Brian had eight months left in Willow Brook Elementary before he entered
middle school, 6th grade, six classes, and six new teachers but he was
still reading at a first grade level! Brian's learning disability was
only part of the dilemma LuAnn and Karen, his co-teachers, faced. His
dad had died when Brian was in the first grade, and his mom seemed
overwhelmed by the demands facing her.
"Do you like green eggs and ham? Yes I like them…," Brian walked
around the classroom reading out loud. The other 26 children in the room
seemed oblivious to him. That’s just how Brian Adams read, and he had
read 22 books since the beginning of the school year! The only problem
was they were all beginning first-grade-level books. Brian was part of a
continuous progress classroom for students in third, fourth, and fifth
grades. The class was co-taught by Karen Karsee, a general educator, and
LuAnn Murphy, a special educator. Brian came to the classroom two years
ago as a third grader from another district. He had been identified as
language learning delayed in the first grade and had received special
education services in a self-contained classroom prior to coming to
Willow Brook.
As LuAnn listened to Brian read, she thought back to the first day he
entered the classroom. He was such a loner. The only thing that she and
Karen could interest him in was drawing. He still loved to draw but he
had made tremendous gains socially. He was athletic, so quick and fast
that all the kids wanted him to play on their teams at recess. He was a
great soccer player but more than that, the kids just really /liked/
Brian. LuAnn and Karen agonized over his academic progress, however. It
was already October and Brian’s progress in reading and writing was so
slow--so painfully slow.
"What will he do next year in middle school?" Karen voiced what LuAnn
had been thinking. "He’ll have six teachers and any subject that
requires him to read…," Karen trailed off, deep in thought, afraid to
even think of what would happen to Brian next year.
Karen thought about the last two years she had been working with LuAnn.
She especially loved the co-teaching, continuous progress model because
they had the same students for more than one year and were able to spend
more time building a rapport and relationship with them and their
families. Both teachers thought that was critically important. Karen
reminisced, "I did a good job as a teacher for ten years and a /great/
job for two with LuAnn."
Karen and LuAnn had learned so much from one another and their
collaboration seemed to be working. Eight of the students in their
class, including Brian, had special education labels. The students
themselves did not know who they were because both teachers interacted
with all of the students. LuAnn and Karen modified their instructional
and assessment procedures when necessary and measured each child’s
progress individually, rather than against their classmates. Sheree, a
student with learning disabilities, was considered one of the smartest
by her classmates because she had read so many books. No one knew the
books were below grade level.
Even Brian was getting 80s on his "adjusted" spelling tests. Because of
his language processing difficulties, the number of correct letters were
credited rather than correct words. If he got the "h" in the word horse,
that was a success. Fortunately, math was not a problem for Brian. He
was on grade level in his math skills and his pride in his
accomplishments in that area provided motivation in the areas in which
he struggled. LuAnn worried, however, that Brian might be losing some of
his motivation when she overheard him say, "What’s the use of studying
my spelling words? I’ll never get a 100." She dreaded the day when he
finally realized the books he read aloud and so proudly displayed were
"baby books."
LuAnn spent one-half hour each day with Brian in direct instruction on
his reading skills using the Reading Recovery method. He was able to
follow along as the story was read aloud and had no problem with
listening comprehension but, whether he read aloud or silently, his
reading comprehension was very limited. He also stumbled over words,
often words he had known the day before. LuAnn told Karen, "He just has
no strategies for attacking the words. He has no way to blend. Those
sounds just don’t mean anything to him. Something gets lost in the
translation."
Brian was enrolled in resource speech and language therapy and attended
twice a week in an effort to improve his language skills--but progress
was not apparent. LuAnn and Karen were stumped by the severity of his
learning disability.
Brian’s father had been killed five years ago in an automobile accident.
It seemed to Karen and LuAnn that his mother was overwhelmed trying to
raise two children, work, and go to school at night in a nearby city.
His mother’s schedule meant that Brian was alone, occasionally with his
older sister, from 4:30 until 10:00 p.m. most weeknights. On one
occasion last year, Karen phoned Mrs. Adams to let her know Brian was
not bringing in his homework. "You know that Brian’s father died," Mrs.
Adams explained as if Karen had never heard this before. It seemed to
the two teachers that Mrs. Adams felt her husband’s death was the cause
for everything that was happening in the family--the reason she had to
go to work and the reason for Brian’s troubles at school. Mr. Adams had
been gone for five years but the family was having difficulty moving
past it.
"Mrs. Adams," Karen implored, "Brian needs to get his homework done.
He’s so far behind…." Karen was stunned when Mrs. Adams hung up on
her. "I didn't mean to upset her, I guess I came on too strong," Karen
recounted to LuAnn the next day as they were preparing for class.
The two decided that perhaps Lu Ann should try to talk with Mrs. Adams.
After repeated calls Mrs. Adams seemed less angry. Eventually, she was
willing to talk to both teachers and the channels of communication
between school and home were reopened. Both LuAnn and Karen were
grateful for the co-teaching situation where one or the other could
usually find a way to engage a child or parent. At the very least, they
could reflect and brainstorm different approaches that might enable
their students to be successful. Once communication was re-established,
LuAnn and Karen worked to solve Brian's homework problem. They arranged
to have a school volunteer come in the class each afternoon and work
with him on his homework.
The teachers were also able to arrange for Brian to take advantage of a
local Big Brother program because there were no adult male figures in
his life. Brian’s volunteer Big Brother came to his house every
Saturday. "Do you think Brian’s Big Brother could just read to him?"
LuAnn suggested to Mrs. Adams over the phone.
"Well, when he is here, he usually does odd jobs that I am not able to
do and watches Brian while I get out of the house for a few hours," Mrs.
Adams said in a tired, discouraged tone. Mrs. Adams seemed genuinely
concerned with Brian, his welfare, and what the school was trying to do.
In thinking about the situation, LuAnn felt sorry that Mr. Adams had
died and that Mrs. Adams was so overwhelmed. However, she felt that
Brian’s needs were not being met and that the family needed to move on.
In an additional effort to help Brian, Karen and LuAnn were able to find
a university student who volunteered to work with Brian at his home
intensively over the summer. They gave Mrs. Adams the student’s phone
number so she could make the final arrangements but she never called.
LuAnn and Karen had had tough cases in the past but managed, through
tremendous team effort, to get the child close to grade level. It simply
was not happening for Brian, no matter how hard they tried. "Just how
far should we go?" they wondered, "and where do we go from here?"
*
*
**
**
**
**
**
*
Discussion/Study Questions
*
**
- List what you learned/know about each of the characters in the case.
- What do you think is motivating the thoughts/actions of each of
the characters? - What are the issues/problems in the case?
*
Additional Questions
* - In light of Brian’s family situation, what other avenues could the
teachers take to get help for Brian? - Given the severity of Brian’s learning disability, is it realistic
for the teachers to expect to bring his reading skills up to grade
level? - What role should teachers take when dealing with children and
families who have experienced a death and who are in the
process of grieving? - Do you feel that Brian’s mother’s continued depression and despair
five years after the death of her husband is a typical or
predictable component of the grief process? - Do you believe that this classroom is the "best" placement for
Brian? Are the teachers able to meet his needs? - What instructional modifications were tried with Brian? Were they
effective? Why or why not? - Considering the added pressures and responsibilities that Brian’s
mom has faced since the death of her husband, what additional
family supports might help alleviate her situation?
CEC Competencies/Knowledge Areas Addressed in the Case
Major Areas:
Rights and responsibilities of parents, students, teachers, and schools
as they relate to individuals with exceptional learning needs.