Running Head: CRITICAL REFLECTION (PART A)

Critical Reflection (Part A)

Comprehensive Evaluations Case Reports

 Breanna Delaquis (Carels)

 Brandon University

110220

04:761 Assessment in Inclusive Education (NET)

Dr. Alexa Okrainec

October 12, 2020

CRITICAL REFLECTION (PART A) 2

Comprehensive Evaluations Case Reports

Below I have made a critical reflection on three different case studies.  Each of these case

studies was carefully chosen for one of two reasons.  First, I was looking specifically for case

studies that were relevant to the middle year’s age range that I teach.  Secondly, I gravitated

towards case studies that discussed academic or learning disabilities that might be relevant to my

current teaching practice.  After reading through each of these case studies I was able to reflect

on my own teaching practice.  Some of the recommendations fit closely with adaptations I have

made for my own students while others were great reminders of things I could implement.  In

each case study reflection I began with a quick summary of the child and the learning challenges

or needs that were mentioned by the evaluator.  Then in the remaining paragraphs I took a deeper

dive into some of the recommendations that were given and how they might affect my own

teaching practice in terms of assessment.  

Case 33 (page 329 - 337)

Memory and Processing Assessments: A Report for Parents - Milton Dehn

In this case study presented by Milton Dehn we learn about an 11 year old student named

Jane Smalley.  Jane struggles academically in all areas specifically with oral language.  Her

parents requested this assessment to determine what Jane was struggling with, and to gain

insights on what might help her.  Delays were noted as early as preschool in her receptive and

expressive language.  Later, in grade one, she was diagnosed with a learning disability. Since

being diagnosed she has been receiving services.  The recent assessment brought to light some

specific areas of weakness for Jane.  From there, the report discussed some recommendations

that might be beneficial to Jane.  In the following paragraphs I will reflect on the
CRITICAL REFLECTION (PART A) 3

recommendations made and critically analyze whether such accommodations might be beneficial

in my own teaching practice.  

First, I would like to discuss recommendations five through seven that are related to

exams and tests.  Jane has difficulty retrieving factual information therefore there are some

recommendations that were made to accommodate.  The first suggestion involved providing her

context clues that are associated with the learning of academic material.  This might involve

trying to get her to remember the setting and circumstances in which the academic material was

taught.  I have actually used this strategy frequently with students that are having difficulty

remembering specific information.  For instance, if it was a science test I might have them try

and recall a specific experiment we did and how it might relate to the test question. For most

students you can see the lightbulb turn on as they reflect back on that specific context.  The next

recommendation that was made in terms of testing involved making questions that were in

recognition format.  So this would include questions that were multiple choice, true/false, and

matching.  Interestingly enough I had never heard of this specific strategy before in test making. 

Personally, I have always created tests that had a variety of types of questions.  Yet, it is

interesting to see it being suggested as a necessity for a student with difficulties such as Jane’s. 

I’m glad I read this recommendation as it is something I will consider for future students when

creating assessments.  The last recommendation made was dealing with providing time

extensions.  Since Jane has difficulty retrieving information and has an all-around slower

processing speed this is a reasonable accommodation to make.  This is another accommodation I

have made for students and will continue to make.  When I think back to students who have

needed adaptations for provincial exams, additional time was one of the few adaptations that

were granted to students if they had previously received this adaptation.  

CRITICAL REFLECTION (PART A) 4

Secondly, I would like to touch on the recommendations that were specific to her

memory challenges.  In recognizing that Jane has memory challenges one recommendation

revolved around study skills.  It is intriguing to me that students have such a wide range of skills

and strategies for studying.  This recommendation really made me recognize that studying skills

are a taught and acquired skill, not something you either can or can’t do.  As an educator it is my

responsibility to set students up with the opportunities to learn studying skills.  Another

recommendation they had for Jane was to learn specific memory strategies and visual

mnemonics.  

