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Kendall Lambert
EDU 375
Dr. Schmalz
5 April 2022
Case Study

Description of Child

 Pseudonym: Josh

 Age: 18, 12th grade

 Sex: Male

 Disability: Met minimal definition criteria for Specific Learning Disability but did not

fall under any of the special considerations. His ER said that he was on grade level for

reading but was several grade levels below in math. His specific learning disability is in

math computation. There is a family history of dyslexia too.

 Type of program: Student is educated in the general education classroom setting for all

classes with regular education curriculum and is expected to progress with the

appropriate learning support through modifications. He falls in the category of those

receiving itinerant learning support.

o Josh’s modification and specially designed instruction include extended time (up

to 50% more time) on all projects, tests, and quizzes.

o Josh’s tests are read aloud in small groups.

o Josh’s tests are also adapted (no more than three choices, no extra answers for

matching or in word banks).

 Josh is not receiving any related services.

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Profile of the Child (Strengths)

According to Josh’s IEP, some of his strengths are written expression and hands on

activities. I did not have the chance to see any of Josh’s written work but was able to observe

him in an art class. He was working on a mug that was the current project and was able to stay on

task well. Josh was well-engaged in the art class and it appeared to me that the hands-on project

he was doing was going well and was something he enjoyed. He was less distracted by his

girlfriend in the art class, which further reinforced the idea that hands-on projects are something

he is good at and cares about. His desire to be a police officer, as documented in his IEP, reflects

his strength and recognition of his strength with hands-on activities, as being a police officer is a

highly physical job.

When I asked a teacher what Josh’s biggest strengths are, he said that he has a great sense

of humor, reads well, is willing to show up, and is a hard worker in areas that he cares about.

Josh’s commitment to showing up was something I saw by that fact that he was there every day I

was observing, for both EDU 375 and EDU 482. This commitment likely helps him with being

able to be on as many sports teams as he is, because team sports require that you show up

consistently and help your teammates or you will get kicked off. He plays soccer, basketball, and

does track and field which demonstrates his commitment as doing all of that and school requires

a lot of time and effort. The only evidence of him being a good reader that I saw was that he did

not seem to struggle at all with reading in his personal finance class, but there was no reading-

heavy class that I was able to see him read in. His sense of humor reported by his teacher plays

to another one of his strengths that I observed, which was his social ability. Josh seems to get

along well with everyone in his classes and interacts appropriately with those around him. He has
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a girlfriend, which is generally indicative of at least moderate social ability, and has a lot of

friends at the school. In class he would chat with others and had the typical high school male

athlete demeanor, joking with friends and teachers alike. When he was asked if he could be

observed for this case study, he was amiable and respectful to the supervisor that talked to him

and was willing to do whatever was asked of him. This genial attitude was also demonstrated in

his art class, when he volunteered to help the teacher carry pounds of red clay from a storage

room back to the classroom because they were out. Behaviorally, this matches what his teachers

said about acting out behaviorally not being an issue. Josh’s hard-working nature for things that

he cares about is demonstrated in the fact that he has an A in gym class and participates in so

many sports, both of which are physical in nature. Someone who is not willing to work hard for

the things they care about would not be involved in so many extracurriculars. His teacher has

also said that sports are one of the primary things that Josh cares about. Josh also has a job

outside of school and his driver’s license, which both demonstrate a willingness to put in the

effort if the reward is desirable to him.

Another strength that Josh has is physical ability. It has already been stated that he plays

a lot of sports, and from what I observed in his gym class he is most likely good at them. He

applies himself even in gym class and has no issues doing what he is trying to accomplish. This

is something that will serve him well if he pursues his desire to be a police officer.

