composite S.S. 85 (79-94) at 16th

%ile

Working Memory Index (WMI)

Composite S.S. 91 (85-99)

at 27nd%ile

Working Memory Subtest:

FSIQ

Academic Achievement Assessment

Results (WIAT-III)

Subtest
Standard
Score & Percentile

Full Scale Intelligence Quotient

Score

Reading Comprehension

S.S. 97 (87-107) at 42%ile

FSIQ

89 (82-96) at 23rd %ile

Word Reading

S.S. 110 (104-116) at 75 %ile

Pseudoword Decoding

S.S. 117 (110-123) at 87%ile

Total Reading

S.S. 117 (110-118) at 82%ile

Math Problem Solving

S.S. 83 (75-91) at 13%ile

Numerical Operations

S.S. 79(70-88) at 8th%

Mathematics

S.S. 80 (73-87) at 9 %ile

Written Expression

Subtest

Standard Score & Percentile

Sentence Composition

SS. 109 (99-119) at 73 %ile

Essay Composition

S.S. 81 (71-91) at 10%ile

Spelling

S.S. 93(87--99) at 73%ile

Written Expression

S.S. 92(85-99) at 30%ile

Behaviour Assessment

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Teacher

Parents

Summary
Cognitive Ability
Cognitive Low Average Range FSIQ 89 23%ile
Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) S.S. 91 (86-98) at the
27%ile, her nonverbal fluid reasoning abilities are in the
Average range with a Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI)
S.S. 97 (90-104) at the 42%ile, her listening attention and
working memory are in the Average range with a Working
Memory Index (WMI) S.S. 91 (85-99) at the 27%ile and
her processing speed abilities are in the Low Average
range with a Processing Speed Index (PSI) S.S. 85 (79-94)
at the 16%ile for Canadians her age (see above for
descriptors of the different index areas).
age Range

* Academically, Ally tested High Average in reading with

an obtained Total Reading Composite S.S. 118 at the
82nd %lie for Canadians her age. Math tested Below
Average with an obtained Mathematics Composite S.S.
80 (73-87) at the 9th %ile for Canadians her age.
Spelling and written language tested Average with an
obtained Written Expression Composite S.S. 92 (85-99)
at the 30th %lie for Canadians her age.

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Results

Results

* AT Risk Depression, Attention, Withdrawal, learning

problems
* Clinically Signicant Externalizing Problems
Hyperactivity, Aggression, conduct disorder

The assessment suggests that many of Ally diculties in
school are most likely related to concerns with attention
and hyperactivity. Her diculties appear most
pronounced when excessive and distracting stimuli are
presented. This could explain some of the inconsistencies
in her performance during the assessment, as well as in
school.

Recommendations
* Ally should continue with extra learning and behavior
support on an adapted academic program as outlined in an
IEP which will be supported through the Grad Quest
Program when she moves to the secondary level. As well,
she needs adult structure and emotional support.
Generally, Ally would benefit from: extra clarification and
review of key concepts (for understanding and
reassurance), direct instruction in summarizing the main
points in reading materials to get the gist of the meaning
and extra practice with her academic skills to build
fluency for long-term retention.

Math
* Provide opportunities for overlearning of fundamental concepts
and skills in mathematics. Help Ally focus on understanding and
using patterns in examining new concepts and skills. Teach
specic strategies such as checking her work for errors, working
through word problems, rereading to eliminate extraneous
information. Take every opportunity to show how math is
present in all subjects. Consistently emphasize that asking
questions and making mistakes is the only way to learn. Model
how to do a math problem as you think out loud the steps you
are going through. A calculator will help Ally check her work for
careless errors.

* A review of emotional factors also demonstrated signicant

concerns with aggression and conduct problems as well as
concerns with symptoms of depression. Inattention and
emotional factors likely compound, contributing to the overall
inconsistencies demonstrated in school achievement and
mood, as well as organization and accepting responsibility.
* Ally will retain her Ministry of Education Category D
designation (Chronic Health Impairment) and she will have a
secondary Ministry of Education Category R designation
(Moderate Behaviour Support).

Recommendations
* Ally should continue with extra learning support (LST
and EA as available) on an adapted academic program
as outlined in an Individual Education Plan (IEP). She
would benet from extra clarication of concepts (for
understanding and reassurance) and extra practice
(for retention) of skills taught at her instructional
level on a frequent basis.
* Ally needs individualized instruction in basic math
processes and extra practice to build the uency of
mathematical operations. She needs instruction with
the skill in reading and solving math problems (see
LST for strategies and materials currently being used).
Accessing math web sites may be helpful.

Strategies to Support
Ally Written Expression
* She needs individualized instruction and practice with strategies to
improve her written language - spelling, grammar and punctuation and
the clarity and organization of written expression. (see LST for strategies
and materials presently used at school).
* Graphic organizers use key words listed under sub-topics. Key words
are then expanded into sentences and then these sentences linked into
paragraphs to create a first draft or outline of an assignment. Key words
help distinguish between important and unimportant facts or concepts.
* Teach story and/or paragraph completion using key visuals, or visual
framing organizers (i.e., the story frame or paragraph planner) to assist
with basic structure, task sequencing and overall organization.
* Use strategies such as brainstorming, mind mapping, story webbing,
visual schematics (i.e. story frames, paragraph planners), outlining,
sentence frames, or graphic organizers to help her to generate and
organize his basic ideas before beginning a written assignment.
* The writing process:
* Plan (consider the purpose for writing, who the audience will be,
generate ideas, brainstorming, mapping and making notes, diagrams,
pictures).
* Draft.
* Edit (adding, deleting, re-sequencing, rethinking, reviewing options for
paragraph formation and essay organization).
* Proof-read (checking grammar, capitalization, punctuation, spelling)
* Self-evaluation.
* Publish.

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Outside support

* See outside Psychologist

* See Nutritionist
* Outside programs
* Math program
* Family Doctor