I Was Just Passed Along in School

Description of the Learner:
Emma is a 34-year o1d widowed mother of two. To supplement her husband's death benefits, she operates an in-home daycare business for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Her own children are 11 and 6 years of age. Emma worked with a tutor for two years, and when she learned that her tutor was moving, she contacted the literacy organization, because she did not "want to fall back in her reading." When Emma and I first met she gave me an envelope of information from her previous tutor indicating that a Reading Inventory placed her at a "4th grade level." According to the letter, Emma had progressed to near completion of level 5 from the Challenger series. The tutor stated that Emma "is very good at 'unlocking' words and phonics and has a reading rule book she keeps to record rules that she has mastered." Emma's stated goal is to pass her General Educational Development Test (GED).

Challenge Faced:
Emma's comprehension of what she reads is inconsistent with her ability to pronounce words. In some cases she can paraphrase and answer questions about what she reads, but at other times, she has great difficulty demonstrating understanding the material even though it is on a similar reading level. We continued with the Challenger materials, and after the third meeting, Emma asked for help in reading a letter sent home from school with her first-grader. The letter requested a meeting to discuss an Individual Educational Plan (IEP) for her son. At this point, Emma expressed dismay that her son would have her "problems" and get a special diploma like she did. This suggests that she may also have a learning disability. She described some of her difficulties with reading and math, but she feels she was "just passed along in school" although she believes she is capable of learning.

What We Did:
Emma and I planned to use the Challenger book for part of our next session, because she enjoys seeing her progress through the activities. We also agreed to use some time to compose a letter to her son's teacher on her new word processor. I structured a lesson around an IEP meeting between a parent and teacher that resembled the Challenger lessons including key word vocabulary activities (word-meaning matching), cloze passages, and comprehension questions. In the meantime, Emma and I worked on reading the instructions for using her word processor.

Analysis:
Emma is a dependable, highly motivated learner. Her general knowledge appears to be quite 'spotty' which further constricts her reading comprehension. Thus, we selected materials with immediate relevance and practical application, so she had some context for making meaning from words she did not yet know and was learning.

What I Learned:
The Challenger Series has content appropriate for adults, and it provides relevant, well-constructed exercises; therefore, it is tempting to fall into the habit of depending on workbooks for reading instruction. Because Emma could decode words with some degree of fluency and demonstrate knowledge of a number of phonics rules, I initially misjudged her limited reading skills and considered them greater than they were. As noted above, her inconsistent comprehension was closely related to her limited general knowledge. When Emma and I used materials related to her experiences, like the day care business, she struggles with some vocabulary, but she comprehends what she is reading and feels success at being able to use her reading to be more independent.

Emma, Group Discussion:

What did you mean by "fall into the habit of depending on workbooks for reading instruction?"
It really takes time to prepare lessons for individual learners. Emma and I meet twice a week for an hour and a half each session. It takes at least that long to prepare each session even though we use the workbook. As a volunteer, I work with only one learner. Even so, I find it difficult to identify material that is relevant for adults, and I was reluctant to judge the appropriateness of materials. By using the Challenger material as a guide, I became more confident in my ability to create appropriate lessons, and I gained a better understanding of what to look for in other published materials.

What other things did you try?
In subsequent sessions, when the Challenger material covered something with which Emma had no experience, we took time to learn more about the topic through other means like maps, pictures, movies, and music to provide alternate learning opportunities for background purposes. We also "chatted" more at each session to explore additional areas of interest to Emma.

How did Emma respond to that?
Emma and I sincerely enjoyed our time together, and she spent additional time in reading activities outside of class. She was very proud that she and her children had library cards and that they checked out books together. She never complained about working on reading, and she asked for what she needed from me. For instance, one evening when she was really tired, she asked me to read to her instead of her reading to me. I had forgotten that I needed to do that.

Did you suspect that Emma had a learning disability?
Even though Emma had some initial difficulty in reading and understanding the letter that the teacher sent home, when we read it together, she was pretty familiar with the terminology of special education and used it in reference to her own school experience. I never knew the specifics of her involvement with special education services, and I was impressed with her ability to manage her home day care business, which included quite a bit of paperwork and record keeping. In retrospect, I stumbled on some things that worked, which I have since learned would be consistent with "LD friendly" instruction.

For example?
Emma had difficulty with reading comprehension when she had no or limited experience with a topic. Emma's general knowledge of the world was like Swiss cheese. Because she attended workshops related to her day care business, she had a lot of information on children, particularly young children and their development. She also enjoyed home decorating and was an avid viewer of the home shopping channels. On the other hand, Emma had never traveled outside her home state and could not readily locate it on a U.S. map. She rarely watched the news on TV and did not take the daily newspaper. Things beyond her immediate experience required 'filling in' some of the gaps. Things of immediate practical use had the most meaning for her.

Summary:

Director's Comments:

To help broaden Emma's knowledge base, you may wish to select videos from the school repository that pertain to topics she will read about in the Challenger Series or that are relevant to areas of interest to her. To provide a depth to the viewing, you may wish to prepare a list of 3-5 questions for discussion at the following session. To strengthen comprehension skills, consider stopping after each sentence read and ask her to visualize the meaning of the statement. If she has difficulty, determine which words are conceptually unknown to her. List the words for flashcards with drawings. When she understands the vocabulary, ask her to visualize the message. As she progresses, stop after two or three sentences and then after a paragraph. Once she becomes automatic in visualizing the content, her comprehension should improve. Of course, visualization is contingent upon understanding individual words read.