IRI Administration and Reading Comprehension Analysis

The Child's Background

MT is a 7-year-old girl in 2nd grade. The initials MT are hypothetical and have been used to protect the child's confidentiality and privacy. MT could be deemed a typical learner, as she has not been diagnosed with any learning disability. She comes from a single-mother household and has never met her father. Her mother is an investment advisor at a leading investment bank. MT has two siblings — an 11-year-old brother in junior high school and a 2-year-old sister.

MT's mother is not actively involved in her learning due to the demands of her job. However, MT's aunt, who moved in approximately one year ago after losing her job as a cashier during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, has been assisting MT with homework and other learning activities after school and on weekends. Up until the time of this assessment, MT had not experienced any significant reading or comprehension difficulties. She presents as a cheerful and easy-going child whose behavior and mannerisms are appropriate for her age. It is important to note, however, that MT currently displays some difficulty reading above her independent reading level, and concerns also emerged regarding her reading comprehension, in which she appeared to struggle at certain points.

IRI Process and Observations

The Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) process was conducted in an empty classroom to minimize distractions. Effort was made to put MT at ease by explaining aspects of the process to her in advance and addressing any concerns or questions she had. The process began following MT's confirmation that she was ready to proceed.

We started with the Word Recognition Inventory's Premier (A) portion. This decision was based on MT's grade level (2nd grade) and the standard practice of beginning two levels below the student's current grade. MT did not have any difficulty with this section of the WRI. We then moved to the First (B) WRI portion. As in the Premier section, MT did not display any significant challenges reading through the word list. However, her first attempt at pronouncing the words does and drank was unsuccessful, though she quickly self-corrected on the second attempt.

In the WRI 2 (C) section, MT was as confident as she had been in the first two sections. Unlike before, she hesitated occasionally, but this did not impede her overall progress. In the WRI 2 (D) section, MT moved confidently through the first ten words. However, she was unable to read the word bundle (item 11), and later got stuck on score (item 15) and tune (item 16). We stopped at that point. MT was reassured that her performance had been exceptional overall, and the next phase of the assessment was explained to her: rather than reading word lists, she would read a short passage and then answer a few comprehension questions.

MT appeared enthusiastic and willing to continue. She moved through the first Oral Reading exercise (Level 2 – C) with only a few challenges. During this exercise, it was evident that MT was actively deploying a cross-check approach — pausing periodically to gauge whether a word sounded correct before verbalizing it. When it came to the comprehension questions, MT correctly answered 4 of the 8 questions; the overall comprehension errors placed her at frustration level for this portion.

Silent and Oral Reading Performance

We then moved to the Silent Reading portion (Level 2 – C). Notably, MT completed the silent reading task more quickly than she had completed the oral reading portion, and her performance also improved: she correctly answered 6 of 8 comprehension questions. On the basis of this performance, First (B) can be identified as MT's independent comprehension level, while Level 2 (C) is more representative of her highest independent oral reading and word accuracy levels.

We then moved to the next Oral Reading exercise at Level 2 (D). MT appeared more deliberate in her approach compared to the earlier oral reading exercise, taking more time and more consciously applying her decoding self-monitoring strategy. As a result, she was able to quickly self-correct mispronounced words. She also occasionally reread words to evaluate whether they made sense within the sentence context. Her comprehension question performance, however, matched that of the Level 2 (C) oral reading exercise. During the Silent Reading portion at this level, MT's performance was indicative of a buffer comprehension level. She was again reassured of her progress before the next task was introduced.

At Oral Reading Level 3 (E), MT struggled from the outset, particularly with proper nouns — names of people and places. She showed clear signs of reading frustration from early on, including continuous fidgeting, seeking assistance with individual words, scratching her head, and making facial expressions suggesting doubt and uncertainty. Although she was able to read through the entire passage, she required support throughout. Of the ten comprehension questions, she was able to answer only three correctly. It was concluded at this point that MT's frustration level is at Level 3 (E).

References

Braun, H. (2019). The big book of reading comprehension activities. Zephyros Press.