Speech + Language Case Study
Preliteracy & Literacy
Jessica, age 7, Emerging Literacy
Do you know a Jessica?
Jessica
is a seven-year-old in the first grade. She
hesitates to respond when called upon, shrugs
her shoulders, and appears frustrated with reading and writing
tasks. In class, she remains silent or answers with single words or
short phrases. She reads word-by-word and her writing contains
mostly sentence fragments and informal vocabulary.
Fall Assessment: In late September, she was administered the
OLAI-2 by the SLP, after consultation with the classroom teacher.
Jessica’s overall OLAI-2 Relative Stage of Language Acquisition
was Stage II (Basic), although she has mixed results in individual
content areas. She performed at an OLAI-2 Stage II (Basic) in
Phonemic Awareness and OLAI-2 Stage III (Most Experienced) in
Print Concepts. Her Repeated Sentences performance was Basic
(OLAI-2 Stage II). Jessica’s Story Retelling performance was an
OLAI-2 Stage I (Least Experienced). The results of this first
assessment provide a baseline from which to establish goals and
begin oracy instruction.
Oracy Instruction Plan: Oral Language: Jessica’s goal should
be to expand and refine sentences and vocabulary consistently
and with increasing complexity. Reading to her and having her
read high-interest stories or poems at her level or slightly
above, followed by talking about vocabulary and concepts,
will help expand and refine her oral language.
Discourse Skills: Jessica needs to practice listening to and
retelling stories to strengthen auditory memory, comprehension,
and the ability to use complete sentences to describe details.
She can benefit from talking about text structure and embedded
vocabulary to improve critical and analytical thinking and fluency.
Guided reading and writing activities should focus on developing
knowledge of story elements and information-based material.
Learning Behavior: Jessica should acquire more positive,
flexible behavior when approaching a task she perceives as too
hard. She can be encouraged with activities that enable her to
succeed immediately, then gradually increasing the level of
challenge. OLAI-2 results should be discussed with other
professionals and Jessica’s parents to agree on strategies for
helping Jessica change her behavior at home and in school.
Jessica showed marked improvement in a number of areas.
After administration of the OLAI-2 Form B in January and
Form C in early May, Jessica’s most notable change is in her
learning behavior. She is open to trying new things academically
and she perseveres even when learning is difficult. She is on her
way to learning not only oral language and literacy skills, but
also the keys to learning behavior that will serve her well for
years to come!
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Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. OLAI, Always Learning, Pearson, design for Psi, and PsychCorp are trademarks, in the U.S. and/or other countries, of Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). 8065-O 05/12 IGY