Case Report: Eva C.

TEDU 566
Student
Examiner
Dates of Evaluation
Student Birth date
Age
Gender
Grade Level
School
Years in School
Classroom Teacher
DRA

Eva C.
DeAnna Von Halle
February 3, 2014 February 24,
2014
March 7, 2006
7
Female
2nd
J.G. Hening Elementary
1st
Mrs. McCarty
24

Student Background
Eva was referred to tutoring based on a recommendation by her teacher. Eva
is a strong reader, but has difficulty in writing. According to the Elementary
Reading Attitude Survey, Eva likes to read at home and at school. She scored
in the 84th percentile for recreational reading and in the 89th percentile for
academic reading. Her total attitude score ranked her in the 88th percentile
overall, which is above average and mean that she has a positive attitude
towards reading. .
During an interview conducted to gauge her academic and recreational
interests Eva revealed that she has moved at least twice since starting
school. She used to live in Kansas City, KS and then moved to West Virginia
for a little while before ending up here in Chesterfield for second grade. Eva
loves her family very much and enjoys reading to her younger brother and
her mom. When asked if she ever gets tired at school, Eva answered that she
gets really tired during writing time. Evas favorite subject is reading and her
least favorite is writing. She recently got a report card back with some poor
marks in handwriting. Eva was embarrassed by this grade and said she was

mildly punished by her parents for it. She enjoys reading at school so much
because it is challenging and fun for her.
Eva was attentive and on task for most of the test administration sessions.
Only a few times did she try to avoid the task at hand by telling a story.
When this happened, she was gently directed back to the task by the
evaluator. The scores on the assessments are the result of Evas best effort.
These assessments were given to Eva as a participant in the Virginia
Commonwealth University tutoring program. The program meets for thirty
minutes sessions, two times each week. During each session, Eva receives
one-on-one support from a university student in the Masters of Teaching
program. The program provides Eva with additional support in the
components of reading: comprehension, vocabulary, phonemic awareness,
phonological awareness, fluency, and writing.
Basic Skills
Letter Identification
Lower case 28/28
Upper case 26/26
Total score: 54/54
Eva was able to quickly recognize and identify all of the letters. She
skipped the lowercase n, but was able to identify it correctly when
asked. She gave the letter name for all letters except the lowercase
d which she identified by its sound /d/.
Phonemic Segmentation
Yopp-Singer Test, 19 of 22
Eva picked up the directions of this assessment quickly and completed
the three practice items with ease. She missed only 3 words (no, grew,
and three). For the word no she added an extra syllable /n/-/o/-/wa/.
This could have been due to a pronunciation error on the evaluators

part. For both grew and three Eva correctly identified the onset, but
combined the /r/ sound with the ending syllable.
Writing Vocabulary
9 Words (in 10 minutes)
Eva used all lowercase letters, except for capitalizing the first letter of
proper nouns. She wrote her words from left to right and on a line she
drew herself on the paper saying, I do better with lines. Eva had a
hard time coming up with words to write down and used basic words
(dog, cat, red) and the names of people close to her (mommy,
Ayanna, Amanna (her sisters)). Eva did not take risks, and only
attempted to spell two words she didnt know (clene for clean, and
clening for cleaning).
Writing Sample
Language Level 4/6
Message Quality 5/6
Directional Principles 5/6
According to the scoring rubric, it may seem that Evas writing is up to
par, but her writing sample consisted of only one sentence. It was a
properly formed sentence with correct directional patter, spaces
between words, a capital letter at the beginning, and punctuation at
the end. Eva prepared to write her story by completing a quick sketch
of a picture of a tea party at which the guests had smooties and
cupcakes. While sketching Eva told a vivid story of a chair falling over
and a dog eating a cupcake and all the guests at the party laughing.
When it came to write the story, Eva froze up a bit, preferring to tell
the story verbally. She was resistant to write, she said, because she
didnt know how to spell tea or party. When prompted to sound it
out, she continued to resist. The evaluator suggested she put the first
letter and draw a blank that could be returned to later. Eva did this for
tea writing down t_____. For party she sounded it out and spelled
praty.

Word Knowledge
Primary Spelling Inventory
Feature Points: 38/56
Words Spelled Correctly: 8/26
Total: 46/82
Spelling Stage: Middle Within Word Pattern
Eva knows initial and final consonants, short vowels, and digraphs and
blends. She uses but confuses common long vowels. She used other
vowels and inflected endings correctly only once each. Unlike when
asked to do a free write, Eva attempted to spell all the words given
during the spelling inventory. She sounded out words she did not know
to the best of her ability, leaving no answers blank.
Reading Skill
Quantitative Reading Inventory - 5
Word List Scores
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4

18/20
16/20
12/20

90%
80%
60%

Independent
Instructional
Frustration

Reading Passage Scores

Passage
Level

Type of
Text

Prior
Knowledge
(Score/Rati
ng)

Level 2:
What Can I
Get for My
Toys?

