Running Head: Case Study

Case Study/Assistive Technology Match

Alan Mellon

Dr. Larry Johnson

EDUC 271
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Case Study / Assistive Technology Match

The student I chose for this case study/behavioral plan (who I shall refer to as Arty) is a

10-year-old, 5th grade, African American male who is a current student within the local Oakland

Unified School District, and who qualifies for special education services under the primary

condition “Specific Learning Disability”. An educational and speech-language evaluation was

initially requested when the student entered first-grade after he had moved to Oakland, and the

subsequent evaluation found that his disability was affecting his involvement and progress within

the general curriculum. Arty presents with attention and learning deficits as his processing speed

and lexical access appear to be impacted by weaknesses in executive functioning, auditory

comprehension, and visual scanning. Arty also presents with visual-spatial and sensory motor

challenges which impact his ability to progress in areas of mathematics, and written expression.

Arty was originally served through a Special Day Class environment; however, he is currently

enrolled in a regular education classroom as part of the school’s inclusion program inclusion

program. His older brother is also a special education student within a seventh-grade class, and

Arty was diagnosed with ADHD (combined type) in December 2013 for which he takes

medication

According to Arty’s case manager / resource teacher, he is normally a well-mannered,

and generally helpful student who is eager to participate during teaching sessions, and associated

activities. Assessments with his case manager and class teacher are usually measured through

observations, which are then charted to assess progress. During class time, Arty is progressing

towards using appropriate methods to gain the teachers attention such as raising his hand, or

verbally requesting assistance. His goal in this area is to conduct himself appropriately with an

accuracy of 80%. Within math, Arty is currently engaging in more difficult word problems,
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requiring both single and multi-step solutions and will be expected to determine how, and when,

to break these problems into simpler steps. For English Language skills, the teacher is looking

for Arty to create correctly indented, multiple paragraph compositions which includes an

introductory paragraph with a topic sentence, supporting paragraphs with

facts/details/explanations, and a concluding paragraph with a summary of the key points. As far

as social skills are concerned, Arty will be expected to confront others assertively and calmly

when conflict arises throughout the school day.

Arty’s class teacher reported that he was generally a very cooperative student who can

attempt academic work within his current, general education setting although his lack of time

management skills often meant that was not completed. However, he also pointed out the fact

that if the student began to feel overwhelmed by any aspect of the work, or pressurized by a

teacher or peer member, his reaction was to leave the immediate area. When questioned about

his attitude to school, especially his likes and dislikes, Arty was blunt in his reply. He adamantly

stated that he “didn’t like anything at school”, especially reading, math and science. This is one

barrier I felt was possibly related to his self-esteem, as although he was academically working at

a slightly lower level than most of his 5th grade peers he has often been observed doing very

good work when motivated to do so. Unfortunately, noise from the classroom in general is often

a trigger for him to remove himself and avoid work; and, it is not always feasible to have the

teacher, or another adult, work on a one-to-one basis with him.

Other behaviors could range from interruption of conversations, ignoring directions,

refusing to read or open textbooks, and becoming easily engaged in confrontations with peers.

Generally, the outbursts were short-lived however, and with direction, Arty was usually able to

re-focus his attention. The teacher also pointed out that he had to be careful when having Arty
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collaborate with others for small group activities, as he was easily led-astray by peers with

stronger social skills and personalities. Breakdowns in communication on Arty’s part often led

to verbal or physical behavioral problems e.g. he sometimes misreads peer’s body language or

tone of voice as a sign of hostility.

Arty has stated on many occasions to me that he dislikes reading unless it is connected to

his favorite books “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, when he often focusses his attentions on the

cartoon portions of the story. In fact, Arty has stated on many occasions that he dislikes most

lessons in school including Math, writing and science. One of the most frequent behavioral

issues occurs when Arty is presented with work involving reading and answering questions.

