Case Study and Student

Tom: A Case Study

Three themes that emerge from the case study of Tom are 1) Parent advocacy is key to helping the student with a learning disability overcome obstacles, 2) Early referral is another factor in assisting in this achievement, and 3) Personal perseverance and will power are a third variable that impacts how the LD student overcomes issues.

As shown in the case study of Tom, my brother, a learning difficulty might often be termed a "hidden disability." Disabilities are difficult to diagnose in this respect, as there is often limited information to go on. Teachers may identify a problem, but there is not the research or time put into assessing the situation. Reschly (1996) notes that there are specific procedures that should be implemented when identifying students with learning disabilities: parents should be interviewed along with other teachers and administrators within the school. A history of the child should be studied and a decision made that is in line with the state's guidelines on how to ensure that children receive the type of attention they need to succeed in school. As in the case of Tom, a person challenged by a learning difficulty can generally be of average or above average intelligence and yet can be able to hide the fact that certain aspects of academic learning give them issue for years, leaving these issues unaddressed until high school or later. Without the proper intervention from teachers and/or parents, the child is passed along without ever really having to address the issue. The difficulty arises in the gap between the individual's potential for achievement and ability to achieve, which is often hampered by a difficulty in receiving or processing information.

For Tom, what worked is that he was able to receive the attention he need thanks to parental intervention: Tom's parents met directly with his school teacher in the 4th grade to discuss issues and as a result Tom's 4th grade teacher became one of his biggest advocates, supporting him through challenges and keeping him focused by giving subtle attention-getters (such as taps on his desk to keep him on task). What this indicates is that by giving the student just a little bit of individual attention, the student can be assisted, reminded, and supported as he grows and develops a sense of how to maintain focus and industry.

Tom's parents continued to assist him through middle school and high school, setting aside Tom to work with him and discuss issues he was having. By taking an interest in their son's academic life, by allowing him the opportunity to identify struggles (such as passing exams), Tom's parents enabled their son to find areas where he needed to focus. Tom never accepted special accommodations or wanted to be singled out as a student with an LD. What he embraced, instead, with the assistance of his parents and teachers was the opportunity to turn challenges into an opening towards success. Thus, Tom graduated high school with a 3.5 GPA. He saw that knowledge and understanding was not an issue, but that the issue was with studying for tests and performing well on exams. By identifying this issue, he overcame the obstacle with support, early intervention, and personal will power.

Part -- Reflection

Teaching applications that could be used to help Tom would include: probing, constant feedback, and help with taking tests. Since Tom's particular problem was in test-taking, a test-taking application would have been particularly beneficial. In this sense, he might have received extra attention focusing on what to study, how to prepare, memorization practice, and skills in identifying important points and/or topics that might help to support ideas discussed at exam time (Great Schools, 2015).

Another strategy that could be employed is the supplying of the student with notes. Sometimes students fail to study well and prepare for tests because their own note-taking skills are sub-par. They understand the lesson, but their own notes do not reflect the actual important points delivered in a lecture or retrieved from a text. In cases like this, it can help if the teacher distributes a copy of her own notes to students: it shows both how a note-taking process might look and it supplies the student with key points that can trigger the memory (Kent ISD, 2015). For Tom, this application could have had a tremendous impact and helped him to achieve even greater outcomes.