Student: Billy

Assessor: Ashley Henderson

School: Applegate Elementary School
Date of Birth: 06/2008
Dates of Pretest: February 2, 4, and 11, 2015
Dates of Posttest: April 17, 20, 22, 27, and 29, 2015
Demographics
Billy attends Applegate Elementary School, a public school in Apple City built for the families in
nearby Applegate Village. Billy is in a first grade class with many other students receiving
tutoring resources through UFLI and the school offered ELF program. Billy also receives
tutoring through the ELF program on Friday mornings with Eliza Milton. The school has 303
students with 72% of the school receiving free or reduced lunch (60% free, 11% reduced). The
school is 54% black, 27% white, 10% Hispanic, and 7% Asian/Pacific Islander. It is unknown
how many siblings Billy has because he constantly identifies students seen around the school as
his brother or sister. Billy does not live with his father, but does see his father occasionally.
Billy lives with at least one brother and has other half-siblings, including a new half-sister on his
fathers side. Due to a family situation, Billy has to stay up late on Tuesday nights, so
Wednesday mornings are especially difficult for him. He is on a behavior chart in the classroom,
which was used occasionally during tutoring sessions, but changed multiple times throughout the
semester. At the beginning of the year, Billy read at a level 1. Billy knows that he is reading
below grade level and it is reflected in his overall attitude and how he talks about himself in
terms of reading.
Tests Administered
A Sound Beginning: Phonological Awareness Assessment
Concepts about Print
Jump Start in Reading: Alphabetic Principle Assessment
Jump Start in Reading: Beginning Reading Assessment
Jump Start in Reading: Invented Spelling Assessment
Running Record
TEST PERFORMANCE
Blending Phonemes measured Billys ability to combine the phonemes in words. Billy correctly
blended eight out of the ten provided words. Segmenting Phonemes measured Billys ability to
separate the phonemes in words. Billy correctly segmented six out of the ten provided words. In
all, Billy had a total phoneme level score of fourteen out of twenty. Billys phoneme skills are
mildly developmentally delayed.
Concepts about Print measured Billys ability to identify different aspects of print in books and
conventions of print. Billy was prompted to point out different parts of the book for the print in
books section. For the conventions of print section, Billy was prompted to name and define
different types of punctuation. At his pretest, Billy correctly identified five of the ten directed
responses in the print and books section and four of the ten prompts in the conventions of print
section.

Alphabetic Principle measured Billys ability to identify the name, sound, and a word for each
letter of the alphabet in both upper and lower case. At his pretest, Billy was able to correctly
name every letter, make the sound of twenty letters, and give a word with the correct letter and
sound for twenty-four of the letters. Billy was very confident in all of his answers. The letters
that gave him difficulty were the letters with a sound entirely different from the name of the
letter, such as w.
Letter-Sound Sequencing measured Billys ability to understand the correspondence between
sounds and letters. At his pretest, Billy was having more fun playing with the letters provided
than in combining the letters to make the appropriate words. This is evidenced by many of his
answers that had an added l. When Billy was not adding an l to his words, he often had the
correct letters, but in an incorrect order.
Invented Spelling measured the application of Billys phonological awareness skills. Billy
scored in the 27th percentile, so his phonological awareness skills are on the moderately delayed
level.
Rapid Letter-Naming measured Billys ability to quickly name letters. Billy completed the
activity in less than one minute, so his skills are on the advanced level.
Preprimer Word Lists measured Billys ability to identify words on a preschool level. Billy
extremely enjoyed the flashcards with these words. Each list is color coded and he was so
excited to move to each color. He wanted to hold the cards and continually asked if he could
assess me by saying, Your turn, your turn! He received an almost perfect score on these two
lists which puts him on the average level.
Primer Word Lists measured Billys ability to identify words on a kindergarten level. Billy
missed a few more words in this section. The words he missed were misread as another similar
word. Billys ability to identify words on a kindergarten level is mildly developmentally
delayed.
First Grade Word Lists measured Billys ability to identify words on a first grade level. Billy
stated that he knew all of these words because they were his sight words. He just barely passed
these lists, which means he is moderately developmentally delayed when it comes to words on
his grade level.
CVC Word Lists measured Billys ability to recognize consonant-vowel-consonant words. Billy
missed a few of these words, which means he is moderately developmentally delayed in this
area.
CVC Nonwords Lists measured Billys phonics skills and his application of these skills to
nonwords in the consonant-vowel-consonant category. Billy had a hard time not reading these as
words. Oftentimes, he would name a similar word or add a letter to make it an actual word, such
as fis to fish or fom to from or mon to Monday. Billys ability to read non-words is at a
moderately developmentally delayed level.

