Sample case study for

1. BY Anne Cantwell
AND
Richard Racz

2. Case Study: Joe smith
A DESCRIPTION
ACCORDING TO PREVIOUS IEP, JOE IS:
 Fourteen years old.
 A Caucasian male attending eighth grade in a public school in the
Santa Clara school district.
 A native English speaker.
 Qualifying for Special Education Services under the qualifying term of
SLD, specific learning disabilities.

3. Case Study: Joe smith
CURRENT PLACEMENT
 Currently placed in a special day class 4 times daily for
45 minutes of the day, 57% of the school day.
 His listed previous accommodations include:
 Preferential seating near the board with unobstructed
view and a reminder to wear contacts or glasses.
 Take or finish tests in RSP room, using extra time as
needed Help with "chunking" long term assignments;
establish achievable milestones
 These are labeled "as needed" and are meant for the
general education classroom

4. Case Study: Joe smith
STRENGTHS
 Science
 According to his former science teacher, Joe “turns in high quality
work, stays focused, seems confident in his ideas, prepares his own
study materials and studies for tests.”
 Reading and literacy
 Joe is able to respond to comprehension or literary analysis
questions with at least 80% accuracy.
 Attends well to presentations, and responds well to factual
questions and ones which require more thinking after.
 Social Skills
 IEP report describes Joe as well liked by peers, and cooperative with
teachers and staff

5. Case Study: Joe smith
OTHER ACADEMICS
Moderate Areas of Concern
 Study Skills
 Previous IEP goal involves acquiring study skills by preparing study
materials and using techniques such as notes and flash cards.
 Math.
 Working on pre algebra and should be ready for algebra in high
school.
 Has "good number sense", often catching his own mistakes, but is
occasionally confused by new assignments.
 Previous IEP had one math related goal.
 Takes the CST with accommodations (small group, ask to clarify
instructions)

6. Case Study: Joe smith
AREA FOR IMPROVEMENT:
WRITING
 Joe has scored out of the testing range on state
Previous teacher: “His writing contains awkward wording
in some sentences and paragraphs, and lack of good
organization in his writing, failing to develop his
thoughts sequentially with logical placement based on
importance of thoughts.”

7. STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES
Joe’s Writing Strengths:
 Often has awkward transitions between paragraphs.
 Often repeats his mistakes upon rewrite.
 Awkward sentence structure
Joe’s Writing Weaknesses:
 Eager to learn
 Has good reading and listening comprehension

8. Case Study: Joe smith
PREVIOUS IEP GOALS IN WRITING
TWO IEP GOALS FROM LAST YEAR
Joe will…
“Develop a 4-5 paragraph paper which includes clear introductory, body and conclusion
paragraphs in 3 of 4 instances observed, obtaining 85% or better on a teacher prepared rubric.”
 Benchmarks
 After three months: “needs much scaffolding”, has “errors in mechanics” and
“choppy sentence structure.”
 After six months: “doesn’t always follow directions” and still lacks in sentences
structure.
“Be able to create five paragraph essays in which all paragraphs show unity, and all transitions
are appropriately used.”
 No benchmarks listed.

9. Case Study: Joe smith
OUR PLAN:
PROPOSED IEP GOAL
Given a topic:
“Joe will write a short series of four writing compositions for
an hour each day. He will follow four standard prompts for
writing: persuasive, descriptive, analysis and a short story.
They each display clear organization, including smooth
transitioning between paragraphs and smoothly constructed
sentences, as well as at least five visual and/or multimedia
supports for his story. He will be graded on a rubric that will
include three requirements each for the three topics of the
organization (and appropriateness to writing objective),
writing mechanics and effort/creativity, and will receive a
score of 4 or 5 out of 5 possible points on six of the nine
category criteria for each essay.”

10. OTHER FACTORS
 We considered the following other factors that could be
causing Joe’s writing problems:
 Home factors
 IEP contains no information about Joe’s home life being disruptive
 Language Acquisition problems
 Joe is a native English speaker
 Vision/hearing problems or environmental concerns
 The IEP reported no hint of vision or hearing problems and his
science performance indicates that his problems are not across the
board in all subjects
 Behavioral/social factors:
 Not an issue, as IEP report describes Joe as being highly motivated
to improve his skills, even in writing.

11. Case Study: Joe smith
OUR PLAN:
FOUR PROMPTS
 Because Joe needs practice with organization , planning
and crafting, we thought that several shorter essays would
be beneficial for him to really practice.
 Each prompt addresses a different standard and type of
writing, and are connected through a common theme.
 Some of the prompts interconnect.
 Ex: Research paper requires Joe to research the history of the
rules of a chosen sport, then predict future rules. His short
story will involve a sports game set in the future using his
predictions.

12. Case Study: Joe smith
STANDARDS ADDRESSED
BY ALL FOUR PROMPTS:
1.1
Create compositions that establish a
controlling impression, have a
coherent thesis, and end with a
clear and well-supported conclusion
1.6
Revise writing for word choice;
appropriate organization;
consistent point of view;
and transitions between
paragraphs, passages,
and ideas.