Depending on his mood, he will either flatly refuse to participate in the lesson, sighting that he

only wants to do the final few questions; or, at times, I would be able to initiate a partial

compromise whereby he would do a few of the questions if I dictate the relevant sentences to

him. However, I found that even during these times, Arty would be easily distracted by his

peers. If I was not able to re-focus his attention within the first few moments, I found it was

generally more difficult to re-direct him. Yet, when I could gain his attention, especially on a

one to one basis, he was able to produce excellent quality work. Unfortunately, it must also be

noted that this type of scenario is difficult to achieve due to the confines of the classroom within

which the seating arrangement is rather cramped. Though many seating arrangements have been

attempted over the past semester (and group changes), I have noted that the only time Arty

appeared more distracted was when he was seated to the rear of the main class body as he was in

the direct line of sight with certain other trigger students. Another factor which adds to this is

the general noise level within the classroom, which is louder than it should be. As Arty’s teacher

is in his first year of teaching a general education 5th Grade class, it has taken many months of
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attempting differing classroom management strategies for a significant difference in both noise

level, and general behavior, to take effect.

In general, Arty appears to be well supported on many levels both at home, and within

the school environment. To most adults he is a polite, and caring student. His immediate family

have made it known that they strongly support his education, and the decisions of the teaching

staff. Arty himself will seek out certain members of staff when he feels overwhelmed with

certain tasks or subject matter, and these members of staff often relate back as to how trusted he

can be. Unfortunately, the attitudes of some other general education students are not as

complimentary towards both Arty, and especially another inclusion student within the class.

When disruption does occur, the inclusion students often get singled out because the other

students understand how to easily upset them. Thus, I feel that at times, Arty will get

embarrassed by the fact that these students still label him as “Special Ed.” This on many

occasions is one of the most obvious barriers to getting Arty engaged in his lessons.

During a recent one-on one interview I conducted with Arty, he explained to me some of

his likes and dislikes both within the classroom and at home. Like many other students he is an

avid computer game player and he says he will play anything when given the chance; although,

his step father appears to restrict the amount of screen time he has. Apart from games, he

watches a lot of “YouTube”, and prefers this to watching television as he feels it gives him a

little autonomy over his older brother. He also stated that he likes to go to the movies, especially

to see anything with action, or super-heroes. Arty is also an active child who enjoys playing

outside, trampolining and creating things such as forts (although he states that he is “past” the

Lego stage. On a less active note, he also enjoys indoor basketball games, drawing and, to an

extent, board games.

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Technology Lesson Plan

Alan Mellon EDUC 271

After looking over the given lesson plan, I decided to tackle its adaptation with two

things in mind. Firstly, it obviously had to fit in with both my target student’s needs, while being

manageable enough to connect with the rest of my general education students. As my target

student’s problems relate to his ADHD symptoms, then my primary goal was to offer him

technological adaptations to the lesson which promoted attention skills, self-discipline, and

interaction with the material. Secondly, I wanted to alter the lesson using either technology

which was already in place within our classroom, or ideas which we have tried before. This way,

I felt a little more confident in trying to fit changes into the lesson without overwhelming the

students.

The first change which I made revolved around the student’s exposure to “what” the

lesson was going to be about. I simply added a google slides (or power point if desired) at the

beginning of the lesson which highlighted the “Central Focus”, the “Common Core Standards”,

and the “Specific Learning Objectives”, for the entire lesson. By doing so, I felt that my target

student, in fact all the students, would benefit from understanding from the very beginning what

the goal of the lesson was going to be about. I felt that this was highly important for a student

with attention issues as it meant that he was going into the lesson with an understanding of the

purpose of the lesson, and what was expected of him. This would help focus his attention to

what was to come, and hopefully lessen the chance of him becoming distracted.