Alphabetic Principle
Missed
Letters

Name of
Uppercase
Letter
PRE
+/-

POS
T
+/-

Sound of
Letter
PRE
+/-

A word that begins with

POS
T
+/-

W
G
O
C
Y
I
U
X
P
H

+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
- (ya)
+
+
+
- (uh)
+
+
- (ya) - (ya)
+
+
- (z)
- (z)
+
+
+
+
+
- (ha)
26/2 26/26 20/2 20/26
6
6
Beginning Reading Assessments

PRE

POST

PRE
+/-

wind
jug
octopus
Crystal
yo-yo
igloo
uncle
x-ray
panda
house
25/26

whale
grandma
octopus
cry
yellow
igloo
use
x-ray
pug
Howard
26/26

+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
26/26

Pre
20/20
19/20
16/20
19/20
15/20
14/20
15/20
9/20

Preprimer 1
Preprimer 2
Primer 1
Primer 2
First Grade 1
First Grade 2
CVC Words
CVC Nonwords

Name of
Lowercase
Letter
POST
+/+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
26/26

Post
19/20*
20/20
20/20*
19/20
16/20
20/20
17/20

* The cards are color coded and Billy really wanted to work with the pink and orange cards, so
we repeated these even though it was not necessary. We had extra time on the last day.
Pretend Spelling
Pretest
Pretend
Float
While

Peter
Flot
Yilo

Posttest
3
3

Preten
Flot
Yiyl

3
3

Ruler
Finish
Angry
Picking
Junk
Planted
Dress

Rlor
Fins
A engey
Picag
Junkg
Plitit
Dress

2
3
3
3
3
3
4
27.5/40

Rlure
Finsh
Anragy
Picg
Gac
Plandt
Dress

2
3
3
3

3
4
25/40

Results Summary: The test results revealed that he struggles with CVC words and words at the
first grade level. His biggest struggle was the CVC nonwords, but I believe this was due to the
fact that he turned the nonwords into similar words, despite the directions that told him these
were nonwords. Some examples of this transition are as follows: san to sand, fis to fish, gud to
gum, saz to say, taf to tak, bot to boat, and fet to lift. The alphabetic principle assessment
revealed that he knows the name of all the letters, but struggles with some of the letter sounds
that are not obvious with their name. At the same time, he clearly knows words for each letter. I
believe Billy was taught the letters with specific words rather than in connection with their
sounds. Additionally, he recognized the letters that started his family members names.
Session Notes: My session notes are included behind this report. In flipping through these
session notes, you may notice that the beginning few are rather detailed, but the later notes have
less detail. If you look closely at the dates, you will notice that I am missing session notes for
the following dates: 03/18, 03/25, 04/01, and 04/13. Billy was absent on March 18th and April
13th. On the other two dates, Billy refused ot participate in UFLI.
Writing Book: Billy only participated in the writing book for two sessions, but the color coded
flash cards used for these activities can be found behind the session notes in this notebook. As
Billy was reluctant (a weak word to describe his opinion) to read at all or come to tutoring
sessions, I decided that it was more important to work through whatever Billy was willing to
work with because he clearly needed the practice. We often spelled different words on the
whiteboard. Billy especially liked the following words: mother, brother, sister, cousin. I would
use these words to work towards other similar words such as other. Oftentimes, Billy would
bring it back to the word mother and it was clear to see how much he loved his mother.
Coincidently, this repeat of the word mother coincided with the sessions where Billy refused to
read at all (Wednesdays) and was staying up late on Tuesday nights.
Summary: At the beginning, Billy flourished. He started at level 1, but within a few sessions he
was reading on a level 3 or 4. His biggest struggle was with vocabulary. He needed writing for
reading because it would improve his reading abilities by extending his sight word vocabulary,
but he refused to work with this activity. For this reason, I would use other methods of working
with words. Billy loved working with the magnetic letters, but he often wanted to make his own
words and (depending on the day) would throw a fit if I asked him about a similar word. For
Billy, the activities have to be fun and different or he will quickly become bored. Additionally,
some days he just cant take the extra pressure of tutoring sessions. On one day, Carolyn and I
worked together to tutor both of our tutorees and Billy did so well. Billy enjoys working with
4

