Emily E.

Molina
Context
The school is an urban elementary public school that
participates in the ASD Nest program, in which high
functioning students with Autism spectrum disorders learn
in an inclusive co-teaching classroom environment.
Students with ASD are taught alongside students with
typical development. Students with ASD receive push-in
and pull-out services for speech and occupational therapy.
The students with ASD also spend time working on their
social skills.
The students are in a kindergarten, self-contained
classroom and participate in a dual language program
(English and Spanish).
Students Background
Name Aiyana
Age 5 years old
Gender Female
Grade Level Kindergarten
Primary Language English, learning Spanish

Aiyana is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder


Learning Targets
1) With teacher support (i.e. verbal prompting,
questioning, and modeling), Aiyana will recall 2 or more
important details of an unfamiliar text, discussing these
with a classmate in a turn and talk exercise.

2) With a peer, the student will engage in an ongoing
dialogue about the book and add information directly
related to the previous comment for 2 minutes.


IEP Goals & Standards
IEP:
Within a year, Aiyana will engage in an ongoing dialogue,
by showing reciprocity (adding information directly related to
previous comment), increasing from 1 to 5 minutes, and during a
hands-on project, progressing to a dialogue with decreasing use of
manipulatives, given direct and indirect prompts.

NY State Common Core Standards:

Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and
understanding.
With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including
key details.


Pre-Assessment
Fountas & Pinnell* Benchmark Assessment provides
information on each individuals processing strategies,
fluency, and comprehension (running record).
Administered one-on-one student and teacher
assessment conference for about 20-30 minutes.


* Fountas & Pinnell: extensively field-tested and used as an assessment
tool over the past twenty years.
Students Strengths
Aiyana recognizes all the letter names (capital and
lowercase) and the majority of the letter sounds.
Aiyana can read and write sight words (i.e., My, has,
and, the).
She uses picture cues to assist her in reading
unfamiliar words.
When she sounds out words, she tends to write the
first, ending, and middle sounds, ex. I plad insrmet (I
played instruments) or Pak (for park).
She self-corrects when reading a text orally.


Challenges
Reading Comprehension
She seems to have difficulty elaborating on an
answer. For example, during a running record
assessment, Aiyana was asked, Of all the things the
girls like to do together, whats their favorite thing to
do? Why? She gave a one-word response, Paint.
On the running record, she scored a 2 on the Beyond
the Text section, which means she provides some
important information, but neglects other key
understandings.


Comprehension
Comprehending is something you do while you read so
that you have comprehension after you read. (Moore &
Lyon, 90)*
Since comprehending is an internal mental process,
educators use think-aloud to explicitly model the
comprehending process for young children. During think-
aloud, the children are listening to the conversations that
go on inside a readers head as he/she is reading the text;
the questions and predictions. Therefore, the educator will
express the feelings or thoughts that come up while
reading.
* Moore, P., & Lyon, A. (2005) New Essentials for Teaching Reading in Pre-K-2.
Scholastic Inc.
Intervention via Lesson
Think-Aloud/Read Leo Lionnis Swimmy
Prior to the lesson, previewed the book and used post-
its to record my reactions throughout the story, and to
mark where I would stop and question the students.
Hmmm I know that when we do puzzles, we use
tiny pieces to make a bigger picture. How can these
tiny fish get together to form a big fish?
At the end, students summarized the story in
sequence, using three important details (using three
fingers).
Post-Assessment
Aiyana actively participated during the reading by
responding to all of my questions.
Aiyana consistently called out the answers and
directed her attention to me (turned her body to face
me), and therefore did not engage in an ongoing
conversation with her peer (not meeting my 2
nd

Learning Target).
She was able to retell the story with the use of
pictures from the book.

Next Steps
Review the expected behaviors for Turn and Talk
Continue to teach Aiyana how to retell a story using
three important details with other Think Alouds.
Have her practice retelling (the learned skill) with her
leveled books and with peers. Initially, in a small
group (Guided Reading) and then independently.
Teach her other Comprehending Processes, such as,
Making Connections (with other books and herself ).