Profile of the Child (Weaknesses)

Some of the weaknesses that Josh has are perfectionism, a “D’s get degrees” mentality,

test anxiety, and low self-esteem and focus. I have put perfectionism as a weakness because

while for some people it causes them to strive to succeed and do well academically, for others it

can become a hindrance to academics, as the mentality becomes “Why bother at all if I can’t do
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it right the first time?”. Josh’s perfectionism might express itself more positively in his drive to

do sports and might be a motivating factor in all the time and effort that he puts into them, but it

does not appear to motivate him when it comes to school. The test anxiety that his parents

indicated in his IEP also would lead me to believe that his perfectionism affects him negatively

in school. If he is not bothering to study but still has to take a test, being unprepared and a

perfectionist is the perfect storm when it comes to causing test anxiety. His parents also indicated

that even though he struggles with test anxiety he will do well in subjects that he cares about, so

the test anxiety is not resulting from an inability to ever do well on tests but is likely more

psychological.

The ”D’s get degrees” mentality may also be a part of his perfectionism and the “don’t

try if you might fail” concern. His teachers have said that he will tell you that he is content to

float through high school and does not care much as long as he successfully graduates. This

weakness is an unwillingness to do things well that do not interest him fully. His ability to put in

the effort has been demonstrated previously, but his need to be interested to be driven to perform

well is shown in his IEP where it is reported that he has two A’s but everything else is a C or

below.

Findings and Conclusions

Due to Josh’s disability his biggest struggle is in math computation, specifically in

applying arithmetic operations and using complex numbers. This is reflected in his annual IEP

goal regarding his struggle in math. It does not appear that he struggles with the dyslexia that is

prevalent in his family history because of his ability to read well and on grade-level according to

his ER and his teachers. Josh did not struggle to follow orally given directions in any of his

classes and according to his teacher he is a good reader, which would imply that his disability is
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not in understanding spoken or written word. However, his IEP modifications indicate that he

may struggle with understanding written expression because his tests are read aloud to him

instead of him reading it himself. There is a mismatch between what his teachers and his ER say

and what some of his accommodations are, unless the accommodations are to help with his

focus, a weakness that his parents mention.

Josh had no struggle with expressing himself verbally in all of the social and classroom

situations I observed. This implies that his specific learning disorder is either in the area of using

or expressing written language particularly in math, which is shown in his IEP. His parents said

that he has a strength in written expression, so it is possible that his specific struggle is in

mathematical reasoning, which means he has trouble expressing himself in math but not in

English. I saw no evidence that reading comprehension is also a difficulty for him.

Josh’s goals coming out of high school are to study criminal justice at the Community

College of Beaver County (CCBC) and, once graduated, become a police officer. In his IEP it

states that he will visit CCBC and also job shadow as a part of his preparation to leave high

school. ?????????

Josh has no other disabilities or difficulties described or addressed with goals in his IEP

other than the one regarding math computation. Regarding his accommodations, he is allowed up

to 50% more time on tests, quizzes, and projects, has tests read aloud to him, and has adapted

tests, the specifics of which were stated in the description of child section. To specifically aid in

his struggles with math, his IEP said that he would work on his math in the context of the

personal finance class that he was taking this year. While I was at Riverside, Josh did not take

any tests or quizzes that I was able to observe, but the assistant principal mentioned that he

would take Josh out of class and to his room to have tests administered verbally. In art class they
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were working on a project, but it seemed that Josh was on track with where everyone else was

and so did not need to have the extra time for that project. The personal finance classes that I

observed, at least in the unit they were in when I was there, did not seem to be particularly math-

heavy and did not involve numbers beyond knowing who had the most money in the long-term

stock market game they were playing. I did not observe any specific strategies being used for

Josh to aid him in accomplishing his IEP goals. According to his teacher, Josh’s needs in math

are being met through his construction of a daily living budget as a part of his personal finance

class. I did not hear any mention of this during the time that I was in that class, but it may be

covered in another unit during the year.

Josh’s family is very involved in his schooling and has been accepting of disabilities. His

mother is the one that is the primary point of contact for the school and according to one teacher

is very involved. She will respond to emails and will come in for meetings. Josh’s father is also

involved but is not the one who takes care of school-related issues. Parental involvement is

further supported by their input on the IEP regarding Josh’s strengths and weaknesses, where

they particularly emphasized that he is good at listening but has low self-esteem and low focus.