other students, so I recommend using a small group UFLI model with him as much as possible.
He can show off in a group setting, so he is less likely to refuse to move forward with the
assignment. As Billy needs help working with CVC words and understanding that some words
are nonwords. For additional individualized practice, I would implement the use of CVC word
wheels. This will give Billy the chance to practice with different letter and sound combinations.
Once he shows improvement, you can move to CVCe or more complicated word patterns. This
will improve his vocabulary (when connected to real words), but will help him use his decoding
skills, which can be applied when he is reading a book. One of the tricks that I always reminded
Billy of before reading was using your finger to move through the sentence. I would say, Billy,
will you use your finger when you read, so I can see what word you are reading? Without
prompting, he would not do it, but when he did use his finger he read so much better. Without
using his finger, he would skip words or just guess at words, not unknown words, but ones I
know he knew because he had read them correctly on multiple occasions. Additionally, a lot of
the books at the lower levels, where Billy read for many weeks in a row, have a pattern or even
rhyme, such as Three Little Monkeys. Billy would continue this pattern even if the book had
ended the pattern. These books would have a different last page, but Billy would just look at me
while continuing the pattern from earlier pages, so I would prompt him to use his finger, so I
could see what he was reading. It would be really helpful if Billy could have practice at home
working through words, such as in writing for reading or with word wheels, but Billy did not talk
as if that was a possibility or a likelihood. With this in mind, Billy could easily receive this with
another adult and in a small group. Billy enjoys having a choice in the books that he reads and is
more receptive to the process when he has a choice, but at the same time this may not always be
the case. Always provide Billy with a choice of books at the necessary level, but some days this
will be too overwhelming. I had not noticed it before, but the two days where Billy was
responding so poorly behaviorally were both Wednesdays (March 25th and April 1st). I dont
know the details of the situation at home which required him to stay up late on Tuesdays, but I
think part of his home situation changed towards the end of the semester. Earlier in the semester,
he was very obvious about the fact that he did not live with his father and avoided talking about
his father. On one particular occasion, Billy had told me he was going to spend time with his
brother on Monday, so I asked him how it went on Wednesday. He thought I asked about his
father and yelled back, I dont live with my father! This was not his best day. In the last two
weeks of tutoring, Billy seemed happier and openly started talking about his father and other
members of his family that he had never mentioned previously. I doubt there is a significant
correlation between the change in his tutoring sessions and his behavior, but these last two weeks
were his assessment sessions. When he discovered we were using the assessment cards, he
became so much more animated and for the next four sessions he came out to tutoring without
pouting or delay. Another change in the last few weeks was our location. Throughout the
semester we had moved around depending on the availability of a nearby table. He had always
enjoyed sitting on the floor, but in these weeks we moved to the stairs. My session notes even
say starting assessment on stairs. For some unknown reason, he enjoyed sitting on the stairs.
He had the opportunity to arrange all of our supplies so that we left a path for people to walk
through. Additionally, he could walk up and down them when he needed to move around. I
would suggest allowing Billy to complete his tutoring sessions in a less structured location
because he considers it fun and the process becomes a game and he is a willing participant.
Behaviorally, Billy was doing so well in the last two weeks that he willingly read enough books
for me to take a running record up to level eight. Previously, we had only read to level 4. On the
5