13. Case Study: Joe smith
PROMPT STANDARD
Find and describe an article in an online 2.2 Write responses to literature:
encyclopedia which describes the rules your a. Exhibit careful reading and insight in their interpretations.
favorite sport. Did the author of the article b. Connect the student’s own responses to the writer’s
techniques and to specific textual references.
organize the details of the game in a logical,
c. Draw supported inferences about the effects of a literary work
non-confusing manner? Explain why or why on its audience.
not? d. Support judgments through references to the text, other
works, other authors, or to personal knowledge.
How have the rules of your chosen sport 1.4 Plan and conduct multiple-step information
changed over the last ten years? How do you searches by using computer networks and modems.
think they will change in the near future and 1.5 Achieve an effective balance between researched
why? information and original ideas.
Compare and contrast the differences between
your chosen sport and another. Which is 1.3 Support theses or conclusions with analogies,
designed better for strategic play? Why? paraphrases, quotations, opinions from authorities,
comparisons, and similar devices.
Using your predictions about the future of your 2.1 Write biographies, autobiographies, short stories, or
chosen sport, write a short story about a game narratives:
that might happen ten years in the future a. Relate a clear, coherent incident, event, or situation by using
well-chosen details.
featuring at least two well developed characters
b. Reveal the significance of, or the writer’s attitude about, the
and featuring a well developed arc with an subject.
introduction, climax and conclusion. Create at c. Employ narrative and descriptive strategies (e.g., relevant
least three visuals or multimedia works dialogue, specific action, physical description, background
depicting your characters or illustrating your description, comparison or contrast of characters).
setting.

14. Case Study: Joe smith
PROPOSED SCHEDULE

15. Case Study: Joe smith
IMPLEMENTATION
For implementing this goal, we suggest:
 1.5 hours of his SDC time spent on the prompt at hand
 First week spent on organization
 One graphic organizer per prompt
 One outline per prompt after G.O. with teacher’s help
 Rough Draft
 Proofread with Ginger
 Proofread with text reading software
 ex: Read Q, Write Q

16. TIMEFRAME/DUE DATES
 Joe’s papers would be due one every three months,
following a quarter system
 Suggested due dates: The 10th of Oct, Jan, April and
June
 He would work for about a week on planning, 1-1.5
weeks to perfect his work, then his teacher would
grade for a week and they could discuss his
grade/improvement before explaining the next
assignment.
 This would take about a month to a month in a half,
allowing for a month to month and a half to work on
other skills, such as math and study skills.

17. Case Study: Joe smith
A SHORT STORY GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

18. Case Study: Joe smith
IMAGERY INSPIRATION
VS.

19. Case Study: Joe smith
ASSISTIVE TOOL NO. 1
Ginger
 Analyzes misspelled words within the context of an entire
sentence and suggests words based on the intended
meaning of the sentence, as opposed to simply suggesting
words that resemble the misspelled word.
 Corrects whole sentences, including multiple spelling and
grammar errors all in one click.
 This will allow for Joe
 faster proofreading
 more intelligent assistance for word choice/replacement

20. Case Study: Joe smith
ASSISTIVE TOOL NO. 2
Read Q, Write Q
 Will read back Joe’s papers to him
 This will allow him to train his ear to hear awkward
transitions and sentences in his writing
 SDC teacher should become familiar with using this
program beforehand and teach Joe after his final draft
is finished.
 SDC teacher should also listen at least once with Joe
before he rewrites to answer questions about his
writing, or suggestion improvements he has missed.

22. Case Study: Joe smith
RUBRICS
 We designed a rubric for each assignment
- This is necessary to make sure Joe varies his writing style
and organization appropriate to the writing goal
 Each rubric is divided into three components:
 Mechanics/style
 Organization
-These two target his IEP areas of improvement
 Creativity/effort
-The creativity/effort point will allow Joe to achieve points for
the effort he puts in to improve his skills and allow him to enjoy
writing more

23. Case Study: Joe smith
SAMPLE RUBRIC
WRITING MECHANICS
A SAMPLE RUBRIC
-Writing uses correct spelling
ORGANIZATION
-The story contains an engaging
EFFORT/CREATIVITY
-The story includes two to five
with 90 % or more words opening, and a character andplot images chosen before writingto
spelledcorrectly. developing arc to a climax. inspire the description of the
setting and/or characters.
-Writing uses proper grammar -The story resolves the climax
and punctuation. with a satisfactory ending -The story has introduced at least
thatanswers all or most questions two well developedcharacters in
raised the story and describes the
setting in at least 1-2 paragraphs.
Sentences are well put together; -The story raises more than one The story creatively works the
varying in length throughoutthe question throughout the plotfor predictions from
paper, use varied vocabulary and intrigue. student'sresearch presentation or
avoid excessive repetition paper into the plot.
ofwords or phrases. -Plot points (or questions) are
introduced and resolved in
alogical, consequential manner.
Student has proofread using Plot transitions unfold gracefully The story has been well thought
ginger and a text reading as the story unfolds out using a graphic organizerand
softwareprogram meets the length requirement of
two to three pages

24. Case Study: Joe smith
CONCLUSION
 Each section is scored 1-5 out of 5 possible points.
 According to his IEP goal, Joe must achieve 4 or 5 points in
6 of the categories in the rubric (9 total).
 This ensures that he is mastering 67% of the skills he is
trying to learn, which seems an effective, but attainable
goal.
 The teacher will report back his grade to him within a week
of the due date, so that they will be able to work on needed
skills for the next assignment.

25. Case Study: Joe smith
CONCLUSION
With the proper guidance and support, Joe can learn how to
hone his skills so his writing will be less like this:

26. Case Study: Joe smith
(Unless that elephant
happens to be really good at darts…)