Pablo's StoryIn late January, I filled out a form nominating my student Pablo (name has been changed for confidentiality purposes) for the problem-solving process. As I described earlier, Pablo has been a part of my most intensive small group since the beginning of the year. He has received at least an hour of small group instruction dedicated to fluency and comprehension for all of the school year. Also, at the beginning of the year, I set up a repeated-readings intervention for him in which he reads a passage for 1 minute and I count how many words he read correctly and how many errors he made. We graph his score (words correct per minute) and set a goal for next time. He repeats the same passage four days in a row (one reading per day).
Pablo showed initial growth. Both his reading level and his fluency went up initially in the fall. After that, however, his growth platformed. However, since October, his levels have stayed the same, despite all of the intervention. For the latest oral reading fluency benchmark test, he scored only 33 WCPM. The benchmark (expected) score is 65-82 WCPM. As Pablo's level stays the same, he falls increasingly behind his classmates.
The First Meeting
Over a month after I referred Pablo to the problem-solving process, we finally had his meeting. I informed his mother about our concerns over the phone, and she came to the meeting. We discussed his strengths (comprehension) and needs (fluency). His mother agreed that she saw these same struggles at home, and that he seemed very unmotivated to do his homework. At the conclusion of the meeting, we decided we needed more information about his abilities. Our special education teacher decided to give him a phonological processing assessment to see if he had gaps in his phonemic awareness, and I gave him the CORE phonics screening. I was hopeful we would find some answers that would guide us to help Pablo.
The Second Meeting
Fortunately, both myself and the special education teacher got our assessments done quickly, and I pushed for us to meet as soon as possible. During hte meeting, our special education teacher revealed that Pablo had fallen in the "normal" range for all the areas of the assessment. Similarly, the CORE phonics screening revealed no significant gaps. I have mixed feelings about these results. Of course, I am happy that Pablo has no major phonics or phonemic awareness struggles that may indicate a learning disability. But I can't help feeling a little disappointed that we couldn't find a clear way ahead.
So now what?
After discussing Pablo a bit more, we decided that his primary struggle was fluency in connected text. The special education teacher and I discussed that the texts I am having him read may be at his frustrational level, which is inhibiting his growth. The special education teacher suggested that I seek out materials for him to practice reading phrases. Once he is able to read phrases with a high degree of fluency, we will move him back to passages. I will work with passages at a first grade level so that they are more at his instructional level.
But... is it enough?
I am happy to have a direction to move forward, but I am also terrified that it won't be enough. I am also frustrated that it took so long for me to get this basic advice. I understand the need for a process and involving parents. I also understand that there are many students in my school that require attention. All the same, I wish I could get some more outside help for Pablo. I've been his teacher for almost two years, and I can't help but feel that I am failing him. I hope that these new strategies will wokr for him.
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