During the “Set” I would not only show the figurative language video; but I would

actively use this as an interactive, teachable moment. As the songs and lyrics appear on screen, I
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would stop the video before each answer is given. This would allow time for a turn & talk

between peers to occur to help prompt student’s recall of terms, and aid in promoting peer

interaction. At this point, as an alternative to the teacher merely listing definitions on the board

as the students recall them, students could be asked to open a google docs page on their Chrome

Books and create a list of their own alongside the teacher. For a student with problems focusing

on the main board as my ADHD student does, this would again help retain his concentration

towards the learning objective. Also, as he is most often distracted by the noise/commotion from

his class peers, an activity like this is more likely to reduce the overall noise level because the

other students will also be focusing on their own document, and not on becoming a distraction

themselves. Another simple possibility to use the Chrome books here (or cell phones) would be

to split the students into small groups, each assigned one of the figurative language terms being

investigated. Each group would be asked to find a YouTube song which has some lyrics that

they could explain as being related to their assigned word. Each group could quickly present

their song on the ELMO, with a quick explanation to support their thinking.

As the lesson moves on to the “Developing Content” stage, I liked the idea of keeping

the four corners (five in this case) activity. We have used this successfully a lot in class, and it is

a useful way for students with ADHD (and everyone else) to get out of their seat and move about

while still being involved in the lesson. However, it is often difficult to get students to persevere

with questions or opinions when doing so as I find that they tend to get caught up in other

conversations and wander about. I thought that by inserting a QR code activity into this

brainstorming session I would be able to create a little more enthusiasm, and deeper connection

to the topic. This could be carried out in several ways:

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 QR codes could be attached to the original magazine pictures, and each code could

contain a prompt such as “As …. As a ….” Or “…. Like a ….? For simile

brainstorming. And similar prompts attached to brainstorm the other terms.

 QR codes could be posted using links to images, so that the student must scan the

code to find the image, and then create a relevant saying.

 Small groups could be assigned one figurative language term and be given some time

to brainstorm examples related to the magazine pictures posted at their position.

They could then be tasked with creating QR codes linked to their own

responses/examples which they then attach around the picture at their given position.

Classmates could then go around each poster scanning these examples and discussing

them.

The second part of the activity was to then fill in a Venn-Diagram which compares the

different tools of figurative language. Because I know how much my ADHD student

struggles to write, and stay on task with graphic organizers, I thought that it would be

more useful to him to be part of its creation, rather than just filling in a paper copy.

Many sites such as: Bubbl.us, Creatly.com, and Eduplace.com offer free graphic

organizer templates, or offer students the ability to create and customize their own

graphic organizers. Alternatively, Google slides offers a limited range of templates

which can be used as the basis for a slide creation. Teachers could offer students the

opportunity to fill in a pre-created organizer within a slide, or if students are able, they

could create their own. This means that students could also customize their slides with

examples and pictures which aid understanding of the language concepts. These slides

could then be used as the basis for an individual or group presentation and could also be
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printed (or added to a class website) as reference material for those who need to go back

and reflect on the lesson.

For the final assessment activity, that of creating a poem, song or rap using as

many forms of figurative language as possible with a partner, I know that my target

student works well with others but is reluctant to write. He is also very reluctant to speak

out loud in front of the class. Due to this, I would obviously want to assure that he is

paired with someone who is a much stronger writer. Yet, I feel that he will have a lot of

support by this point regarding examples of figurative language from such things as the

graphic organizer he created, and the google docs with explanations of each. So, my aim

at integrating technology would focus more on how he will be able to express what he

has learned. He could be given a choice of possibly creating either a “Voki” or using an

app such as “Storyboard that”. The advantage of using Voki would be that he would be

that although he could build upon his partners stronger writing by typing the poem/song

into the app and giving suggestions as to how to improve the piece. This would mean

that he has a “hands-on” active part in the presentation which would help him stay

focused. Because Voki allows you to personalize the character, it would also allow him

to add his own creativity to the process. If he wanted to, he could also record the song

onto the Voki rather than type. This would allow him the option to present his work

without having to stand in front of the class as the finished song could be played over the

ELMO. The other option would be to use Storyboard That. I have used this app

successfully several times and have found that it is useful for visual learners as I allows

you to create pictures which directly relates to the text. Again, because I know that my

target student enjoys reading comic style, graphic novels, he finds creating the
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storyboards intriguing. Again, the finished assessment does not require him to stand in

front of his peers, and it can be printed out, attached to his ELA notebook, and used as a

reminder of the lesson later.