last day, he read a level 8 book on the borderline of independent and instructional level (94.7%).
In earlier weeks, there is no chance that he would have read this far. During his behaviorally
interesting period, he would look at the number of books in a page and refuse to read the book if
there were more than eight pages. Something that is slightly problematic as the books become
more difficult. In his assessment, Billy did significantly better with all types of words including
the CVC nonwords. He still performed the worst in the sections he had at the pretest, but he
showed significant improvements in most of the areas.

SELF-ASSESSMENT
Tutor: Ashley Henderson
Tutee: Billy
Reflective Journal: Coming in to tutoring Billy, I had heard from Eliza (who tutors him once a
week through another program) that he was extremely hyperactive and had trouble focusing. In
the first few weeks, I found Billy to be slightly hyperactive, but he was well behaved. He was
funny and liked to tell jokes and make faces. He was a typical goofy first grader and I enjoyed
working with him. In fact, he loved working with the assessment flashcards. He thought the
flashcards were really cool because they were color coded and he could put them in order when
we finished. He felt that he was my little helper and he thought this was fun. When the
assessments ended, he I later found out that due to family situations, Billy does not get to sleep
until late, so he struggles on Wednesday mornings when I come to tutor him at 8:15am. On the
first day (March 25th), Billy yelled that he hated reading and stormed out of the room in a pout
only to throw himself on the floor. I was so discouraged. I felt like a complete failure. I am
supposed to be a special education teacher and my education has focused on working with
behavioral management, but I was failing. On this particular day, Billy was screaming, fake
crying and rolling on the floor. I had the opportunity to meet the Vice Principal because she had
to be called after the teacher, Ms. Branson, and teaching assistant, Mr, Wayland, were unable to
get Billy to participate. In looking back, I probably should have realized that something was
going on for Billy, but at the time it felt like it was my fault. I knew he thought the program was
boring. He had stated it on more than one occasion, but I should have thought beyond that
simple answer. In the last few weeks, I was so excited to work with Billy. His attitude and
behavior had changed significantly and he reminded me of the little boy I worked with at the
beginning of the semester. He was excited to work with the assessment flashcards and he was
willing to read. He told me stories about his home life and he even tried to give me directions (it
was really cute!). Although it is unrelated to the actual tutoring process, I learned this semester
how important it is to know your student on more than just the academic level. Having that
background information allows you to work with your student to meet their needs, especially if
they may not be met at home or if something is going on at home outside the control of your
student. Children are so affected by the world around them and this just doesnt affect their
home life, it comes into the school. As a whole, I was curious about what exactly was being
learned in the classroom. A lot of times I would have liked to align my work with things he was
learning, so it would be a consistent pattern and continuing practices that he knew with
additional support. We learned about strategy instruction this semester and I think it would be
helpful to implement this time of practice through UFLI in the new reading section, but have it
6