Narrative

5/9 points
Familiar

Level 3:
Cats: Lions
& Tigers in
Your House

Expositor
y

Oral Reading
(Score/Ratin
g)

3 miscues,
Independent

Readin
g Rate

125
WPM

Retelling
(# of
Ideas/Total
)
8/38 ideas

123
CWPM
8/12 points
Familiar

7 miscues,
Instructional

126
WPM
122
CWPM

5/47 ideas

Comprehension

Overall Level

8/8 correct
Independe
nt
4 explicit
4 implicit

Independent

7/8 correct
Instruction
al
4 explicit
3 implicit

Instructional

Level 4:
Tomie
dePaola

Narrative

10/12
points
Familiar

20 miscues,
Instructional

89
WPM

1/68 ideas

84
CWPM

6/8 correct
Instruction
al
3 explicit
3 implicit

Frustration

Overall Instructional Level: 3

Eva easily identified words from the Level 2 and 3 lists. She attempted many
on the Level 4 list, but was frustrated by the end. She did make an attempt
at every word on all three lists.
Eva read the Level 2 and Level 3 passages with ease. She was clearly
frustrated with the Level 4 text, though she comprehended much of the
information afterwards. Eva read quickly and with expression on the Level 2
and 3 passages.

Listening Vocabulary Knowledge

Standardized Vocabulary Test: Listening Vocabulary
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test IV (PPVT-4)
Student Chronological Age: 7 years, 11 months, 5 days
Raw Score: 156
Percentile Rank: 94th
Stanine: 8
Age Equivalent: 10:2
Eva scored moderately high on the on the PPVT. This score indicates that
her vocabulary acquisition is above average. Her standard score of 123
places her in the 94th percentile. According to her score, Evas vocabulary
is equivalent to that of an average 10 year old.
Summary of Assessments
Evas assessment scores represent her best work at the given time. The
environment during each assessment was free of major distractions and the
instructions were delivered clearly. Evas assessments indicate that she is
having difficulty in spelling and writing. She does not like to take risks in her

writing because she is afraid of misspelling a word. Eva is not confident in

her writing ability or her ability to spell unknown words by sounding them
out. Eva only feels confident writing a handful of words. Eva reads fluently
with expression above her grade level. She also demonstrates
comprehension in her reading. In her writing, Eva properly uses left to right
orientation and uses both capital and lowercase letters and punctuation. She
is able to build wonderful tales orally, but gets caught up in spelling words
correctly and gets discouraged when it comes time to write the story down.

Recommended Instructional Plan

Based on Evas assessment scores, I would suggest a plan of action in
teaching her strategies for spelling and writing. Eva loves to read. This love
for reading can be directed towards important components of a story and
bringing aspects of stories she likes into her own writing. Word work
activities that help strengthen Evas phonemic and phonologic awareness
and knowledge of phonics will help her to develop more confidence in
spelling. Using the words learned during word work in a writing activity will
help to add new words to Evas written vocabulary and build her confidence
as a writer. Evas fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary are at a high level.
Time should be spent developing strategies for Eva to use when spelling and
writing.
Reassessment
Writing Sample
Initial Score
Language Level 4/6
Message Quality 5/6
Directional Principles 5/6

Reassessment Score
Language Level 5/6
Message Quality 5/6
Directional Principles 5/6

Words Their Way Primary Spelling Inventory

Initial Scores
Feature Points: 38/56
Words Spelled Correctly: 8/26
Total: 46/82
Spelling Stage:
Middle Within Word Pattern

Reassessment Scores
Feature Points: 36/56
Words Spelled Correctly: 7/26
Total: 43/82
Spelling Stage:
Late Letter Name-Alphabetic

Reassessment of Eva at the end of the semester showed improvement in her

ability to write a story. She took to the process much more quickly than her
initial assessment and resisted less. She added a title to this story, which she
did not do in her original assessment. She also wrote multiple sentences,
whereas her initial writing sample was only one sentence. Overall, she
showed improvement in her writing, she takes more risks, produces more
written material in the same amount of time and seemed less discouraged
when writing.
Eva performed lower on the Words Their Way Spelling Inventory than in the
beginning of the semester, but that might have been slightly influenced by
her attitude that day. On the day the assessment was given, Eva was
suffering from severe allergies and on multiple medications. She was also
eating an apple throughout part of the assessment. She still needs help in
the areas of long vowels. If I were continuing tutoring sessions with Eva I
would put more emphasis on word work, but continue to write stories and
have Eva journal as a regular part of the sessions.