As a side note to the use of lower tech items within the lesson, I would possibly

add a visual timer of some sort to the proceedings. This could be as simple as a stopwatch

or using an on-screen timer which would allow the student (in fact all the students) to

manage their time more efficiently as each part of the lesson occurs.

Technology Match

As my student’s main problems appear to concentrate around several aspects relating to a

lack of focus, many of my accommodations and low / high tech assistive technology suggestions

attempt to motivate the student into learning how to become more self-governing in his behavior.

At the same time, I attempted to attack his lack of enthusiasm towards reading and writing as I

felt that these were pivotal aspects within the student’s education which were being detrimentally

affected by his inability to stay on task, and to concentrate.

Accommodations

To begin with, I would suggest some simple classroom accommodations which would

allow Arty to participate within the existing classroom structure without the need for the teacher

to devote extra time to his needs. These would include altering his seating arrangements so that

he was seated towards the front of the class, allowing him clearer visual and audio exposure.

This would help him to connect with the teacher; while, helping to alleviate visual distractions
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caused by his peers who are normally in the rows in front of him. Another accommodation could

be that he is given a designated space (either within or out with the class) to which he can retreat

and compose himself when he feels he needs to get up and move. Arty is a physically active boy,

and thus needs some extra allowance in relation to movement. Allowing him this space will not

only help avoid being caught up in unwanted interactions or disputes; but, it will help him to

realize that he is responsible for of his own actions and has options and choices when it comes to

his own behavior. Next, giving Arty a reduced number of questions during a lesson would help

alleviate his anxiety towards reading and writing as a less crowded page of problems could allow

him to focus without being overwhelmed visually. Alternatively, a piece of cardboard with an

open slot (wide enough to show a few lines of written text) while covering the adjacent text,

would work for reading textbooks etc. as this again would allow Arty to filter the majority of any

visually distracting text and images. Furthermore, it may be advisable that Arty should be

“front-loaded” with relevant information, especially for lessons with higher vocabulary and

reading/writing requirements. This could be done through a “Vlog” presentation given as

homework prior to the lesson, or even through related “YouTube” posts (since Arty appears to

prefer watching You Tube anyway) and as such would be part of the “flipped” classroom idea

where the direct teaching is mainly done out of school where students such as Arty can learn

without the pressure and distractions of classroom surroundings.

Low-Tech Assistive Technology

For a student such as Arty, I approached low-tech technology with an eye to teaching him

strategies which would improve his time management and behavioral skills, while

simultaneously giving him tools to lessen the simple distractions which normally cause him

problems. A colorfully printed “to do” sheet could be created with Arty’s prior input (it could be
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decorated using his own designs to assure he takes pride and ownership in the task as we know

he enjoys drawing). If this were laminated, the sheet could be used repeatedly to direct him

towards keeping to incremental goals within a lesson or chain of lessons and be secured to his

desk as a personal reminder (or teacher aided reminder). Correspondingly, a visual behavior

chart would be ideal in respect of the fact that Arty could be directed towards altering unwanted

behaviors by the teacher using these non-verbal pictures/icons, as well as being rewarded in the

same manner. As Arty is self-conscious of what his peers think of him as an inclusion student,

this, the non-verbal nature of using a visual behavior chart would alleviate the negative attention

he normally draws from others when the teacher intervenes. Another low-tech idea would be to

allow Arty to have a cardboard, foldable screen to use on his desk when he need to put his

attention into working individually. Such a screen (like the ones students use during testing

periods) would help put a visual barrier between Arty and his peers and alleviate many of the

visual distractions which he normally gets drawn into. Again, the board could be personalized,

and as Arty enjoys indoor basketball it may be possible to attach a miniature hoop to the board

which he would be allowed to play with as a reward for completing relevant tasks. Some sort of

“squeeze” toy could be purchased for Arty to use when he is listening or watching teacher

directed lessons. Such a tool would keep his hands busy while hopefully helping him to then

keep his mind, and eyes, on the teacher. Finally, Arty was noted as having trouble giving

himself adequate time to complete a task or set of tasks. He either rushes through quickly, thus

leaving himself open to becoming sidetracked through boredom, or he spends too much time on

a single task at the detriment of the overall lesson. By using a cheap battery-operated clock and

erasable markers the teacher could highlight on the clock face a given time-period, or periods.