align with what he is doing in class. This way he would be able to understand the work was
universal.
Self-assessment Summary: Interestingly enough, the actual reading is my strength. I enjoy
reading a book with the students. For me, practicing reading significantly improved my reading
skills as a first grade student. As such, I think it is so important for a child to enjoy reading. So
much can be learned from reading about the world and also about yourself. If a child can enjoy
reading, they can always feel safe; they have an escape from the world. That is why I enjoy
walking through a book with a student: What do you think is going to happen in this story?
What is going on in this picture? Did our predictions come true? I struggled with the writing for
reading section, which could be why Billy failed to participate. In the beginning, the sentences
were rather strange. I know Billy needed to work with the words and Elkonin boxes would have
been helpful, but I felt awkward showing him how to use them. I definitely need to improve my
skills with Elkonin boxes. In the future, I would like to start with chips that slide into the boxes
and then work our way up to breaking apart the word. This way he is used to the practice and it
is not just all of a sudden teaching him to break apart the word in boxes. We worked through
sounding out words a lot, but I think I became too helpful. Oftentimes, Billy would look at me
when sounding out the word rather than the word he was reading. This would result in a word
that was not at all close to the one on the page. I would remind Billy to use his finger to sound
out the words and sometimes he would actually look at the word and sound it out, but other times
he would come back with another entirely different made-up word. When this happened, I
would sound out the words with Billy. I would slide my finger across the word and have him say
the sounds with me before we put them all together. This practice is highly effective and should
definitely be used, but I think Billy got to the point where he expected me to help him more than
he actually needed the help. Something I struggle with in all areas of my life is time and this was
especially obvious in UFLI tutoring with Billy. We would never get to Extending Literacy. The
only time we did I had promised Billy that I was going to read a book when we got to that
section. Billy needed extra things in the middle of these sessions. He didnt like the structure.
As such, I need to be prepared with extra ideas that work through the same skills. Rather than
becoming discouraged, I could have an alternative method that helps him work through decoding
or writing for reading that may be slightly different from the initial plan.
Implementation Summary: Coming into this class, I knew nothing about reading. I know I
struggled with reading as a first grader, but my mothers answer was to pay me for each book I
read. This worked amazingly for me and I now love to read, but it is not practical or feasible for
every struggling reader, especially in the classroom. I had never thought of all the parts of
reading. For me, you learned the alphabet and then you used it to read words. I had never
thought of the sounds in words other than helping Kindergartners sound out the words they
already knew and had written on their page. The concept of learning the sounds and being able
to break them apart and put them together to create words was a skill I took for granted. I loved
learning about phonological awareness. The sounds of individual letters and digraphs and their
ultimate placement in words is so important for students, but it has to be fun. I am prepared to
become a teacher of individual students because I have interesting ways to teach them the initial
stages of reading. I understand all five parts of reading, so I will be able to assess my students
and those in the general education classrooms to determine which area is their weakness or if
they have a disability in a particular area. I am still worried about teaching reading to an entire
7

class because I have never seen this done in person, but I know all the parts that must be
included. I understand where students may struggle, so I can make a plan to cover those areas.
Thankfully, I have an order to teach the alphabet and their associated sounds, so I dont have to
implement the use of the alphabet in order with animal words that may not be normal, if that is
not what is going to work for my students. The alphabet and animal words is all I remember
learning in Kindergarten and I think that is the way Billy learned as well because octopus is a
strange word to name when asked for a word that starts with an o, especially when it is
repeated two months later as the only word he will give for the letter o. Students need to
understand the parts of a word before they are going to become effective readers. If students
know phonemes, they can break apart the words they dont know when reading and they have
skills that allow them to read independently and work through unknown words. I had never
thought of how many ways you could teach vocabulary. Words have so many parts beyond the
letters and sounds that can be associated with the meaning of the word. In addition, with graphic
organizers you can teach your students multiple words at once by helping them make
connections between synonyms and antonyms or words that share a common prefix, suffix, or
root. In my future classroom, I will definitely be using word webs and a word wall. These
practices make vocabulary fun and go beyond simple rehearsal for a spelling test at the end of
the week. My practicum last semester was a general education fourth grade class. Occasionally,
I was there for vocabulary instruction, but all I ever saw them working through was the spelling
of the words. This is important, but students need to understand what these words mean if they
are ever going to use them in the future. This particular teacher used words with common
themes, which would work wonderfully with a word web. In the future, I am going to be more
active in suggesting strategies and practices that work wonderfully in special education
classrooms, but could easily be implemented in the general education classroom as well to
benefit all of the students.