Finally, I want to touch on the recommendations that are specific to Jane’s attention.  I

have a handful of students that also struggle with attention span and these suggestions were a

good reminder for me.  Lessening the workload for students with attention difficulties was one

suggestion made, because for these students they already have to work longer and harder to make

up for their areas of weakness.  This is an adaptation that I try to remember and use for some of

my students with learning disabilities.  I often don’t overcomplicate it for myself.  The students

still receive the same worksheet or assignment but I cross out some of the questions or tell them

to do every other one.  Closely related to this first suggestion is to break assignments into chunks

or smaller and more manageable pieces.  I have started doing this with some of my younger

students this year actually.  I teach a grade 4-8 English class which means there are a wide range

of abilities.  For most of my older students they are given all of the information for an

assignment and they work through it at their own pace.  On the other hand my younger students

and few students with learning disabilities are working through one part of the assignment at a

time.  We work through part one of the assignment as a group and then slowly move through the

entire assignment in that fashion.  Each of the suggestions for attention were great reminders,
CRITICAL REFLECTION (PART A) 5

and I will continue to reflect back on my teaching practice to make sure I am using these

suggestions consistently.  

This case study had a lot of excellent recommendations.  I had specific students that

would pop into my mind as I read some of the recommendations.  I am sure they would benefit

greatly from using some of these adaptations.  What I really like though is that a lot of these

recommendations are just good teaching practice and would be beneficial to all students in the

classroom.  Although one might incorporate adaptations for a specific student, there are probably

several other students that would really appreciate and benefit from the adaptations as well.  

Case 36 (page 356 - 371)

Math Problem Solving: Applying a Processing Model to LD Determination - Gail
Chermaie, Linda Parks, and Ashely Schuler

The following case study was led by Gail Cheramie, Linda Parks, and Ashley Schuler.  In

the case study they talk about a twelve year old boy named Randall Hosp who is being re-

evaluated due to continued difficulties in math, writing, and spelling.  His mom is concerned that

even after teacher modifications to assignments and additional after school tutoring he is still

struggling.  Concerns have been present since the beginning of his schooling and he was even

held back after first grade because of academic concerns and his maturity level.  By the time he

was nine years old Randall was diagnosed with having a LD in mathematical reasoning.  The

case study looks more closely at the root of his challenges and provides recommendations to try

and aid his academic progress.  

Following the evaluation done, Randall still has weaknesses in written expression and a

learning disability in math.  Some of the recommendations made for both of these areas involved

the use of technology and computer programs.  One suggestion made for math was to use a

program called Plato Math Problem Solving.  They believe that the extensive hours of instruction
CRITICAL REFLECTION (PART A) 6

and interactive lessons will be beneficial to him.  I have a few students who struggle with

mathematical reasoning and problem solving so I looked up this program online.  You can buy

the program for a set amount of users.  It is something I will definitely keep in the back of my

mind moving forward.  I have recently discovered Google Read & Write PDF reader which I

was going to integrate into our problem solving lessons.  You can scan problems into a PDF and

then this PDF reader can be used to help break down the problems.  Students can have the

problem read to them, they can look up the definition of certain words, and they can highlight

important information.  It will still need to be a very guided lesson but it might be a good use of

technology.  Another use of technology that was suggested involves the instruction in

keyboarding and word processing skills.  This is another area where I have been using Google

Read & Write with students.  Although I have specific students in mind when using these tools,

currently I have been introducing them to the whole class.  An option that many students like to

take advantage of is the voice typing option.  This ends up being a much quicker option for some

students.  Then they can have their paragraph read back to them to make sure it makes sense.  

Another recommendation I want to touch on involved using mnemonic strategies to help

with Randall’s writing challenges.  I had previously heard of the COPS mnemonic:

Capitalization, Organization, Punctuation, and Spelling.  This is something I am going to prepare

and incorporate in my classrooms.  I have many students that could benefit from using this

strategy.  The other mnemonic I had not heard of was POWER: Plan, Organize, Write, Edit, and

Revise.  I do a similar version of this in my classroom naturally, and it is just through verbal

instruction.  It may be very beneficial for some of my students to see this mnemonic to help

guide them in the writing process when I am not there to verbally guide them step by step

through it.  
CRITICAL REFLECTION (PART A) 7

Overall I chose this case study because I have some students who have similar challenges

and I was hoping to find recommendations that were applicable.  There were several good

recommendations in this case study, and a few I really gravitated towards.  I already have plans

to make up posters and visual aids for the students to keep in their writing notebooks.  This case

study allowed me to be very reflective on my own teaching practice.  