Arty could refer to the position of the hands in relation to the markings to keep track of his time
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being used for any one problem or problems. While doing so, he would again be learning about

personal responsibility in relation to time management.

High-Tech Assistive Technology

One main problem which Arty faces on a regular basis seems to be connected to his

agitation regarding the overall classroom noise level. As his 5th grade classroom is small, the

acoustic rebounds, background vocals of other students and general echoing vibrations appear to

cause him both distraction and distress. Occasionally, if the noise levels are heavily untoward,

Arty takes these opportunities as a springboard for refusing to do his schoolwork. As a solution

to this, I thought that some sort of wireless assistive listening device would be one such

possibility. An FM type system where the teacher wears a microphone, and Arty would wear a

small receiver would help eliminate many of these background noises, allowing Arty to clearly

focus on the teacher’s word and presentations from anywhere in the room. Also, as such systems

are small and portable, it would mean that Arty could also use it during other school times such

as assembly where the noise distractions are often even more intense. As I wanted technology

which would not only help Arty to focus but would subsequently allow him to focus on reading

and writing skills, my next idea as my first website (collection of websites) which do just that. I

know from working experience with Arty that he responds well to completing graphic organizers

if you walk him through the process. I would show him how to begin the writing process using a

site such as www.bubbl.us or www.coggle.it to put his artistic talents to work in order to create

himself colorful and inspiring graphic organizers which he could then use to tackle reading or

writing tasks. Alongside this http://donjohnston.com/draftbuilder/ would be a great site to teach

Arty basic skills including outlining, note-taking and drafting writing assignments. As Arty has

trouble with organization skills as well as staying focused then these sites would be an ideal way
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of building his knowledge and confidence of the pre-writing skills he will need as he progresses

onto middle school English. Next, I wanted to give Arty some means of expressing his work in a

form other than writing as he is generally unwilling to write to any great extent, or to present his

work in front of others. Both www.podcastalley.com and www.voki.com are ideal ways for him

to do so without presenting work in person. Podcast alley would provide the ideal resources to

start Arty in the digital realm of audio broadcasting, while Voki offers him the added incentive

of creating animated characters to accompany his voice. As I know that Arty loves comic style

books such as “Wimpy Kid”, sports and superheroes, then he could incorporate one or all of

these into his own animated creations. Not only is the animation aspect of the site an incentive

for him to get excited about learning, it also offers him the choice of either recording his voice or

typing in the text manually. Another website I would use with Arty is www.quizizz.com. The

reason I chose this over other sites such as www.kahoot.com is that I can motivate Arty to read

and search for information using Quizizz. Arty is very reluctant to read at all, never mind

textbooks, but he gets very excited about using computer-based quizzes. I can personalize a

Quizizz for Arty’s skill level which encourages him to interact with a textbook by using Quizizz

questions to guide him to specific pages, paragraphs, and lines to find the answer. Not only does

this keep Arty interested through the personalized memes which I can tailor to his interests, but it

helps him to stay connected to key vocabulary and content which his peers are also covering.

Finally, I wanted to provide Arty with some sort of online game as a reward for when he

completes work to boost his productivity. However, I wanted a game with a specific purpose,

that of teaching much needed skills to students with conditions such as ADHD. www.fffbi.com

is a website I could use with Arty in this very way. As his ADHD is the primary cause of his

problems, the games, and missions on the “fffbi” website are specifically tailored to promote
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skills and teach strategies which students with ADHD will find useful as they face their

schoolwork and homework. It uses a fun “spy” theme which I feel Arty would really get

involved in, to encourage students to complete increasingly difficult and challenging tasks using

observations, note taking and thinking.