As has been mentioned before, there is a family history of dyslexia and Josh’s younger brother

also has a specific learning disability in math and reading. Their family has responded well to the

needs of the children, being very accepting of the needed change and advocating that their sons

be evaluated even when others did not think it was necessary. While the parents are very

involved, they are not overly concerned with academic performance and are place more

emphasis on graduation.

Josh’s mother in particular wanted Josh to be evaluated for a learning disability and so he

was, right before his senior year of high school. This has meant that it has been difficult to work
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his math goals into his education, as the only math class he will take before he graduates is

personal finance. This should not hinder his later education too much, however, as the Criminal

Justice Academy at CCBC does not require that he take a math class. It will be important that he

does fully grasp how to make a daily living budget and the math required to do so or he may

have difficulty later in the basic math required to live functionally.

I think that based on Josh’s disability he is placed appropriately regarding the intensity of

support. His specific learning disability does not impact him socially or behaviorally and only

minimally in his academics. He was able to make it through his junior year of high school

without being recommended for evaluation, so the impact on his academic performance had not

been serious enough to warrant anyone’s concern other than his mothers up until that point.

Because of this minimal impact on his education, his relative success in areas other than math,

and his being on grade level developmentally in physical, behavioral, cognitive, and social areas,

I see no reason why he should be placed in a more intensive level of learning support.

Recommendations

I would recommend that Josh continue in the Itinerant level of learning support for the

reasons mentioned above. I do not think that Josh needs any related services outside of the

classroom because he has no other disorders or disabilities other than his specific learning

disability. I would recommend, however, that his teachers try to use motivational strategies to get

him more invested in his learning so he will pull his grades up before the end of the year. This

would help him when applying to CCBC, because having higher grades will not only increase his

likelihood of being accepted but also of getting scholarships. If his teachers taught and helped

him with becoming self-motivated that would also help him to perform better in classes he may
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not love in college and might not care about otherwise. This would help him improve his

prospects in his job search after college too, if his grades were not simply passing.

An accommodation that I would recommend is that his personal finance teacher try to

work more algebra and math computation into Josh’s curriculum. Even if Josh will have to

formulate a daily living budget during one unit, that will not provide enough instruction to teach

and reinforce the basics of algebra and complex numbers to the extent that Josh needs. I

understand that Josh is graduating at the end of this year, so that does complicate things

somewhat because he has not had the benefit of having an IEP and specially designed instruction

for more than this year, and it is difficult to help a student improve in an area where they are

below grade level in one year. However, I do think that it is worth it to be intentional now that

his disability is known, and I think that his personal finance teacher should try to find ways to

incorporate algebra into his class regularly. I have taken a personal finance class, and I know that

there are topics that are covered that incorporate algebraic operations, such as finding

percentages for a tip or for tax. If these kinds of topics could be spread throughout the year and

regularly revisited and reviewed, even briefly, Josh’s math ability would hopefully increase.

I would recommend implementing direct instruction and using both verbal and visual

aspects of instruction. This is because Josh seems to do well with verbal instruction and because

being very clear and concise with lessons is helpful for students with specific learning

disabilities. In terms of accommodations, I think that the additional time is probably the most

important and one that he should pursue being given in college, as that allows extra time for

processing.

In terms of goals, I think it would be helpful to have more concrete transition goals, such

as application to CCBC. The IEP contains job shadowing and visiting CCBC but does not say
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anything about helping with attendance there. I think that having a completed application to

CCBC would be a helpful goal for his senior year to make sure that he is successful in his

transition.

Overall, Josh has not been seriously affected by his disability. He has been able to get

through school undiagnosed and is still on track to graduate on time. His family is highly

involved and he is a normal kid in most regards. His current accommodations seem appropriate

for his disability, but I think that his personal finance teacher could be more intentional about

aiding Josh in his math computation to equip him for success. I think that Josh will do well in a

hands-on career like policework and if he is able to grasp the basics of arithmetic computation in

his personal finance class he should be largely successful with the basic math requirements of

everyday life.

Questions: is he job shadowing or visiting CCBC? Is he doing the assessments? Has he

applied to the college?