Case studies: Passage Reading Primary

Background

John has been identified by his teachers as having difficulties with inattention and hyperactivity in the classroom. According to the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) completed by his teacher, John’s behaviour is rated as ‘abnormal’ on the hyperactivity and conduct problems subscales although he does not have a formal diagnosis for these difficulties. John is on the school’s Special Educational Needs register (School Action Plus) for ‘behaviour and learning’ and he has additional help from teaching assistants during lessons. His teachers report that he struggles with most aspects of the curriculum.

Use of YARC

John attained the following standard scores on YARC Passage Reading:

Reading Accuracy: 96

Reading Rate: 85

Reading Comprehension: 79

Student profile

John’s Reading Accuracy score is average for his age. However, he reads slowly and his comprehension is impaired. Additional assessments indicated that John experiences receptive and expressive language difficulties. His vocabulary is weak for his age and his ability to construct and recall sentences is poor (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals – Fourth Edition UK, CELF-4). John’s difficulties with expressive and receptive language skills will contribute to his difficulties with reading comprehension.

Implications for teaching and learning

It is recommended that John receives additional support with the development of reading comprehension. Oral language activities that include direct instruction in vocabulary and activities to promote inferencing skills would be a useful starting point. John would also benefit from additional reading practice to help improve reading fluency.

Background

Katie’s teacher reported that she was making good progress with reading, and she was described as a ‘fluent and accurate word reader’. However, Katie’s teacher was concerned because she often finds it difficult to follow story lines and struggles to predict what will happen next. Katie also has some difficulties in mathematics and receives extra support from teaching assistants during the numeracy hour at school.

Use of YARC

Katie attained the following standard scores on YARC Passage Reading:

Reading Accuracy: 96

Reading Rate: 114

Reading Comprehension: 79

Student profile

The YARC scores confirm that Katie’s decoding skills are developing well; however, she displays specific difficulties with reading comprehension. Despite reading the passages of text fluently and with reasonable accuracy, Katie struggled to answer the questions relating to the text. Additional assessments of vocabulary and of the ability to recall and construct sentences indicated that Katie’s language skills are relatively weak for her age.

Implications for teaching and learning

Although Katie has no formal recognition regarding her difficulties with reading comprehension, it is likely that she would benefit from interventions targeting language and text comprehension.