Where Its @ - Kent

Teaching Strategies for Kent, a student with Learning Disabilities

About Kent

Kent is a third grade student who has been diagnosed as severely learning disabled after completing a series
of tests (WISC-III, Woodcock-Johnson III, and PPVT). He performs below his age group in math
calculation and reasoning (including counting, basic place value, and number facts), oral expression and
language, and listening comprehension. He also struggles with generating ideas, understanding cause and
effect relationships, using sequential thought processes, along with poor printing and spelling.

Laurier Elementary is a school in British Columbia whose mission, according to their website, is that they
are a community of learners committed to providing a caring and supportive environment to help each other
learn through a lifetime. The grade three class has 25 students and Kent is not the only student in the class
who has a learning disability. We have been working on storytelling and story writing and are working
towards learning fractions in math.

We are going to demonstrate three strategies that will assist Kent with listening comprehension and oral
communication. Check Five and Finger Writing allow students to orally express their thoughts and
comprehend what others have said. Our last strategy, which is "Mother May We," has ties to the math
curriculum to help Kent with his counting skills and allow him to work effectively with a partner by orally
communicating.

Listening Comprehension and Oral Communication Strategies

To help Kent to participate in active listening activities we could emphasize the use of one of the
following:

"SLANT: Sit up, Lean, Activate your mind, Note what the speaker is saying, Track the speaker with
your eyes.
HASTE: Hear, Attend, Search for meaning, Take beyond, Emote/React
SWIM: Sit up, Watch the speaker, Inquire, Make connections with what you already know" (Success
for all Learners, p. 6.11).

Two strategies mentioned in Success for all Learners, (1996) that could be used to teach Kent to actively
listen and work on comprehension are:

Check Five - this activity has students working in pairs, where one child becomes the speaker, asking
their partner to check five (their five senses) to make sure they are ready to listen. They then tell their partner
a story or information on any topic. After they are finished the listener then has to repeat what the speaker
has said. The speaker confirms the summary and then they switch roles. The students do this so that they
become engaged in the activity and try different strategies for listening comprehension. If students feel that
using a picture will help their partner understand their story that could also be used to help Kent and others
with comprehension.
We chose this strategy to assist Kent because he is very passive in a group setting and rarely answers
questions. Allowing him to work in pairs will help him create relationships with students in the class and
become more comfortable expressing his thoughts.

Finger Writing - Students work in pairs and sit one behind the other. The person at the back then
draws a letter on their partners back. The listener, or one that is being drawn on describes and gives feedback
as to how the letter was formed. They then switch roles (p. 6.12). This strategy will also help others in the
class because everyone will be able to visually picture what the letter is that their partner is drawing and then
express how to form letters. As students develop this ability the use of cursive letters may also be
introduced.
We chose this strategy to help Kent because he has poor printing so this activity will allow him to practice
printing and interact with his partner. This technique is also used in the Louis Riel School Division as a
section of a program called "Handwriting Without Tears".

These two strategies also help with students' abilities to orally communicate with others. In order to
participate, students must have the language to describe and understand what is expected of them and play
the games with their partner. In a case like Kent's, the teacher may want to write down the list of prompts for
questions and beginnings of answers to ease him into the process. If a student feels too overwhelmed or as if
they are not capable of fulfilling a task, they usually withdraw from the activity.

Number Concepts
To keep following with the active listening and comprehension skills and incorporate math concepts we are
going to play a version of “Mother May I”(Harwell and Jackson, 2008).
To help Kent feel comfortable, and continue working in pairs, we will play “Mother May We”. Two
students will stand in the centre. The other students will line up behind them along a wall. The two students
in the centre must have their backs to the other students. One pair will then ask “Mothers May we” and
choose to move forward/side/backward by a certain movement skip, jump, small steps or big steps forward,
and by a number up to 5. The team who has been selected as the mothers for this round will then say “Yes
you may, or no you may not”. If the mothers say “yes you may” then the pair moves forward if the mothers
says “no you may not then they stay where they are”. The purpose of the game is to reach the mothers and
then that pair will become the mothers.
We chose this strategy to help Kent because he has trouble counting, although the numbers used may be
small, Kent will be able to see how to count using a different method and use cues from others in the class.
This would also be a great movement activity to transition into Math by talking about number concepts.
A teacher can use this strategy to see whether or not Kent is making progress in his oral communication
skills, by being able to talk to this partner and then to the whole class. The teacher can also see if he
understands his numbers and assess where he/she can go from here to help him with reasoning and general
number sense.

All of these strategies would not be single lessons but would be incorporated into larger lessons.

References
Harwell, J. & Jackson, R. W. (2008). The compelted learning disabilities handbook. San Fansisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.

Manitoba Education and Training. (1996). Success for all learners: a handbook on differentiating
instruction. Winnipeg, MB: Author.

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Additional Sources
Alberta Education (1994). Standards for psycho-educational assessment. Edmonton, AB: Author.
This handbook describes a testing process when a child has been identified, the ethical standards that guide
the testing and the expectations established by Alberta Education when assessing. This handbook was used to
help me define who is allowed to administer the PPVT and the WISC-III assessments.

Hart, D. (1994). Authentic assessment: a handbook for educators. Menlo Park, CA.: Addison-Wesley
Pub.Co.
This book was used for investigating both the Gates-McGintie Reading Test as well as Woodcock-Johnson
III Test of Achievement- included abstract of purpose and function of both tests – more so on MacGintie
Reading Test. I used this resource mostly for its statistical knowledge.

McCullough, V. (1992). Testing and your child: what you should know about 150 of the most common
medical, educational, and psychological tests. New York, NY.: Plume.
This book was used for investigating primarily the Gates-McGintie Reading Test; it describes the nature of
the test, the ranking/grading averages, as well as the raw score interpretations for the test which allow us to
understand the students current position and needs.

Nova Southern University (2005). Peabody picture vocabulary test - 3rd edition. Retrieved From Nova
Southern University Website: http://www.cps.nova.edu/~cpphelp/PPVT-3.html
This website examines the third edition of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. It highlights what the test
assesses, who it is for and it suggested uses.

Nova Southern University (2005). Wechsler intelligence test for children - third edition. Retrieved From
Nova Southern University Website:
http://www.cps.nova.edu/~cpphelp/WISC-3.html
This website examines the third edition of the Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children. It focuses on what
the test assesses, who it is for and it suggested uses.

Sellers, Alfred H. (n.d.) CPS Test Links. Retrieved on October 7th 2009 from
http://www.cps.nova.edu/~cpphelp/WJIII-ACH.html
This web link was used for primarily investigating the Woodcock-Johnson III Test of Achievement- it
provided details as to the use and purpose of the test as well as a description of the tests style (multiple
choice). It pulls from a wide range of abilities and uses multiple intelligences in its representations which
allow for a more complete picture of the students cpabilities.

The Lerning Disabilities Association of Canada. (1999).LD In Depth: Early Identification. Retrieved from
http://www.ldac-taac.ca/InDepth/identify_chart-e.asp
This website examines ways to detect possible learning disabilities early on in a child's life. It focuses on
aquiring language and reading. It gives strategies to help children who are struggling and ways to monitor
progress. This website was used for my individual summary paper as our presentation didn't address Kent's
reading.