Case 25 (page 233 - 241)

Difficulty Versus Disability? A Student Struggling in Math - John Garruto

This final case study is about a 10 year old girl named Lupita Thalgott who has learning

challenges but isn’t necessarily eligible for a learning disability diagnosis.  The main area of

academic struggle for Lupita is math.  She is receiving passing grades but constantly struggles in

math.  The evaluator, John Garruto, notes that her challenges are not enough to classify her with

a learning disability but discusses the importance of continued classroom support and out of class

tutoring.  One additional thing to mention is that Lupita has brought up the fact that she has

attentional and emotional problems.  Below I will discuss some of the recommendations

mentioned in the report that are intended to support Lupita.  

Since Lupita struggles with self-esteem there are a few recommendations specific to this

area.  I think they are important to mention as there are many kids over the years that could

benefit from a self-esteem booster.  Providing Lupita with opportunities where she can feel

successful was a good recommendation.  The suggestion they had along with this was to have

Lupita tutor and support younger children with the skills that she has mastered.  I appreciated

this suggestion and was able to think of scenarios where this might work in my own classroom. 

With teaching a large age range, grade 4-8, there are certainly opportunities where I could have

my older students supporting the younger students with a skill they have mastered already.  This
CRITICAL REFLECTION (PART A) 8

can give them some much needed confidence.  Plus I have heard many times that the best way to

learn is to teach.  The next recommendation that I really agree with involves relationship

building with the student in need.  I agree fully that a good student teacher relationship can go a

long way in supporting students and giving them the confidence they need.  They suggest using

positive reinforcement, praising appropriate behaviours, assigning Lupita tasks she would enjoy,

and having Lupita share her opinion.  Relationship building is always one of my top priorities,

but these are good reminders of things I can be doing with all of my students.  

The next two sections of recommendations are specific to attention and instructions. 

Lupita suggested that she has problems with attention at times and the evaluation showed her

response speed is slower.  Therefore, some good recommendations that were made were

chunking assignments into smaller more manageable pieces, reducing the amount of questions

she has to do, or increasing the amount of time she is given to do them.  I have adjusted

assignments using these suggestions for some of my students with learning disabilities, but I am

now thinking of some other students who could benefit from this type of structure.  I also think

that after students finish a chunk of work they should have a short movement break to get them

refocused for the next part of the assignment, especially those students that struggle with

attention.  Related to attention are giving student’s instructions.  I have learned over the years

that instructions are difficult for all students at some time or another.  The amount of times I

have to repeat myself after giving instructions is always surprising to me.  I have made some

adjustments to try and save myself from repeating the same instructions over and over but there

is still more I could do.  I require students to maintain eye contact with me while I give

instructions and I make sure to ask if there are any questions afterwards.  I also try to write out

instructions on the board if there are more than a couple steps they need to follow.  This way
CRITICAL REFLECTION (PART A) 9

they have a visual to reference back to after each step if they need.  For larger assignments I had

a colleague recommend using checklists with students.  This way they can physically check off

once they have completed a task.  The recommendations given in these sections were great

reminders.

Overall, I found this case study very helpful because of its focus on social-emotional and

attention challenges.  The focus on these areas brought in a unique perspective when considering

students who are struggling with academics.  Although there may be some very specific

academic related challenges, there are some outside factors that may also be very concerning.  I

really gravitated towards the recommendations for self-esteem, attention, and instructions in this

case study.  Again I was quickly able to identify students that may benefit from these

recommendations, or reflect on ways in which I already apply some of these recommendations in

my teaching practice. 
CRITICAL REFLECTION (PART A) 10

References

Mather, N. & Jaffe, L. E. (Eds.) (2010). Comprehensive evaluations: Case reports for

psychologists, diagnosticians, and special educators. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

ISBN 9780470617915