Student Background
BB is a student transferred from Nogal, NM, in 9th grade. The class comprises different academic students with individual academic abilities and needs. BB was diagnosed with mental deficiency and a particular inability to read.
In addition, the child has difficulty with communication and neurological deficits in the auditory processing of sounds and phonetic perception, significantly impacting their reading and writing ability. BB experiences much of the difficulty in learning because she has difficulty with reading decoding, reading fluency, and speed, which leads to an incomplete and problematic understanding of what is written. The social characteristics of the student are within the normal range, as they like to meet new people, communicate, and share various information. For the best learning experience, the student is enrolled in a class using Google Classroom to facilitate reading learning. To meet the unique needs of BB, a case study is required that describes the training plan and draws up a suitable strategy for BB.
Methods and Results
The methods of conducting the classes are physical education lessons in high school, which should have a duration of 45 minutes five times a week. At the same time, the entire training plan lasted throughout the semester and provided for particular interventions to improve the results of the BB. To better determine students’ reading skills and abilities, a diagnostic assessment was conducted at the beginning of the semester.
In this regard, it was revealed that BB has mental retardation and, accordingly, has the right to receive special education under the category of special learning disability. The inability of the BBs that they demonstrated led to the development ofan individualized learning plan to help the student better develop reading, communication, and comprehension skills. The learning plan is based on a diagnostic assessment and includes specific interventions to address student weaknesses.
One of the main types of such interventions was Visual and Auditory Aids. Early observations have shown that BBs are much easier to learn with the help of visual aids in the form of images, video, and audio materials. In this regard, it was decided to use these tools to speed up learning and help the student better perceive and remember the material. This can be used in lessons through presentations or videos to demonstrate the main topics and concepts being studied as clearly as possible. In addition, audiobooks can be used to help BB improve reading speed and comprehension.
Another method of intervention is dividing students into small groups. This way, it will be easier for the BB to concentrate on a particular lesson and its topics, as there will be fewer distractions. At the same time, the group is formed, and students are at the same reading level so that the learning process occurs evenly. In addition, such an approach can help children interact and develop cooperation and friendship.
An essential aspect of teaching BB is setting clear and precise reading goals. Their establishment can help the student understand why learning to read and improve this skill is necessary. Assimilation of information from the read text is the main task in such classes. A vital element of this program is the definition of the main terms and meanings with which the BB has difficulty. Thus, it will be possible to concentrate more attention on these elements, allowing the student to develop their skills faster.
Observation of the teaching of the BB during the allotted semester made it possible to highlight some of the results of the compiled program. Thus, the implemented interventions positively affected the student’s reading performance. The main improvements occurred in decoding, recognizing terms and meanings, and understanding and processing the information read.
Reading speed and fluency also improved, but less than in the previous aspects. More specific results of passing a unique program include word recognition, in which BB demonstrated more excellent skills than before the start of training. Words unfamiliar to the students no longer caused many difficulties; they could read them without problems.
Another aspect that improved was the understanding of what the BB had read. This can be seen in the fact that the student can answer questions about the text and retell its meaning if there is not too much information. At the same time, reading speed and fluency also increased due to sessions with audiobooks, which provided parallel viewing of the text.
Based on the results of the previously drawn-up training plan, it was proposed that the intervention be continued according to the new rules. Visual and auditory aids have positively impacted the student’s abilities, so their impact should be continued for further results. Video lectures with schematic images and step-by-step explanations will be used to understand the material better. Slight complications in this segment can have the best impact as they will force the student to make an effort to read and understand the information. Audiobooks are worth continuing to use as reading speed can be improved further.
Students’ work in small groups positively impacted BB’s abilities, so this strategy should be continued in the future. However, due to students’ further development, small groups of students must be redistributed because each student develops skills differently. In this way, it will be possible to form groups with students at the same level.
More attention should be paid to further training in terms of increasing vocabulary. Although BB is making great strides in recognizing new words and memorizing them, this aspect is still not at a high enough level. In this regard, it is necessary to create a dictionary that the student can fill in with new words for them.
In this way, the automatic reading of texts with improved word comprehension can be increased. Understanding the meaning of difficult words and terms and remembering them is crucial to achieving automatic reading. Small group work can continue to be used for this purpose as it will encourage peer support and create a friendlier environment for people of equal ability.
Based on the observations and results obtained from BB training according to the original training plan, future performance can be predicted. With constant monitoring of the development of student abilities, skills, and knowledge can significantly improve in the future. At the same time, progress in knowledge and skills can be gradual and face specific difficulties.
However, to overcome difficult situations, it will be necessary to adjust the curriculum in time based on BB’s difficulties at each stage. In the later stages of training, a more intensive program may be required to improve BB’s reading and comprehension abilities. In addition to academic progress in reading, BB can also be expected to improve his social interaction skills through small group work.
Summary
While passing the training, the student periodically encountered difficulties understanding words and reading the text. In this regard, particular practices were developed that were aimed at helping BB cope better with academic tasks. These included methods such as using visual and audio aids, creating small groups, and setting clear and understandable goals for the student. At the same time, particular strengths of the students were noticed, which they showed throughout the training. These include communication skills and a desire to learn diligently, doing the maximum that they can.
The student responded well to audio materials and lectures accompanied by videos. In this regard, BB’s academic performance is currently above average, which means they are ready to implement additional programs. Social behavior is also high since BB constantly interacts with other children and is eager to establish friendships with them. This allows us to conclude that the student’s behavioral characteristics are typical and will improve steadily with further development.
The final assessment data shows that the student made significant progress during the study period in the proposed program. Reading, comprehension, retelling, and communication skills improved. Thus, the final data collected during the student’s observation exceeded the pre-educational indicators several times. This indicates the program’s effectiveness and that improvements can continue.
Discussion
The intervention results showed that the student responded well to introducing new ways of learning. This is a good sign that the curriculum has been set up correctly. Improvements in the areas of reading and perception of information are the most significant after passing the first semester. BB can make further progress in this area and develop its vocabulary.
By providing this instruction, I learned how important it is to approach the student’s problem individually. Thus, it is possible to identify the problem in more detail and influence it with the help of special methods. For this student, the prognosis seems to be positive since, at this stage, the progress is quite tangible. By continuing to apply for the right program, more significant results can be achieved in the future.